And the final number is....

3399 at 24 DPO!!  I'm pretty darn pleased with that!!  :)  I'm even more pleased with the fact that I don't have to go get betas drawn anymore! Yay!  I'm done with all of the poking and prodding until my first OB ultrasound on July 9th!  Very excited to check out our little pumpkin next week!  


Our trip to Ohio was nice....not exactly a tourist destination, but it was good to see my family.  We told 2 of my aunts and one of my uncles about the pregnancy, and swore them to secrecy since it's so early!  It was very well received and everyone seemed excited and interested in the process.  


Overall I've been feeling pretty good -- totally exhausted, giant sore tatas, and the occasional cramp.  Can't complain so far!  :)  I could complain about the Crinone since that stuff is just disgusting, but I won't because I feel like it's helping support the pregnancy, so I'm happy to "take one for the team" nightly....well maybe "happy" isn't exactly the right word...LOL.  Only 21 more nights of progesterone bliss.....sigh.... 


Hope everyone's having a great week!!  

Better than a perfect credit score!

Beta #3 is in and is looking good!  I'm at 811 at 19 DPO!  :)  Sooo happy and thankful that things appear to be going well so far!  I have to go back on Tuesday for what may be the last beta, so I'm hoping to clear that last hurdle and move on to the ultrasound on the 9th!!  


Hope everyone has a great weekend!  I'll be hanging out with my aunts, uncles, and 27 cousins.....yeah, we're Irish-Catholic!  ;)  


Also, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your well-wishes!  So great to have the blog community pulling for us!!

Yippee! Beta #2!

I went to the RE's office yesterday after an icky weekend of intermittent AF-like cramps expecting to hear that my 2nd beta was not-so-good, but to my shock and surprise it was good!  I went from 46.5 on 12 DPO to 273 on 16 DPO!  That was a doubling time of roughly 36 hours, so I'm definitely happy with that!  Beta #3 is Thursday morning, so please keep the positive vibes coming my way, they seem to be working!!  :)   My first OB ultrasound is scheduled for July 9th, so I'm hoping everything stays on track and we've got a healthy kiddo brewing!


I'm feeling pretty good so far, aside from the occasional cramping and increased tiredness.  I'll be registering the tatas for their own zip code in the coming weeks, but I guess that's to be expected....ha!  According to my Mom, she started wearing nursing bras at the end of her first trimester....yikes!  


On Thursday, B, the dogs, and I are heading to Ohio for a long weekend for my cousin's college graduation party.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, but not particularly excited about the 7 hour drive.  We got some "books on tape" from the local library, so hopefully that will make the time go faster.  It will just be nice mostly to get out of town -- it's been almost a year since our last vacation, so we are definitely due to escape!


Hope everyone is doing well and having a good week!!  :)  

The Post I Thought I Might Never Write....

Well.....I have some news for my peeps in Blogland......


Third time was a charm, and....

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!

I took a First Response Early test Wednesday morning (11 DPO) just to check since we were scheduled for an appointment on Thursday with the RE to discuss our "next step" aka IVF.  I just about fell off the potty when I was greeted with a BFP!!  I took this digital one last night, and another First Response one this AM (I will pee on anything that sits still long enough...lol) and all came back positive and darker than yesterday!  


We still went to our RE appointment today, because given my 50/50 chance of chromosomal abnormality, I wanted to know what our game plan would be.  They ran my beta to confirm that I was preggers, and it was 46.5 at 12 DPO -- not bad for it being so early, and my progesterone level was very good at 39.5, but they want me to continue with the Crinone for the next month at least....yikes.  Estrogen level was A-OK too, so they want me to come back for labs again on Monday.  So far I'm feeling fine, aside from some increased tiredness, occasional light cramps, super sore tatas, and the occasional slight wave of nausea!


So, that's my story!  Third time was a charm and apparently ovaries do produce better after being threatened with IVF!  Ha!  Thanks to everyone who sent me "good luck" vibes -- apparently they worked!!  Please keep them coming in hopes that we have conceived a healthy baby!  You've all been such awesome support thru this whole process and I love reading all of your blogs nightly!  ;)  

Domestic Partner Adult

This is my "status" as B's emergency contact at her new work!  YAY!!!  A little bit of acceptance goes a long way!!  And even better, B's new workplace offers partner insurance benefits AND they cover IVF!!  Not just the meds, but the actual procedure!!  Who'd have thunk it?!  I'm still hopeful that we won't need to utilize that benefit just yet, still in the TWW with no signs of the evil bitch, so I'm praying that the third time is a charm and we can use the IVF help for having B's baby!  


We're meeting with our RE on Thursday AM to discuss the "next step" unless we get a BFP before then.  I've been putting off testing -- 9 dpo seems a little early to me and I don't want to be disappointed.  It will be nice to talk to the RE two-on-one, and get some questions answered.  Although again, I am REALLY hoping we get to cancel the appt. in lieu of a beta test instead.  :)  


Hope all is well with everyone!!  Have a great week!!

TWW....take 3....

Hope everyone is doing spiffy in Blogland!  We are almost 4 days into the TWW and all is fine!  The IUI went off without a hitch on Saturday!  My progesterone level was 2.3, showing that I was ovulating, and when I got home from the IUI I peed on an ovulation predictor stick (just 'cause I had an extra one and I love peeing on things) and it was definitely positive!  Yay!!  It was the first "true" positive I've ever gotten on one of those sticks!  I was almost convinced that the sticks were broken!  Ha!  So timing looks pretty darn good, so we'll see what comes of try #3!


Life otherwise is pretty good around here -- my new job is going well and B starts her new job on Monday!  A lot of changes going on in our household, but they seem to be changes for the good, so hopefully our "baby-making" will follow suit!  


Congrats to all the BFP's out there and new babies, especially my friend Carey and her partner Janine!!  Can't wait to meet your little cutie when you're ready for visitors!!  

Fast Forward!

Today I went in for my CD12 ultrasound and bloodwork and was expecting the worst and hoping for the best... and I did indeed get lucky!  


My lining was awesome at 11 mm!!


Righty decided not to really join the party this month - a bunch of small follies and one 12.


But lefty...wow...talk about an over-achiever this month!  I have a 25 and 23 on the left side!  Yay!  


My bloodwork showed that I was already moving towards ovulation, so they told me to take the Ovidrel as soon as I could, which ended up being around 6 pm since I was at work when the RE's call came in.  They want me to come back in tomorrow AM super early to check bloodwork again, just to make sure that I ovulated or am in the process of ovulating, and the IUI should be tomorrow afternoon!  


I was shocked!  The last 2 IUI's were after CD14, but this cycle I'm rip roarin' ready to go at CD13!  Maybe this is a good sign!  I'll take any good signs I can get at this point!  


Please keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow.... I'm really hoping this is "the one"!  :)  

Stinkin' Thinkin'

Yep....that's what I've got....

From the age of 5 until I was 18, I was a competitive swimmer.  I swam almost 7 days a week, and at least 2-3 hours a day.  It was pure insanity.  Anywho....around the ripe old age of 15, I started to get tired of swimming (imagine that...lol) and developed what my Mom termed "stinkin' thinkin'" - which translated, means basically an extreme case of negative attitude.  My "stinkin' thinkin'" would undermine my confidence and belief in myself, and eventually would lead to poor performances in swim meets.  Swimming, like most sports, can be just as much mental as it is physical, and when my penchant for negativity took hold, look out....bad things ahead.

So...fast forward a little over a decade and the "disease" has come back.  I am feeling so down about this cycle, and our chances of becoming parents via IUI.  I know this is only the 3rd try and some people try for months before getting their BFP, but I guess I thought for me, the difficult part of this process would be in "staying pregnant", not "getting pregnant".  Without going into massive details at this point, I'll just say this... my Mom had 4 miscarriages due to a chromosomal abnormality, and unfortunately her sense of humor wasn't the only thing I inherited from her, so God only knows if I'm able to get pregnant, if it will result in a viable baby.  So I guess I was just hoping that maybe getting pregnant would be the easy part, but that's proving to be difficult as well.

I don't want to have "stinkin' thinkin"" about this cycle, but I can't help feeling this heaviness in my heart as I go thru this cycle.  I should be excited about the CD12 U/S on Friday and the impending IUI #3, but instead I just feel numb and like I'm going thru the motions.  I know I should be staying positive, but I just feel like the handwriting is already on the wall and IVF may be on the horizon.  We're only doing a maximum of 4 IUI's and then giving up and moving on to IVF (if we can figure out how to pay for it).

So, I'm not really sure where all this leaves me -- the roller coaster that is "Try #3" is chugging up the hill and there's not much I can do to stop it, so I guess I'm just going to have to hang on and attempt to enjoy the ride.  If anyone out there has any good vibes or positivity to send my way, I'm definitely accepting donations!  :)

Hope everyone is having a good week!