January 3rd...1st Ultrasound

First of all for those following my blog, I apologize for no posts in a very long time...I have come to the conclusion I stink at blogging, something I hope to get better at over the next few weeks. I am updating and will continue to do so until I am up to date :)



They day had come, our first ultrasound...
I was extremely nervous! Not sure I will ever forget that day! We went to the hospital and anxiously waited! Cliff and I had discussed how many babies we thought were in there...he said 2, I had no idea!
We finally got called back and prepped for the ultrasound...the Doctor came in and got started...
We saw 2 sacks, yes 2 embryos!!!!! 
TWINS...our two miracle embryos implanted! 

I was excited yet still very nervous until I heard Doctor Vroon say the 1st baby's heartbeat looks good and the 2nd baby's does as well....yes tears came down my face! It's really happening! I'm pregnant, we are going to be parents! Emotions flowed, all that we have been through and now success and not just 1 baby, 2!! We were/are so thankful! Prayers of thanksgiving were constantly going up to our Lord!
Now to get through the next few weeks! 
Doctor Vroon gave us a picture of the ultrasound and let me get dressed, he came back in to talk to us...He stated I would be considered a high risk pregnancy because it is twins and because we did IVF.  
We didn't care! Basically that just meant more vitamins and more doctor visits (every 4 weeks with an ultrasound)! He said for the most part to act normal and continue doing normal day to day activities! I still did not pick up anything over about 5-10 pounds, I still did not go exercise...I took it easy, we wanted the babies to stick and stay healthy! Plus I was afraid to do anything that later I could blame myself for if something went wrong. 

Vitamins I started taking:
Extra folic acid- one pill a day
Iron - 2 pills a day
Calcium - 2 pills a day
DHA -2 pills a day
Continued Prenatal - 1 pill a day

All the vitamins were a challenge...the calcium and iron are suppose to be taken about 3 hours apart! 
I started taking a pill every time I ate. Around 9 weeks I started getting nauseous so every time I started to get an empty stomach I would need to eat which would also remind me to take a pill so taking the pills became easier and easier. 

We had another appointment on January 14th...another nervous day for me! It was my birthday and I was hoping for the best but fearing the worst! I said this could be an amazing or horrible day! Turns out it was wonderful! Both babies were still holding on strong and looking great!!!

January 15th we had another appointment! This appointment was just an office visit to get my weight, give us information on pregnancy (how to eat, how much weight to gain...). Of course that visit went fine also! 

Treatment costs

Our Payments throughout our treatment (all of the payments are in Euro):

08/8/2012 - Day 5 Follicle Count Ultrasound...50.00

20/10/2012 - 1st payment to Clinic, Paperwork for treatment...230.00

22/10/2012 - Vitamins: Inofolic Plus...27.50
                                    Inofolic....13.50
                                    Genadis...41.50

23/10/2012 - Eco-cardiograph....150.00 

08/11/2012 - Vitamins: Inofolic Plus...27.50
                                    Genadis....41.50

18/11/2012 - Anesthesiologist....120.00
                      Ultrasound/blood work/Biologist....470.00      
27/11/2012 - Ovitrelle....27.00

29/11/2012 - Pick up (aka Egg Retrieval)....2,700.00

04/12/2012 - Transfer...1,370.00
                      Blastocyte....170.00                                                                                        
                    
10/12/2012 - 4 vaginal washes (that I ended up not needing)....52.00
                                                                                                         

Grand Total....5,490.50 Euro

We were very lucky to have the 38 vials of meropur given to us by the clinic, this medicine like I mentioned before is very expensive, about 200 Euro per box which has 12 vials in each box which could have been a two days worth supply. 

Alessandra was able to get us the Enantone to take on 18/11/2012 and the Ciproxin to take before and after pick up, she also gave us some syringes. Her being able to get us these medications saved us some money and we were very thankful. 

The Clinic also gave us some vitamins (for both Cliff and myselt) and some vaginal washes, which was also a huge help to us! 

                      

The wait

After the transfer we had to wait....

I stayed in bed literally except getting up to go to the bathroom for 72 hours! It was a little challenging but definitely worth it! Cliff provided me plenty of movies and shows to watch, I had the computer at times to surf the net and facebook some but I wouldn't have made it without Cliff or my sweet, cuddly pups!!! Cliff was able to take some time off to wait on me. He was awesome! I would tell him I was hungry as soon as I would get a little hungry, thinking he would take a little while to bring me food, no he would get whatever I asked for immediately! The pups, pretty much stayed in bed with me most of the 72 hours! I love that they are so loving and comforting all the time!
I had mentioned before I didn't think I would stop praying while I was waiting and honestly I found myself praying a lot!!! I still am! I sometimes feel like God may be getting a little tired of hearing me ;)

December 13th we got to go in for our first blood test. I sent Cliff a message saying I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my entire life! I went to the lab for my blood work then I walked down to the Women's Clinic to tell them not to call me with the results, that Cliff and I wanted to come in to get the results to view them together. I called Cliff once I was done and told him I was done...he had some errands to run so I went with him to make time go by faster and keep my nerves a little calm...it definitely helped, we went to look at Cliff's motorcycle being built and it took us the perfect amount of time! When we got back it was time for my results. We drove over to the hospital, went into the Women's Clinic to get the results, the girls at the window had printed the results and sealed them for us, the girl that handed me the results was on the phone but smiled and said good luck...I was so nervous! We went to the car and opened the results, did I mention I was nervous? I was so nervous I was shaking! My HCG was 175....Cliff and I are saying is this good? We aren't for sure what it should be...I knew if it was over 5 then that meant I was pregnant but at this stage I wasn't sure if it needed to be something specific! I ran back inside to ask and they said, it's good we just have to make sure the numbers go up on your next test. The girl that handed me the results said I was hoping I didn't give it away by smiling and I said, I don't think I even paid attention to that, I was so nervous you could have been grinning ear to ear and I wouldn't have noticed even though I wish I would have maybe it would have calmed me a little. I went back out to the car telling Cliff it is good, I'm pregnant....then I start crying with such a relief! I was so nervous and had no idea what to expect. In the past I had listened to my body so much and thought I was pregnant then it would turn out I wasn't, so this time even though we had help, I was trying not to listen to my body signs so much! I was trying my hardest to just wait for the test! I was getting signs, I had some cramping, some pink discharge meaning a sign of implantation and I had that dreaded metallic taste in my mouth (I had this the last time I was pregnant) I wanted to believe I was pregnant but I was so afraid to listen to these signs and believe them until I had proof....well I had proof and it was overwhelming!!! But such a relief!!! I'M PREGNANT!!!!!! We have been waiting on this for such a long time :) it feels so good! It wasn't until later on in the day that I was telling my friend and she was looking at the results and said well it says here Interpretations: Pregnant Female! I was hysterically laughing, I was so nervous that I never even saw that! I tell Cliff and he says he saw it but still wasn't sure how good the numbers were suppose to be...turns out they were good ;)

December 12th my HCG level was 175 :)
December 17th -  697 :)
December 21st -  2,175 :) :)

You can pretty much say that we had the best Christmas ever...we didn't give each other any gifts...we didn't send any gifts to our family...we were just thankful for everything we have been given, thankful for a successful IVF treatment, thankful for family and friends and thankful for each other! We have been blessed with the most beautiful thing we could ever receive...life! We are beyond thankful that God has blessed us with the miracle of life! Our gift this year is pregnancy!

We have our first ultrasound on January 3rd to look for embryo sacks and hopefully see a heartbeat(s) since I will be exactly 7 weeks! How many babies are in my womb? Could be one, two, three, or four....
We are very excited for the 3rd!
Thank you all for your prayers and support!
I have been thanking God so much the past few weeks! I feel like almost all of my prayers have been to only give thanks, which feels so wonderful! I am beyond thankful for all of the prayers from our family and friends I feel like it is finally our time to have children and we wouldn't have made it to this point in our journey without all of your love and support!

Some of our closest friends and even some family members do not know about this journey we have been on, they will hopefully soon find out through this blog and when we announce our pregnancy! I want to say to all of you...it is not that we didn't want you to know, we did, there were many times we wanted to tell you everything that was going on! We chose not to tell everyone because of our previous experience with our 1st pregnancy not ending the way we hoped, that was and still is painful! Also because this journey has been such a roller coaster, we wanted to keep it private. not only because conceiving is usually a private experience, even though we didn't conceive on our own naturally and we had some help, it is still a private journey, plus we still wanted to have the excitement of announcing we are expecting! With that being said please don't think we didn't want to include you on our journey, in fact sometimes we wish we kept it from everyone, but we wouldn't change our choices because we ended up having a great support network and when we had doubts they kept us encouraged! As I am emotional and sit here crying while writing this, a very very special thank you goes out to our parents, our grandparents and my sister! Thank you all so much for your encouraging words, your prayers, and your support, I promise you, you will never understand how special each one of you has been to us throughout this journey! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we are very blessed to have such amazing families!
To all of our military friends/family, thank you for keeping our secrets and supporting us always! I don't have to say anything else because you know as much as we do how special these bonds are!

Transfer

So on Sunday night Dec, 2nd we received a call that transfer would be on Tuesday, Dec. 4th!

I have been taking it easy, taking my progesterone gels each night, my folic acid and my prenatal vitamins.  The 4th was the day!!! So many emotions and I did end up being nervous, especially when I realized there was no anesthesia! I was laughing at myself in my head thinking this can't be bad then....it wasn't, it was just like a pap smear...easy peasy right!

The transfer:
I got in a gown and waited my turn to be called back to the room, I walked back when it was my turn and hopped up on the exam table, put my legs in the holders and got ready! The doc came in we exchanged smiles and said ciao :) the same sweet nurses were there and the one was wearing another pair of dangly earrings again! The procedure was really fast they prepped me and said ok, then a woman (the embryologist, walked around the corner with a long tube looking thing...that's it, my babies are in there! The nurse had an ultrasound going pressing on my full bladder and watching the embryologist insert the embryos into my uterus :) they said wait a minute and they took a picture, handed it through the window to the embryologist and she said ok...that was it, I was done! I rolled onto a different bed and they wheeled me back to recovery! I laid their as long as I could, they said 30 minutes but I waited for them to come tell me which ended up being 40 minutes, I got up went to release my bladder and then I tried to lay back down, they laughed at me and told me to get dressed, we were done, Paula would come talk to me....I went out to Cliff, said ok we have to wait for Paula! Paula comes out, she gives me a kiss says ok go home, relax and take your progesterone, folic acid and prenatals then wait for your blood test, call us with the results!
I reclined my seat on the way home and it was snowing...a sign? Maybe! The temperature had dropped a lot from the time we had arrived at the clinic! We got home and I went to bed where I stayed for the next 72 hours!