Beta #3!!!!!!

Today was a great day!!! My beta was 585!!!! There was 5 days between my second and third betas. #2 was 62 and in 5 days it jumped to 585!!!!

My first OB appointment and ultrasound are scheduled for September 15th. I could have gone the week before, but my husband wouldn't be there. So of course I scheduled it when he can be with me. He wasn't able to be there at the FET so I'm going to make SURE he's there for the ultrasound. :)

This evening we are thanking God for this precious gift. Thank you to all those who have been so supportive and have been praying for us.

Tomorrow...hopefully the final beta

I've really enjoyed a fairly peaceful weekend. I've not stressed over this beta on Monday nearly as much as I was on the ones last week.

I did take my final HPT Saturday and again the line was MUCH darker. It was as dark as the control line. So I know my baby is still growing.

I have to say I have one of the best husbands on this earth. He has been so good to me through all of this. He has taken on the majority of the parenting of our son as well as the housework so that I can be totally relaxed. Yes he has been a little over protective in not wanting me to do anything. LOL. However I totally love him for it. He asks me several times every evening if I need anything. We've been together for 14 years and married almost 12 years. He continues to amaze me.

Ok just had to brag there. :) Anyway I'm looking forward to finding out the numbers tomorrow!!!!

Beta #2!!!!

My beta was 27 on Monday and was 62 today!!!!! Praise God my baby is growing!!!! The coordinator said the Dr wanted to see at least 50 for me today and so a 62 is "excellent"!!!!!

She said he wants one more beta sometime next week and then we can schedule an ultrasound!!!!!!

Thanks for the prayers for our numbers!!!! Now I'm going to just enjoy being pregnant. :)

1st beta results

Well I am most certainly pregnant. The coordinator at the clinic called and confirmed. However my number was not as high as they like. They like to see 60. Mine is 27. She did say though that one of the embryos could have implanted later than they expected.

She said to think positive and that we want to see that 27 doubled on Wednesday. Come on 54!!!!! :)

For now I'm just going to praise God that I'm even pregnant and keep thinking thoughts of 54. ;)

On another note I'm having an allergic reaction to the PIO. She said that because my numbers are low they don't want to change me to a suppository just yet. So she asked how bad the rash was and if I could stand to keep doing the PIO even with the rash. I said yes I can! I'll do anything for my baby!!!

Sometimes having a wide rump helps. LOL For me it means I still have plenty of room to do injections. :)

She said if the numbers double on Wednesday then we can go to the suppositories.

Thanks for the prayers. Please keep them coming!!! Come on lucky number 54!!!!!

OMGosh!!!! I got my BFP!!!!

I have hung my head and been so emotional most of the day. My DH finally asked if I'd like him to go get a pregnancy test. Now if you know my DH you'd know he would NEVER offer to do that before. So I accepted his offer and asked for the First Response brand. It came with 2 tests so I decided to take one tonight even though I know FMU is best.

I got a ++++!!!!!!!! It was a very faint positive, but no doubt it had 2 lines!!!!!! This makes tomorrow all the sweeter.

I am just praising God right now for blessing us with at least one more child.

In December 2009 I was talking to a friend about completing our families and neither of us had a clue what God was leading us to. Here we are 8 months later and I'm pregnant!!!! And my friend is adopting from China. :)

This is the first ever BFP I've had. I had to have DH look at the test to make sure I was not imagining a line there. LOL

Praising the almighty God tonight!!!!

2 WW almost over

Monday I will get to go have my pregnancy test done to see if our transfer was a success. I broke down and bought a dollar tree HPT this week and took it yesterday morning. Unfortunately it was negative. My friend warned me not to do that because she was concerned I'd get a false reading and then worry up until my blood test.

She was right. I wish now I'd never taken the test. I'm trying really hard to have faith that I AM in fact pregnant and that I just tested too early.

I've never wished for a weekend to be over, but I do wish this weekend would be so I can finally know for sure if I'm pregnant.

Now as for symptoms, I'm not sure what is PIO symptoms and what could really be pregnancy symptoms, but here they are. I wake up at 6am every morning (and have since 2 days after transfer) with dizziness and nausea. By 8am I have a headache. Right at 10am my dizziness, nausea, and headache are gone. I struggle to eat breakfast because I feel so sick. At lunch if I eat more than a few tablespoons I feel like throwing up. At 5pm my headache is back again and I get really sleepy. I take a nap until 6pm and then I feel well enough to eat a good dinner. You can set your clock by those symptoms. In the meantime my breast are bigger (not alot, but some). They are also sore. I wake up more to go to the bathroom. Oh and I can smell better than a dog. Fish especially turns my stomach. (I loved fish before all this)

Even though I got a negative on the HPT I still thank God every day for this opportunity and pray that at least one of my precious babies is still hanging on.

Final tally on the cost of our adoption

$260 - for orientation with Dr. Kumar (our clinic)
$2200 - transfer (includes assisted hatching)
$375 - donor parent's testing
$750 - to our attorney to write our contract
$350 - to the donor parent's attorney to review the contract with them
$845 - plane tickets for 2
$650 - hotel for 5 nights (Hampton Inn, king suite)
$207 - round trip town car ride from airport to hotel (includes tip)
$300 - food, spending, and taxis


Total: $5937

Praise God that we were able to pay all but the transfer fee with cash. My parents were so generous as to loan us their credit card to pay the transfer fee. We are so grateful that we didn't have to go way in debt with this transfer.

Back in Memphis with precious cargo

It's been a relaxing few days an I've really enjoyed the quiet time, but I was so ready to get back home to my son and husband.

I remember very vividly the day my husband and I flew to Guatemala to get our son. These babies came back with me in a different way, but no less special than the way my son came.

I've been having some symptoms or at least what seems like symptoms. Please don't burst my bubble if I'm crazy. ;) I've had several twinned from time to time. Nothing real painful. I've been dizzy the last 2 mornings and was nauseous one of those mornings. Today on the way home I had a sort of hot flash. It's been weird, but it makes me feel good. :)

Pictures of my embies

It's not the best quality picture, but here are my two miracles. :)

Transfer complete!!!

My transfer went great. I was so pleased to find out none of my babies went home to be with the Lord. They thawed 2 and both survived!!! Dr. K said one was excellent quality and one was very good, but it had some fragmentation. BOTH were already hatching out and looked like little figure eights.

The transfer went very quickly. We spoke with the nurse, then embrologist, then Dr. K. Next thing I know they are putting me in the procedure room. I took the valium and it made me VERY sleepy. (and a little giggly too LOL) I was so at peace and relaxed the whole time. I saw the little flash of light Dr. K told me I might see. It was so cool seeing my babies being put in. Then he touched me on the arm and said, "everything went great, now get some rest." Before I left the nurse said Dr. K wanted to tell me goodbye. He came over and gave me a few more instructions and then told me he was very confident this would be a success for me.

Thanks so much to Dr. Kumar and his staff for everything. I HIGHLY recommend him.

August 23rd is the pregnancy test day!!! Now I just to keep from goingout and POAS obsessively. LOL

Tomorrow is the big day!!!

Today I was to have a mock transfer, but instead Dr. K just did an ultrasound and checked my lining. It was....drum roll please.....16.8mm!!!! Dr. K said it was "very lush". LOL He was running behind because of a patient's flight being late and then another lady needed to have her appointment, but for some reason she wasn't on the schedule. The poor woman had to hop back on a plane in just 3 hours!!! He came out and personally apologized to me for the delay. I'm guessing that's why my mock transfer got postponed until tomorrow.

They said if needed he would do a mock transfer tomorrow instead. I have to say that I LOVE Dr. K. He was so kind and caring. He sat and talked with us for 20 minutes or so about all sorts of stuff. My husband is a huge Georgia Bulldog fan and Dr. K graduated from UGA. He said UGA was the first place he learned to bark. LOL He explained everything to me and then we discussed how many to thaw and transfer. We both were on the same page with that so I was glad. He said he LOVES BBQ and wished he knew I was so close to Memphis because he would have asked that I bring him some. :~) He commented on how sweet I was and said that's one thing he missed about the south. Everyone is just so nice there.

As Dr. K was finishing up my ultrasound he said, "you see that big dark spot right there?" I was SO scared he was about to tell me something bad. He says, "that's your bladder. You need to go don't you? That's what I want your bladder to look like tomorrow too." LOL I was SO scared he was seeing something bad. He scared me to death!

His staff were also all so nice. I got to meet several people I've talked to on the phone. It was nice to put a face with the names.

I'm still so very much at peace about all of this. I got a little excited and had a few butterflies this morning, but they went away and I was calm again. I hope I can be this calm tomorrow. ;~)

Hello from California!!!

We made it safely to CA yesterday. It's 4:30am here and I can't sleep. I woke up to take my shot and now can't go back to sleep.

It still hasn't hit me why I'm here. Every once in a while I'll think "oh yeah, I get my babies.". LOL. It's all just so surreal.

Today I go for my mock transfer at 11:00.

I ended up getting here and realizing I didn't have my ice pack. So last night and this morning I did my shots without it and it actually hurt LESS without the ice! I was really surprised.

We rented a town car to drive us to the hotel since neither of us wanted to drive in this traffic. It was SO cool to have someone standing at baggage claim with a sign with my last name on it. I've never gotten that sort of special treatment so I figured right now would be when I deserve the treat. :-)

I'm going to try to go back to sleep now. Tomorrow is the big day!!!!!!!

Thank you God for this opportunity and for the wonderful genetic parents who gave us these 16 precious babies.

Cali here I come!!!

In just a few short hours I'll be on a plane headed to my babies. I am excited to get there, but also dread leaving my 'baby' here behind. I know he's in good hands though as my husband is staying here with him.

I will be meeting my babies in just 2 days!!!!! I've waited 7 years for this moment. To think just a year ago I swore I'd never do embryo adoption. I just knew it wasn't for me. I just knew I was finally going to China to get my little girl Little did I know that God had other plans. ;)

Thanks God for his wisdom and for leading me in this direction. I know without a doubt this is what I'm supposed to do.

People keep asking me if I'm nervous. I'm really not. I'm excited yes, and anxious to get there, but I'm SO at peace with this. It's weird. I'm usually such a control freak and so I worry about everything. With this I'm not. God's in control and I don't need to be.

Well next time I write I'll be in California!!!!!

I want to thank my close friends who know about my adoption for being there for me through this. Also thank you to my recent blog friends who have encouraged me and given me pointers along the way. I originally extended to tell no one, but I'm sure glad I did. :)

1st PIO shot

This morning I had my first PIO shot. It was just 1cc so it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow I start the every day 2cc. I'm starting to get nervous now. Not about the transfer, but about the PIO shots. I know in the end it will be worth it though and just like thousands of other women, I'll get through this.

One thing I am looking forward to is that wonderful Cali weather!!! It's been in the high 90's with heat indexes in the 100's for several weeks now. That mild weather is going to be wonderful!!!

3rd ultrasound and bloodwork & 1 more week!!!

Today was my 3rd ultrasound and bloodwork. It all went really well. The tech said my lining is 11mm!!! I'm waiting to hear from my clinic now as to what the bloodwork results were and what I need to do next.

I cannot believe this time next week I'll already have had my FET and my precious babies will be with me!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Edited to Add~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This afternoon the clinic in CA called to tell me we are officially ready to move forward!!! CA here I come!!! She said everything looked fine and that Dr K wanted to just up my delestrogen to 0.35cc twice a week. Everything else stays the same. So no more ultrasounds or bloodwork at least until I get to CA.

Now it's on to those dreaded PIO (progesterone in oil) shots. I can get through it though and in the end it will be all worth it. :~)

Feeling better today

Yesterday I think I just had this moment of panic. This is all becoming SO real and every little thing that is out of norm worries me. I'm much better today though. I didn't hear from the coordinator, but after talking to a few veteran FET folks I feel much better.

So today I'm happy and really at peace about all of this. It's going to happen and SO soon!!!

5 days til I fly out!!!!!

Worried the transfer won't happen next week :(

Every since I was put on the delestrogen shots I've been having AF (not heavy, just some spotting). The coordinator keeps telling me everything is fine and I trust her. However, the last two nights I've woke up in the middle of the night and have passed some clots (large ones too, sorry TMI). I'm SO scared this is going to cause my transfer to be cancelled.

I realize it's not the end of the world to have it cancelled, but it will still be SO disappointing. Not to mention expensive since I'll have to change my flights.

I just needed to get that out. I'm waiting to hear from the coordinator and I'm hoping she will say it's still ok. Just another bump in the road I guess. I'm trying hard to have faith that this will happen on God's time, but it's days like this that make it hard.

More info from the clinic

I got an email today from the coordinator at the clinic with more details on what my next steps will be. I am to start taking my progesterone shots on August 8th. The first one will be 1cc and then from then on out it will be 2cc. I have to take them in the morning which means I'll either have to have my husband wake me up really early or I'll have to give them to myself. My husband works a very early shift so for him to give them to me, I'll have to get up with him. I am NOT a morning person so this could get interesting. ;~)

I'll also continue taking the delestrogen shots on Saturdays and Wednesday. Right now I'm at 0.3cc, but that may change after my ultrasound and estrodiol test on Friday.

My mock transfer is scheduled for 11am on August 12th. The real deal will be at 10am on August 13th.

WOW! This is all feeling SO real. I'm literally a week from leaving for my transfer. I'm SO excited. I know there's a chance it won't work, but I really believe that God's will shall be done and if he wants it to work this time then it will. If he doesn't....well we'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now I'm acting as though it's going to work the first time and that we are going to have TWINS. :~D

My friends keep asking me if I'm scared or nervous. Honestly I can say I'm not at all. I'm so totally at peace about this. It's been 7 long years of trying to decide where our next child would come from and the time is finally here. Not saying I won't get scared or nervous closer to time, but for now I'm just thrilled that we have this opportunity.

9 days and counting

Today DH and I have just been hanging out and enjoying some down time. Yesterday was our son's birthday. He had a great party. Usually we rent a waterslide, but I didn't feel like I could handle that. My energy is pretty low right now. So instead we had a party at a local game hangout. He loved it so all was well.

Today the clinic coordinator called (I was surprised to hear from her on a Sunday) to tell me I should start taking the doxycycline for the next week. She said my husband should too. HA! A med he has to take too. LOL

I'm still having some bleeding, but the coordinator assures me that my lining is fine.

She also called to let me know the mock transfer will be at 11am on the 12th.

I cannot believe we'll be in CA in just 9 days!!!!

Praying that by Friday I won't be bleeding anymore and that my ultrasound will go well that day.