Another IVF friend =)

Today is a really great day in IVF land =) I started my lupron shots this morning. Fortunately I have enough belly fat that the shot didn't hurt at all! It was a little itchy afterwards (normal?!?) I found out that one of my hubby's co-workers and a friend of mine if pregnant with twins via IVF!!!! We didn't even know she was doing IVF. I sent her a quick text this am with congrats & let her know we are going through IVF as well. She is a great friend & has offered to be my "COACH" through the whole process! She even offered to give me my trigger HCG shot in the butt. lol I am so relieved to find someone close to my heart who has had a successful IVF cycle. This gives me a lot of hope for the future. CONGRATS Danielle <3

Me & danielle at my bachelorette party

Mock & meds OH MY!

Today was my mock embryo transfer & injection class. I am seriously starting to think I'm an omen. As soon as I get brought back to a room the power goes out. So instead of seeing my regular doctor I had to see a new doctor. Next was the injection class, which was a little redundant since I already know how to give injections. I hurried home because my meds were being overnighted & they had to be signed for & then refrigerated. They arrived around 2 pm & I pulled them all out & refrigerated them. My oh my it was overwhelming looking at all the different meds, syringes, pills, needles... I tried to figure them out as best I can & then I headed over to my best friend's house to see their new baby!

She was born 12/28/09 @ 6:49 am. She is probably the most relaxed baby I have ever met in my life. I really hope that my baby will be as cool as this kid is lol.

Christmas Fun

Christmas is finally over & I have had some time to relax & reflect. I had to work Christmas night so the hubs & I tried to do most of our celebrating on Christmas eve. The first stop was our best friends Michael & Michelle's house. We watched our god daughter Olivia open presents. She was really excited & I had a great time watching her!


Next stop my granparents house. My mom, brother, & sister were there too. We had the traditional Italian "Feast of the Fish". It was yummy as always. Then on to the presents...My sister got the Nikon Cool Pics (Ashton Kutcher Camera) she really wanted & her face was absolutely priceless!! My grandfather plays Santa Clause & hands out all the gifts. As he was handing Clay & I our gifts he quietly said, "Maybe this time next year we will have someone elses to buy gifts for." So exciting to think about a new little baby to buy gifts for!! Clay & I got the Wii & Wii Fit we really wanted!! When we came home that evening I was so excited to play my new Wii that I talked Clay into setting it up. I played for about an hour and then bed.


We got up the next morning & exchanged stockings at our house. Clay loved his new movie (Inglorious Bastards) & all the boxers hehe. I got a super cute snowman paper towel holder =)
Next stop my in-laws to celebrate with all Clay's sibling & their children. Mom & Dad made an awesome breakfast & the kids all LOVED their gifts!


I absolutely can't wait until next year when hubs & I can show off our little one in a cute Christmas outfit & just share all the joy. Next visit to SGF is 12/29/09 for a mock embryo transfer & injection classes...Wish me luck

New Friend

I am VERY excited that my husband & I have made a new friend, Elizabeth from Boston. She is going through something extremely similar to me & CLay & at the same time...How ironic. She had a little boy Noah (who is cute as a button) who was born with bilateral RB (retinoblastoma) just like my hubby! He also, had one eye enucleated & is now almost tumor free! View his blog http://noahchristianshaw.blogspot.com.
ELizabeth contacted my hubby & told him she was getting ready to do IVF so she could have another child. She is doing the same thing we are! It will be so nice for us to have someone to share this frightening & exciting experience with. I hope our friendship grows & maybe one day we can even make a visit to Boston to see her & her family =)

Snow & Christmas

We had our first big snow for this year on Sat. I enjoyedit as I didn't have to work or go to school! It was so funny watching my little mini daschaund run in the snow that was taller than her. We had to clear a little spot for her to do her business lol.

Christmas is fast approaching. I am completely finished, wrapped & all EXCEPT for my in-laws. My hubby & I are having a TERRIBLE time trying to find something to get for them. I have been spending a lot of time with my friend Michelle who is 37 weeks pregnant. We ventured out to Babies 'R Us yesterday to get some final baby items. I am just in awe of all the cool stuff they come out with. I can't wait until it's my turn & she can help me prepare for my little one.

This year will hopefully be the last one that it it just me & the hubs... I think it's super exciting. We had the challenging discussion yesterday of how many embryos we should implant. The Dr. said we can implant either 1 or 2. I feel like implanting 2 would give me a better sense of security knowing that if one doesn't take there is another one floating around. Clay is a little concerned about implanting 2 because the risk increases. Any comments?

So I'm not the only crazy lady?!?!

I just finished reading a fellow IVFers blog & I finally ahve a feeling of "I'm not the only one" As I sat and read her posts, many with feelings of anger & resentment I thought ok so it's not just me! It was really nice to have a little confirmation that although I am only in the beginning of my IVF process my feelings are relatively normal. I think every female friend U have has "unepectedly" gotten pregnant. I just want to say, "SERIOUSLY???" I am married, I am working on a nursing degree, My husband has a great job, we have a nice house, 2 spacious vehicles...WHY NOT ME!! I am so thankful to know I am a normal kind of crazy. So I have ordered a book called, "Navigating the Land of If" I am hoping it will also provide me with a little relief. I am however afraid of all the pain & discomfort I will have when I start all the meds. I just pray every day for luck & babies =)

Winter break

I took my final for level 3 of nursing school, which means that I am 1 semester (5 months) away from becoming an RN. Now I get to wait until grades are posted to figure out how I did. I think it was kind of hard but I guess we will see. Well afterwards we had a nice Christmas party to celebrate! We were all VERY happy to get a little break.




Now it's time to get into the Christmas spirit. Hubby & I are going to pick out our Christmas tree tonight & then he will watch as I decorate. I may let him put on a ball or two.

Dates

I talked to Dana again this morning. She said we are all systems cleared to start my cycle in January & she e-mailed me some tenative dates. If all goes as planned (ha) & my cycle does what it's supposed to (haha) than I should have my egg retrieval on 1/20/10 & then the embryo transfer around 1/23-1/25/10!!! It finally feels nice to have a plan with possible dates. For a long time it felt like the cycle was never going to happen because of the never-ending labs, ultrasounds, & testing. But it is actually goign to happen & I have potential dates. Today is deffineitely an "up" day on my IVF rollercoaster ride. I am so freaking excited it's rediculous. Now let's just hope & pray that my period doesn't decide to have a mind of it's own & come when it wants to. Everything & everyone MUST remain on my schedule or I will pinch them =)

PERIOD!!!

I was sooooooo excited this morning when I woke up & aunt Flow made her monthly visit! I put in a call to Dana (the IVF nurse)around 8 am to announce the arrival of my period. She called back around 11, in the middle of my study session at college. We set up a mock embryo transfer & an injection class, which I think is pretty funny. I am going to school for nursing & have given injections to MANY MANY people & they want me to take a 1 hour class to learn how to inject myself...That should be fun. She told me I should be able to start my real IVF cycle the beginning of January. Finally I have a date. A fairly solid date of when I will be fnished with all the prep & testing. I will FINALLY be able to start my baby making process! I don't think I have ever been more excited to have a period before in my entire life.

ALMOST THERE =)

So I got a call this week from our IVF nurse. She said all our lab work was done & now we just needed to set up a date for our fisrt (& hopefully ONLY) IVF cycle! I am super excited now I am just waiting for my stupid period, which was supposed to come 12/08/09...still waiting. Hopefully we can set up our cycle for the beginning of January! Everyone keep your fingers crossed

On my mind

As I sit in yet another lengthy lecture, (by the way I am in nursing school) I constantly think about my struggle to have a happy healthy baby. Sometimes I am just filled with anger when I think of how easy some people have it. I wish that I could just get pregnant with a healthy baby without even trying or even worrying. I constantly think about what it will feel like when I am finally pregnant... Will my feelings of anger & resentment ever go away?

I feel like I am surrounded by pregnancy & babies. It doesn't help that I am currently in my maternity & pediactrics rotation for school but I have multiple friends who are pregnant or have recently had babies & their joy is overwhelming. Will I ever get to feel that joy or will the constant flow of feelings overwhelm that emotion?

Anyway it's back to class for me...=(

Where to start...

Hello everyone! As you have read my hubby & I are starting the IVF cycle, let me tell you about all that has led up to this... Clay & I got married 06/07/08, the happiest day of my life! Clay was diagnosed with bilateral Retinoblastoma around 8 months old. As a result, he has had 1 eye enucleated & went through radiation to the existing eye. Shortly after we got married we visited with a genetic counselor to find out if we could have children naturally that are unaffected by retinoblastoma. Unfortunately that was a no! The counselor told us it was a 50% chance that our child would have retinoblastoma. We discussed all of our options & decided that we would undergo In Vitro Fertilization with preimplantation genetic diagnosis. What this means is, we will go through an In Vitro cycle & once our eggs have been fertilized, a piece of DNA will be extracted. This DNA will be tested for the genetic mutation for retinoblastoma. The unaffected embryos are then available for implantation. So far we have had several rounds of bloodwork. We found out that Clay has a deletion on his 13th chromosome from18-23. Which means, part of his DNA sequencing is missing causing his retinoblastoma. Also, I have had bloodwork to check my estrogen, progesterone, & FSH levels (all normal). I have also had an ultrasound to see how many follicles (where the egg comes from) I have & it's 15 in the left & right ovary (That's GOOD!). I also had a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) showing that my fallopian tubes are functioning properly. The next step is a siemenalysis for Clay on Friday. So wish us luck!!