It Just Gets Better

Now we started our week on a high seeing the heartbeat of our Cupid - that, of course, was fantastic!

Today, life got even better.  My position at work was on the cut list (again) this year.  I was freaking out, especially thinking about having to make a job change, going on maternity leave next year with a new position, etc.  Well, I was informed today that the position was in the list of those that funding was "found" for next year. 

AHHHHH, I am sooo happy.  This position is so much easier to just leave for maternity leave as opposed to being in a classroom.  And, since I am going to be able to take close to four months off due to the sick time I have banked, it is one less worry I will have next year.

I think 2010 is going to be our year!

Introducing........

........Cupid. Yeah, I know, kind of a cheesy name, but when your IUI and conception takes place on Valentine's Day you have to run with it!

Thanks to everyone for all of the supportive comments on yesterday's post!

Great appointment today!

We went in absolutely terrified and quickly were relieved when that little flicker of a beating heart appeared on the screen!

Heartbeat first measurement was 160BPM and second measurement was 154BPM - PERFECT!

I am 7W1D and measuring 7W0D - just fine there too.

For now we are breathing a huge sigh of relief.

We go back to the doc in 3 weeks (mostly for our own sanity) before making an appt with an OB. We just feel more comfortable sticking with the people who have seen us through this journey until we are a little more out of the woods.

Stick baby, stick...

Your mamas need you!

I Love It!

I am absolutely exhausted - all. the. time. - and I LOVE IT!

My bbs are killing me - and I LOVE IT!

I am achy all over - and I LOVE IT!

My stomach is just "off" - and I LOVE IT!

I need to eat every 3 hours - and I LOVE IT!

I AM PREGNANT - and I LOVE IT!

Introducing...... Chicklet

As promised - here are the pictures of the Chicklet. We have been looking at them over and over again since we got them yesterday. The appointment went very well and we immediately saw the little flutter of the heartbeat - we couldn't hear it, but seeing it was just as amazing. As I said yesterday both measurements had the heartbeat at 145bpm. You can't ask for any better than that.

Chicklet was measuring 3 days behind at 7w3d instead of the 7w6d that we were yesterday. The doctor said that in the OB world two days plus or minus is acceptable, and since we were one day outside of that, they will do another ultrasound next Monday. They really aren't worried about it, but they figured it wouldn't hurt to just check in once more and make sure we see 7 days growth in the next 7 days.

Otherwise, the only thing she kept saying as she took different pictures was "perfect", "looks great", "couldn't ask for anything better." The Chicklet was in perfect position, cord looked great, baby was moving around, and great heartbeat. So we get another look next Monday afternoon and we can't wait!

We're on Vacation!

AHHHH!! One of the joys of being a teacher is vacation - a break from the hoodlums! This week is April Vacation and we have been counting down the days! It will be so nice to have a week to just sleep late and do whatever we want. On Tuesday we have some teacher friends coming over to scrapbook for the day, Thursday the dogs have to go to the vet and next weekend we are going to Ya.nkee C.andle in MA to meet some friends from New York for the night. So, just enough to keep us busy but with plenty of downtime as well.

BUT FIRST - on the more exciting front, we have our first ultrasound on Monday morning. We can't wait! My mom is going to come along with us as well which will be lots of fun. We will be 7w6d on Monday, so we should be able to get a decent look at the Chicklet. I have definitely been exhausted and the nausea comes and goes in waves. I seem to either have a really good day or a really bad day and nothing in between. It is nice to have those good days though!

That's it from here - we'll be sure to post an update when we get back from our appointment on Monday.

Next Steps

Our viability ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, April 20th. So now we just sit and wait for 2 weeks until that comes. I will be 7w6d at that appointment, so we should be able to get a decent look at the Chicklet and hear a nice strong heartbeat! We are keeping our fingers crossed that all will go well.

Nothing else new around here - we are counting down the days until April Vacation - can't wait to have a week off from the crazy kids!

Beta #4

Today's beta was equally as successful as the last three have been. HCG is 5,192, and prog.esterone has risen to 17.7. That is a doubling time of 48 hours which is perfect! Were going to set up an ultrasound for the week of April 20. We will be 8 weeks then and it is also our school vacation, so neither one of us will have to take time off to go.

Kit of the month clubs are tomorrow - I'll post pics tomorrow of our scrapbook pages and quilt squares that we completed for this month.

I suppose a pregnancy ticker might be in order for the sidebar!

Beta #3

Even better news from today's third beta! Today's BETA came in at 1300 - that's a doubling time of 42 hours which is awesome! Also, my progesterone level went up to 14 - which means that the supplement is working! I can just stay on one dose a day and just for sanity's sake, I will go for one final beta and progesterone check on Friday. That way if for some reason the progesterone is shaky again, we can up to 2 doses per day. We couldn't be happier with these results.

The doctor said she will do an ultrasound at 8 weeks "or 7 weeks if you can't stand it." As much as we can't stand it, we will probably wait until 8 weeks only because that is our vacation week and it will be much easier to schedule an appointment that we can both be at. That will be the week of April 19th.

At this point, we have sent a note to the foster c.are agency to tell them that we are putting our application process on hold. At least we have finished all of the required training and we can entertain the idea in the future if we want/need to.

The happiest part of today is that I finally finished my School Law class - it was terribly boring and there was so much work to do for it! But, it's all over now!

Beta #2

Yesterday, I had Beta #2 and it rose to 400 - YIPEE!!! That was just awesome! On the not so awesome front, my progesterone dropped to 9. So, the doc put me on a supplement to see if that will increase it. I go back for another beta and progesterone check on Monday and if the progesterone is still low, I will up the dose to twice daily. Keep everything crossed that this does the trick! We were ecstatic with the beta though - we would have been happy with 200 and it was 400 - the doc was very happy with that too!

This weekend, we are just going to hang around the house and get our scrapbook pages and quilt blocks done for our clubs next weekend. I am looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing!

Have a great weekend!

Beta #1

So, I found out the hard way that unless the Beta is ordered STAT, you don't get the results the same day. So, after haing blood work done at 7AM Tuesday morning, I got my results at 9:30 Wednesday. So, let me just say that I will be writing STAT in big huge letters on my lab slip when I go in on Friday for the second beta.

Without further adieu: Tuesday's Beta at 14dpo was 80. Progesterone level was 11.8. We are very happy with the beta, but nervous about the progesterone level. My doctor said that anything over 10 is fine, but I've read that it should be closer to 20. Of course as my mom says, "We know too much!" She is right, we need to stop reading into things and trust that everything will be fine.

That's the news from here, we finished up our foster parent training tonight. We plan to put that on hold for the time being, but we decided it would be a good idea to at least finish up the training.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the progesterone level.....

PRICELESS!!!

Cost of Blood work for this cycle: $2054.00

Cost of Ultrasounds for this cycle: $556.00

Cost of Foll.istim for this cycle: $1791.56

Cost of Ovi.drel for this cycle: $69.60

Cost of Sperm for this cycle: $315.00

Cost of IUI for this cycle: $203.00

Cost for 8 cycles of injectibles since 2006: $39,913.28

Cost of FINALLY seeing 2 lines on the HPT: PRICELESS!!!

Yes, we finally got our clear positive this morning. We are SO excited!! We are also so thankful that we had insurance to cover a large portion of these costs! Of course we are cautiously optimistic as we have our beta on Tuesday morning, we will feel better after that. We can't believe that we are going to be mommies!