Hi, baby! :)

Today's appointment was WONDERFUL! For starters, my mother-in-law was able to join us for the ultrasound portion of the appointment. When we got in, I was able to see our baby immediately. And then... there it was. The heartbeat. The most beautiful flicker I've ever seen. Flicker, flicker, sweet baby, flicker flicker! THEN after watching the baby and taking some measurements, the tech turned on the VOLUME! We got to HEAR the heartbeat! Talk about crying!!! I was elated. I knew we'd SEE it but I had no clue that we'd HEAR it.

I'm measuring a bit ahead right now at 8 weeks. Everything is looking great. The ultra sound was pretty much the best five minutes of my life. Everything feels so real now. And that sound will play in my heart for months to come. :)

After the ultrasound my mother-in-law had to leave to go to work which is totally fine because only Mark is allowed in with me for my review with the nurse and Dr. P.

I love seeing Dr. P smile. He's completely thrilled and he DISMISSED ME FROM INFERTILITY CARE!!! I will now be going to a local women's center to a Dr. he recommended. He says I'll like her because she's Irish. ;)

My due date is now being calculated for November 10, 2011 give or take five days.

My bloodwork testing came back GREAT! We did an early testing for Gestational Diabetes (which is VERY common in PCOS women) and everything from my levels to my A1C are completely healthy - no issues at all. The only issue we do have is my thyroid is now LOW so we're changing my dosage from 150mcg down to 137mcg. I had to chuckle a bit because I suggested the dosage - so he knows I've been reading up. I'll be on the progesterone supplements until May 3, 2011. On May 3rd, I'll also STOP taking the glumetza (metformin). Glumetza/Metformin is a medication used for PCOS women to help their levels and their ovary functions. Clearly, it has worked for me.

Dr. P will still be included in all of my appointments, things will be sent to his office but from now on, I'll be treated like a normal pregnant woman. My blood pressure and weight were great, although he wants me to be eating more frequently throughout the day (small snacks) because I am down 12lbs now since finding out we're pregnant.

Dr. P and the nurses asked I keep in touch and send pictures. I go back to see him three months after the baby is born.

I'm feeling incredibly blessed. God has truly given me the biggest blessing I could ever dream of. I'm no longer going to cry myself silly on Mother's Day. I'm not going to feel hopeless this Mother's Day. I can't believe that in 8 months this amazing doctor changed my life and fixed 15 years of problems and nearly 5 years of infertility. All we needed was his knowledge and our faith and here we are.

When we were leaving the office, Dr. P went to shake my hand as usual and I said, "Oh no, you are getting a hug!" Holding on to him I said to myself, "God, thank you for this man!" We are blessed.

Hmmm....

I think I'm going to become famous for creating a scratch and sniff food lick board. Yes, that's right. A scratch and sniff food lick board. This way, when I THINK I want a certain food, I just grab my handy dandy board and give it a little scratch-a-doodle followed by a lick. If I don't hurl, then we've got ourselves a meal. In all seriousness, I've been reading that cravings can start at any time. Then why am I craving chicken nuggets dipped in egg salad on top of doritoes? Seriously? I don't even like doritoes....and they're definitely not PCOS friendly. Oh and apple juice, I'm so sorry we can't be friends anymore. I used to love you. You now suck. :P

Good meal!

My taste buds are changing, that's for certain.

Example: I'm not really liking apple juice anymore. It's just far too tart for me now and even when I water it down, I give it dirty looks - HA! As long as I don't lose my love for ginger ale or else I'm really up a creek.

I'm not a fan of broccoli. However, our friend Julia once made a meal with lemon splashed on steamed broccoli and I LOVED it.

Hubs decided to try her method tonight with some boiled chicken and it was HEAVENLY. A very filling protein and folic acid filled meal. :)

Sorry, Applejuice, maybe we'll be friends again some other time.

Got scared - but stayed BLESSED

Before I get into the post - please know I am fine and baby is FINE with a heartbeat of 128bps but I need to share this because I knew nothing about placental tears. We are so happy that there IS a heartbeat!!! Furthermore... if you are grossed out easily DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!! Last night was TERRIFYING. I went to the bathroom and had blood much like a period. When I wiped, it would go from red to pink but then when I went to the bathroom again, it was RED and had small clots. Hubby and I went to the hospital ASAP where they ran a wide variety of blood tests, took a urine sample and then rushed me for ultrasounds. We had a "regular" ultrasound but it was too soon in the pregnancy (7 weeks) to get a good view of anything so we then went for a transvaginal which did show that my uterus was fine and the baby had a heartbeat which was incredibly refreshing. We had a lot of waiting to do but seeing that heartbeat really did bring us some peace and the bleeding was slowing down significantly from red to pink and then to reddish brown/brown. I then had a pap to take a look at my cervex. Apparently, I was suffering from a placental tear which is supposedly VERY common especially in the first trimester and especially during weeks 4, 7, 8 and 11. The tear is very slight and there are several ways you can get a tear but the two main ways are lifting/bending too much. The tear does not look severe but it was enough to freak me out. I did the right thing by going to the hospital. The treatment for my case is simple bed rest for the day. Just relax, nap, eat well and pay attention to the toilet paper as I wipe. If I have cramping or bright red bleeding I have to go back in. Luckily, I started "wiping clean" last night around 11:30 and have had no other issues. I was told that when mommy sleeps baby grows, so I'm going to try to nap again today. It was just VERY scary and this was something I've never even heard of. I was certain we were going to lose the baby. But we are fine and baby is fine and I'm just feeling very blessed and a little less on edge. I'm very pleased with the nursing staff at Good Samaritan Hospital and just so grateful for my ultrasound tech Lisa who was very honest with me and for my nurse Lori who checked on me frequently and dealt with my shaking and tears. I'm incredibly blessed to also have the amazing husband that I have. He didn't leave my side for one second. He stayed with me for every test and procedure and didn't lose his cool. He dealt with my shaking and crying and all the other non-romantic stuff. We are most definitely blessed. I sure as heck didn't expect to see a heartbeat last night, we still have that appointment on Thursday with Dr. P but because of this tear I doubt that Dr. P will be releasing me from infertility care.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow Cover- Gospel

My friend Tiffany Belton from high school is SOOOO talented!!! :)

Week 7!

Week seven! This information is from http://www.babycenter.com :)

How your baby's growing:

The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

Sea-bands!!!

I was up at about 1:30 this morning and the nausea was INTENSE. Remember that whole post on how I've had the sensations but not really the action? Yea... scratch that! I had some really violent vomiting this morning and while it was completely MISERABLE, it was JOYFUL as well because to me - it means things are GOOD in there. :)

I was back to bed at about 3 but the nausea just would. not. quit. I then was up at 7 to go for my thyroid blood-work. We were going to go home after blood-work, but decided to do grocery shopping. Our first stop was absolutely miserable. Everything I looked at made me want to hurl. Luckily, we were in and out of store number one.

Store number two wasn't so bad until I needed to run to the bathroom and the bathroom is in the Restaurant and the Restaurant smelled of COFFEE which made me hurl.

Finally, we had to make a stop at the pharmacy and while waiting for my Rx, we looked over and saw SEA BANDS!!!! I had heard about them from a few friends and read about them in my baby book. Well, let me tell you - the best $9.99 EVER!


Sea Bands work through plastic studs sewn into the elastic that place pressure on the “Nei Kuan” pressure point, and specifically work to reduce nausea and vomiting. They're used for pregnancy, morning sickness, motion sickness, nausea from chemo and even from surgery.

I am SHOCKED that it's working and even though I don't know if this is in my head or not, if it is junk science or not - I just know it's working. :)

One more week!!

The anticipation of our next appointment is KILLING ME!!!!

Ok, not killing me.... but it IS consuming my thoughts! I just want to see that little heart beating! A week feels like an eternity at this point. Luckily, work is super busy so that will make time fly. :)

I've been feeling pretty good. I wake up around 2 or 3am with nausea but it's interesting nausea. I don't actually throw up - it's just this overwhelming and powerful sensation as if I was going to throw up - but then it goes away. As silly as this sounds, I swear it goes away because hubby wakes up and rubs my back as I leave over the puke bowl and it makes me feel better.

Progesterone supplements are going well. I think I've finally gotten that situation under control. The two biggest pregnancy side effects I'm feeling are exhaustion and sore/swollen breasts. I'm not minding any of these things one bit, it's just interesting to notice how much my body is changing... and so soon!!!

In general, I'm feeling very blessed.

Every morning I wake up, and I say to myself, "I'm pregnant!" And sometimes during the day, I catch myself smiling and thinking, "I'm pregnant!" I know God is with us and protecting our sweet baby. I just need to trust that we WILL see that little heart beating on the 31st.

The Milk Challenge

Hubby is determined to get me to drink more milk that is not skim milk.

This is going to be interesting, folks!

I've been drinking skim milk since the good ole college days. Regular milk just doesn't taste right to me but we need to be getting in that calcium. So we bought mini quarts of milk today of Vitamin-D milk and 1% milk.

I must say, the vitamin D milk isn't so bad! It's just thick!

I'm feeling pretty good, just super tired. I get interesting bouts of nausea but nothing too severe, however, I anticipate a rise in the morning sickness with the coming days. At least thats what the baby books are warning me against. And I'm soooo anxious for the 31st to get here!

This morning I had bloodwork done to check for GD and next Saturday we're rechecking the thyroid and then finally on the 31st we're going to hopefully be seeing the heartbeat.

First ultrasound with Dr. P today!

Our appointment today was WONDERFUL!

It went much much better than I expected.

God is always good, but today, again, I'm feeling especially blessed.

We first went in for our ultrasound which went very nicely. I must say, the room was perfection. Previous locations I've been to for ultrasounds made me feel very uncomfortable. I was glad to have hubby with me.

Everything is looking great and right on schedule. There is no heartbeat yet, because it's simply too soon to see that.

After our ultrasound I had my blood taken to monitor the progesterone. I've been SO anxious to know what my progesterone level was that I told the nurses that I'd wait the 40 minutes in the waiting room for the results.

After the bloodwork, we went in to meet with Dr. P and he is beyond excited for us which is just wonderful. I love when he smiles, he's so serious all the time!

He wants me to have my bloodwork done for GD, glucose and thyroid. I'll be having the GD and glucose done this weekend.

I will then have the thyroid tested on the 26th and we'll discuss all results following our next ultrasound on March 31st.

If all is going well and we have good results and a heartbeat, I will be dismissed from infertility care.

FINALLY after the ultrasound, bloodwork, and chat with Dr. P - we sat in the waiting room and waited for the results of my progesterone testing.

The embryologist came out to take me back to tell me that my progesterone did indeed go UP to 11.7!!!! This is GREAT news! Because of how good my ultrasound looks and because of this rise, they will not be monitoring progesterone anymore because really it's now all up to my body (and God). We had a great chat and she gave me some pointers on some things with the supplements.

I'm feeling very blessed today! I met with the entire team today from the receptionist to the nurses to the ultrasound tech to the lab tech to my RE and to the embryologist.

What a wonderful day!!! :)

Eh...

My appointment went "ok" today.

Let's start with the good news first. My beta rose from 515 on Friday to 2, 395 today. This is GREAT news. However, we do have a slight problem.

I'm definitely on the watch right now for a miscarriage. On Friday, my progesterone level was a 10. Today, it is 9.8. This is a 0.2 drop. Progesterone is the hormone that keeps pregnancy on-going.

Because of this drop, I'm going in for an ultrasound on Thursday afternoon. I'm really nervous about this. She did warn me that it may be too soon to see the heart beating and to NOT worry if we do not see the heart beating.

My Rx for the progesterone supplements instructed me to store the caplets in the fridge. The nurse thinks this could possibly be the problem, and we hope thats all it is. So now the supplements are OUT of the fridge and at room temperature in hopes that my body absorbs the progesterone better because it doesn't have to break down the temperature in addition to the content.

I'm hoping and praying this is all we need to do. I'm being told not to worry, but how can I NOT worry?

I'm already in love with this child.
Hubby and I rub my belly every night and pray for our baby.
I need to continue to trust in the Lord and His plan. And while I do trust in the Lord, I also know that if I were to miscarry I could never go through this again. This just has to be it for us.

So please pray for us and for our baby. Pray for good results on Thursday and continued good results as we move along on this journey.

We'd appreciate it. Thank you!!!

Doctor visit today :)

I'm going in for bloodwork today to check my beta levels.

I'm feeling very secure and hoping my levels are rising, rising, rising! They're supposed to double every two to three days which means today's results ::should:: be over 1,000 (at a minimal).

I'm not sure if today is ultrasound day or not, but regardless I'm excited for the results.

I'll be praying all day until I get the results back which may not be until tomorrow.

Pray for our little baby, please! :)

Mini photo journey

I posted these four photos in this order for a reason.

Photo number 1: Picture of my husband and I holding hands in the waiting room at our first infertility appointment with our new doctor.

Photo number 2: My positive home pregnancy test, only 3 months after the doctor saying, "I expect to see you pregnant in April." And to think, we did this NATURALLY. No clomid, no inductions, no ivf, no iui.

Photo number 3: The long long hallway to the doctors office to confirm my pregnancy.

Photo number 4: The new look of the bedside table. :)

Feeling so optimistic and blessed!!!

From the Cathedral to the Day...

The above picture is of a prayer book in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. My mom wrote in this book and prayed that my husband and I would be blessed with a child.

Here we are now, the week of Saint Patrick's Day and pregnant. :)

Signs :)

I've been spending any free time I have researching and social networking with my "cysters" to ensure optimal safety and security for this pregnancy.

I trust in God and His Plan but it's nice to see it in writing, LOL

Below I have made a list of why I feel that this pregnancy will be OK and will end with a living, healthy, child.

• Acid reflux has increased tremendously which is typically a result of rising progesterone.
• I am taking glumetza.
• I am on a prenatal.
• My first beta was 515.
• I am on progesterone supplements 2x a day.
• My breasts are so sore... and it brings me comfort!
• I swear I could land some great wi-fi connections with my nipples.
• I'm sleeping. A LOT. I took TWO naps today.
• I threw up this afternoon! Who knew that would thrill me!?!?
• But most importantly: I have MANY MANY people praying for us. I'm feeling more secure.

Tuesday I go in for more bloodwork and once the beta is over 2000 I will have my first ultrasound and will then be released from infertility care.

I've been DREAMING of seeing that little heart flutter on the screen.

Interesting...

Many women with PCOS are overweight. In fact, it's almost a staple of PCOS. Now, there are women with PCOS who are rather slender and do not have the weight issues.

Several friends of mine with PCOS became pregnant at a high weight. As I said, many women with PCOS are plus sized, like me.

Many women with PCOS also tend to lose weight through their pregnancies. I know a woman who gave birth to her son and was FORTY-FIVE pounds lighter with a 7lb baby!

I'm curious if I'm going to be one of those women who lose weight throughout the pregnancy.

I am down 1.6lbs since Monday and I find that to be incredibly interesting. I'm going to keep monitoring my weight to see what it does.

This could be the best diet of my life!

We are pregnant!!!

After 4 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 2 days of ups and downs in regards to PCOS and infertility, I am pleased to announce that I am in fact PREGNANT!

Years of loss, heartache, frustration, pain.... all of that hurt vanished this week.

Some may say it is too early to announce this, but we know for certain in our hearts that God is doing wonderful things. We are blessed beyond measure and could use as many prayers as possible for a successful first tri-mester and successful pregnancy.

So... here's the "Story" ...

Last month we were told to avoid TTC because my thyroid was just ridiculous and my progesterone was low. I think we made love maybe two or three times the entire month (booo!) On the 26th of February, we found out the thyroid was much much better but the progesterone was still low.

My period was due on March 5th but it did not show. We tested and it was a big fat negative.

However, my breasts have been killing me. SO painful! ((not complaining!! :P ))

Thursday morning, at about 3:30am, I woke up and said to my husband, "My boobs hurt, I'm taking another test, come pee with me."

We stumble to the bathroom and I take the test. He looks at it and says, "Oh one line, lets go back to bed." I look over and see TWO lines. I start freaking out and screaming with joy.

We could NOT control our happiness. This is the first time we've discovered pregnancy early, before it was too late.

I called my infertility doctor and went in today for bloodwork.

At 1:30pm he called me personally to congratulate me on our pregnancy.

I needed a "beta" of "6" to be pregnant.

My beta is 515!!!

My progesterone is 10 which is "ok" but we want to be super safe so I'll be doing progesterone supplements for the first tri-mester.

I go back on Tuesday for more bloodwork.

Once my beta is over 2000, I'll have an ultrasound and then be released from infertility care.

Words can't even begin to describe how I'm feeling.

As soon as I got the news, I drove to my husbands work to tell him of our miracle.

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life.

Of course I'm worrying, it's only natural. But there are so many factors in our favor that we will be okay!!! This is a dream come true. I'm relaxing and taking it easy and doing everything I'm told.

I'm completely blessed and so grateful for this blessing.

God has always been good and I feel he blessed me with infertility because it truly gave me the ability to spread His word to other women having struggles.

I have many "cysters" who are dreaming to be in my shoes right now and I know in time, they will be.

I refuse to believe that this pregnancy will end terribly. I trust in God and His plan. He has been so good to me.

I can't wait to meet this baby. I love them already.