New Addition

We bought a new car. It is a used 1997 Jeep Cherokee but it is practically new. It only has 8,300 miles on it!! It was a government car that they obviously didn't use that much. The outside and inside are immaculate. It wasn't my first choice but because of the miles and Spencer's persuasion we decided to go for it. And, we got a good deal on it too. It should last us a very long time. The 4-wheel drive will definitely be nice during the snow and ice storms we get here. Too bad we didn't have this when we lived at the cabin! We have the truck up for sale right now and people are coming to look at it over the weekend, so hopefully it will sell fast.

Happy 4th of July

We had a pretty fun 4th. It started off with a children's bike parade down Main street. All the kids decorate their bikes and they ride down Main street like a little parade. It only lasted about 8 minutes but it was cute. The kids loved it, of course!Later in the afternoon we drove downtown for all the festivities. They had a small antique car show, lots of food vendors, crafts, music, games for the kids, hot-air balloons and fireworks. After being there all day I was so exhausted so we didn't quite make it all the way to see the fireworks that night, we came home early and I fell asleep at 8:30pm!! I tell ya...humidity takes it out of you! Overall, we had a good time.This is the main building at VMI-Virginia Military Institute. It is right next door to Washington and Lee University. Not very many people realize we have 2 colleges side-by-side in little Lexington, Virginia.

Friday's Alive

The city of Lexington hosts "Friday's Alive" a few weekends during the summer. This year they had a bluegrass band called "Blue Moonshine" come. http://www.bluemoonshineband.com/. We decided to go and check it out. It was actually pretty fun. There were a lot of people there, older couples, young couples, and lots of kids. The band was really good and the music was fun to listen to. They had a few vendors selling food, your basic pizza, ice cream and beer. What else could you ask for? We got some pizza and sat and enjoyed the evening. The weather was perfect and you can't beat the green rolling hills and trees that make up the backdrop!

I don't know what is up with my hair in this picture. It is only in a ponytail but it looks like I got a boy haircut!! I had to take a picture of these 3 ladies. They would periodically get up and dance! It was cute!

And what is a city event without the local fire department coming to check it out. They had 2 fire trucks there. They lifted the ladder so they could take pictures of the whole event. I can't believe how high those ladders get. It was cool!

Baby Pictures

Yesterday was our last appointment with the fertility clinic in DC. We are glad that we don't have to make that drive as often now but very sad to say goodbye to our doctors and nurses. The ultrasound they did produced some great pictures of our little one! We are so excited and now that we have heard the heartbeat and have seen these new pictures it is really starting to sink in and becoming more real to us. I am 13 weeks now and time is flying by.

This first picture is of our baby's head and you can also see an arm and a leg.

This next picture is of the back of the head and body and a great shot of the spine.
This last one is our favorite. You can see that our baby is laying on his/her head with his/her little bum sticking up in the air. How adorable!

Update

Spencer took back his suit to the alteration place and they are going to give us a full refund for the price of the suit. I am so relieved! We didn't even have to get pushy about it. The manager was very nice and just wrote us a check.

On another front. We just moved into our new apartment. It is a duplex that is in town and only about 1 mile from the school. It only took me 6 minutes to get to work today, instead of the 20 it would usually take when we lived in the cabin. We really like it and will send pictures once we finish unpacking. We also bought a new couch. We are very excited about that. Since we didn't come out here with hardly anything and the cabin was furnished, we have had to scrape bits and pieces of furniture from here and there to furnish our new place. We have actually acquired or bought some really great pieces and I think it will all come together nicely. Oh and we bought a new bed! That is the best news. The bed at the cabin was horrible! It gets delivered tomorrow and we are going to sleep so good! I can't wait.

Baby update: I am 12 weeks today! I have been feeling pretty good lately. I think in total, I was only sick (constant nausea) for about 3 weeks. Not bad! I mean I still have my days now and again but it hasn't been bad at all. Right now I'm mainly just tired. Everything I eat gives me a gross aftertaste, which is driving me crazy. Oh, I signed up for an Aqua-cise class at the local pool. I can start next week. I am pretty excited about that. I have been on a strict "no exercise" rule, but swimming is okay. The pool is only a short 10 minute walk from our apartment too. Right next to the pool is a park and basketball courts. There is also a huge baseball field and a little league field as well. It is a great area. We are really going to like our new location.

Unbelievable!

Spencer got a brand new suit in January. We have been so busy and just barely took it to get alterations done on it. All it needed was to be hemmed. He has never worn it and all the tags are still on it. We just got them back from the alteration place and this is what we found! A butchered pair of suit pants. Can you believe this? We just about died. And there isn't enough material left to let the hem down any more. This is it. I can't believe how uneven they are and, of course, how short they are. They are un-salvageable. There is nothing we can do. His brand new suit down the drain. We haven't been back to the place yet to show them the horrible job they did. Spencer is going to go tomorrow. They better reimburse us for the price of the whole suit! So yesterday we found ourselves suit shopping. That was definitely not on our list of things to do or buy!

P.S. I had Spencer wear white socks on purpose so you can really see how short they are!

Grillin' Time

Some friends of ours just moved and they gave us their propane grill. We have only had it a few days and we have grilled every night. We are addicted! Last night we made grilled pizzas. They turned out so yummy. This is the first time we have had our own grill and have grilled on our own. We think we are doing pretty good!

This next picture I took while sitting on our porch swing looking out onto our yard while our pizzas cooked. It is so green and pretty and very quiet. I love it. I will definitely miss the views and the quiet days and nights when we move in 2 weeks into town.

As we were grilling we turned around and looked up and saw 4 little birds nests. It's like they are making a little village. I guess our front porch is the hot place to live right now.

Monticello

Spencer's parents just got here and the first thing we did was go to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was so neat. The house is beautiful and sits on over 500 acres. The views were breathtaking.

There is a wonderful walkway lined in gorgeous flowers that wraps around the huge front lawn.

The grounds also include a large vegetable garden and fruit garden. I can't believe how immaculate this vegetable garden is. And look at the view in the distant....beautiful!

7 Weeks

Well, I'm still pregnant! I am 7 weeks today and things are going pretty good. This ultrasound was taken last week. Isn't our baby adorable! HA! I can't wait until I can see more on the ultrasound picture. We have our next appointment next week. I have definitely been sick. I haven't thrown-up yet, thank goodness, but I have been very nauseous. It comes and goes but when I do get it, it lasts all day. None of this "morning" sickness for me...it's "all day" sickness. In fact, last Sunday it was the worst day I have had so far. I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed all day but what-do-you-know...we were speaking in church that day! What a day. I put a small plastic bag in my purse just in case I had an "accident". I was SO sick! I am watching my weight closely and trying to eat right. I actually lost 2 pounds then I gained one back, so I am still down 1 pound. I guess my ovaries are still really big, which they are kind of concerned about. They will tell me more next week at my appointment. To be honest, I still worry about miscarrying. I am trying to be good and stick with the "no exercise" rule and just take slow walks. I can't wait until I am out of the high-risk pregnancy category.

Summer Job

Spencer finally got a summer job. He is going to be a research assistant for 2 professors on campus. This is a great opportunity for him to work on his research skills, because even out of law school at your first firm, that is basically all you do anyway. The 2 professors are going to treat it like a "firm" job and make him keep track of "billable hours", research real-life practical stuff (whatever that is. ha!) and do write-ups on cases and things like that. It doesn't pay as much as a firm would but it does pay so we are thrilled; any little bit helps. This job is also great for him because I can keep working at my job and we don't have to move or relocate over the summer.

IT WORKED!!

Yes, I am pregnant! We can't believe it. We couldn't be happier. I will be 5 weeks tomorrow and my preliminary due date is December 17th. Since we did In-Vitro it is still considered to be a high-risk pregnancy. The week of May 7th we will hear the baby's heartbeat, if that goes well then I won't be high-risk anymore and I can then go to my normal OBGYN. I think we are still in shock and it doesn't seem real yet. It has been a long and sometimes rough road. We have been blessed in so many ways and are so thankful for this greatest blessing of all!

A Blessing & A Miracle

You are not going to believe this. So we already feel so blessed that I was able to get into the study at Shady Grove Fertility Clinic because we only had to pay $5500 instead of about $14000. Yesterday Tasha, my nurse at Shady Grove, called and said she needed to verify my address. I gave her my address and she then said, "You heard about the good news, right?" I said, "What good news?" I thought she was talking about that fact that they were able to freeze 2 of our embryos. She then told me that the study has gone so well, way beyond their expectations that the medical group that is conducting the study has decided they don't want any financial burdens on the study patients and we are getting a 100% refund!! They are mailing us a check back for $5500! I just about died. Tasha laughed and said, "It's almost like winning the lottery." As soon as I hung up the phone I started to cry. I cannot believe how blessed we are! Spencer and I couldn't stop talking about it. We just can't believe that a medical company has decided to do that. You never hear of stuff like that happening and to us!! $5500 is a lot of money and a huge financial burden off our shoulders. We really feel this is a blessing and a miracle from Heaven! We thank God everyday for all our many blessings!

Freezing Embryos

They were able to freeze 2 of our embryos. That is very good news. Using frozen embryos are good and bad. They are good because I don't have to go through all those shots and the egg retrieval again, they are ready for implantation. The bad thing is that your pregnancy rate goes down to about 30%. They gave us a 65% pregnancy rate with our one fresh embryo. So it goes down a lot. Whether or not this pregnancy works we will be using both of our frozen embryos in the future. Because the pregnancy rate drops they will put back both at the same time. The price doesn't really drop that much with the use of frozen embryos. It only knocks off about $3000 of the total price, meaning it will be about $8000-$10000 to do another cycle. Ouch! Thank goodness for student loans! ha!

All Done

We had the embryo transfer on Monday at 12:15pm. Everything went well and they said that the embryo was high quality. We don't know yet how many they are going to be able to freeze for future use, they will call us with updates about that. We are home now and I am actually at work today. I feel okay, still bloated from the large ovaries but doing well. Our next appointment is April 16, they will do blood work and an ultrasound to see if I am pregnant. Thanks for everyone's prayers, love and support through this whole process.

IVF Fertilization Day 3

I didn't have the transfer done today. They called me this morning and pushed it back until Monday, at noon (day 5). I have an appointment tomorrow morning to check for infection and fluid build-up from the egg retrieval. I haven't been feeling well and have been in a lot of pain so they are going to have me come in so they can make sure I am still doing okay. They said they pushed me back to a Day 5 transfer because we have a lot of embryos still doing very well. It is a good thing to do a Day 5 transfer because you have strong, robust embryos and pregnancy rates are higher on a Day 5 transfer. They will only transfer 1 embryo on Day 5. If we would have had a Day 3 transfer they would have put back 2. We are almost there...can't wait for all of this to be over. What a roller-coaster week and experience this has all been!

IVF Fertilization Day 2

Today they called me and said that about 7 are at the 4-cell stage, 5 at the 3-cell stage and 7 stayed at the 2-cell stage. They scheduled me for a Day 3 transfer, which is tomorrow. My appointment is at 2pm. They still might call me in the morning and change to a Day 5 transfer depending on how they grow tonight. They kind of leveled off a little bit. Almost all of their transfers are Day 3 transfers anyway, so it's not a big deal. They say our embryos still look good.

Below, I added a picture of the needle I use for my bum shots. As you can see, it is bigger than the other needles I have used. It is wider and longer. The medicine is actually an oil based medicine so the needle has to be wider so the oil can fit. Anyway, everything is still going great.

IVF Fertilization Day 1

Today they called me and said that 19 embryos have made it to the 2-cell stage. Tomorrow they expect about 9 to make it to the 8-cell stage. All embryos that implant (which means I'm pregnant) do so at the blastocyst stage regardless of the stage of development at which they are transferred. So even if they do the transfer on Day 3 (Saturday), the embryos wouldn't implant into the lining of the uterus until they are at the blastocyst stage. That is why the pregnancy rate is higher if you transfer on Day 5 (Monday), they are ready to implant immediately. Last night I started my bum shots. Spencer and I went to an injection class on Tuesday and I think he feels more confident and understands more of how to give me the shot. He is doing a great job. I usually ice the spot for about 20 minutes beforehand and it really helps. It really isn't that bad...honestly it isn't. I know some of you are probably thinking..."yeah right", but it's really quick and I barely feel it. It hurts worse afterwards because I am supposed to rub the spot for a while to massage the medicine deep into the muscle. Then the next day it is a little sore, kind of like a bruise. We switch sides every night to even it out.

I am still recovering from the egg retrieval; I still have some abdominal pain and cramping. The pain medicine really has helped a lot.

IVF Egg Retieval

This morning was my egg retrieval. Everything went very well. We couldn't believe it when they told us but I had 28 eggs!!!! I knew I had a lot of eggs because the last day or so I have had bad stomach pains and cramps and I was bloated; but I had no idea it was going to be that many. The nurses and the doctor were surprised as well and kept saying, "you had a lot of eggs." I guess my body was loving that medicine. The procedure took a little longer than normal because I had so many eggs, and I feel a little more pain because of it too. I am on a low does of Vicodin which helps the pain. I slept a lot today and finally got up and I have been walking around. I do feel better but I know it will take a while for the pain to go away completely. Spencer has been taking good care of me! They will call us tomorrow and let us know how many they fertilize and how they are doing.

IVF Update

I took my trigger shot last night at 8:45pm and boy was it intense for a few minutes. At about 8:25pm I went upstairs to get ready and then realized that no one told me how much to give myself of the medicine. I started to panic. I called Tasha and she didn't answer so I called the Shady Grove Emergency Hotline. They said that a Dr. will call me back in 30 minutes. I told her that I didn't have 30 minutes and I was supposed to give myself the shot in 15 minutes. She said that is all she could do is page the Dr. on call. I hung up with her and Tasha called me back. She gave me the proper dose amount. I was so relieved. Then as soon as I hung up with her Dr. Saffan called me and told me the amount as well. Whew! I quickly got the needle ready. Spencer was kind of nervous...afterall it was his first time being a nurse! He did a great job. The shot was quick and not too bad. I iced the spot for a few minutes beforehand and I think it helped. Today, Tuesday, I don't have any Dr. appointments and I am done with all my stimulation medicine...yes that means I didn't have to give myself a single shot today! Yeah!! I can totally tell a difference in how I feel though. I have constant pain in my lower abdomen, like cramping. I mean I have like 10 large eggs instead of one so go figure! I have to be at the office tomorrow by 7:15am to start the prep work for the egg retrieval. I am put under for the procedure, afterwards I have to stay in bed there for about an hour to wake up and get oriented again. Then I go home and rest all day...I will be on pain medication as well. They also said that I need to start a high protein diet with lots of Gatorade for the next couple of weeks...at least until the pregnancy test. So off to Costco for cases of Gatorade! Well, wish me luck for tomorrow.

Below are pictures of us with my nurse Kelly Lee and with my doctor, Dr. Saffan! They are so great! We couldn't have asked for better people to work with!

IVF Stimulation Day 8

I am progressing nicely! I now have 8 that are over 1.7!! I am so excited. I didn't trigger last night but I am for sure triggering tonight! They will call me around 5pm and tell me the exact time to take my trigger shot; my egg retrieval will be Wednesday morning.