5 Weeks 0 Days - Meet Sprout!

Today we had our first ultrasound. According to my calculations I'm 4 weeks 6 days but per the RE I'm 5 weeks exactly. So we only have one day difference. Yay! I'm sure my OB will go by my last period so it doesn't matter anyway.

 

My wife, Baby C and I went to this very special appointment. My nerves didn't kick in until we were actually in the waiting room. Then they called my name. I just kept praying for there to be something on the screen. I haven't had a beta blood test since last Friday, October 25th and I found myself thinking all sorts of things. I tried my best to just remain calm and keep telling myself, "C, this is all out of your control and out of your hands." All I know is....I've been doing all I can humanly do to give this little life the best start. Prenatal vitamins, rest, positive meditation, healthy diet etc....and that's really all I can do.

 

Back to my appointment - The RE does some calculations for my due date and then grabs the "dildo cam" {A term one of my blog readers/secret group members introduced me to. Ha!}. As soon as it's in she says, "Ahhhh we definitely have a pregnancy here!" She continues to say how everything looks perfect and some other stuff but at that point I zoned out and was just looking at the screen crying. It was so emotional for me. My wife was paying attention I'm sure. She was showing Baby C the screen saying, "Look at your brother or Sissy!"

 

She gave us some pictures of our little Sprout and handed me some early pregnancy paperwork to read over. She also told me to schedule an appointment with our OB in the next few weeks. I will go back for one, maybe 2 more ultrasounds before she releases me. I just still cannot believe this! Like, there is a baby in my belly and I have the pictures to prove it! I'm looking forward to next week to prayerfully see/hear Sprouts heartbeat.

 

I'm still feeling really well. I have times when my stomach feels a little sick but other than that I'm fine. I do get really tired after lunch and sometimes when I get home from work but I really feel good. Oh, and I've decided to not get on the scale until after delivery lol. I just can't bring myself to see that number increasing. When I get weighed in at the doctor's office I will just tell them to not tell me the number and I will close my eyes when I step up on there. Smh lol

 

I'm just so truly thankful. God is Good.

 

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone!!!!!!!

Final Beta Results! 4weeks 1 day

I can hardly type this because I'm so excited! I can tell you one thing, while I do pray on the regular outside of being pregnant...I've found myself praying extra hard these past few days. Really hard. Mainly because long before we actually started trying, well... back when my wife was going thru this process with Baby C, TTC showed me just how NOT in control of life we actually are. No matter how much we plan, time insems or anything else. I have to just trust and lean on God that everything will all work out and I will have a happy & healthy 9 months. I have to trust that because if not this process will literally drive me crazy mentally, emotionally and physically.

 

Here are the Results:

 

1st Beta (October 21st, 2013)

 

HCG - 50.7

Progesterone  - 13.5

 

*Due to low progesterone I was instructed to increase from one suppository to 2 at bedtime.*

 

2nd Beta (October 23rd, 2013)

 

HCG - 158

Progesterone  - 18

 

3rd *And Final Beta* (October 25th, 2013)

 

HCG - 418!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Progesterone - Nurse just said "almost 20" So I'm assuming 19 something

 

We are scheduled for our first ultrasound on next Wednesday! I have been experiencing waves of nausea since 3weeks preggers. It is progressively getting worse. Especially on my ride to work in the morning. It's not horrible just yet but I will be dusting off the seabands and keeping some crackers nearby just in case. The only symptom so far is extreme fatigue. I could literally sleep the day away while watching the Halloween Movie marathons that are on these days. Other than that I'm feeling well and just trying to eat healthy and REST. Grow Sprout GROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank. You. Lord.

 

....And thank all of you for the messages and well wishes. I'm still struggling a little with BFP guilt but I continue to pray for all of you out there still waiting for that magical moment.

The Results are in.....the TWW is Over!

BFP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the FIRST Try!

 

I'm still in shock and I thank God. My eggs aren't scrambled afterall! I was mentally prepared for it not to work the first time and even told myself getting pregnant on the 1st try was really unrealistic. At 36 soon to be 37 in November I successfully got pregnant on the first try with no meds & no monitoring. God is Good.

 

Here's how it went down

 

So, you all know I started taking the pro.gesterone suppositories at 3dpo. I felt like we had perfect timing for our insems. We did our inseminations on CD12 (we received the first smiley at 8:30pm on CD12), CD13 & CD14. One at 5pm and the other 2 around 8pm-9pm.

 

I did document "symptoms" but I really thought what little symptoms I did have were all due to the progesterone. I was bummed because I didn't feel pregnant. There were a few that stood out tho....

1. Neon Yellow Urine

2. Bleeding Gums (I had it one morning then it stopped)

3. NO cervical mucus

4. A little bloody ewcm on 8dpo

5. A LOT of ewcm at 9dpo (I never have ewcm this late in my cycle)

6. Constant Dreaming!!!! OMG!

7. This may be TMI but.... at 10dpo I had an orgasm in my sleep. Yep. Weird.

8. Very very very emotional

9. Sleepy alllllll of the time.

10. The smell of my coffee almost made me gag. I LOVE coffee.

 

Again....these were the ones that stood out as "maybe" it worked BUT I felt fine otherwise. There were a few moments of me feeling kinda "sick" but with the pro.gesterone I really thought it was because of that. I was actually getting sad close to test day because I thought for sure I would be feeling different and I really didn't. Plus when I read about so many women having increased creamy cm and I had literally NONE I thought for sure I was out. My wife pointed out that she suspected something when I was always sleep for the 11pm news. This is HUGE because I watch the news every night. But the days leading up to test day I crashed by 10pm at the latest.

 

TEST DAY

Then came test day.... I woke up on 11dpo and took a First Response HPT. My wife and I decided to wait to test and 11dpo was the date we selected. At 5am the test was negative. Stark white. Nothing. I was ok...my wife was very sad. Which in turn made me sad. I told her I wanted to stop the progesterone to allow my cycle to start. If I wasn't pregnant no sense in dealing with them another day and delaying our next attempt. She told me to call the nurse when the fertility clinic opened at 9am. I did. I told the nurse I took a pregnancy test at 5am and it was negative and asked her if I should stop taking the progesterone or wait until 14dpo like my Doctor instructed. Mind you...I was supposed to come on the next day at 12dpo so I told her I know my test would be positive by now because I'm supposed to come on tomorrow. She said, "Keep taking the progesterone. It's still early. You've added progesterone to the mix and that could change things. So, wait a few more days and you may be calling me back with good news." I thought....yeah right.

 

I went to the dollar store at 11:30am to pick up more tests. I felt like we had better luck with those test when my wife was preggers. She got her BFP at 9dpo. I stopped for lunch and headed back to the job. I looked at the test and thought..."let me just take one now. I'm sure it will be negative but oh well..." I went to the bathroom at work and took the test. I brought the test to my desk. Gross, I know, but I used antibacterial wipes. Whatever. I let the test sit and I looked at it and thought I was seeing things. This was at 12noon. I used the flashlight on my iphone and instantly started shaking. I called my wife and could hardly get the words out. I said, "BABY!!!!!! OMG! I THINK I SEE SOMETHING ON THE TEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was faint. But there was a line. I snapped a pic and sent it to her phone.

Immediately she responded, "I see it too OMG!!!!!!!!!"

 

I sent the pic to a dear friend of ours who is like family because she was soooo instrumental in our TTC journey with #1, Baby girl.... I sent it to her because I just knew it was an evap line. There was just no way. I've never seen an evap line so I really just wanted to make sure this wasn't it! She replied back, "HOLY SHYT! That's NO evap line it has color!! You're preggers!!!!" I just sat there in shock and still not believing what had just happened.

 

I just knew when I woke up at 7am the next morning it would be gone. But it wasn't. It was still there and I was thankful beyond words that it was.

 

Guilt

There was a part of me that felt kinda guilty. Guilty that some women have to endure months even years to get pregnant. They have to endure all kinds of tests and medication. And sometimes it still doesn't happen for them. Like, I feel so blessed that I didn't have to go thru any of that. I just thank God for everything. I said a silent prayer for those women I know who are going thru this. Praying they get their BFP soon. Praying they get to experience this moment and this feeling.

 

My first BETA was this morning and the numbers was: 50.7 HCG

Here is a quote from my Blog Dated 07-29-13: "Mark this day......7-29-13.....something tells me I'm gonna get pregnant the first try, or at max 3. I don't know what it is...but something internal tells me that it's gonna happen pretty quickly for me. It makes me excited and nervous at the SAME DAMN TIME! If it's gonna happen fast I would rather it happen first try....reason being, I'm not planning on telling family and friends until after our NT scan...which will put us in January. My moms birthday is the 11th so it would be a really nice birthday gift for her. But we shall see."

Thank. You. Lord.

Please continue to send prayer, positive energy, light and sticky baby dust our way. It really is appreciated and felt.

 

TTC: One down. Things you MUST consider during insems!

Yesterday was CD12. I started testing at CD7. All negative. While at work yesterday I called my wife and told her my morning and my afternoon opks were both negative but I felt something was happening or about to happen in baby making region. We went back and forth a little bit as to whether or not we should do an insem or not even though I didn't have a smiley yet. We decided to just go for it.....we figured, what the heck?!

 

I came home and got myself together. We contacted the donor and then waited. Less than an hour after speaking with him, the doorbell was ringing. We all sat around for a bit catching up and sharing a few laughs about us being "here" again and then I went to the bathroom. {TMI} Different from earlier in the day I had some tacky stretchy but clearish cervical fluid. I immediately said to myself, "yeah...I'm glad we decided to do this tonight because something is indeed about to happen." I told my wife to get the preseed so I could insert it while we were all sitting around talking. Then I went back to our bedroom.

 

I said a little prayer and then my wife and Baby C came into the bedroom. We kissed each other...Baby C rubbed my belly for good luck baby dust and then my wife took the donor all his "products." He did his duty...he called out to my wife, "Special delivery" lol...and then she went to put Baby C in her crib and get the goods. I could tell she was nervous but she did great! She was very gentle and all I remember thinking was, "Lord, Thy Will Be done." 

 

Here's the funny part (close your ears kids)........after all the goods were inside of me, I was like, "You know what comes next"...I said... "I wanna feel you on me so I can........y'all know.......lol She went to straddle me and I suddenly blocked my woman region with my hand like "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wayment!! Are you ovulating too!?! Get Offffaaaa me before we BOTH end up pregnant!!" Ahahahahahaaaaaa! Pure Lesbian comedy. Anyway, we made skin contact (away from her woman region)...I released....we wanted to make sure to get the swimmers up there. Afterwards I put my legs up for about 15mintes. We had already put the instead cup in so things were nice and capped off. My wife went back into the living room and her and the donor chatted a bit more then he left. We inseminated at 5pm.

 

I decided to do another opk at at 8:30PM just to check to see if there were any changes since my 1pm test and WE GOT A SMILEY!!!!!!!!!! All I remember is gasping for breath and yelling out to my wife! She was like, "what's wrong!?" I said..."the test is positive! We got a smiley!!" Her reply, "Oh MY GAWD!!" lol

 

Here is a screenshot from my iperiod app from yesterday. lol I'm so thankful I started testing early AND that I tested twice per day instead of once!

 

 

So......one insem down and two more to go! Then we are off to the land of the TWW! I will start my pro.gesterone on Thursday. Please send us BLUE sticky baby dust!

 

 

 

 

TTC: No Turning Back Now!

So I lied. I thought I wasn't going to blog until after insems and testing but I had to update you all and document where I am today......

 

 

1st - Disney was GREAT! I had all my "Last Call" festivities and sipped my last beer last Thursday.

 

2nd - I had my FIRST non-alcoholic Brew yesterday. O'Douls. It was special. Verrrry special. Not bad. But Not Bud Ice or Miller Light. Let's just say I'm in the experimental stage of finding which one will be my bff for the next year. Plus, once we actually insem I will ONLY drink the non-alcoholic brews that are truly 100% non-alcoholic.

 

I am officially on CD6. Yikes Smikes! This means we will inseminate next Sunday - Tuesday & Wednesday. This may change to Monday - Tuesday & Wednesday depending on when I get the first smiley. I called in my script for the pro.gesterone yesterday so I'm just waiting for the call to come pick it up. Donor is all set to go and he has our tentative ovula.tion schedule. We have our sterile specimen cups, instead cups to keep the swimmers in, ovulation kit(s), syringes, hip raising pillow, vibrator {evil laugh} and all other baby making kit items ready to go. I'm eating the "Boy Diet" and I've started meditating and speaking to our unborn child. We are now just waiting for the smile. Then it's on to the TWW. Blah.

FYI - I will NOT be testing before my cycle is due. Nope. Not gonna do it. So I won't know if it's two pink lines or clean smooth white until the very end of the tww.

 

-Sidebar- Oh, so....I was all good about this whole ttc #2 thing and not having anyyyy second thoughts until we got back from Orlando! I guess that's when shyt got real in my mind that this was about to happen. All of a sudden thoughts hit me. Yeah, thoughts...we all know when you are voluntarily giving up life as you know it {even when it's for something as amazing as a baby} the last thing you want to start doing is THINKING! Is this the right time for Baby #2, How will Baby C adjust? Will our marriage take a hit dealing with two kiddos? Finances, oh LAWD finances!? Sleep!? Fun?! Two kids?! Doctors appointments?! Tests?! PAINNNN??!! Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?

 

While I quickly stopped thinking.....It was so good to have a conversation with my wife about my concerns, fears etc and have her to talk me off the thinking ledge. Don't wanna go there again. lol So thankful I had the common sense to marry well. Very well. She's my sanity. We talk about everything and our marriage is solid. For that I am truly thankful and extremely blessed.

 

Truth is...there's never really a perfect time to have one or two or three or how ever many kids folks opt to partake in. Really..I mean come on. Life in itself throws so many curve balls you'll never really BE ready 100%... because as well know there will always be something looming. Not saying you shouldn't use common sense when opting into parenthood but I'm just sayin' you'll never be at 100% on the nothing going on so let's have a kid(s) scale. 

 

6 Days until Inseminations.