OMGoodness!

It has been four months.  And a lot has happened.  We moved into our house, finally. I am 20 weeks pregnant with boy/girl twins and I am finally starting up my doula business.

Our house closed escrow on February 11th.  That day took forever to come.  We didn't move in right away though.  A few updates needed to be done to the house. We scraped the popcorn ceilings, had all the walls re-plastered and painted.  Got new carpet in the bedrooms and put in new lighting fixtures.  Then we moved.  All in two days.  We still have to update the bathrooms and parts of the kitchen but that can wait.  In the next couple of weekends we are going to start on the front and back yards.  We already removed lots of overgrown bushes and trees so no we need to get the grass looking good and flowers planted.

Like I said I am half way done with this pregnancy.  We found out at 12 weeks that they were a boy and a girl.  L&G are thrilled and her first thought was a girl for me and a brother for Lachlan.  I am growing everyday and some days I look hugh just depending on how they are laying.  I feel them move little bits here and there but the little girls placenta is on the front of my uterus and is blocking most of what I should be able to feel.  We are due labor day weekend but anytime after my 30th birthday in August the will be welcome.

I have my first doula client.  She is due any day now.  I hope that I don't suck at being a support person but I have the knowledge I just have to put it into action.  I also have my web page up.  It will change over the next few months as I am getting used to html codes.  So check out my page and if you know of anybody who is looking for a birth doula send them my way.  Bellies N Babies



  

Making Babies

Started the meds last night.  It really wasn't that bad.  But these are the little needles.  So it will get worse.  All in the name of making babies (well we hope only one but will love two if it happens).

We have our calendar!

We are going to make L a big brother.  We finished our contract and sent it off to the clinic and now we are getting started.  Monday I so for an u/s and then I start injections.  And I get to continue those for the next 12 weeks :) We should transfer around Dec 16th so that means I will hopefully have a great BFP to give to L&G for Christmas.  

My Beta Day

It was actually Thursday. I just wanted to gather my thought before I posted. As you may have figured it wasn't good news. It came back at less than 2 which is definately not pregnant.
I was very confused by the signs my body was giving. I wanted so bad for this transfer to work. I think more than I had ever wanted one to result in a pregnancy. Every other time we had always had a plan B if it didn't work but this time there was no plan B. This transfer was only meant to be a one time thing. I wasn't expecting anything but success. But I did my best and the embie didn't stick.
I talked with Bill & Bill after Anita had called and given them the results. They were so great. I am sure they were disappointed but they have two beautiful babies that lessened the hurt. I had so much support from them, Lisa (my IM) and from all my friends IRL and online that my disappointment was lessend as well. And if you don't believe how great they are here is what they wrote on my Facebook page.

"Making babies with you, Erica, over the last three years has been wonderful. You, Nick, and the girls, (& your Mom) have become family to us. We love you. We are so grateful for the experiences we've shared with you and the little babies you carried for us. We appreciate everyone in your life who supports you. It is nice to see all the well-wishers. We've had so much fun....we're going to have to get together again real soon. XOXO. The Bills"

I am so glad that I had the chance to meet them and carry the twins. I'm sure that they will be in our lives for a long time and for that I am greatful.

6.5dp5dt

Still a BFN. But technically I am only 11.5 days past ovulation and there is still a chance I will get a positive in the next few days. I am trying not to worry about it but it's hard not to.

4.5dp5dt

I thought I saw two lines but i think my eyes were playing tricks on me. It's still very early and by this weekend I should know more. I have been extra tired and I don't feel like I'm getting sick so maybe it's just an early sign that this little one is snuggling right on in for the next nine months.

2.5dp5dt

Feeling a little crampy tonight. I am going to shoot up (progesterone only tonight) and then head off to bed. I hope this is a good sign. :)

The Horrid 2ww

Transfer was Monday the 6th at about 11:30am. We got there at 10:30 for blood draw and then to get set. All four of us (Bill, Bill, Nick and I) were in the room waiting, the office was crazy busy that morning, so we decided to play some cards. Gin it was. Well to make it interesting we added rules, like passing 4 cards to the left and 2 were wild. There were others but my vailumed brain makes it a bit hard to remember them all.
We had 5 remaining frozen embryos. Our plan was to thaw them all and transfer the best looking one. When they were thawed on Friday only 4 survived that first night. By Sunday we had 1 six cell, 2 five cell, and 1 four cell. Monday morning we only had one left. It looked beautiful and there were too many cells to count. So we transfered one great looking cell that will hopefully be a great looking baby in about 38 weeks.
I didn't get a chance to see my NC because of the busy-ness of the office but she called me later that afternoon. She said that all my levels were great and keep doing what I was doing. She asked about what we transfered and I let her know the whole story. She said that when they see agressive embryos that divide that quick those are the ones that tend to split. So we may get twins again after all.
I will have the final results on the 16th. But my POAS habit will be starting in about T-minus 32 hours. :)

The calm before the storm

9:50 pm and I am sitting in my hotel room in Santa Monica. We had a fun day. It started off with a 3 hour drive from Porterville. We checked into the hotel at 12:45 and got warm chocolate chip cookies. They sure do know how to make a hormonal woman feel good :) The guys and the twins got here a little after us and we went to lunch. We walked down the promonade and watched a bunch of street performers. Then everybody started to get tired and back to the hotel we came.
Well you can't have great weather and not swim, but you can't swim without swimsuits. So off to Target to buy the girls suits. A little hard to find for tourists, even with the garmin, but we made it back and headed out to the pool. The water was chilly but Penny did not seem to mind. She was bouncing around like crazy. She looked like a regular ol' guppie. Rex on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the water.
So out of the water and on to dinner. What a mess. That is all I will say. The twins fell asleep and the guys had to take their food to the room. We stayed and finished and now I am here.
Tomorrow is Tday. We should be getting the final call in the morning but all looks well. We will be transfering at 11am and then I will offically be in the 2ww. Well I hope that it does not last two weeks and that I get a nice BFP (big fat positive) about 5-6 days after tranfser. So stay tuned. You will be the first to know when I pee.

CD 13

Lining check today. For those that dont know it's an ultrasound with the infamous 'wenie wand'. The nurse gets all up close and personal with you, does her thing and leaves. At least my nurse talks to me and asks questions about our cycle so it's not too bad.
It was 8.4mm and triple striped, that's good. I had two follicles at less than 8mm, that's good too. I start my progesterone tonight and continue until 12 weeks of pregnancy. I also start taking baby asprin, not to sure what it does but I've taken it with every cycle. Maybe I'll ask about it on Monday.
So as of now Monday is for sure. We will know what time on Sunday.

CD, wait does anybody know?!?

I am so lost but who cares I have 6 days left before I transfer. I am an old pro at my shots. I start progresterone tomorrow after my labs come in and my scan. I am hoping my lining is nice and fluffy (at least 7mm) and continues to get fluffier.

All my meds (first batch anyways) Estrogen

Progesterone & NEEDLES (Ooooh)

CD 8

Only 11 more days until transfer. I have been giving myself estrogen shots since Saturday and I should be starting my progesterone soon. I will know more after we get my lab results tomorrow. I am getting excited.
Saturday the 4th I am goinng to a baby shower in Porterville. My BIL's wife is having twins so I made two diaper cakes. When I get my internet back at home I will post the pictures.

Then Sunday morning we are going to start the drive down. I am trying to plan attending the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues. We went the day before we transfered the twins. I think it was good luck juju. Then the big day will be on Monday. So that's the plan.
I let you know how it turns out. But until thenn the suspense will be killing you, at least it will be with me, lol.

ETA: Pictures

CD 19

So I skipped a few days but they were not interesting. Now here Iam on CD 19 and as expected I will reset to CD 1. Tomorrow I need to get my blood drawn to check my E2 levels and then I will know when to start my injections. Now is the countdown. 19 days until we transfer.

CD 10, 11, 12

I am so bored with this already. I want to be in the nitty gritty of all the shots already. We have less than a month to transfer and about a week before all the 'fun' stuff begins. I have my first lab draw next Friday and I should also be starting my estrogen. I still haven't found a monitoring doc yet but my NC doesn't seem concerned. I only have to have one scan done this cycle. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

CD 7-9

One more week of BCP's. That's about it.

CD 6

This morning all of my meds arrived. I start them on the 20th if all goes well. That's about it.

CD 3- 5

Same ol same ol. I am on BCP's and prenatal vitamins. I talked with Anita (nc) and we are set for April 6th. That means a Christmas baby. The guys are excited. We will (hopefully, fingers crossed) get to spend Christmas with Bill, Bill, Rex & Penny.
Meds are ordered and I should get them tomorrow. I start estrogen (IM (intramuscular)) on the 20th. Never had to do it that way before so I hope I don't freak like I did with all my other shots. But only time will tell. I still need to find someone to monitor me here in Modesto, I really don't want to fly to LA more than necessary.

CD 2

Not much going on. Starting my BCP's today. Emailed my nc and I'm waiting on her to get back with me. That's it for now.

ETA: I received my fertility charm from TL on SMO. She was gracious enough to send it to me with a fertility blessing attached. There have been quite a few multiples conceived lately by women with these charms so I hope it works but not as much as it did for the other ladies. :)

CD 1

I am officially cycling to make the twins a big brother and big sister. Today is CD (cycle day) 1. I am going to blog everyday (well hopefully) to let you know what's going on. I talked to the guys today and we made a plan for them to venture out to CA a few days before and a few days after our tentative transfer date. It looks like April 13th now so the countdown begins. We were even trying to figure out our due date based on the transfer date, so we know this is going to work.

So far this week

I have been so lazy! I have had nothing on my mind but my missing period. I really wish I could see what was going on in my body. As soon as I start (CD1) I need to let my nurse coordinator know. Then we can get our calendar. Does my body not know that I have people waiting? I think that's the problem. The waiting. Normally I just go with the flow, no pun intended. I really have never tracked my cycles as I have been on some sort of contraceptive or pregnant, or cycling to become pregnant for the majority of the last 5 years. So I just wait.
But while waiting I have been researching what to do to help along the start of my cycle. I found a site that gives information about herbs that are supposed to help. So for the past 2 days I have been drinking parsley tea and taking 1500mg of Vit C. So far nada. Well what else can I do? So I will meditate. So not me but every now and then I need a good talking to myself.