Tuesday, April 24, 2007

6 weeks

Today I am officially 6 weeks pregnant. Symptoms? Well, I'm tired as heck, sleeping poorly and having to get up at least once to pee every night. Thought I'd have a while before that one kicked in! Also still having problems with nausea, rarely in the morning though (my morning sickness wasn't in the morning with my daughter either!). Mostly in the late afternoon and evening, sometimes at night. For some reason, I've discovered that the nausea is worse on the days that I nap with my daughter in the afternoon. Must be related to laying down somehow. I can't figure it out! Oh yeah, and my nipp1es are extremely tender. As in "don't touch or I may scream". Hubby has forgotten a couple times and paid the price! Sorry if that's TMI!

The first ultrasound is coming up in 1 week and 1 day. May 2. It cannot possibly get here fast enough! I'm nervous and excited. I'm certainly not expecting anything to be wrong, but you just never know.

Friday, April 20, 2007

She did it! Yay!

Ever since asking to wear panties for the first time last week (Tuesday I believe), my little girl has not had one peepee accident. Yes, she has had poopoo accidents, but she has gone peepee in the potty every time. She has even stayed dry all night, and has actually done that for about 2 months now (she didn't like when she peed through her diaper and got her big girl bed all wet so after the second time she started staying dry all night). So, no peepee accidents for over a week.
As if that wasn't reason enough to be proud of her, yesterday, last night actually, she ran to the potty and went poopoo all by herself! Of course she got all kinds of praise and the rewards we had promised her (a dress-up Dor@ doll that's been sitting on top the fridge and a big Dora balloon, which Daddy took her to the store for right away). And then, she did it again tonight! This time she got an outfit for the Dor@ doll. If she does it again tomorrow she'll get another outfit. After that I'm not sure what we'll do.... for one, we'll be out of outfits unless I go to a couple stores to find them. I don't know at what point we're supposed to stop the rewards! But I'm thinking a week sounds decent. If she can do it for a week straight then it shouldn't take big bribes anymore. Guess we'll see!
Anyways, I just had to brag because I am so incredible proud of her! And she is SO proud of herself, it's so exciting! She's even gotten to wear her big girl p@nties to bed the past 2 nights - no diapers at all for 2 whole days! I'm in heaven! Can you tell how giddy I am with pride?!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Beta #3

708

I was expecting 1000 so I was concerned, but the doctor said it was fine. Technically I guess it still has the rest of today to make it over 1000 but I'm still a little concerned. I was assuming that doubling every 48 hours meant it should increase by half each day so that would have made my expected beta 1032 for today (my betas last beta was around an hour earlier last Monday), but I guess maybe it doesn't work that way. If the doctor isn't concerned I guess I shouldn't be either but I can't help it!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

My baby loves me!

He got me my pie..... now that's love! ;)

I'm in love.....

with Vill@ge Inns pie-of-the-month. It's called Europe@n Truffle and OMG it is wonderful! My daughter and I finished it off last night and I wanted my hubby to get another one tonight! He prefers the Pe@nut Butter Cup though so that's what we are getting. Never mind that you can get that one anytime and the wonderful goodness of the Truffle pie will be gone when the month is over! Oh well, at least I get more pie right?

In other news, the nausea is a bit worse. No vomiting or really even feeling like I'm going to vomit.... just kind of feeling like I want to vomit. Does that make any sense? And my stomach has turned on me in other ways as well. I'm feeling like I've just started taking the Metformin all over again, for those of you who know the wonderful side effects you get in the beginning! They had finally settled down to a reasonable once or twice a day..... now I'm back to 3-4! Ugh! Hopefully I can stop the Metformin soon..... I remember reading you are supposed to continue it for at least part of the pregnancy but I don't remember the details. And of course I haven't been able to reach the doctor.

Oh well, I'm going to read until hubby gets back with pie so we can finish watching Surviv0r....

Possible pregnancy symptoms

Okay, I know this is something of interest to anyone in the 2 week wait so I thought I'd post about it. I really didn't have as many 'symptoms' this cycle as I've thought I had in previous cycles. Just goes to show that my previous ones were from the trigger shot and my upcoming AF. I didn't have any cramping in the few days before AF would have been due. My face actually cleared up a little instead of breaking out worse like it usually does. I also lost some weight, probably because my body is burning more energy and using more calories etc to establish the pregnancy. I did have a couple episodes of nausea though no vomiting and really I had the nausea in previous cycles too so that can't be called a symptom. As I said, I didn't have cramping, but I have had weird pains in my lower abdomen, usually on my left side but yesterday they switched to my right side. Not really sure what that's from. Since the positive beta I have also had some mild constipation which is a normal pregnancy symptom thanks to the hormone changes and your body trying to squeeze all the vitamins and nutrients possible out of your food before sending it through. Oh, and I got heartburn the other night from my mildly spicy chili. I almost never get heartburn unless pregnant. Oh and I've been having a very hard time sleeping, but the Gonal-F causes that too so I'm kind of used to it!
So, basically these are my possible symptoms:
1. No cramping when my normal AF was approaching
2. Less acne instead of the usual more as AF approached
3. Weight loss (about 5 pounds now) - I also had this with my daughter and remember the doctor saying it was common to first lose weight before starting to gain it
4. Strange twinges of pain, often constant, on either side of my lower abdomen
5. Mild constipation
6. Heartburn
7. Difficulty sleeping

Not much help I know, but that's all I've got! It's still very early (about 4wk2d).

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Trying to be a big girl (talking about kids&potty training)

This is a post about my daughter. She is 2 and a half and we have been trying to potty train since before she was 2. She has had steps forward and steps backward, but for more than a month now she has been waking up in the morning with a dry diaper and using the potty. Usually she will go #1 on the potty one more time during the day. I've been trying to get her to wear big girl panties for a while now to kind of force the potty training a little. She is definitely ready and able to control her bladder, etc. She just refuses to go #2 on the potty. This morning she went peepee on the potty twice then asked to wear big girl panties. I told her if she wears big girl panties she has to go peepee and poopoo on the potty, she can't go in her panties. She has had them on all day now and has gone peepee 3 more times on the potty. But no #2. I honestly have no idea how to convince this child to go #2 on the potty! She should be napping right now but I know as soon as I put a diaper on her she's going to go #2 and I don't want to go back to diapers. That's the worst thing to do when potty training is switch back and forth. She is so ready for this but so darned stubborn! We should be napping together in my bed right now (and boy could I use it!) but I don't want her to go #2 in her sleep and make a big mess. I'm at a loss. We've tried bribery, rewards, etc. She always gets lot of praise when she uses the potty. She seems to really enjoy wearing the panties. And she really is doing great today, I'm so proud of her for asking to wear the panties and not going peepee in them all day. But I have no idea what I'm doing here and apparently must be doing something wrong because she refuses to go #2. And I know she should need to go by now. She drank a lot of milk this morning and that usually guarantees us a lunch time stinky diaper. I thought for sure I was setting her up for her big reward by giving her all that milk this morning. But nope, doesn't seem to be working. ANd now we won't even get our nap so we're both going to end up on each other's nerves! Okay, she'll end up on my nerves because she'll be super-hyper. Which for her is impossible to explain because she is very hyper to begin with!

Anyways, guess I just needed to vent a little bit. I am feeling exhausted lately and everything is stressing me out and this is just the cherry on top.

Hope everyone else is having a great day!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Beta Results

86, up from 14 on Thursday (thought it was 11 but dr today said it was 14)

Test again in a week

By the way (update on my cat)

In all the excitement I forgot to give you an update on my cat, Sam, for those of you who were reading in February when I talked about all his problems with his leg. Unfortunately, we had to put Sam to sleep this past Friday. My husband has had him since he was a kitten and spent nearly 14 years with him. I've been with him for 10.5 years too. As you can imagine, it was a very difficult decision, but we know we did the right thing. The doctor said that the mass of infection in his leg was getting bigger and was obviously either bone cancer or a fungal infection and that either one would have spread through his body already. He was in a lot of pain and we couldn't stand to see him suffer anymore. Amazingly our daughter has done really weel with it - we told her that Sam was going to live with her Papa, Grandpa, Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa in Heaven where we can't see them. She has asked a couple of times if Sam is with them now and if they will feed him. I was really worried she would take it much harder than she has. We've been telling her for a while now that Sam is very sick and medicine was not making him better so he would be going to live in Heaven, so I think it helped that we prepared her. We are all still very sad and will miss him forever, but we're happy that he is in a better place and not hurting anymore.

Here is a picture of our Sam, with his littlest sister Juju (we have 4 cats... 3 now)

I had my blood drawn for my beta

but I have no idea when I will get my results. I was supposed to call the head nurse at the clinic when I left the lab so she could watch for my results and call me. I tried and tried and kept getting a busy signal. I called the regular message line and left a message, but they don't check those until the end of the day, and half the time (or more) they never even call me back. So I kept trying to call Cathy, the nurse. Tried and tried and tried some more and could not get through. I finally called the gyn clinic (they share an office) about 20 minutes ago and they told me that some of the phones (including Cathy's) are down because they are moving furniture around. So I asked if there was any other way I can reach her, or could they transfer me or get her. They told me all I could do is call the message line.

So, I'm sitting here wondering if I will even get my results today. And basically doubting it. And that really pi$$es me off. I'm going to keep trying to reach Cathy's number and if I don't hear anything soon my husband is going to try to leave work for a bit to go up to the clinic and ask to talk to Cathy or at least try to get them to give her a message to call me.

I'll let ya'll know when (if) I find anything out!

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! Hope you are all enjoying the holiday. My little girl had a blast going through her basket and searching for eggs that the Easter Bunny hid for her.
In case anyone is wondering, I'm still testing positive. Last night and this morning. Tomorrow we will know for sure! Hopefully in less than 24 hours!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Still positive....12dpiui; 14dptrigger

Used the Fir$t Re$p0nse Early Result or whatever they are called..... positive this morning. For $hits and grins last night I used the same brand and tested after only waiting maybe 3 hours after my last potty trip and even that came up positive. I figure if I can get a positive at night after only holding my urine for about 3 hours, there's a good chance I can believe it. I will still harbor some doubt until the beta comes back Monday. Thank you to the clinic for that wonderful doubt.

Thank you so much to those of you who have dropped by to lend your support and congratulations! I hope we find out Monday that I didn't jump the gun with my announcement! I'm feeling pretty confident right now... though not confident enough to tell anyone other than those of you who know where I'm at in my cycle. Not even my Mom knows! I'm not sure how long I will wait to tell everyone else.... I know, technically I should wait until after the first trimester because of the chance of miscarriage but I can't wait that long. With my daughter, I waited until after my 6 week scan where we saw the heartbeat. I think this time I will tell my family and those who know enough to ask. Everyone else can wait until after the 6 week scan.

I'm getting pretty excited here! Monday cannot possibly come fast enough! Then of course I'll have to wait to find out the numbers double. Argh! I just want to know now!

Friday, April 06, 2007

The doctor called

She said she wanted to make sure I understood that the test results do not indicate a "true pregnancy", because she got the impression from talking to the nurse that I may not have understood that. According to her, the beta results mean absolutely nothing because it is too early for a pregnancy to register on a beta. It has to be the trigger shot. Never mind that the trigger shot has always been out of my system by this time on my previous cycles. Doesn't mean anything, because it is too early for a pregnancy to show up so it has to be the trigger shot. She said that doesn't mean there's no chance I'm pregnant, it just means that as of right now there's no way a test could show it so we have to assume that I'm not so I don't get my hopes up.

I say bull$hit and quite frankly I am pissed that they are doing this to me. If that beta comes back positive Monday, I have half a mind to give them a piece of my mind! I understand that they don't want to tell me that I am definitely pregnant until they are certain, but do they have to have not just one, but two people call me and tell me that there's no way that test means I'm pregnant?! Couldn't they simply say that until we get a second beta and see the levels rise, we can't be certain what the results mean? At least leave me a little hope? Instead of telling me that there's no way the test results are accurate, basically telling me I'm not pregnant?

I'm going to the store tonight and while I'm there I'm buying the same exact pregnancy tests that I used on the previous 3 cycles. If that comes up positive tomorrow morning, I will feel much better. Because right now this stupid clinic has me very sad and worried.

Beta Results

I had a quantitative beta yesterday afternoon. It came back at 11. When the nurse called me, she absolutely refused to say that I was pregnant. She said the number was really low, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything because we tested so early. They have me going for another one on Monday to see if it is rising. I asked what the doctor had to say about the low number and what it means and all she would say is that technically anything over a 5 is positive but since I did have an hCG trigger shot we won't know anything until Monday. Not exactly what I wanted to head but fine.

At 10dpiui on all 3 of my previous IUIs I was testing negative because the shot was out of my system. So I'm assuming that it would be out of my system this cycle as well. I tested again this morning, 11dpiui, 13 days after the trigger shot, and it still came up positive. I will test again tomorrow and Sunday to reassure myself before I go for the second beta on Monday. I guess that technically they do tell you to wait until 14dpiui to be sure that a positive result is really positive, but all my online research and past experience says that I should be able to believe the positive by now. If not today, definitely tomorrow. That will be 14 days after the trigger shot.

I don't know, that nurse made me have doubt. What do you all think?

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Are my eyes deceiving me or is that a BFP?!

10dpiui#4 poas this morning and here are my results


Does anyone else see a + sign in the results window? Because I am quite sure I do! It is obviously still early and I will have to wait for my betas to confirm (already called the doc, waiting for them to call back!) but at 10dpiui I got my first positive with my daughter..... so...... I think I'm pregnant!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Yes, I'm alive

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the support! I am feeling much better now. Took me about 3 days of bedrest, alternating between freezing and sweating my patooty off, and by Saturday I was convinced I had strep throat so I started on some penicillin I had, and by Sunday I was much better. Today I am even better, though not a complete 100%, and I will run out of penicillin tonight. Thought I'd just see what happened when I ran out, but now I'm thinking I should call the doc tomorrow and beg for more. I'm just thinking they aren't going to give it to me. It's hard enough to get meds out of these people even if you go in with a genuine illness or pain, so I can't see them giving me penicillin without seeing the strep for themselves. But I guess it can't hurt to leave a message and ask.

Anyways, the good thing about being sick is that the first week of my 2 week wait passed by pretty quick! I'm still having some pain, on my lower left side of my abdomen mainly. It's tender to the touch and certain movements. I'm hoping it is a good thing and not a bad thing. I'm trying not to stress about whether or not I am pregnant. I know implantation can take place anytime now but I'm trying not to think about it. See? This is how good I'm doing at not thinking about it - I can't stop talking about it! I've been telling myself I will wait until 12 days after the IUI to test, but I never make it that long. Last cycle AF arrived between 12 and 13 days after the IUI so I guess I could just wait and see if that happens again, and if not, test. But I know me, and I will probably start testing at 10dpiui. Which is Thursday. OMG, I can test as soon as Thursday?! No, I should wait. We have company coming Thursday and staying overnight.... might make it hard to test Friday morning. I'd hate to wait until Saturday. I'm not that patient. So maybe I will have to test Thursday. Hey, I buy extra tests for a reason right?