Pregnancy Test Results!

Our hearts are full today with wonderful news; I am pregnant!!!

I found out Wednesday morning. Yes, I know I told everyone that the blood test was scheduled for Thursday, but....I lied! I lied to everyone, including Brian! It started out as an accident where I had the calendar for a 3-day embryo transfer instead of the 5-day transfer which really is only an 8 day wait. Plus, Brian had mentioned a while ago that he was kind of sad that we wouldn't have that moment together of me surprising him with the news that I was pregnant. I thought if he already thought the test was a day later, let him believe that! So I did my best to keep him from figuring out the actual date. The day of the embryo transfer the nurse held up a paper with "November 9" written in big letters. I practically snatched it from her hands before Brian noticed the date and just went on with the plan. Later that day I wrote the blood test on our calendar on the 10th and he didn't say anything about it so I assumed he was still planning on Thursday.

I also thought it would be nice to have a cushion day in there. If the test came back positive, we would have a day to tell our families before announcing it to everyone else. If it came back negative I would have a little bit of time to gather my thoughts before people started asking about the results. I took a pregnancy test on Monday morning and it said error. I didn't even know that was a thing! It was one of the digital ones and there was an hourglass icon and a little book icon with an arrow. The pamphlet in the box said it was an error warning. I just threw it away and texted Brian that apparently I wasn't supposed to know early. A while later I wondered if the hourglass icon meant it might still show a result so I dug it out of the trash and it said "pregnant"! I was obviously excited, but I knew it might not be correct due to the error warning so I decided I still wouldn't say anything to Brian.

I got to the lab super early Wednesday morning, just hoping they were open early that day! I sat in my car and flipped through channels trying to find a station that wasn't talking about the election and finally ran inside when I saw someone else go in early. I was in and out in 15 minutes and the lady who drew my blood said I should know in a few hours.

Finally, my phone rang at 10:30am and it was Ashley! I could hear it on her voice that she had good news. I walked out of the office and took the call in the hallway but I'm pretty sure everyone in the building heard me yell" oh my gosh, really?!?!" It seemed like she took forever to finally just spit it out! I went back to my desk and was literally shaking from excitement. I tried to hide it from my coworkers but I'm sure they noticed something was off from 5 minutes earlier. I was anxious to get home and tell Brian the good news. I had to tell someone so on lunch I told the dog he was going to be a big brother. I told Brian right when I got home from work and he was totally surprised. Of course, we had to tell our parents right away.

We went over to my moms house and waited for her to get home from work. She rolled down the car window and i just blurted "I'm pregnant!". She lept out of the car screaming and gave us big hugs! We visited for a while and then drove to Fruitport to tell Brian's parents. They were surprised to see us at the door at 7:30pm. Brian's dad opened the door, said "what are you guys doing here?" And again I just blurted it out! I'm not very good at this whole giving big news thing. He yelled for Brian's  Mom and she started jumping up and down. It was a night of hugs, "wow's" and phone calls to family. One family member even offered to buy me a silver bucket to puke into when I start getting sick.

So, I'm pregnant! We are going to have a baby!!! I go back for another blood test on Friday to make sure my hcG levels are increasing as they should. They want them to increase by at least 80% if not double. My next appointment is November 29th and until then we will pray for our baby to continue growing strong and healthy!

Our first family photo! 

-Emily

The Two Week Wait

In IVF world, they call it the "two week wait", even though it is really only 10 days. Online IVF forums are filled with people asking IVF veterans tons of questions about what happened during their 2WW. This has made me feel a whole heck of a lot less crazy over the past 4-5 days. I have joined the club of women in their 2WW who want answers to every little thing they feel or think they might feel.

It's a strange feeling knowing that something so incredible could be going on inside my body and I could feel absolutely nothing! A baby could literally be beginning to grow and I wouldn't be able to tell at all. I keep saying "I should feel something, right?" That was until yesterday. I thought I might have felt something strange and my mindset switched to "no, there's no way I could feel that this soon!"

Friday afternoon, I started feeling these little twinge-y pains in what felt like my ovaries. The same feeling I had when I was on the stims medication. I looked it up online (always a reliable source) and found story after story of how other women have felt these same things during their 2WW. Some say it is implantation pain, others say it is my ovaries starting to produce more hormones...I must be pregnant, right?!? I also woke up early this morning with my calf muscles cramping up like never before. Online it says that this can be an early sign of pregnancy, but I am not totally convinced on this one yet.

I know it is absolutely insane for me to be analyzing every little feeling I get at this moment, but I can't help it. I just have to wait around and believe I am pregnant, while also knowing that I might not be pregnant...It would drive anyone batty. Until the pregnancy test on Thursday, life goes on. We are still dealing with the progesterone shots at this point, which have proved to be a major stressor for both Brian and myself. The shots themselves really aren't that bad, but we have both had horrible dreams about these shots.

I dreamt that I tried to give myself the shot and when I checked for blood in the syringe, blood started pouring out like a lame horror movie. Brian's dream was even weirder. He dreamt that it was time to move on to the next stage of shots, where he would have to inject a live baby eel into my muscle. He said the weirdest part was that in his dream, I was totally fine with this and thought it was no big deal. While I have gotten used to the shots themselves, my backside has turned into one big, lumpy bruise. I have lumps on both sides about the size of a tennis ball. You can't really see them, but I keep making Brian "feel how big the lumps are now!" He hasn't been amused so far.

Next Thursday will be a big day for us. On top of the Pregnancy test, my good friend, Brandon, will be in town for the day from Seattle. We are going to grab lunch on his way through town to visit his brother. When Brian realized this was on the same day as the test he said "he better not know before I do!" As if I would ever do that! The nurse at The Fertility Center said if we want to know the same day as the test, I should go in the morning. Of course, I found a lab that is open at 7AM, so I can find out ASAP. Hopefully they call after I leave work for the day so I don't have to hide my excitement from my co-workers. I realize that this could be sadness, but for now I am thinking positive!

- Emily