A grand adventure is about to begin - Winne the Pooh

I have a little catching up to do. I went in to my appointment thinking Petrie was 5 weeks along but I learned I am actually 7 weeks pregnant as far as my due date is concerned. The reason for this you are actually "pregnant" before you are pregnant.

The Last Menstrual Period Method or LMP is the standard method. You add 28 days to day one of your last menstruation. If you remember from an earlier post, this was January 28th when I was in Boston and totally unprepared for a period. The 28th was also two weeks before my transfer, catching me up from 5 weeks to 7 weeks.  For most women this measure is not as exact but I guess in my case since everything from preparation to conception was so scheduled, I'm on target.

Other pregnancy calculators at the Basal Body Temperature and Lutenizing Hormone (LH) measurement which checks on your basal body temperature or the surge of LH. It indicates the occurrence of ovulation, the time of intercourse, and the date of fertilization. If you are sure of your fertilization date, then you simply have to add 266 days to get your due date. I'm not exactly sure what this means but you are still adding in two weeks of wiggle room.

Further proof, of course, is my weekly ultrasound. This morning I heard Petrie's heart beat and saw a glimpse of his/her developing spine. Most of the growth is concentrated in the head as new brain cells are generated at the rate of 100 per minute. Petrie's mouth and tongue are forming as arm and leg buds sprout, and those little kidneys are getting ready to do their job. Here is a little cartoon picture of what Petrie looks like - http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com/calendar/7-weeks-pregnant.html. I think it looks like a lizard of sorts.

According to all my pregnant or once pregnant friends, I should be experiencing morning sickness, food aversion, cravings, breast tenderness, etc. but for the most part I am still very much the same. I did sleep 60% of Sunday (which was awesome and pathetic at the same time) but other than being tired, I feel good. If I wasn't being told I was pregnant every Monday, I would just think I wasn't sleeping well at night.

Heart Beat!

This morning I went in for my weekly blood work and ultrasound. As we start Week 5 of pregnancy, Petrie has a heart beat. Using "doppler radar", the nurse showed me how it can detect movement in the uterus and highlighted the heart so I could see it flashing. It was super neat.

This is the week most women discover they are pregnant - whether it be a missed period, the earliest of pregnancy symptoms, or a positive pregnancy test. For me, it was coming home with Petrie's third picture.

Here is what's going on inside: At 4 weeks pregnant, the blastocyst (or ball of cells that will become your baby) is working furiously to implant itself in the uterine lining. This will ensure a safe home for your little one over the next nine months. The amniotic cavity and placenta are also forming during pregnancy week four. Fetal development by and large is still in the earliest stages at this point.

Your baby is incredibly miniscule, about .014 to .04 inches long (somewhere between the size of a poppy seed and an organge seed). Over the next few weeks, your baby will slowly start resembling a small tadpole with eyes, rather than an egg. This early stage of pregnancy is often noted as the beginning of the embryonic period.

Petrie!

Today Petrie (so named because he/she was "conceived" in a petri dish and also as homage to "The Land Before Time" character) is three weeks old. This morning we went for our weekly blood work and ultrasound and I saw Petrie as a gestational sac.

The gestational sac is a structure that surrounds an embryo, which is a baby in the very early stages of development. It encloses not only the embryo, but also the amniotic fluid, which helps to nourish and protect the developing baby. A lot of good things came from seeing Petrie at this stage: 1) I am, in fact, pregnant and I was able to take home a second picture to add to my collection, 2) I did not have a very early miscarriage or "chemical pregnancy" meaning a miscarriage occurred at a point where the biochemical tests, such as an hCG blood test, were the only evidence that I was pregnant and the miscarriage happened before an ultrasound could have shown a gestational sac, and 3) I do not have an ectopic pregnancy.

For some reason I had it in my head that I would have 25 days of progesterone shots after the transfer. If this was the case, tomorrow would be my last day. However I misinformed myself and the shots continue for the first 8 weeks! Obviously I have more to celebrate than to be frustrated with, but these are literally becoming a pain in the ass. I have some bruising where the shots go and silly things we taking for granted - like sitting - can be uncomfortable and annoying. The other night I found myself sitting on a heating pad just to calm things down a little back there. I did learn today that there is a possibility I can switch to progesterone that is taken as a suppository. 

Progesterone suppositories are made-to-order by a pharmacist based on the dose of progesterone and frequency of use as prescribed by your IVF specialist.

Progesterone gel is placed in your vagina once a day for progesterone supplementation or twice a day for progesterone replacement using a special applicator.

Although equally unsexy, it would be 100 times for comfortable, travel-friendly, and something I can do/would do on my own.

Identity Crisis

So I guess the stress got to me and I accidentally confused my Saints through out this blog. Back in December I introduced you to St. Gerard, the patron saint of expectant mothers and fertility. Last night my mom called to tell me I had accidentally switched my saint names and began referring to Gerard as Jerome. Ironically St. Jerome is the "Doctor of the Church". The articles were a little confusing so I'm not exactly sure what kind of doctor he was, but for argument sake we can say these two men worked together in making me pregnant.

Originally I was going to end this post on that thought, but then I started thinking that I may be in the midst of an identity crisis myself. I am not going by any other names, but the early months - where pregnancy is still a secret - I find myself going back and forth between the old me and the new me. For example, the other day I had to stay late at work and the team was going to order Italian food. I was told to stay away from "soft cheeses" and wasn't sure if mozzarella counted so when I was looking over the menu, I found myself pretty limited. Similarly, tonight I was eating at Applebees and the bar tender offered me a drink, on the house. Normally I would dive at the chance for anything free, but I had to decline. Since I will never see her again, I told her I was pregnant but in another situation - where I am with friends out of "the know", it might be weird. I had used the "I'm on antibiotics" gig in the past but I can only be on meds for so long.

Anyway, I just found it kind of odd bouncing back and forth between the two versions of myself.

IVF leads to Bun in the Oven!

Friday was the last day of my two week wait so I went in for blood work at 7:00am to see if I was pregnant. At 12:19 I got the call and I felt like I breathed for the first time since November.

It was positive!
Thank god!

Now I know this is just the first hurdle in a series of hurdles and I still have to keep mum for the most part until May, but what I relief! Of course I called my mom right away and then Gina, one of the few friends who has been in the loop and absolutely fabulous throughout this entire debacle. Others in-the-know got texts and sent congratulatory responses, but it is still a small group for obvious reasons.

After all of this I realized I didn't ask any of the appropriate questions one should ask after receiving such news, so I had to call Jen back and get the rest of the important information. Apparently this happens all the time so she was ready for my call back.

I go back tomorrow morning for blood work and continue the progesterone shots (woot! woot!) until further notice. According to the calendar we were given in Medication Class, shots last 25 days from the retrieval date. This said, March 6th could be my last day of shots. Fingers crossed.

I still wear St. Jerome for good measure and, even though I got the okay to go to the gym, I am keeping things light because I'm paranoid. It's not too much of a challenge though since I am, or at least I feel, super out of shape so after 35 minutes on the stationary bike I am embarrassingly tired.

Either way, YAY!!!!!!!!!!

DIE in Diet

For the first time in my life I actually have to watch what I eat and I hate it. I love the gym. I'm not psycho about it, I'm not a fanatic, a junkie, or a gym rat but I love the feeling I get when I'm done. I love sweating. I love endorphins. But more than that, I love knowing that if I want seconds or to sneak a dessert, I can because I earned it.

For the past month or so, I have either been too bloated, too uncomfortable, or too nervous to do any of that. Before the retrieval, my belly was crazy bloated it felt like I was already pregnant or had a 10 pound weight strapped around my mid-section. After the retrieval and several days after the transfer, I had that same feeling, plus soreness, cramping, and the inability to fit into anything I owned. Now I feel really good (hopefully not too good) and want to get back into my old routine. Today was a BEAUTIFUL day so I took the opportunity to walk all over my town and not only did I feel very "green" but I felt good about it. It was kind of a tease because I saw all the runners out there and had the urge to pick up my pace, but restrained for the good of cell development.

If all goes well tomorrow, I got the "ok" to resume certain activities - yoga, stationary bike, walking, etc. I have to avoid "pounding activities" such as running or jump rope, so I got a kettlebell DVD, 4 sessions with a personal trainer via Groupon, and DJ and I got a heavy bag for boxing :) . As long as I am protecting my abdomen, life is good. All of the above activities have also been Googled to assure they are good for pregnant women - assuming I become one of them :)

But for now I just start longingly as my husband snacks on anything available after dinner, turn down that extra helping, and drink water so I can fake myself into being full - until I pee - then the jig is up.

2 Week Wait

I am 4 days away from my pregnancy test. It will be the final day in the longest two weeks of my life.

My bloating FINALLY went down on Friday. My stomach wasn't 100% back to normal, but I was actually comfortable going out in public to meet friends for dinner. I was smart to have saved some of the pants I had prior to my pre-wedding weight loss because they came in handy this weekend. I was actually getting tired of wearing sweat pants and, for those who know me, that is actually quite shocking. Either way, it was nice to have a reason to get dressed, blow dry my hair, and put on make up.

Friday I also got a call from the nurse confirming everything was okay with that morning's blood work and to continue with the nightly progesterone shots. She also told me 4 embryos were frozen. This is great news but also amazing that I dropped from 20 retrieved eggs, to 18 fertilized, to 8 on Day 3 transfer, to 4 for freezing. I feel very fortunate because I know there are a lot of women who can only produce 7 or so eggs for retrieval. You can do the math from there.
Other good news is I don't have the "bad symptoms" which include shortness of breath, vomiting, and nausea.

I also realized that I haven't worked out in almost a month. A MONTH! As you can imagine this has also been a challenge since I love it. I miss sweating, and getting my heart beating, and pushing through that last mile. When I see runners in this amazing February weather on the streets, I sigh and long to lace up my sneakers and join them. Once I get feedback on Friday, I will be able to start working it back into my life and I am so looking forward to it.

Today I still have a little pooch, but am back in my regular pants. I feel good though I am still preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. And I have been wearing my St. Jerome pin every day :)

When you are home-ridden, you make very long scarves