Hello big cruel world

Well, I left the safety of my cozy home today to go back into the big cruel world. No more bedrest, it was back to work today. I did good. I followed directions. I didn't lift anything I shouldn't. I was pooped when I got home even though work wasn't terribly busy. I need to venture out to Walmart. I can't decide if I should do it tonight or another night.... hmmmm..... the big decisions in life!

No news is good news

Well, I'm taking the "no news is good news" approach. I went in for my blood work at 7 am this morning, the results were to be STAT. My clinic only calls on blood work if there is a problem, and the doses need to be changed. I called the pharmacy today and they said they were sorry about the outdated medication, and they would mix up some new ones for me. These don't expire until April. MUCH better! I've had some cramping today. Not sure if that's good bad, or gas ;) I've been enjoying taco soup this week.

My mom brought over dinner today and cleaned the kitchen. I thought she was just going to load the dishwasher. She did more, and I'm embarrassed. My stove looks great!

Pictures

Human Life, in it's nearly smallest form! These are day 3 embryos. I'm not sure exactly how many cells they have, but aren't they beautiful. Two cells join, become one, and then quickly begin the process of dividing. This is a picture of the embryos that were placed inside me on Friday. These are our babies!! The ultrasound picture is them being placed. It's surreal watching the ultrasound screen as the tube is guided into position. The little bright spot in the middle of he screen is where they were placed. The big black area at the top is my VERY FULL bladder!

Prayer request

Please pray for my progesterone levels. I will have a blood test tomorrow to make sure everything is OK. I have been on progesterone in oil injections since Tuesday. I'm not concerned about that (other than they hurt and leave bruises). The day of transfer I started another form of progesterone. Because this blog may be read by mixed company, I won't say exactly how the progesterone is administered, I'll tell you it isn't by shot or by mouth, and leave the rest to your imagination, and that should get you in the ball park. Anyway, this other form of progesterone comes from a local compounding pharmacy. Meaning they mix up the medication there at their pharmacy. I picked up all of my medications at the beginning of this cycle, on September 30. I didn't need all of the medications at that time, but I just wanted to save myself several trips to the pharmacy. So Friday night I went to use the progesterone. The box is labeled to discard after 10/20/08! OH NO! This is on 10/24 that I discovered it. I called the pharmacy the next day. (Oh, I should mention, I filled this from the prescription written on 10/24/07 in preparation for our previous FET, so I can't even get a refill). The pharmacist tells me the labels are computer generated, and the mediation should be fine. I called the clinic and talked to an on call Nurse Practitioner. She said the medication should be fine, but for peace of mind she called in a new prescription. I sent Mark to pick it up. He brings it home, hands it to me for verification. This one says.... get this.... "Discard after 8/15/08" I'm furious. How hard it this? I've never had trouble with this pharmacy before. Then I realized, I can't be furious. I'm not allowed. I'm on vacation. I'm on the beach. I'm chillin. I'm making a happy place for babies. But for crying out loud!

My required bed rest is 2-4 days. I'll be up more than I'd like to be tomorrow. Please pray my blood work comes back just right. And that none of this causes any problems with the babies. There is a lot of time, effort, emotion, energy, money, not to mention HUMAN LIVES involved here. I don't want any of that in jeopardy because of a stupid expired medication.

We're home....

and I'm on Princess Status. We arrived home several hours ago, but I've been sleeping off the Valium. Everything went beautifully, and we currently have 3 babies on board. He said that on average each one has a 20-25% chance. They thawed one "straw" that had 3 embryos and all of them looked good when they thawed, so that is what we went with for transfer. I'm currently on bed rest for the next several days. Mark is already doing a fantastic job of taking care of me!

We're off to see the wizard....

The wonderful wizard of Oz... Probably not the best title for a post about going to the baby doctor, but here we go. I'd love prayers for the thaw and transfer of our embryos today!

Shampoo, Lather, Rinse, Repeat..

I have been running a million miles per hour this week! Sooooo much to do. The house is about 2/3 put back together after the carpet cleaning. The carpet looks better. I still don't like the carpet, but not much I can do about that right now. At least it's not nasty ;)

It's late Wednesday as I'm writing this. The transfer is Friday. Yes, THIS Friday! As in the day after tomorrow. As in, 37 hours from now. Starting Friday I will be on Princess status. I'll be on bed rest for the first few days. Then I'll take it easy until the beta hcg blood test. I haven't had much time to be excited. I'm actually exhausted!

Monday I was on the go from 7 am to 11 pm. Tuesday was 8 am to 8 pm, then came home and worked on Uppercase Living orders. Today was 8 am to 7 pm, and I worked on a little bit of cooking and then Uppercase Living order. Tomorrow I will only work until about 1 or 2 at my regular job, but I expect more of the same. Shampoo, Lather, Rinse, Repeat... I need to take time for some rest sometime tomorrow. I don't want to feel run completely down when it comes time for transfer!

Thank you those who are praying for us! I really want this to be the one!

More needles!

As if the prescribed needles weren't enough for me over the last week, I added the flu shot, and then on Thursday, I added acupuncture! I hate needles. I should say that. I can't watch anyone give me a shot. I can't watch when they draw blood. The average mother can always bring up labor when their (usually older) child. "I was in labor for x hours with you..." I will be able to bring up needles!

This week we really pick up the pace with this treatment cycle. Yes, that includes more needles. First thing tomorrow I have a blood draw at the local hospital lab. This is to check my estrogen levels, to make sure I am still on an appropriate dose of the Tues/Friday evening shots of estridol valerate. Tuesday morning I will begin daily PIO (progesterone in oil) shots. SO NOT FUN! Tuesday I will also add two more sets of pills to the am/pm cocktail. I believe one is a steroid, and one is an antibiotic. Then Friday is the big day. We will leave bright and early in the morning for Boise. We will arrive at the clinic one hour early, and the acupuncturist I met with earlier this week will be there. He will treat me both before and after the transfer. If this one goes anything like the last, I will sleep all the way home! Good times!

I also have a very busy week other than the treatment cycle. We spent this weekend tearing the house apart to clean, and prepare to have the carpets cleaned on Tuesday. I've got an Uppercase Living Party Monday night, and hopefully 3 different parties to close and send in before Thursday. Oh, and I have to work at my normal job too!

A Winter Wonderland.... in October?

Friday we had a bit of snow during the day, but nothing that really stuck. A bit early for our area, but not unheard of. Saturday morning we woke up to a WHITE yard. Throughout the day it melted off, but was white all over again this morning. I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures!

Needles, needles everywhere!!

Last Tuesday I had my first shot for this cycle. Over the course of this treatment nonsense, Mark has gotten pretty good at the injections. I hardly felt a thing! Friday was a repeat. This one I felt a bit more, but a hot water bottle took care of that. Saturday morning, we decided to bite the bullet and go get our flu shots. We went to the "doc in the box" (walk in doctor's office) right when they opened. We were in and out in less than ten minutes! Not too bad. This one hurt worse than than the rest of my needles for the week. Tomorrow morning I will go to the hospital lab for a blood draw. This will be to check my hormone levels, to see if the dose needs to be adjusted for the injections I'm currently taking. The crazy thing of all of this is we are hoping this is the first week of about... 13 more weeks of injections. If the treatment cycle is successful, I will have to remain on them through the first trimester of pregnancy.

Other than that, I've been keeping myself busy with my Uppercase Living business. I've got quite a few parties going! I'm happy with that. I'm still spending about as much as I'm making, but hopefully I'll start turning a profit. I have a very full calendar this month between doctors appointments and UL Parties. Busy is good. Makes the time go by faster!

Here we go again!

I was going to keep this one quiet, but I'll go ahead and share the secret. We are going to have another Frozen Embryo Transfer this year! This month actually. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday to check everything out. We're off and running. Mark gave me my first estriodol injection yesterday. I wish they were all like that. The progesterone is the yucky one.... Oh how I dread it! PIO is bad stuff. But we'll get to that later.

At my appointment yesterday our coordinator Kara threw a curve at us. We have a HUGE decision to make we would love your prayers for guidance. These are human lives we are dealing with, and we want to make sure we are making the right decision!