Well since my last post, I have had a second beta (HCG test) which confirmed that I am pregnant and HCG is rising! Then I had my first ultrasound, which we all new we would not be able to see very much, but was hoping to see a gestational sac or two.
For my first ultrasound I thought it was only fitting to wear my lucky transfer socks once more...
I
was able to Skype with one of the dad's throughout the ultrasound. The
tech found one sac right away, took measurements and all looked pretty
good, but did not see another sac. So we were thinking that maybe only
one embryo made it. After looking around for a few other things they
want to see, we found another sac. :-) As of now it looks like both
embryos have made a home and are starting to grow.
My
HCG was tested again, only to confirm that my numbers were growing the
way they are suppose to which was great to hear! First HCG at 8 days
past transfer was 88, second which was 11 days past transfer was 229 and
the third which was at 20 days past transfer was 7159.
Here is the first ultrasound picture
So
congrats to my IF's, so hopeful they are getting the twins they
wanted! We will have more ultrasounds almost weekly for a few weeks, to
make sure things stay on track and are developing the way they should.
Can't wait to share some ultrasound pics that you will be able to tell
what it is you are looking at!
It was not but a few days after transfer, and I was "feeling" pregnant. I know all women are different with pregnancy, but I have always known I was pregnant very early on with my own. With all four of my pregnancies I knew I was pregnant before I was even late for a period. So with all this fertility stuff in play now, my cycle is not normal and I was not sure how I would feel or anything. Within just a few days though, I had these very familiar twinges. It is a very hard thing to explain to someone else, never the less it is a feeling I know well... and they were there.
We had discussed before transfer, that if I took home pregnancy test, the guys did not want to know about it, they wanted to wait for the blood results. I am sure with all we have gone through to get to this point, they just did not want any false hopes. So I respected their wishes and told them, I probably would test before the blood work, but I would not tell them about it.
Once we got home I went to walmart and bought 5 of their cheapie tests, (.88 cents a piece) I planned to start testing 3 days after transfer. This was really funny because originally I told my husband I would probably only test once or twice just a day or two before blood work. For some reason, an over whelming urge came over me to want to keep checking every day, to see what day it would show positive. I did test on day 3 and test was negative, I really didn't expect anything other, so I still can't figure out why I actually did the test... LOL From all I have read and learned from other surrogates, it seems most women who transfer 5 day old embryos, which is what I got, if they take they normally get positive test between day 5 and 7. Although there were a few who got positives on day 4 and some as late as day 9 or 10. It seems the average is around day 5-7 though. Day 4 was positive, Day 5 was positive... lines were light and took a few minutes to show up, but never the less they were there. So I was getting really excited by this time, I so wanted to tell my guys. I know this was something that was weighing heavy on them, in all honestly me too since knowing they had no other embryos to work with.
Day 7 after transfer, my lines showed real fast and darker than the other days, which is great!! I have not taken any more home test since day 7.
So me being me... ha ha, I contacted the clinic and asked if I could have blood work done on Friday instead of Monday. (just a couple days early) :-) Clinic said sure. So we set up appointment and did not let the guys know. I was hoping to be able to give them positive results early. As it turned out, the clinic had a policy about giving medical results, and the clinic had to call the guys first. :-( boo hoo...
But it was still great!! They got a call from the clinic on a day they were not expecting one, so at first they were concerned something was wrong. The last few phone calls the guys have got from the clinic have not been full of great news. The nurse gave them the positive news right away, which totally took them off guard, as they were not expecting it till Monday. So after the shock wore off, and I was able to talk to them, it was a wonderful happy conversation!!! Lots of tears and excitement!!
This is a little weird for me, I am full of excitement feelings but they are all for this new family I am helping to create, and the excitement does not revolve around me at all. I am jumping out of my skin happy for my guys, because this is something they have waited for, for so long and want so badly!! I am so excited that I am able to give this to them, and so hopeful there are no issues, and this pregnancy goes through smoothly. (which all mine have, but this is pregnancy and anything can happen)
So now I will have more blood work done again on Monday, which is to make sure my hcg level (pregnancy hormone) is climbing. I am confident it will be, I still have my little twinges non stop. After that we will start scheduling ultrasounds, so we can see if one or both embryos have decided to stick around.
Will be back with more news as soon as I get it... but as of now, I am officially pregnant with someone else's baby! LOL that sounds funny!! but great!!
So last week we headed to the soon to be daddy's house to spend some time together and get ready for embryo transfer. Some of these meds have not been making me feel too great, we took our time getting to their house. Finally arrived Tuesday afternoon. As usual we had a wonderful time just being together, me, my husband, our young boys, and both "daddy's". Everything we did, I was the only female in the group. It was a blast!
From my last post to the time we arrived there, they had 13 eggs that were retrieved, only 12 were mature. The clinic separated them into two groups, 6 for each daddy. They were fertilized and watch for a couple days, by day 4, each dad had 4 growing embryos left. Sadly not all were making it. Day 5 which was transfer day, each dad had one really good embryo. So both of those embryos were what was transferred to me. The clinic said they would watch the other 6 embryos for another day and decide which ones were good to freeze and save just in case first transfer does not take.
~Transfer day~ Our appointment was in the early afternoon, so we all enjoyed a nice relaxing morning together, although I think each of us adults were all getting a little anxious! :-)
So here is me with my lucky socks on, on the way to transfer!! :-)
After arriving at the clinic, they took me back right away to get ready. We got to see really magnified pictures of the embryos, its amazing to look at these pictures and imagine that a little human being will be created from this little blob. You will see one is very round and the other is what they call hatching, the embryo is actually already coming out. The one that was not hatching yet, they could see it was starting to, so it was not far behind. This is so interesting and exciting!
The transfer itself was very easy, no pain and really no big deal. The dads were in the room with me and were able to watch it all on a monitor and see their little embies transferred to my uterus. Here is a pic of the monitor screen after the transfer was complete, the little tiny white dot is the two embryos that were transferred to me. Which is about dead center in the middle of my uterus. Now we wait and hope the little embies attach themselves and continue to grow and develop!! In the meantime I have to continue meds, estrogen pills, and progesterone shots daily in my rump! :-( They are not as bad as I was afraid they would be, but they still do not feel good by any means!
Here is me, my wonderfully awesome husband and my two little gorgeous boys right after transfer.
We went back to the dad's home for a relaxing evening and wonderful company. All three men put together an awesome dinner, even the boys helped get it all together, while I laid in bed and rested for a few hours. The guys even let my hubby take the grill over, one of his favorite things to do! :-)
We brought some fresh squash out of our garden to share, and cooked on the grill with the steaks, pork chops, hamburgers and hotdogs the guys got. It was a feast for all of us! Dinner was fantastic and we all had a wonderful evening! Spent another day resting, before making our long drive home.
The day after transfer the clinic notified the guys that none of the other embryos made it to the point of freezing. So the only two good embryos out of 12 eggs, are in me! All fingers and toes are crossed, with nothing but positive thoughts this will work out our first try.
We are now
playing the waiting game until Monday August 11th. I will have my blood
drawn and they will check my hormone levels. We should know the
results by Tuesday the 12th at the latest. Of course we are all on pins
and needles until then.
So until next week.... stick embies stick !!
