[bd711]

Hi all! I've missed this thread the past couple of days. Kristen and Kay, I've been thinking of you two crawling through your 2 week waits. I hope you'all are keeping well distracted. Shelley, Sandy and others who are at your various points in your pregnancies, I'm so hoping to be on your side of this soon!

My only update is about my protocol. I've been dreading the fact that I'm going to be doing both the progesterone and the estrogen IM. The nurse told me that was just the way it was. I decided that maybe I should check in with the drs. (duh! why didn't I do it earlier?!?!) I spoke with one of the REs in the office, and she said that the patches and pills actually deliver a more reliable amount of estrogen! They have patients do shots because ... that's what they've always done! And also she said that I'll be doing progesterone shots anyway so what's a few more shots. I'm sorry, but as used to shots as I'll get, I'd rather have fewer. SO, I may be able to switch to patches or pills for estrogen. I've already bought the meds for the shots, but I'll pay twice to get out of the shots. I'm hopeful.

So, as an example of what an obsessed freak I am about all this, I'm counting and today begins my 5 week wait til my Beta. hee-hee!

[chantalTTC]

Hi Bethany - you're so right about the time crawling by! I've become a woman obsessed!!! It may be worse because my dh is out of the country, as I come home to an empty house. My cat is very understanding when I ask her to evaluate any symptoms (or lack thereof really), but she apparently missed that class in Kitty School because she offers no advice... Hmm.

So my latest round of fear/panic? That this cycle hasn't worked and I'll need to do an FET. Ok, that's fine. BUT my donor coordinator mentioned something that worries me. Apparently the embryologist lab typically freezes embies in straws of two, versus one. So we may have 2 straws, each with 2 embies, which would need to be thawed in pairs for an FET. That would mean we'd have to either transfer 2 embies (and you know how I feel about that) or discard a perfectly good thawed embie (assuming they both thaw well). I don't have the heart right now to call to find out, so I'm trying to avoid going there in my thoughts. You can see that's working out well. LOL. Just pile another worry onto me - it's par for the course these days.

Kay, I picture you as being calm, patient and positive during this waiting period. Are you, or are you just better at hiding it than I am? Either way, what's your secret?

Bethany - 5 weeks is SO close. The time up to ET flew by for me (though of course this week is a killer). So you'll be doing Lupron and getting started before you know it! I'm really happy you pushed to avoid the estrogen IM shots. I was on one estrogen supp in the am and then I started with 2 vivelle dots (I recommend the dots over the climera patches. with the climera patches, you leave them on for a week and my skin was horribly irritated. with the dots, they're smaller and you need a few more, but you switch every other day, and I like having something proactive to check off). I stopped the supp the day before ER (apparently when you start PIO it nullifies the effect of the supps?). I'm up to 4 dots every other day now and will continue that through 8ish weeks. I'm excited for you that your time is right around the corner. Kay and I are doing our best to get BFPs so we can be your success stories to hold onto - good juju all around!

[Kay]

Kristen- I am not calm....... I AM A CRAZY WOMAN!!
I have even been avoiding this site because I am becoming so obsessed. I am terrified this cycle didn't work. And if it diddn't why not.... we had perfect embies... what is wrong with me?
I think I am going to break down and POAS. But I know this will only cause more distress. I don't know how you do it with your DH out of the country...... I think my DH wants to escape to India right now.
I've never been this anxious before.
Okay I just dispelled the myth of "cool Kay". I am a whole week away from BETA... how will I survive?
One proactive thing I am doing is really eating well and drinking alot of fluids. I am following a pregnancy diet.... well if I'm not this time at least I'm getting in good practice of eating well.
Two more days for you!!!!!
Kay

[chantalTTC]

oh what a relief - I thought I was the only crazy one! it's funny how the mind plays tricks on us, eh? I've been dealing with the same emotions - since I have no discernable symptoms, I get worried, but then I remember it's only 6dp5dt. Most women wouldn't even miss AF yet! Oh, and I'm TERRIFIED to go to the bathroom - like a real phobia... But the darn progesterone shots make me need to go more often. So I go and I cringe as I (of course) check the paper. I've definitely lost it. LOL.

[chantalTTC]

By the way, someone posted this on another thread. It's helping keep me sane. I cross the days off in excel as I go...

This is what happens in a 5dt:

-1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing
0dpt... Embryo is now a blastocyst
1dpt....Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
2dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
3dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
4dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
5dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells
6dpt...Placenta cells begin to secrete HCG in the blood
7dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
8dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
9dpt...HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on HPT

Also, this site is pretty cool. I like the detail and it helps me with visualizations.

Pregnancy week by week - pregnancy calendar - pregnancy stages trimesters - parenting websites - mum dad baby maternity - Birthnet Australia

[chantalTTC]

oh, and one more thing - if I hadn't taken my last HCG shot on Monday I think I'd be POASing. I know it's dangerous (I've been burned before) but the 'not knowing anything' is driving me crazy. At least if you were to start POASing you'd be able to tell when the HCG had left your system, so that when you get your + HPT (as I KNOW you will ) you'll know it's for real... I really wish I could test but I'm stuck waiting. Grr..

[BabySteps]

Kay and Kristen, I am so happy for you girls, you are PUPO. Yipppeeee!!! I want to tell you not to worry but I know you will worry about whether or not you feel symptoms. It is part of the 2ww craziness. I know I obsessed about it ~ and guess what I did not feel any!! I was convinced that I was not pregnant so you can imagine my surprise when I got the phone call with a beta of 2542!! Try to relax as much as possible and avoid stressful situations (other than the 2ww LOL)

Bethany your turn is coming up really soon. I bet you are getting really excited!! How are you holding up? How many embryos do you think you will transfer?

Furbaby, you are doing great at your 20 week mark!! Sorry you are still feeling tired. I think I will be tired for my entire pregnancy too. I know our bodies are working hard to make an incredible amount of blood for the babies. Do you have any u/s pics to share?

Hope everyone is having a great week!!!!

[BabySteps]

Today was my last appointment with my RE. I will miss him and his staff, they have been such a pleasure to work with. They are definitely in the right line of work!

The 3 little babies are doing great!! The tech was trying to get some good pictures and she said that they were so big they were getting in the way of the other babies picture!! They are a bit blurry but we got a couple of cool ones of them waving. It looks pretty crowded in there, no wonder I have been experiencing some stretching twinges.

Here are measurements:
At 12w2d they are measuring between 12w4d - 12w6d
Baby A - 6.45 cm / HB 156 bpm
Baby B - 6.27 cm / HB 160 bpm
Baby C - 6.24 cm / HB 158 bpm
picture12.jpgpicture13.jpgpicture03.jpg
picture15.jpgpicture14-3d.jpg

[Kay]

Thanks for that great information. That does help A LOT! I am only 3 days past transfer. I need to mellow out. Those little guys have just begun to root in. I feel better now.
Also I checked a previous thread (from a long time ago) and it seemed the average + Hpt was around 6 or 7 days. I think I will wait until the 3rd of March. The 2nd is my birthday and I don't want to ruin it.
You are going to know on saturday... so exciting.
I am not feeling anything either that can't be explained by pio injections.
That is a dilema about your embies being frozen in twos. Can embies be re-frozen?
Kay

[Kay]

Shelley!!!! Those are amazing pictures. Your little ones are so darling. You must be doing a great job of getting all your protein in..... they are growing so well. I am so happy for you.

BTW did you POAS before your Beta?
Kay

[chantalTTC]

Yeah Shelley - thank you for sharing! What beautiful pictures! It must be such a hoot to see them up close and personal like that, especially the waving ones! They're very sociable already - which is good since they'll be sharing the same space for the next 6 months. And it's fantastic that they're measuring ahead of schedule - that's probably even more of an accomplishment with triplets than with one baby. That's a testament to how good a mom you already are :-)

[chantalTTC]

Originally Posted by Kay

Thanks for that great information. That does help A LOT! I am only 3 days past transfer. I need to mellow out. Those little guys have just begun to root in. I feel better now.
Also I checked a previous thread (from a long time ago) and it seemed the average + Hpt was around 6 or 7 days. I think I will wait until the 3rd of March. The 2nd is my birthday and I don't want to ruin it.
You are going to know on saturday... so exciting.
I am not feeling anything either that can't be explained by pio injections.
That is a dilema about your embies being frozen in twos. Can embies be re-frozen?
Kay

Glad the info helped you, Kay. Are you planning something fun for your birthday to distract you? How fun!

As for my snow-embie problem, unfortunately they cannot be re-frozen. Grr. But, I do believe everything happens for a reason, so maybe twins are indeed in our future after all...

[BabySteps]

Thanks girls, it was fun to see them. My RE was really happy that they all look good. Sometimes with multiples there is a smaller one, so far they are really close. It was amazing to see them wave and move!

No I did not POAS before beta. I was too chicken, scared it would be negative or a false positive. I did POAS after I knew I was pregnant. Crazy I know. I had this idea that I would take a picture and use it for my scrapbook. Well the line was soooo faint, if I hadn't had an u/s that same day I would have questioned if I was really pg. It was a cheap test I bought at Walmart. If you are going to POAS I would buy one of the better ones because I am sure they would be more sensitive.

[chantalTTC]

That's funny, Shelley. When I was pregnant (only time) last year, I took like 10 HPTs in a row (after beta) because it was so amazing seeing the second line appear. I was like a kid in a candy shop!

[bd711]

Shelley - The pictures of your babies are AMAZING! I'm in awe. I don't know what to say but WOW. B