Seven Weeks

Sorry, ladies and gents.  This post is going to be another long one that is full of pictures.  It has been another fun filled, busy week at the Lawhead house.  I'll do you all a favor and start with the "good stuff"!

Today we made our weekly trip to Frederick.  Another 7:30 appointment for a seven week ultrasound to see our little guy or gal.  This week the waiting room was next to empty, so we only had to wait maybe ten minutes before being called back to the smallest exam room ever designed.  Dr. Bromer was in to see us and take a look at things.  It's amazing how much things can change within a week!  This week we were able to see the baby as well as the heartbeat.  Wow!  Pretty great thing to see on a Tuesday morning!  We were told that everything looked great and things are progressing normally.  We are scheduled for one more ultrasound next Monday.  If things are still looking great, we will officially be turned back over to my regular OBGYN and have an appointment between ten and twelve weeks!

As far as symptoms over the last week, I haven't had many.  I am still tired all of the time.  I am still constantly hungry and can eat a ton of food without feeling full.  I have even been doing a little better with eating those healthy eww foods.  I do feel bloated at times, but it is nothing major.  Luckily, (knock on wood) I have not really experience morning sickness.. yet.  I know, it is still early.  I still get sick from my prenatal vitamin every now and again, but it's not often.  I am craving hot and spicy food constantly!  As of now, our baby is the size of a raspberry and measuring about 1/2 inch long.  Here are a few updated pictures for the week!

Again, we still have a few weeks until we are in the "safe zone" and out of the first trimester.  We continue to pray, and ask you to do the same for our tiny raspberry!

Moving on to the last week.  Matt and I both had something every night last week.. most things dealing with work.  It is the end of the school year, so that means it is time for various awards banquets, student showcases, and all-star games.  That made for one very tired momma by the end of the week.  However, one thing was for sure.  I was getting hot wings before this week was over!  We went out for dinner and I ate like I had a bottomless pit.  An entire plate of seafood nachos (minus the shrimp) and a dozen old bay/hot wings.  I was in heaven.. and food coma!  This was obviously followed by an early bed time.

Last week was also a good mail week for me.  I received the sweetest care package from one of my IF sisters!  Thank you, Chelsea!  I love every single thing and am so glad to be one of your soldiers.

This is our first bib!

Finally.. a three day weekend.  Saturday was spent doing more yard work.  It seems like a never ending task right now.  Our house also needed cleaned because we hosted a family cookout on Sunday for both of our families.  Our yard is about five steps closer to being done.  Grass is cut, weeds are cut, new trees planted (in memory of my Grandma), flowers watered, patio furniture completely put together, and the grill has made it's debut outside! I LOVE grilling in the summer.  It is one of my favorite things!

Sunday was spent with family and could not have been better.  My parents & their puppy Charley, my brother (my sister had to work), and my grandparents made the trip to our house.  Matt's family also made the trip.  It was nice to be able to see everyone and just hang out for the afternoon and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Just a few pictures (I have been so bad with taking pictures lately!)

Our nephews

Our niece

My brother and our little monster, Rooney

Rooney and Charley Brown bonding

Sophie loves her new yard

Matt & I

Overall, it has been a very exciting and busy week.  We took Monday to just relax and get ready for the last two VERY BUSY weeks of school.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  We are heading to the Outer Banks, NC as soon as school is out to relax and enjoy two full weeks at the beach with my family.  We got married in Kill Devil Hills, NC (a town in OBX) last June, and plan to spend our first anniversary at the same place we got married.  Needless to say, we are counting down the days.

We feel so blessed to have made it to seven weeks and continue to pray that we make it the remaining 33!  

I apologize for another long post and the picture overload.. but I like to share!  Have a great week, everyone!

Six Weeks.

I will apologize now for the length of this post.  A lot has happened in the last week and time has not exactly been on our side.

Let's start with the most important part: today's appointment at Shady Grove.  Another early wake up for another early appointment.  It wouldn't be a normal week if we didn't have to make the trip to one of our clinic locations!  So, so worth it!  Our 7:30 appointment turned in to 8:15 as the waiting room was completely packed when we walked in.  No big deal.. we both had half days today.  Around 8:15, Dr. Bromer called us in to do our first OB ultrasound.  We weren't exactly sure what we would see today because we weren't 100% positive on how far along I am.  We quickly got answers to both of these questions.

We couldn't see much on the ultrasound today, but what we could see was awesome.  (Note.. this was an internal ultrasound using the dildo cam.. and no, Rachel, my RE still didn't buy my lunch either!)  I am exactly six weeks along today.  That meant we were able to see the gestational sac as well as the yolk sac.  Honestly, it looks like a big round circle.  But, it's our big round circle.

 As you can see, they gave us an expected due date of January 13th.  January is a popular month in our families, so he or she will fit right in!  As far as symptoms go, I do not have too many.  Things hurt that are supposed to hurt.  I am tired 24/7.  I could go to bed at 8:00pm daily and sleep until 9:00am the next day and be 100% ok with it.  In fact, I have done that within the past couple of days.  (Big thanks to Matt for taking dog duty!)  I am also getting sick from the prenatal vitamins, so I started taking them before I go to bed so I can sleep through the queasiness.  It isn't much, but I'll take every single one of them over and over for the prize that is at the end.

The next thing Dr. Bromer told me was that my ovaries are finally starting to get back to normal size.  There are still slightly enlarged, but not enough to cause any pain or real discomfort.  Great news!  He also told us that we are very popular in the lab because we currently have the most embryos chilling in the freezer and the technicians cannot believe it.  When we started this process a few months ago, I would have never expected to hear those words.. but they were more than comforting.  He keeps telling me I would make an excellent egg donor.  Maybe.. in due time.

Our next appointment is Tuesday, May 28th for another ultrasound.  At that time we should be able to see the baby and hear the heartbeat for the first time.  Again, we are still cautiously happy, exciting and celebrating.  We still have six long weeks to go before we hit our "safety zone" at the end of the first trimester.  So much can happen between now and then.  However, we will continue to pray and do all we can to keep our little baby growing and thriving.  Any continued prayers and support are greatly appreciated!

The past week has been anything but relaxing or easy.  (This is my update for out of town family.. so feel free to stop reading and spare yourself the boredom!)  My lacrosse team had two district games in three days.  We won our first on Tuesday, which was the first in school history.  Our second game was on Thursday.  We were not so lucky.  We dropped to a district rival by one point in sudden death overtime.  What a bummer.  However, I couldn't be more proud of this group of girls.  They deserved every once of success the enjoyed throughout the season!

What made these three days even more eventful stressful, was that I spent Wednesday night (from about 5:30pm-midnight) running between my bedroom and bathroom with a stomach virus.  Ugh.  At first I thought it was morning sickness.  A couple of hours later, I knew it was not the case.  I can honestly say this was the most miserable case of the stomach flu that I have ever had.  Thank goodness it was some sort of 24 hour bug.  I give a big shout out to my high school kids for passing that gem on to me.

This past weekend was just as busy.. only we were working around our house the entire time.  I have not had time to really clean over the last few weeks (nor the energy) and our "yard" (looked more like a field) was in need of some serious TLC.  When we bought this house, we were most interested in the lot (don't get me wrong, we LOVE our house, too.. but the lot is what sold us).  We have 3.5 acres of partially wooded land and will never have any immediate neighbors.  There is a house across the street, but that is as close as we will ever get.  It is great!  Minus the massive amounts of poison ivy and oak.  And the grass that is not growing randomly throughout the open portion.  We have already spent two full weekend working on just weeding, cleaning out leaves, vines, rocks, left over concrete from the construction, etc.  This weekend we added one more full work party to the list.

We spent Friday night and Saturday morning mulching.  Four scoops later, it looks pretty good.  Not perfect, but we need a few years for that.  (Incase you have not noticed, I am a bit OCD.)  I planted flowers a couple of weeks ago and Matt painted our new chairs (thanks to my parents!), so the new mulch completed our projects in the front.

The back.. that is an ongoing story.  I feel that it will never be done.. and it won't for a few years.  We are waiting on a tree company to come in and clear the poison since we were both covered in it (as well as our friends that helped.. sorry) after our last work weekend.  The key word.. waiting.  Hopefully soon.  For now, we are doing our best to work around it.  We finally cut the grass so it no longer looks like a field, and we did some mulching around some of the trees closer to the house.  It looks 100 times better, if you ask me.

I was also able to disinfect our germ infested house this weekend.  Again, I am OCD and a clean freak.. so it felt good to finally get it back to normal.  No more puppy paw prints on my hardwood floor, or snot smears on my windows and doors!  

The last part of our weekend was spent at the grocery store.  This is a chore I hate.  Hate, hate, hate.  We have not been there since March.  Oops.. lax is a busy season!  My goal for today's trip was to stock up on the more healthy things in life.  If you know me, you know that I am the epitome of a junk-food junkie.  I like chips.  Correction.  I LOVE potato chips, and I could live off of them if that was acceptable.  However, only if they are Middleswarth. Sorry Hanover natives.. Utz just isn't the same.  Chocolate.  Yes, please!  Anything that contains chocolate will work just fine.  Anything else that is not even remotely good for you?  I'll take seconds of that, too.  Yes.. that is me.  I love junk food.  However, it is time to cut back and change some things.  Now don't get me wrong.  I still bought SOME of that, but not nearly what I usually do.  Instead, I stocked up on things high in protein, fruits, crackers, and even some vegetables (yuck).  We will see how this goes!

Today we ended our day by taking the dogs to Codorus (a state park that pretty much in our back yard) for a swim.  Sophie loves to swim.. and drag canoes with people in them while chasing geese.  This girl will swim for house if you allow her.  Rooney has never been swimming before, so we were unsure how this would go.  Needless to say, he is going to be a swimmer, too!  The only difference, he could care less about the geese.  He is more focused on NOT drinking the gross lake water and chasing Sophie.  (I'm not sure if the video will work, but it's worth a shot!)

 As I sit here on my patio tonight, overlooking the beautiful sunset over my backyard, I can't help but feel blessed.  First, I have a wonderful husband who has done more than I could have ever asked for and loves me not matter what.  He has been more than supportive and done anything and everything asked of him with a smile on his face (most of the time.. haha).  I have two great dogs that I refer to as my furry children.. even some of you non-dog lovers love them!  I have a beautiful house with an even more beautiful piece of land where I can listen to complete silence (other than some birds) and watch sunsets such as this on a daily basis. 

My husband and I both have good jobs that we enjoy.  We both have our health.  We have our family by our sides every step of the way.  And, I have a beautiful baby growing inside of me.  

Others (including some very close IF sisters of mine) are not so lucky.  I ask that you keep these lovely ladies in  your thoughts and prayers over the next few days and weeks as they grieve for angel babies, work through failed IUI or IVF cycles, and prepare for additional rounds of IUI (or IVF) in the near future.  These ladies mean a lot to me and I would not be getting through all of this without their unconditional love and support.  They deserve as much love and support as they can get.  

I know this post was horribly long, but hey.. a lot can happen in one when when you don't have time to post!  I promise my next post will not be near as long.  Now.. time for some chips.  And chocolate.

Whirlwind.

There is no other word to better describe the last couple of days.  A whirlwind.  After my post Saturday, we traveled to York to chaperone my school's prom.  It was a nice, but very long evening.. with everything on our minds.  Just a few pictures from the night.

Sunday was an early morning.  Rooney woke us up around 5:30.. his usual.. which was ok today.  We got up, got ready and began the trek to Kreamer to spend time with family and celebrate my Grandma's life.  Two hours later (and two very energetic pups) we arrived in time for the family viewing.  We then spent the afternoon with family and later returned for the open viewing.  I'm sure you all know, this is a very emotionally draining event.  But, it was nice to celebrate her life with so many people who loved her just as much as we do.

We had an early night Sunday night because we had blood work scheduled for early Monday morning.  This morning came.. and we were back in the car making the drive to Camp Hill.  We got to spend a few minutes visiting Matt's brother-in-law, Luke, who is an ER doctor at the hospital where our lab work was being performed today.  **We had to go to Camp Hill today since we were out of town for my Grandma's services.  I am so glad our clinic works with hospitals out of the area.**  

After our short visit with Luke, we went to the lab.  One very long check-in process and one tube of blood later, we were back in the car making the return trip to Kreamer.  I was told they placed a "Stat" on our order so we could get our results ASAP.  Our nurse is awesome!  However, the woman that took my blood was not so awesome today.  

Of course we were anxiously awaiting our results today.  It was a big day.  If our numbers at least doubled, things were working in our favor, and our now zygote was doing its thing.  If they did not, we could expect a miscarriage.  My phone rang around 12:00.. while my entire extended family was eating lunch in the same room.  While I love them all, I was not ready to hear the results in front of everyone just incase.  So, outside I went.  As soon as I answered, I heard our nurse on the other end of the phone. She is always so happy, so it is difficult to judge things by the tone of her voice.  But today, she was very excited.  My numbers didn't double.  They actually more than tripled!  My HCG in my beta test was 400.  Today, my HCG level was 1303!  As a result of this, Dr. Bromer decided that we do not need any more blood work and then we could go ahead and schedule our first OB ultrasound for next Monday!  What a blessing to get this news.. especially on a day like today!

The Mother's Day card Matt got me from our future baby - which is  now a zygote!

We shared with our family that was at the house and everyone was more than excited.  Then, it was time to go to the funeral home.  Sorry if I am mentioning this too much, but my Grandma was a special lady and deserves to be recognized.. especially since I am so much like her!  Her service was absolutely beautiful.  She was fashionable as always (I get my shopaholic traits from her) and so many people joined us in celebration.  I will miss this lady very much.  I got my stubbornness, drive, strength, outspokenness and so many other things from her.. which will carry on through my life and hopefully my future child's life.

When everything was over, it was time to make our trek back to Hanover.  We are only given one day off for the passing of a grandparent, so both Matt and I need to return to work tomorrow.  When we pulled in our driveway, I saw a beautiful arrangement of flowers on our front porch as well as a gift bag by our garage.  When I went and picked up the flowers, I immediately felt blessed.. and of course more tears came again.  Not tears of sadness, but tears of gratitude and appreciation.  These beautiful flowers were from my wonderful IF sister who lives many states away.  I could not be more thankful for this gesture and these flowers.  How sweet and thoughtful!  THANK YOU :)

Upon further investigation, the gift bag in the driveway was from my awesome mother-in-law.. and was actually two gift bags - one for me, and one for Matt and I together.  The gift bag for me included a beautiful card and the Remembrance Willow Tree Angel.  Again, more tears.  

The second gift bag included a card that was just as nice and a inspirational piece to celebrate our great news from earlier today.  Thank you, thank you, thank you :)

So, it is now 10:00, we are unpacked, I have prepared this post.. and now I am completely exhausted (as are our two dogs that are currently sleeping at my feet).  I have noticed that I am tired 99% of the time right now.. and (sorry guys) my boobs hurt.  No other way to explain that.  My face also looks like I am 15 again.. all broken out.  But, I am not complaining!  This is, and will be completely worth it!  I will continue to follow the diet I was given as well as light activity for the next week until we have our ultrasound.. which is scheduled for Monday, May 20th at 7:30 am.  Less than a week away!

A Ballet of Emotions..

I didn't think we were going to make this post today.  We had originally planned on keeping our results on the DL until a later date, but after some thought and discussion, we decided that we would rather share.  I have an awesome group of "sisters" that are going through the same thing, or something very similar, and we share our goods and bads with each other.  All of them.  So, we have decided to share this as well.

Yesterday was a bittersweet day.

We got up early (as if I slept at all Thursday night.. stupid nerves and anxiety) and got ready.  We took the dogs out before we left and of course, Rooney was refusing to do anything.  He thinks the construction crew working across the street is much more interesting then going potty.  Literally ten minutes later, our daily morning outing ended in me "assisting" Rooney in passing a piece of straw.  Yes.  This dog eats EVERYTHING.  You think he would learn with every struggle, but he does not.  He just keeps eating.  Everything.  Fantastic start!

It was finally time to make our first drive to Frederick in almost two weeks!  I almost forgot where our clinic is located.  Just kidding.  I don't think I'll ever forget that.  It is permanently embedded in my brain.. and my car's GPS.  We pulled in the parking lot at 7:55 for our 8:00 appointment.  I have never seen so few cars in the parking lot!  Yes!  We went inside (to an empty waiting room.. first time ever!) and checked in, and literally three minutes later we were back out the door.  They took the one necessary tube of blood for my beta test (after having to punch through some scar tissue from all of the previous blood work) and sent us on our way.

On the way home I kept thinking, ok.. the waiting room was empty.  That means less tubes of blood to run at the lab and an earlier call with results.  That would be logical, right?  If only..

When we got home I decided I needed to pass the time.  (We both took personal days so we could receive the results at home, rather than work.)  While Matt did some more outside work, I went to Target and did some shopping and got a manicure and pedicure.  I have to chaperone prom tonight.. gotta look good, right?  That was my reasoning :)

I had a few other errands to run, and then it was time to go home.  It was now 1:40.  Guess my logic was wrong.  Sigh.  As I was pulling into my driveway, my phone rang.  The caller ID: Shady Grove Fertility.  Oh crap.  The moment of truth.  I answered.  Janette, our nurse, was on the line.  Her first words, "I have your results."  I am now shaking.  "Did you cheat at all this week with testing?"  I admitted my weakness and said yes.  She laughed and said she wouldn't be able to refrain, either.  Good to hear :)

Take a break.  Rewind.  Let me preface this with the events throughout the last week.  I started testing last Friday.  Six days after our transfer.  My results Friday and Saturday were the same.

Negative.  I tried not to think too much into this.  There is something positive here.  This meant that all of the hormone from the trigger shot was officially out of my system.  As Matt says, trying to keep the PMA - Positive Mental Attitude (yes, sometimes I want to slap him when he says this).

Regardless, I kept testing.  I needed to feel some sort of control.  My results Sunday through Friday were all the same.

Positive.  Holy crap.  Is this real?  Did our little embryo really latch on?  We were cautiously optimistic.  We knew (as they told us many, many times) that these tests could give false results and that only the blood test could tell for sure.

Fast forward to my phone call with Janette.  Her next word to me was "Congratulations!"  What?  Again.. is this for real?  By this point I am shaking beyond belief.  I'm not sure if I should pinch myself or not.  She informed me that they are looking for HCG levels of at least 100, and mine were 400.  Yes.  400.  Wow.  I ran in the house and told Matt, and then we scheduled our next blood test for Monday morning.  We need to keep repeating this test approximately every 48 hours for about two weeks.  My hcg levels need to be doubling in between each test to ensure that this will be a viable pregnancy.

This is where our hesitance came in.  We didn't want to share our news for fear that my numbers will not double and that we will end up with a miscarriage.  But again, we have shared everything to this point and could use all of the love and support we can get.

At this point we are cautiously optimistic.  We have celebrated.  We went out for dinner last night.. and had celebratory drinks.  Mine was a little different than Matt's.

I will celebrate with water any day!  Please ignore the bad hair.. I had practice in between hearing our news and dinner.  We hit 80 degrees today.  Is it finally "Spring"?

That was the sweet part of our day.  Very sweet.  Again, cautiously sweet.

As for the bitter.  Shortly after hearing our news, we called our immediate family members and filled them in.  As I said in my previous post, my Grandmother is losing her battle with pancreatic cancer.  She has not been coherent for a few days now.  My mom quietly told her our good news yesterday, and about three hours later she succumbed to this nasty, horrible, horrible disease.  She is no longer suffering, but that does not make it any easier.  I am happy that we were able to tell her prior to her passing, but very sad that she is no longer with us.

I also received some not positive news about my job yesterday, but am choosing to ignore it right now not only because of everything that happened yesterday, but also because it is teacher appreciation week and I should be able to feel appreciated.. not the opposite.  I know I am not a standardized tested subject, but I do feel that business classes are pretty darn important for a teenager's future.  But hey, what do I know.  Finances aren't important.  You don't need to know how to manage money, or use a computer to function in society these days.. or ten years down the road.  (Sorry, I'm a little bitter right now.)

So, for now, we will celebrate (cautiously.. yes, I know I have used this word a lot) and we will grieve.. and I will be pissed off.  The good and the bad, as I said a few weeks ago in another post.  Prayers would still be appreciated as this is a crucial time in our journey.  Thank you all again for everything you have done over the last few months.  I know I could not have gotten to where I have without each and every one of you.

And now.. to find something to wear tonight..

D-Day

Tomorrow is our D-Day.  The day we find out if our little embryo latched on to my uterus.  Talk about nerves and anxiety.  We are ready to know.  More than ready.  My appointment is at 8:00 am tomorrow.  They will draw the blood, then send it to the lab in Rockville.  Then.. more waiting.  Sigh.

We should receive the results sometime tomorrow afternoon.  I'm hoping by 2:00 at the latest, but it is hard to tell.  We will not be posting our results immediately.  We have family we would like to tell in person before we make a public post.  Sorry!

Rolling Hills and Some Ranting

This two week wait is quite the emotional roller coaster.  Actually, I don't like the roller coaster analogy.  Let's go with rolling hills.  A week of traveling through peaks and valleys. 

I have not posted the last few days for various reasons.. the main one being saying something I shouldn't.  I teach my kids daily that what you post online stays with you for the rest of your life.. so I'm trying to walk the walk!

You may want to skip the next couple of paragraphs, unless you want to read my ranting and venting.

Needless to say, some people (I will keep specific names out of it) have been, oh let's say testing my patience and ability to keep my mouth shut quite a bit lately.  I am not good at these things to begin with.  Throw in some a lot of fertility drugs and hormones, and you can go ahead and say these people are just plain lucky that I did not let them know how I felt right then and there.  As a result, I dedicate this part of my post to them.  The people who have no clue and think I need to hear their "advice".  I'm sure many of you have experienced the same type of thing.




Matt must be noticing my hormones because he sent me this earlier in the week

I had someone come up to me last week and ask how I was feeling.  Nice gesture, right?  I thought so, too.  I responded with "feeling pretty good, but exhausted".  I am a full time high school teacher, girls lacrosse coach (in the intense part of our season.. 3+ games a week and practices the other days), dealing with some family things (my Grandmother who I am very close with is losing her battle with pancreatic cancer), and at that time I had been traveling to our clinic (over an hour away) pretty much every day or every other day.  I think I am allowed to say I am exhausted.  Anyway, this person's response was, "I don't know why you didn't just wait until the end of the school year."  Really?  Wait longer?  I know we only started this process about a year ago, and that is nothing compared to some others.  But, you want me to wait longer?  Now, what I really wanted to say was a few explectivies and a big screw you.  But I held my breath for a few seconds (because honestly, I feel bad for this person and their ignorance) and politely said that this was the path we chose and what worked for us.. and walked away.  Damn, I'm getting good at this keep your mouth shut thing (no yellow cards for 2 full weeks!).   

I know I posted this before, but it is worth a repost!

I am also getting tired of the "relax and it will just happen" advice.  Yes, that is nice to say, and I thank you for caring and trying.  Yes, it will happen when God wants it to.  But for the love people.. it will NOT "just happen" as a result of me "relaxing".  Medical tests and results have told us just the opposite.  We have to pay a babymaker for it to happen.  His name is Dr. Bromer.  And we like him.  He has an IVF baby, too!  And we have accepted this fact.

The concludes the portion of this post that consists of venting and just plain bit*hing.  If I offended anyone, I am sorry.. sort of.  These are my feelings and I have every right to communicate them.  I am sorry if you don't like them. :)

Anyway, let's talk about this two week wait and the hell that it is.  It feels like two months, not week.  When I say hell, I mean the waiting.  The unknown.  It is driving me absolutely crazy.  I just want to know.  *Keep in mind, patience is not my best asset.*  I know the doctor said no home pregnancy tests.  However, I couldn't help myself.  I have tested.  I know, I am bad.  But I needed to feel some sort of control in this situation.  I am not going to share the results because they may very well not be accurate and I don't want to lean one way or the other.  I want the results of the blood test first.  Once we have that and are ready, we will share our results with everyone.  Ahh, Friday.. please hurry!

I can say things have felt odd the last week and a half.  It is weird not to have daily injections.  Not to have to drive to Frederick or Rockville every day or every other day.  These things had become part of our daily routine.  They had become normal to us.  The weirdest thing is working a full, five day week!  I haven't done that since the beginning of March. 

This weekend we are able to spend some time with family and do some much needed yard work at our house.  It was nice to get away and get things off of my mind for awhile!

On Saturday, we traveled to Penn State to attend a luncheon for Matt's cousin's graduation.  It was nice to see family that we are not able to see very often.  We then traveled to where I grew up to spend some time with my Grandma.  We spent the afternoon on her porch with her listening to stories from her life.  It was nice to see her happy and feeling a little more upbeat.  We finally headed back home to rescue our pups and pretty much crash for the night.

Sunday was project day.  We built our house and moved in two days before Thanksgiving this past year.  Our grass is anything but grass in most places and our landscaping was non-existent.  I had picked up some flowers from the Amish greenhouses by my parent's on Saturday.  We got up early (thanks to Rooney) and headed to Lowes.  We needed to replace our electric weed-eater (not really sufficient for our new 3.5 acres of land), and get a few more things including patio furniture for our soon-to-be-finished back patio. 

Here are a few before pictures:

Ignore the sheet.. we are working on painting the chairs as well!

Matt ended up raking rocks from our yard and tearing up the dirt where the grass did not grow so we can re-plant.  I planted flowers.  We still need some shrubs and have a way to go, but here is what we have so far.

And our helpers for the day.. (sorry, I am a bit obsessed with our dogs)

Anyway, I apologize for the rambling.  It's my way of getting through this wait!  We are officially 10dp5dt (10 days past 5 day transfer) and we only have 3 more to go.  Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and support thoughout this entire process.  We couldn't ask for better family and friends!

And last but not least, since it is Teacher Appreciation Day (week), and Matt and I are both teachers, I will leave you with some sarcasm and humor!

Happy Tuesday!

Football, anyone?

Today is officially 4dp5dt (four days past our fifth day transfer) of our 2WW (two week wait).  Only. Day. Four.  I feel like the days are dragging at this point.  People keep asking me how I am feeling.  Honestly, I am feeling pretty good.  The bruises from the almost constant blood work are starting to go away. (Ignore the messy desk.. we are rapidly approaching the end of the school year.  And yes, that is two bottles of hand sanitizer.  I don't want their germs!  However, on a positive note, this week my kiddos are learning how to blog appropriately!)

The picture doesn't do it justice..

My OHSS has subsided (for the most part) and I am back to a pretty normal diet and daily routine.  Luckily, as painful as my symptoms were, I was considered to only have a mild case of hyperstimulation.  I feel for those who have much more severe cases.  Ouch.

I can say that there are thoughts lingering in my back of my mind constantly.  Should I have extended my bed rest time period to two days instead of one?  Should I have stayed home on Monday to take it easy?  Should I be walking at lacrosse practice as much as I am?  Should I be yelling at games and practices less?  Should I be eating differently?  Should I be doing less?  Am I doing something wrong?  Should I be feeling any symptoms at this point?  Is it bad that I am not?  I'm sure those of you going through the same, or even similar things are thinking the same things.  Or, maybe I am just crazy.  Could go either way.

The good news, however, is that yesteday we did receive an exciting phone call from Dr. Bromer.  The lab called with our final number of frozen embryos.  We have FOURTEEN potential babies frozen for future transfers.  Holy crap.  Bascially, a football team!  Or two basketball teams with a few on the bench.  Could you imagine?  He indicated that we should (I use that term lightly) not have to go through any more fresh cycles.  That means we should not need to harvest again.  If we do future frozen cycles, I will need additional rounds of injections, blood work and ultrasounds, but no more stupid IVs and anesthesia.  Though, as I keep saying, these things will all be worth it in the end. 

Meanwhile, I have been able to spend my time with not only my awesome husband, but my kick-ass lacrosse team as well.  Crazy that tonight is their senior night already and playoffs begin next week!

Our furbabies have also been attached to my hip during the last few weeks!



Roone is a licker..

 

Sophie has hit the "relaxing" age


At this point, we are just playing the waiting game.. and my mind will continute to wander and think these "crazy" thoughts.  My first beta test is on Friday, May 10th.  Until then, we will wait.  And hope.  And pray.  No hpt's (home pregnancy tests) because the hormones from the previous injections can give false results.   In other words, you might get random posts from our life over the next few days instead of updates!