Weekend in Branson

It has been a nice, but long weekend. We left early Friday morning to head to Branson, Missouri for Jason's cousin's wedding. Jason and I followed some family members and it took about 9 hours to get there. Of course, that was with stopping for lunch at Steak 'n Shake and potty breaks for a four year old. Guess I should get used to traveling like that, huh? We wanted to get home early on Sunday, so we took off right after breakfast and made it home in 6.5 hours! :-) Anyway, we got there Friday night and had dinner in our hotel and then went to bed. The wedding was Saturday afternoon and it was over 100 degrees so we didn't do much of anything! It was a beautiful wedding and reception on the groom's college campus.

Jason's cousin Kenny, Aunt Leta, Uncle Bill

me & JasonCorey & Cathy

After the reception, we played Left, Center, Right in the hotel room and just chatted. We headed home right after breakfast this morning. Just in time to see our Cubbies lose...darn it! We're hoping this week goes quickly! 8 days until we see our little one again!!!

Ultrasound - 6w6d

It has been quite the day! I didn't sleep too well last night. I'm sure I was just anxious/nervous for today. After working this morning, Jason and I made our way to the ultrasound appointment. My heart was beating out of my chest!! The nurse doing the ultrasound was not someone I had seen before so I was a little disappointed with that. You know, you just want to see people who you have a relationship with and know all that you have been through. Anyway, she was very non-chalant when she first saw the baby saying that there was one, but going on to measure my ovaries. When she came back to the baby, we saw the gestational sac, yolk sac, and our little bean with a beating (flickering) heart!!! I couldn't believe it!

While she was measuring everything, we saw a 2nd gestational sac that was much smaller so she called in the nurse practitioner to confirm. This sac did have a yolk sac and a teeny, tiny starts to a baby. Then, she saw a 3rd gestational sac that was even smaller - it had a yolk sac, but that was it. So, it appears that all three embryos implanted, but only one continued to grow and develop a heartbeat. I assume this is why my hcg level was elevated. We were informed that these two smaller sacs will probably continue to get smaller and absorb into my body.

We are ecstatic to be pregnant with one baby and forever grateful! His/her heart was beating away at 136! Praise God!!! We go back in another two weeks for our 8 week appointment! I feel so much relief after today, but I can't wait to go back and see it again!!!

(Sorry for the crappy quality! Hopefully the next one is better!)

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers! Please continue to pray as we know we have a long way to go!

ICLW #3

I cannot believe it is already towards the end of June!! This is my third month doing ICLW...thanks for stopping by if you are new! I'll introduce myself in a bit, but first, I must say that at this moment, we are pregnant. That wasn't the case when I signed up for ICLW, but since then we have had two positive, doubling betas. Our viability ultrasound is on tomorrow.

I have been married for 6 years to my wonderful husband who I met through my job almost 9 years ago. We started TTC one year after our wedding, so after 5 clomid cycles, 3 iui's, 2 ivf's, and 5 years (almost to the day), we found out we are pregnant! It has been quite the roller coaster of emotions, but it will all be worth it the day we are holding our miracle(s) from God! This journey has taught me so much, and I wouldn't want it any other way (although I hope this time we get to move on to much better things).

This blog is about everything from IF to our daily life. DH and I work full time and have wonderful friends and family including six nieces and nephews. We LOVE the Cubbies, relaxing in our pool, taking a ride on the motorcycle, and hanging with family and friends.

As I mentioned above, our first ultrasound is tomorrow and I will be 6 weeks 6 days so we are praying for proper growth and heartbeat(s)! We think it may be twins based on my hcg betas so that is why I say heartbeats. I'll be updating after our appointment tomorrow afternoon!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday!

Three more days....

Monday cannot get here soon enough!!! Thankfully, this week has gone pretty quick since I was off on Monday. I just hung out at home on Tuesday, Wednesday was girls night with my small group, and last night I was with my little sister. Jason gets home from his training class tonight!

I have some symptoms (tired, thirsty/peeing constantly, tenderness, random twinges/cramping/pinching), but it's hard to tell if it's from the progesterone or the pregnancy or both! Overall, I feel pretty normal. I find it very interesting that so many people look so far down the road already at this point. Right now, I am just praying for heartbeats and the correct growth! I say heartbeats because Jason and I both think it is twins...mostly because of the hcg levels, but also because we have had dreams about twins. One night I had a dream about names - I was trying to figure out what sounded good together. On Wednesday night, we were measuring cribs to see if we could fit two in one room. Ha! Of course, I would be completely happy and thrilled with one healthy baby, but twins would be amazing, too! Ever since I was a young girl, I thought it would be so cool to have boy/girl twins!!

We're having dinner with friends tomorrow night and no big plans on Sunday (besides church). So, hopefully, Monday will come quickly, and I'll have great news to report!!

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Do you know what Big Brothers/Big Sisters is? Have you considered volunteering? You can count this as your recruitment call! :-)

My little sister, Aireol, and I have been matched for two years this month! I first knew I wanted to be a big sister after watching one of my mom's friend's and her husband with their two little brothers when I was probably 10 years old. Being matched with Aireol has been awesome! We do lots of things together including just hanging out at my house and window shopping to bowling and manicures. BB/BS also has a lot of activities that they sponsor as well - sporting events, concerts, plays, discounts at restaurants, etc.

Visit their website HERE!

Cubs Game #2!

Yesterday was such a great day! Jason is in Chicago all week for a training class, so we decided to head up early to see another Cubs game!!! There were a lot of Twins fans there, but the Cubbies pulled off another win!!! Ryan Theriot knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning.

The view from our seats.

I came home today, but Jason is still there. :-( The weekend went quickly, and I hope this week does, too! Our ultrasound is one week away!!! I can't wait to see the heartbeat(s)!!

Weekend Recap

Getting excellent news on Wednesday and Friday started off a nice weekend for us! We had a garage sale on Thursday and Friday...made over $300! Don't ask how you can collect so much stuff in one year's time, but somehow we did. On Saturday, we had a wedding for a friend of Jason's. They had a beautiful day!!

Waiting to take off on the motorcycle!

The Corum family - Jim, Heather & Addison

Me & Addison

Toby & Rachel

Me & Jason

We went to church this morning, I took a nap, and we watched the Cubbies win in 14 innings! It's back to work tomorrow...I've got a big meeting on Friday and Saturday so hopefully it will go quickly.

Beta #2

I'm starting to realize that the waiting and worrying is never going to end. I got the call from my nurse a little while ago...things are still looking good...hcg level is 720! Not quite double, but better than the minimum they needed.

Here's the chart based on babymed.com and betabase.info...an approximate doubling time of 55.65 hours.One step closer to bringing a real live baby (or two) home! Next up...ultrasound on 6/22!! I can't wait! Now, I need to find things to keep me busy and my mind on other things before then.

Beta #1

It has been a crazy day! I went in this morning for my blood draw around 7am and thought for sure I would hear something before noon (that has typically been the case). A little after 1pm, I finally got the call from the nurse telling me that we are PREGNANT!!!! The poor thing probably had to hold the phone 10 feet from her ear because I was screaming! I was waiting to hear those words all day today....see, I actually broke down and took two HPTs - Sunday night and Monday. They both turned positive right away, but I hadn't taken a digital at all so I was hoping it was good news. If you know me at all, you'll know that I hate taking these tests, but I just felt like I should.

My actual beta was 396!!!!!! It's kind of funny because I told the nurse that Jason and I have been joking about triplets, but now she has me a little worried. I get to stop the Estrace and DHEA...yeah! Two less things to worry about remembering each day. I go back on Friday morning for my 2nd beta...we still need your prayers for a doubling number!