We have crossed the 200 line! Today is a huge milestone!

I went to my OB (huge milestone!) and the nurse that checked me in kept saying congrats over and over. That was pretty cool :) My doctor came in and was very pleased as well. Last time I saw her (in June) we discussed adoption and she had given me her attorneys name as she had adopted both of her sons. So she was pretty surprised when I came in and I explained the insurance had increased and the IVF worked. YAY! We discussed pros and cons of the 2 hospitals she delivers at (Verdugo and Huntington) and tests, history, etc. She then tried to hear the heartbeat with a doppler that I swear they bought at Radio Shack about 20 years ago. She warned me she might not hear anything and low and behold she did not. She was very quick to say she heard the baby move though so it was ok but she knew I wanted to hear it so she got me to the u/s tech. When I got in the room, I told the tech I felt more at home and she could do an internal if she wanted to since I was so used to it. No need! she said, the baby will be big enough for external so she actually saw the baby from the outside of my belly! WOW!!! What a concept, so cool! (Don't worry my internals were not feeling left out as the doctor had done a quick peak at my cervix and felt my pubic bones to make sure they were "OK" I wonder what not OK pubic bones feel like?) Anyways, she says "Well no wonder the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat. This baby is moving all over the place! So we watched him for a minute and it was like he was on a trampoline, bouncing up and down! It was so cool to watch. She even did a quick nucal fold test (to check for Downs) and said it looked fine. YAY! So I will not be going for a full blown NT Scan and I am very ok with that. She did some other measurements and said everything looked good. Also at one point she pointed at the screen and said that is accuarte for size, that is how big the baby is. He was huge! She said about 2 inches but wow, that looks so big on the screen!!!

So a quick pee in a cup and 6 vials of blood later I was all done. I am not considered high risk (even at my advanced age of 35 in 5 more days) so my next appointment is November 28th. Dr did say I could come in anytime I wanted without an appointment to have her check the heartbeat though if I ever needed reassurance. I thought that was very cool.

So then I came to work, tracked down my boss and told him I have news with a massive big smile on my face. He said it appeared the news was very good and I said yes "Jamie and I are expecting a baby in May" He gave me a double high five and said that was wonderful and he was very excited for us. I then thanked him and said he played a role in this. He gave me a funny look so I explained that we had been dealing with infertility this past year and his letting me go to the appointments I needed to without tons of questions and no issues, took away a huge potential stress. I said I know that not all managers are good about that sort of thing so I really appreciate it and if baby is a boy will name him after him. That made him laugh and he said I do alot for the team so it was the least he could do. So all is well in work land. In January or February we will talk about maternity leave planning but for now I am to just enjoy this. YAY :) It was so cool to tell him, he said he had an idea but it was nice to hear for sure.

Just an overall awesome day. Happy Halloween!!!

Unfortunately I tried scanning the u/s pics but they are way too grainy that you can't make them out at all. It sucks because the baby was so clear on the screen and everytime she paused it got blurry, maybe because he was moving so much?

Twiggy is about 1.5 inches now and the size of a fig :) My uterus should be popping out any day now (Hopefully in the next 2 weeks) Just for shits and giggles, I had Jamie take a pic of me this weekend with my bella band on. If I were a movie star or Nicole R.itchie I would have paparazzi taking pics and pointing little arrows at my belly "IS THAT A BABY BUMP?" Definitely not suckinable anymore. In fact I think I was sucking in in this picture. Not sure when we will take another one so feel free to giggle to your hearts content. I'm ok with my tummy being laughed at. I waited a long time to have a squishy belly :)



In the topic of, "I am sooooo glad I am pregnant" I went to a baby shower this weekend (which was lovely by the way!) I only knew the honoree and she was a bit busy as you can imagine. So I helped myself to a seat at the corner of an unoccupied table and waited to see who would join me. A few minutes later, her aunt and 3 cousins (I think they were all cousins) sat down. They were all very nice and said hello and got down to chatting. This is where the "Thank God I am pregnant" came in. One has 5 kids, one has 3 kids and the other has 5 and is VERY pregnant with #6. They spent the whole time, well maybe only 90% of the time, talking about their kids. I think if my IVF had not worked I might have had to drown myself in the toilet or run out screaming. Thankfully, I got to sit there with a hand on my slightly bulging belly and say with all sincerity "Thank you God."

Last Friday was my last acupuncture appointment. I want to have a post that is all about how wonderful I think acupuncture is. I truly loved going to every session. Since they were on Friday's, by Wednesday I would start getting excited. I loved the ultimate relaxation feeling I would get. With all the IF stress, I would be so wound up by the end of the week and it would truly be gone by the end of the hour.

I also think acupuncture helped me get my BFP. I had been doing it weekly for about 6 months and even had it done right before and right after my transfer while I was on the table. After my BFP, I kept going but switched to every other week (as my insurance had run out). My acupuncturist thought it would be important for the bulk of the first trimester and considering how much I was worried about every RE appointment, I think it was necessary just to help keep me a bit more calmed.

As for my actual acupuncturist, well she did more than just stick needles in me. She worked with me and talked to me and best of all listened. When I had such fears after my first u/s, she was able to ease my fears tremendously since she is also a nurse-midwife and could speak from experience. All this combined made it so very worth it. When we are able to start thinking about Twiggy #2, I will definitely resume going to acupuncture.

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, if you would like an acupuncturist recommendation, please consider Susan Minich at 818-400-8826. Her office is in Burbank. Just tell her Diana sent you :)

Have a great weekend!

One of my biggest commenters :), Fertilize Me, has gotten a BFP!!! This is such great news, I am so happy for her. Please go share some love!

Happy Fetus day to Twiggy!
Happy Fetus day to Twiggy!
Happy Fetus day dear Twiggy!
Happy Fetus day to you!!!

That's right, Twiggy is now officially a fetus. Pretty darn cool!
Some interesting facts from the Visible Embryo about my amazing overacheiver:
- He has vocal cords forming and can make sounds
- Basic brain structure is complete
- Fingernails are beginning to grow
- Twiggy's skin is very sensitive right now
- He is 1.25 - 1.68 inches long
You are impressed aren't you? :)

We are now professional shot givers and that is not something I ever wanted on my resume. When I moved to England in October 2003, Jamie took my cat Nicki in. We were still just dating at the time but he liked her I guess :) She was a bitchy Seal Point Siamese who only loved me and was 16 years old at the time. How incredibly touched I was by him taking her in is a whole different post.



This post is about what happened a few months later. She got really sick and he took her to the vet who said she had kidney issues. She could die if they didn't start her on a treatment plan which included Jamie giving her saline injections to the back of her neck daily. He would have to inject her with a needle and let a bunch of the saline flow in like an IV. She hated it and would cry and the fluid would pool up in her leg but he did it anyway. I remember he said the first time was really awful, he couldn't get himself to stab her with the needle but finally did. On one of my trips home he tried to teach me to do it but I was scared of needles and just couldn't bring myself to do it. After I moved back home in December 2004 I eventually learned how. Unfortunately she passed away a little over a year ago and we threw away all the needles and saline thinking we were done.

Well as you know infertility then came along... when we told I would have to get shots, Jamie was not phased at all. He never had any problems giving them to me, even the big massive PIO shots!

So that brings me to Orange Cat (she came with the house as an outdoor cat, when Nicki passed we let her come in and be an inside cat, she is now a combo indoor,outdoor cat)



On Saturday we let her out in the morning and she came back about an hour later. I happened to pick her up and noticed a bite on her neck that looked like a vampire bite! I took her to the vet and they cleaned it up and gave her a shot of antibiotics. They then gave me more antibiotics in liquid form, the kind you have to try to force down a cats mouth. I told Jamie about it and he said to ask if we could get shots instead since we are pros. The vet looked at me like I was crazy but I said we would have a much easier time giving a shot than giving an oral medicine. OK, so Jamie goes to give her the shot and all goes well. She gives a mini meow and that is it. Compared to trying to force her mouth open and then keep it closed until she swallows (any of you that have tried this with a cat before know what I am talking about)

So the illness of my beloved Nicki and my infertility have had a tiny piece of silver lining for Orange Cat. Ahhhh.... a long story for a very tiny, thin silver lining. I guess we have to look for it wherever we can.

YAY!!!! We are in the double digits! Twiggy will become a fetus on Thursday! Excitement all around :) He is the size of a kumquat and starting to grow nails. It's just all so cool to think about.

The downside is, I don't feel any of it! My tiredness and hunger are diminishing and my tummy just looks like I ate too much. Is it too much to ask to want to feel pregnant? Last week The Waiting Womb wrote about just wanting to have a belly and she was 26 weeks 5 days when she wrote that! OMG! I don't want to wait until 27+ weeks to look pregnant, I want it now! I just feel like I have waited so long for this.... I know I am very happy to be pregnant, I just want to feel it too. I sound like a whiny baby and that embarrasses me but too bad, it's how I feel.

So pregnant readers or moms that did not have m/s, please post a comment about when you started to feel pregnant. I appreciate it!

Yes, we were out of town for the past 3 days with no access to a computer. Sorry to be so neglectful! We are back now and very behind on reading blogs! The trip itself was uneventful, except I don't think Twiggy likes flying. I was in painful trapped gas (sorry TMI) mode the whole flight. Luckily for my neighbor it was trapped :)

The big news today is it is my last drug day!!!! YAY!!! I got my last PIO shot Tuesday morning before my flight (so for those of you counting, that comes to 120 shots in my ass, thighs and abdomen), this morning I took my last Estradiol pill and baby asprin and tonight will be my last progesterone suppository!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!! As of tomorrow I am a normal pregnant lady!!!

The other big news is that I am wearing my bella band today.... oh my, i love it! Granted these pants were a bit tight before the BFP but I blame that on all the drugs. But now I get to wear them comfortably and what a difference!!!

Tomorrow Twiggy turns 10 weeks and is almost done being an embryo. It's a big weekend!

Big appointment today!!! Our RE said that if she could see Twiggy move and an umbilical cord going to the placenta, she would release me to my regular OB. Well, I am released! Twiggy wiggled around for us and moved his arm and kicked his foot (you can only see one of each) His wiggle kind of looked like he hicupped. Jamie and I had the biggest grins and were giggling watching because it was just so darn cute! We could really make out the head and body and the arms and legs. The heart was beating great too at 173 bpm. He is just so much bigger, especially to Jamie who didn't see him at the last appointment.

So my RE was very happy and said we are all done with her. I am travelling tomorrow so I asked about the PIO shots if I could skip a day or should I find a place to give me the shot. She said that if today's bloodwork looks good then Jamie can give me my very last shot tomorrow morning before I leave and I will be done. I will then finish up the suppositories, baby asprin and the estradiol by the end of the week. By Saturday I will be a completely normal pregnant lady!!!! YAY!!!!!

So she gave us a big hug and congratulated us. My nurse then checked us out and also gave us big hugs and a gift from the clinic. A little blanket, bib and spoon with HRC on them, so cute! I can't wait to use them!

I am sad to leave my RE and nurse because they along with everyone else at HRC has just been amazing. I have always felt like a person and treated with respect. All of my questions have been answered, usually by my doctor in the exam room. She would actually talk with me and not just run out the door. I have read about other peoples experiences and I have been so thankful for how my experience has been. So if any of you are near Pasadena, CA, I highly recommend Dr. Michelle Evans at Huntington Reproductive Center. She has been just amazing. I don't know how to thank her enough!

So my next appointment is on Oct 31st with my OB/GYN. I have no idea what will happen at that appointment but I don't think I really care. I am just so over the moon to be at this point.

So here are the u/s, I am really disappointed that I can't scan the pic better. You can really see Twiggy's head and body but it's just not coming across very well here.

I am sure this isn't rocket science to most of you but I have never seen such a direct connection between food and energy before. I can literally be laying on the couch after work (face washed, jammies on of course) and about to fall asleep. Yawning every 15 seconds etc. I will notice I am a touch hungry and get something small. Some crackers, a grandpa scone (yummy!, I have the best scone making grandpa in the world) a banana, etc... As soon as I am done eating I am wide awake, able to sit up and the yawning stops. 2 hours later, I will be laying again... yawning.... realize it's dinner time. I eat and poof! Wide awake again! It's like magic I tell you!

There I said it, I put it in writing. I am past 8.5 weeks and I have not had morning sickness (just a bit of queasiness) So I hereby declare myself Morning Sickness Free!!! May you all have such luck!

OK, now before you all run out and start buying baby gifts, stop, drop and roll! But I do have to tell you about the card and cute fuzzy little infant socks that were sitting on my desk after lunch. :) The socks were wrapped in pink and blue ribbon and the card was to the Mommy to Be. Ahhhhh...... so sweet! They were from a friend that has been following our story. We started TTC a bit after she had her first. A little bit before I started this IVF she had just found out she was pregnant with #2. When she came to check on me and if the IVF worked, I swear I saw her eyes well up when I told her it worked. It's just so nice to be surrounded by people that are so happy for us! I can't wait to be completely in the open!!! (Which will also mean we are past this first trimester!)

Today I went to lunch with S, her baby Ella, her SIL and SIL's friend. Both SIL and SIL friend are pg. It was so much fun to be at a mommy/mommy to be table and fit in! I could contribute to the discussion! I belonged! I mentioned my congestion and all 3 of them said, oh yeah! I had something in common with 2 pregnant women and a mommy! Oh the joy!

In other joys, I received the last of my drugs yesterday! I will be all done with the PIO shots in about 10 days and the suppositories in about 12. SO VERY EXCITING!!!!!

Twiggy is now a kidney bean!

The weekend went very well. I have to tell my cute story about Jamie though. On Friday night I really wanted a chicken pot pie but he was already making steak so I happily ate that. I was still hungry after and mentioned that I would kill for a cherry pie! Well Jamie offered to go to the store and get me one! I said no, that I didn't want to wait an hour for it to cook so he offered to drive down to Coco's (about 15 minutes away) to get me one. I said that was silly and I would think of something else. Well he insisted and even called Coco's to see if they had any and then drove down to buy it! He made me promise to be awake when he got back and I not only promised to be awake when he got back but I promised to be awake long enough to eat a piece of pie! And I did, and it was soooooo damn good! Huge brownie (or cherry pie?) points to Jamie! I told him he's in for a long 7 months if he continues to jump at my beck and call! (I just adore the man and think he is really enjoying this whole pregnancy thing!)

Saturday was interesting. I ran a bunch of errands including buying a Bella Band! I have a few pairs of pants that are starting to get tight and the ones that were really loose are starting to get less loose so I figured I would need it in the next week or two.

I was picking up a friend at Van Nuys airport in the afternoon and I knew that the only Babies R Us anywhere near us is right near the airport. Well I have a baby shower coming up in 2 weeks so I figured I leave a bit early to go to Babies R Us before the airport. (Save money on shipping and be able to buy more present!) I looked forward to it because i thought I could wander up and down the aisles dreaming of what we would maybe register for. Kind of like when I first got engaged I was "allowed" to buy wedding magazines and try on wedding dresses. I felt I was allowed to just look around Babies R Us. Well anyways, I walked in there and stood there like a deer in headlights. I was beyond overwhelmed! I almost felt ill looking at all the areas they had and just didn't know where to begin. So I printed the registry and bought what I wanted and ran out of there! OMG! How does anyone register??? That was scary! I think I will just take S & L's registries and copy them!!!

Yesterday we decided to have a date and went to breakfast. While we were waiting for our food I started to go from hungry to nauseas. I ate my toast and just sat there staring at the rest of my food and didn't have the heart to touch it. I think I waited about 10 minutes for the toast to settle before I started picking at the food and it was good!!!! I just didn't feel well. I finally managed half of it and we went home. I laid on the couch for about an hour and finally felt better. The rest of the day I had slight queasiness. Not sure if this is a sign of things to come or just a big fat sign to not wait til I am hungry to eat!

I had a couple of comments yesterday about me referring to Twiglet as "he". I am convinced Twiglet is a "he". Here is why: "he" took "his" time implanting and gave me a low beta and "he" took "his" time growing and made me wait to see "his" heartbeat. So my scientific conclusion is that "he" will be like his father and be a procrastinator. :)

So Twiggy will be a boy until proven otherwise. We only have 12.5 more weeks til we know for sure!!!

We got another u/s today! Jamie couldn't go so my mom happily took his spot. She was grinning as big as he was last week. The technology sure has changed since she was pregnant with me!

I am happy to report that Twiggy is right on track. He measured 7 weeks 4 days which matches perfectly with the last 2 weeks of measurements. We were also able to HEAR his heartbeat which was pretty cool. It came in at 151.78 bpm. Nice and healthy!! My doctor pointed out the blob of head and blob of body which kind of blended together but she seemed very happy. She also pointed out arm and leg buds but I have to admit that I didn't really see them but I trust that she did!

So the next appointment is on the 15th when I will be 9 weeks and 2 days. She is hoping/expecting we will see Twiggy wiggling around and the umbilical cord attached to the placenta. Assuming we see that, it will be my last appointment with my RE. She will then wean me off the drugs (yay, I will probably be done in 2.5 weeks!!!!) and leave me to the world of normal fertiles in a regular OB's waiting room. Wow, that will be a momentous event. Jamie will definitely be coming to that appointment. It will then be 2 long weeks until my OB appt. She'll probably make me wait a whole month for the next one! How will I go from weekly u/s's to monthly check ups???? Oh well, I will worry about that later. For now, let's admire the u/s pics. First one is the heartbeat measurement and the second is of Twiggy in all his glory!

Another twig is growing!!! Two in 2 days! Go congratulate Our Dance With Infertility!!!!

I wouldn't quite say nausea... very mild.... isn't queasy less than nausea? It started yesterday at In N Out. Ate about 3/4 of my hamburger and then just. had. to. stop. Could not eat anymore or I would have been sick. The rest of the day I just felt off and I still do now. Interesting, we'll see how this one pans out.

YAYAYYAAYAYAY Good news Waiting on Two Pink Lines got two pink lines this morning!!!

Well with the new due date change, my week change in on Saturday. That kind of sucks because I rarely post on Saturdays so there is no big 7 WEEKS!!! title. Oh well you get it 2 days later. I am ok with that, as long as I get to keep posting about THIS pregnancy I am happy! So Twiggy is the size of a blueberry this week. I eat blueberries on my cereal every morning.. ate about 30 twiglets this morning, haha! So should I try eating the representative food each week? We're ok until cantaloupe, I hate cantaloupe... I digress. Twiggy is also sprouting some arms and legs, quite the overachiever. And I think I am tired! How must Twiggy feel?!

Over the weekend I had 2 different people ask if it was ok to say the "C" word now and I got to smile and say yes, now that have have seen the heartbeat, the "C" word is welcome (Still don't want to tell the whole world yet though!) So I got to hear congratulations twice. WOW, that sure felt good!

Hi Ginny! Feel free to leave a comment anytime you like!