Our second embryo transfer was March 5th, and it went perfectly! Jeremy drove me down to VA where we stopped for lunch and then dropped off my luggage at my hotel. Just like after the first transfer everyone thought that I would get better rest at a hotel than coming home, which honestly with 3 kids I am sure is true! We then went to meet the Dad's at the clinic for the actual transfer. We all wore shirts that I made, and this time they were green for good luck. I also wore a pair of socks that I made hoping all of these little things would bring us the best of luck for this transfer day. I mean honestly who knows if any of these good luck things actually bring real luck, but hey I am willing to try whatever it takes!
After transfer the embryo's Dad's gave me a really sweet gift of Georgetown Cupcakes and Macaroons... YUM... pretty sure I ate all of it in one night, they were so so so delicious, especially the macaroons! I think I will be dreaming about those for a long time to come. They also wrote me a really sweet and thoughtful card that meant way more to me than any gift could, and you all know how I love food!
On our way back to the hotel we also stopped for McDonald's fries, because again it's supposed to be goodluck. I rarely eat McDonald's fries, however these were hot, fresh, and delicious so we all got our own Large... yep we each ate a Large Fry!
After transfer we had to wait an entire 9 days for blood work, but it was well worth the wait since we got a positive. We did cheat and test early at home, and were so excited to watch all of the tests get progressively darker! Typically after a positive beta they will do a 2nd two days later, however this would have been a weekend so we had to wait until 4 days after; now that was a difficult wait. The Beta should double within 48 hours and ours went from 134 to 812 so it was doubling every 36 hours which was amazing! After two or three great betas clinics will typically order the ultrasounds, ours were scheduled for 4/3 and 4/11. Again, it felt like another long wait until we would see the beautiful little heartbeat. At this point I was not really having any symptoms which did worry me a little but I do also know that every pregnancy can be so different.
On March 25th apparently this baby wanted to scare us. I was having a great day until I went to the bathroom and had a small amount of spotting, now I had the same issue last pregnancy and I know it is normal but I still cannot help but to freak out just a little. I called my nurse Jenn and she was amazing and worked it out so that we could go in for an ultrasound the very next day. I am so grateful that she was able to do this because at least one of the baby's dads could go with me to make sure that everything was looking great. They did warn us that at 5 weeks 5 days we most likely would not see a heartbeat and they were right but we did see a fetal pole and yolk sac and of course a small SCH (subchorionic hemorrhage) which was causing the bleeding. For those of you that followed my last blog I had a much larger one at this same point in pregnancy so I was very glad to hear that this one was small. I was still not running or exercising at this point, but was happy to be lazy a few more weeks just to keep this baby healthy, plus I can't deny that I have enjoyed sleeping in. I felt really bad that the one Dad couldn't make it but also relieved that we were able to see that everything was measuring on track and looked great. Around the time of the first ultrasound I also wanted to see if I could use my home doppler to hear the baby's heartbeat and I was amazed that I could. Typically it is really difficult to find this early but I think after being a nurse, and with this being my 5th pregnancy it may be slightly easier for me, plus the dad's really loved receiving the video of the doppler where they could hear it for themselves so it was way worth the work of finding it.
After this "extra" ultrasound we were able to proceed with the next two and I was happy to see that the SCH was disappearing and I had no more bleeding. The next two ultrasounds were amazing, we all got to see the heartbeat, and hear it and we also got to see that everything was growing well!
Since the baby was doing well I finally got to start running and exercising again, although I was taking it much slower and wasn't running any full marathons! I may have really been enjoying the relaxation but I was also missing the energy from my runs and was honestly missing how good I felt after working out. I do have to say that after 5-6 weeks off my muscles did not feel so good after running that first 3 miles but otherwise I felt great and am so grateful that the baby's parents are supportive of my workouts as long as the doctor continues to approve it! Since my running has been feeling so great (other than sore legs after the first few runs) I have signed up for the Ocean City half marathon on 4/27 (nice and flat) as well as the Frederick half on 5/5 which I run almost every year. I am going to ask the doctor tomorrow at my first OB appointment if I am cleared to run these races however she has always been supportive of exercise in my past pregnancies (I've run a half marathon the past two) so I am assuming she will be supportive of this one as well. If not I will not run and if she does approve, and I do run, I am fully okay with stopping when I need to, and drinking whenever and walking at every water stop. That is the great thing about running races while pregnant, I feel like I can fully enjoy the race and how great I feel and not worry about the time at all! Running while pregnant is perhaps one of my favorite times to run, well minus the running with the exhaustion first trimester, haha! Here's one of my training run's with my girls!
After our second ultrasound we graduated to my OB, yay!!!!! Here is a picture of our amazing team at CCRM-VA, Dr. M and our nurse Jenn M. They were really amazing during the entire process and you can tell that they both truly care about their patients <3 . The guys were also in this picture, however I want to maintain their privacy so I did edit them out. Once we graduated from CCRM it was time to start weaning from medications, woohoo! This Thursday, we reach 10 weeks, I will have completely weaned off estrogen and progesterone since now the placenta should be taking over producing these hormones for my body and the baby.
Here is all of the belly pics that were missing in the past few weeks since I have just been too tired to write a blog post... sorry I will try to be better going forward!
As I said previously early on I did not have many symptoms although as I was getting closer to 9 weeks I started developing more fatigue and nausea with some food aversions. Some days nothing sounds good to eat and when something does sound good it's really just carbs or sometimes protein. Before this pregnancy I loved veggies and salad and I am really hoping that I gain back my love for vegetables soon, although for now I do force them in when I need to.
I, of course, cannot have a blog post with some of the yummy treats that I have been snacking on recently. Of course donuts, and yes I did tell Jeremy one was for me and one was for the baby haha! Then there were these amazing cookies that I am now in love with and cannot stop eating, plus these other delicious snacks I found at food lion.
When I get a treat the entire family gets a treat... First Jimmie Cone of the season!
Happy Easter this past weekend to those that celebrate... here are two pictures of my family!
