AUG/SEPT BUDDIES!

[kerpupples]

Hi ladies! I had my second combined screening blood draw today - should know the results next week. I am starting to show and finally need to supplement the one pair of maternity pants I have. My Bella bands (Thanks for the Target tip Stacy!) have been lifesavers too.

toobee - most excellent symptom writeup. I'm lucky to have avoided the hemmorhoids so far, but I too have had the gas and heartburn. My mother in law was also one who was very dizzy through her pregnancies - she said she was constantly losing her balance. I have been a little off balance at times but nothing too terrible. And I get nosebleeds during the wintertime anyway - the saline spray can be a lifesaver. I'm glad to hear your scan went well!

AmandaM - I've felt that round ligament pain too. It is apparently normal. I've also felt an occasional pulling across my abdomen. I'll ask my RE about it when I go in but I'm fairly certain it's not my uterus and it feels like it's my lower abdominal muscles stretching to make room for my growing uterus.

Valerie - 3 parties, wow! We have 2 to go to this weekend as well and I can't trouble myself to cook for either one. Have a wonderful time and thanks for checking in on my little munchkin.

Stefanie - Do you have anterior placentas? My RE said I initially did and that I'd likely feel fetal movement later, so maybe that's your case too?. That said, my placenta has since shifted and I've felt a couple "wiggles" that I think were the baby. Congrats on the house and condolences on the hemmorhoids and heartburn. I've just started getting heartburn too - no fun at all. I am just the same as you re moving and micromanaging - it's probably good you have to take a step back.

Helen - best of luck today hon, do let us know! We're here to congratulate or commiserate.

Stacy - glad to see you back here! Sounds like all is well with you.

Chris - I'm so glad you found another RE. Take as much time as you need but do hang in there - if it happened for me it can happen for you too!

Renee - Mele Kalikimaka deary! I know what you mean about needing some time away. I hope that time gets you your natural BFP.

Forgive me if I missed anyone.

[toobee]

Hey Kerpupples
Glad you liked the post on symptoms, I wasnt finished writing it when you read it, but it is now. Thats the longest post I ever wrote , good lord!!. But I hope it helps some . I am sure your babies are going to be fine. But I know how anxious those scans make us. YOu gotta wonder how ladies did it in the older days of no scans, tests etc....How far along are you again?? I feel like I asked this before, but its not in your siggy so I apologize I cant remember everything I am just curious cause you siad you are just starting to show and getting your scans...if your as far along as me, I am so jealous!!! I have been out of my own clothes since 9 weeks...no bella band was gonna help me.

[AmandaM]

Hi girls

I just got back from the doctor. My cervix is completely closed, so def not braxton hicks contrachs. Phew! Bad news is, it is ligament pulling and there is nothing to do to prevent it. So I might feel it the rest of the pregnancy. It is very common. They did an u/s both vaginal to measure the cervix to make sure it is long enough to deal with the pressure and tummy to check on the babies. Baby A bp was 153 and baby B was 150. They measure legs, head etc and they are perfect in size. I still go in in a few week for my big 20 week u/s to check the heart etc. But.....she was able to tell the sexes today. We are having a boy and a girl.

Hope you are all doing well.

[toobee]

Hey Amanda!
I am so confused by your post....I just saw my peri yesterday and the nurses said Braxton Hicks are common during this time and not to worry??? Maybe I read your post wrong? Does Braxton Hicks have something to do with your cervix opening, cause that scares the crap out of me??? Sorry...I must be losing my mind! why would the nurses tell me that Braxton Hicks are common if that opens your cervix??? I am so confused!!!


Congrats on a boy and a girl!!! that is so awesome and great news!!! I bet you are both so thrilled!!! I was hoping for that combo myslef, but I am happy with two girls, and I am finally wrapping my brain around it after I convinved myslef I had boy/girl I am so gllad to hear the initial measurements look good. I am sure your 20 weeks scan will be wonderful.

Congrats!!!

BTW...Our babies HB's measured exaclty the same as yours ! 150 and 153

[AmandaM]

Toobee

I would listen to your doctor, maybe i was confused. my doctor told me 18 weeks is kinda soon for braxton hicks contracts. She checked to make sure the cervix was closed. I thought that was to rule out braxton hicks. She did say not to worry unless they are less than 7 mins apart.

Two girls is exiting too. My hubby was hoping for two girls. It didn't matter to me as long as they are healthy.

I wouldn't worry about the braxton hicks. She did tell my that ligement issues is very common in pregnancy. It feels like pulling cramping. Maybe you have this too.

[kerpupples]

toobee - I'm 16 1/2 weeks (you can see in my sig below the baby in the flowers). I'm tall so I think that's why I only started visibly showing last week. There's a woman much shorter than me in my prenatal yoga class who is a week behind me and showing much more than me! I'm sure I'll pop out in the coming weeks. Right now it still just looks like I eat too much. And you're carrying twins so of course you show earlier.

Amanda - a boy and a girl, you're so lucky! That was our ideal too so we wouldn't have to even think about IVF again, but of course we're happy just having one. Now you can get serious about names if you haven't already. We've settled on a boy's name but are not sure for a girl's.

[msfixit03]

toobee - SO GLAD to hear your girls are OK! What a relief!

me - BFN

[toobee]

MisFixIt
I am so sorry girl. I really am. I dont know what to say. My thoughts are with you and your DH. I hope your ok and again I am sorry yo dint recieve better news today.....

[toobee]

Kerpupples
I cant believe I mssed your siggy, I must add "air head" to my symptom list...... Seriously I do have some very unflattering moments more often when is comes to brain function since being knocked up.

[slfleming1]

MisFixIt - So sorry for your BFN. Best of luck going forward.

-Stacy

[to_have_fun08]

misfixit - Sorry about your BFN. I know it is hard. How many more frozen embies do you have? Hope you can cycle again. The game isn't over yet. Good Luck.


Lynniecat - CONGRATS ON YOUR BFP!!!!!

[to_have_fun08]

I also posted this on OCT/NOV/DEC Board. Would also like your opinions.


My appointment yesterday went well. The new RE is more open to new ways of doing things. He suggested I do Mini IVF or Japanese IVF. He is the only RE in my area that I know is doing this. It is IVF that goes along your natural cycle. They use clomid, a little follistim and sometimes ganirelix in the cycle. It only produces maybe 2 to 4 eggs, but they are supposed to be the best quality eggs. After ER they freeze the eggs and they use the vitrification process or something like that which is supposed to be better then cryo. Then 1 month later will do a natural FET. This sounds good because my body seems like it is going to do whatever it wants no matter what drugs I give it and I also like the fact the mini ivf is more natural. Though now I am more stressed then ever.

Reasons being -

1. I only have 3 IVF cycles covered under insurance, what happens if I only have 1 or 2 eggs at ER and neither fertilize or they don't make it through the freezing process. This would be 1 cycle down the drain.

2. This RE is not part of an Insurance group. The RE's portion of the bill $5500. I will have to pay this portion upfront and then have my insurance pay me back. This would not be so much of a problem but, I am switching insurances starting Jan 1. I haven't received the new insurance cards so right now I can not make any inquiry to my insurance to see how I could go about getting reimbursed. As far as I know right now they might not reimburse me. I just don't want to take that chance. Plus, when AF comes they will give me a date for ER. At that time I will have to give them a $500 non refundable deposit. So I will have to pay the $500 and possibly find out that I am not covered and then I lose the $500. I don't have $500 to gamble with, i am in debt enough.

3. with the mini-ivf there are more monitoring appointment. I will have to go in just about every day for at least 1 or 2 weeks before ER. The new RE is a lot farther from my work and the main highway that I will take is closed for construction so it will be a PITA to get from my appointments to and from work. It would take about probably 90 minutes to get there and that is if St. Louis traffic is good.


So this is what I am thinking right now. Tell me what you think?

I am calling my old RE's office but seeing if I can switch RE's. There is one RE's that did my ER and ET, plus one of my IUI's and I like him. I have spoken to several of his patients and they all like him and he actually tries to make some contact with his patients. For my RE I have only personally spoken to her twice. Once for the initial consult and then she did my trial embryo transfer. DH has never liked my current RE.
I will see what he recommends and go from there.
The main reason I would go back to the current office is just because I hate stress. The current office is with my insurance and they deal with all that crap. It is close to my house and my work so I won't have to deal so much with St. Louis traffic.
I am just really confused right now. Don't know what I really want to do.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Chris

[msfixit03]

Okay, I'm feeling better today. Which I can't say for my credit card that endured some heavy duty retail therapy burden yesterday. I just couldn't go home! The good thing is I was with DH when they called. We planned to have lunch together, so we can get the news together, whatever it may be. I just feel so rotten. What is wrong with me? Did I do something wrong? Was it a chocolate candy I ate, a laptop that shifted from my lap to my belly? A shopping bag that I lifted on the 4dpt that was probably heavier than 5 lb? Or maybe I'm just toxic inside and embie didn't want to implant I tried to do everything I was supposed to, but I must have screwed it up anyway.

I just wish I knew what went wrong... Well, we have two more blasts remaining in cryo. Can't be sure that both of them make it through the defrost. Out of the first two, one made it. We will continue to do FET until we're successful or we run out of embryos. After that, we'll need to discuss whether we're doing another IVF. One step at a time, I guess. This cycle we're going to miss (they don't do transfers over holidays). So, the next FET will probably be at the end of January.

Thank you all for your support!


Chris - That is a tough decision about the new RE. First, you're incredibly lucky to have your IVF's covered. We have spent so much money on all the fertility treatments in the last two years, it's scary! The new RE does sound like there will be more stress for you. I'm not sure what your regular quality eggs are, but it is a risky business (especially with FET) to only bet on a couple. Also, this RE sounds so drastically different, why did you decide to go to him? Are there any other RE's in the area that might follow more standard procedures but still offer you more personalized approach than you current one? Have you looked up the IVF success statistics for your local RE's? If nothing else, I do like the idea about switching to a possibly better RE in your current office. But remeber that all the practices and methods and protocols are probably the same, because that's what the office does. But I can be talking out of my booty All in all, tough decision, definitely give it some good thought and maybe some more research

tobee - Awesome description of the symptoms. I think, I'm going to cut and paste it. Hopefully, I will need it some day

lynniecat - CONGRATULATIONS!!

[kerpupples]

toobee - the nice thing about having moments like that while pregnant is that you can always blame your hormones!

Chris - you have a tough choice ahead of you. I was looking at switching to CCRM at one point but was going to have to pay 13K up front to be reimbursed. It's a pretty daunting prospect. Do you feel like you need to change protocols? If so, maybe the new office is a good idea. I hear you loud and clear about stress though. If you like the other RE at your current office maybe you should try a cycle with him. Your cancelled cycles don't count toward your 3, do they?

Helen - I'm so sorry honey. Sigh. Such a letdown. If it's any consolation, my first FET didn't work either. Maybe they just weren't the right embies! I had zero expectations going in to our last FET since we only had the slowest embies left. But they cultured nicely prior to ET (mine were 3 day embies) and now here I am, 16 weeks pg! You never know what can happen. We did our FETs back to back but if you need some time in between cycles by all means, take it!

[to_have_fun08]

Just and FYI - Cocosmomma the founder of this board just got her BFP!!!