October 2010 Mommies!

[karenthescorpio]

Susan- I do my PIO shots. I find it really simple and painless for some reason. Only once did it sting and that was because I hit a vein. hehehe Just be sure the injection site is your upper hip area...the top of your buttocks. I find that area doesn't hurt at all. And it's easy to reach b/c it is kind of towards your side. So a twist to the right or left is all it takes. I find standing in front of a mirror helps too. Good luck! You'll do great!

[burnbank]

Got my labs!

hCG 28,820
progesterone 59.9
estradiol 1130

I get to drop my PIO dose to 1 ml! YAY! Soon it will be none!

Susan

[mellowyellow]

hi everyone, I finally got up the courage to post on the 'pregnant after treatment' board I kinda felt like I would jinx things earlier on but I'm at 7 weeks today, and last week at our 6 week ultrasound we saw two heartbeats (twins! yikes ) so I'm feeling relatively confident. I'm glad to see there are quite a few twin mommies out there! I've been feeling nauseous 24/7 for the past week so I have to say the initial excitement has faded, I just want to have a couple hours where I feel normal... but I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks yet. My sense of smell is really strong too, and nothing smells good. Bleurgh. But then I think about the babies and its worth it!

In response to a couple of queries on the thread, I'm on baby aspirin and lovenox, a form of heparin, after we found I carry a single copy of the MTHFR mutation. It seems to have helped, this is our 5th cycle (3 IVF, 2 FET) and we've never gotten this far before! And I've had some very light bleeding, but no cramps, and it stopped after about 8 hours, so I'm not too worried about it.

The wait for our next ultrasound is killing me, another week to go, it seems like my life is now a permanent 2ww for something or other

[karenthescorpio]

MellowYellow- Welcome aboard fellow mommie...and from me specifically, fellow twin mommie! I'm 6w2d and I have my next ultrasound in 6 days. Hopefully the HB will be obvious! I'm feeling good about things b/c we did PGD on all 23 sets of chromosomes so we know they are normal. I too have one copy of the MTHFR gene mutation. My RE only put me on a megadose of folic acid and baby aspirin. He said he wasn't totally convinced it was a cause for m/c...but I told him I don't want to risk it. Seems kind of silly that IVF patients aren't screened for this automatically considering they screen us for just about everything else. I think that waiting to m/c several times to look for a problem is unacceptable considering the financial and emotional toll. In fact, I had to prompt for the testing b/c my mother and her father have blood clotting issues. So I just had this gut feeling I needed to be checked. Thank goodness I did!

I haven't had any m/s at all. But my right lower back is killing me for two days now . My chiropractor said the relaxin hormone is causing it. I was surprised it would affect my body this early. But since I have a pre-existing lower back issue, you tend to feel it more where there is a weakness already. UGH. The next 7 months will be sore! I hope you feel better and the m/s settles down.

[mellowyellow]

hi Karen,

I know, when we got our BFP this time around all I could think was, well it has to be because I'm on lovenox, why on earth didn't they test for this right at the beginning? After so many chemical pregnancies as well, I'm kind of ticked off. They did do a blood clotting panel before my second IVF cycle, everything looked fine but for some reason they didn't do the MTHFR test . On this last cycle I had a different doc at the same clinic and she wanted to do the test even though I have no symptoms or family history, as soon as we got the results she decided to put me on lovenox and lo and behold, twins! Its all water under the bridge anyway, I figure theres no point in getting mad about it now that I'm finally pregnant Although you can imagine how incredibly grateful I am that we got our current doctor!

It must be so nice to know that both of your babies are fine since you had PGD, thats the next thing to start worrying about for me!

[mellowyellow]

just a quick FYI - I've been having 24 hour nausea since I hit the 6 week mark, no vomiting thankfully, but its been bad enough to start to really get me down. DH came back from the pharmacy today with some accupressure wrist bands for me to try - he's been trying anything he can find to cheer me up, bless! I should point out that I am not in anyway a proponent of alternative medicine, I'm a scientist and I only trust treatments that are backed up by solid evidence. I was pretty sceptical but I figured what the hell, its worth a try. Once I got the little plastic button in the right spot, within 5 minutes I was feeling better. It was like magic, just completely unbelievable. I'm sure it won't work for everyone, but they're cheap, so totally worth trying. Even if its only a temporary effect, its nice to have a bit of a break

[Merri_Baby_Dust]

Hi little Mommies,

DH and I had our first ultrasound yesterday morning at 6 weeks exactly I think. We saw the heartbeat!!!!

It was amazing - the most precious site I've ever seen. I cried on the examining table. DH was super-confident going in, but of course I was worried - turns out I shouldn't have been. The dr. said everything looked perfect - the sac size measured at 6 weeks and the yolk sac was visible and the baby measured at just the right size. Since the baby was so tiny, it was v. hard for her to measure the heartbeat rate - I had to hold my breath to keep still. But she managed to get it at 108 -- normal between 110 and 160 I think or something. She said 108 was great and it was just because we were barely six weeks and it was so early. We are so happy and proud of our little bambino! This was the moment I've been waiting for for almost 3 years...It was wonderful!

G/L on our upcoming ultrasounds Karen and Sonya!

Merri

[karenthescorpio]

Merri- Big Congrats on seeing the HB! I know you must feel so relieved. I cried on the examine table last Sunday when I had my u/s to find the yolk sacs (they were missing in my previous u/s). I have never felt such a sense of relief! I was really nervous despite all my mental relaxation exercises I was doing! Good grief early pregnancy is STRESSFUL!

MellowYellow- Glad that the bands are working to give you some relief from m/s. I think that my accupuncture treatments are keeping mine m/s away! I've only noticed a very heightened sense of smell. Hope you continue to feel some relief!

Katie- how are you feeling today? Spotting go away?

How is everyone else? Other than m/s, anyone have any other new symptoms/changes in their body?

[Merri_Baby_Dust]

Symptoms -- Ditto on the sense of smell - I think everything smells yuck! The only other symptom I've really had is I've been pretty moody the last week - like pissed off with the world a bit. My acupuncturist says this is due to the fact that we've hit the official start of spring according to the Chinese calendar, and the world is undergoing upheaval - things are working and fighting their way up to the top, and this is all reflected in our bodies and moods.

The only other symptom for me is EXTREME tiredness. I really have to nap every day and I've been sleeping longer.

Merri

[mellowyellow]

ditto on heightened sense of smell, I've had that since right after 4w but its particularly bad now though. Made the mistake of using a particularly fragrant conditioner on my hair this morning and now all I want to do is jump back in the shower and wash it all off, it smells so strong I'm also super tired all the time, I squeeze in naps when I can, go to bed at 9pm, and still feel exhausted in the morning. I can't wait for the weekend when I won't have to get up for work!

Merri - at my 6w u/s both babies had a h/b at 104, my doc said that was perfectly normal, and the higher rates that you see mentioned are wrong, apparently because not everyone can see the h/b at 6w, the numbers are kinda inaccurate. It speeds up pretty rapidly after that though, so next time you see go for an u/s it should be higher

[burnbank]

Congrats Merri! That is such amazing news.

I get my sono tommorrow. My DH (have I mentioned to you all that my DH is an RE? That creates all sorts of +/- situations!) is confident as well, but I am skeptical. We shall see. I am hoping that all of your positivity it flowing my way and I too will have great news to report.

How very exciting Merri, I am happy for you!!!

Susan

[burnbank]

Hey everyone!

I had my sono today. Two babies in there! Both had heartbeats of 127-130! They looked great and measured a bit bigger than my dates! Hooray! I can relax a bit now......

Susan

[DandMe]

Susan; that's wonderful news!! LOL Two babies!! Yay! What were your betas? I think it's great that your hubby is a RE.... I was wondering.. if he ever 'questioned' any of your RE's own decisions?

[burnbank]

My betas were something like 197, 350, 800, & 30,000. My 4th beta was off the charts!

I am seeing one of the partners in my hubby's practice and he does disagree from time-to-time, but never on the big stuff. Tweaking drugs and choice of brand of drug and frequency of tests, mostly. But not which protocol to follow, when to go to IVF/FET and how many embies to put back. We had a tough time our first round or two because DH was in limbo land. Didn't know if he was a doctor or a hubby. We decided that I have a doctor and needed a hubby. That worked best for us, but he did do my shots for me! I am quite certain he's an even better RE now, given our experiences. The nurses in his practice have noticed as well. Kind of cute.

I am sick as a dog as well. Ack! Stuck somewhere between nausea and heartburn. Nothing sounds good to eat! I did buy applesauce today.

Happy! Happy! Happy!

[karenthescorpio]

Burnbank- wow, you are fortunate that your DH is also a RE. How cool. Atleast you don't have to be the squeaky wheel to get some oil. I hope that you are feeling great today! Two more days until my next u/s. Getting a bit nervous again b/c I've had a very slight brown discharge again on and off this weekend. It is mentally exhausting to worry about it even though I listen to my meditation stuff and feel everything is ok.
Karen