Winter Cycle Friends 2009/2010 - Everyone Welcome!

[hjw]

Afternoon ladies, good to see a few messages on here this afternoon, I thought everyone had gone MIA!

Yay, Sarah/sbr, you know I'm so happy to hear your news! Welcome to the thread.

Ashley - good luck for your u/s tomorrow, can't wait to hear how it goes!

Katie - yep, we've got spring sunshine today as well, wanna come over here to get away from your snow??? I'm so sorry about the spotting, but as you so rightly say it does seem to be very common with IVF pregnancies, so do your best not to stress over it, easier said than done I know. Hope you feel confident enough to get those pregnancy books out of the closet soon... If DH has told all of his work colleagues, have you told all your friends and family now too? Re the organic debate, my personal view is that totally organic would be a nice to have, but in practice it's not that easy (or cheap!) to do. Now that my m/s allows (initially I was on a totally unbalanced diet of plain toast, crisps (potato chips to those of you across the pond) and fizzy drinks, bizarrely about all my stomach would accept!), I am trying to watch my diet and include lots of fruit and vegetables, and of course I'm being careful about the things you can't eat (pate, certain cheeses, rare meat etc) but I certainly haven't rushed out to replace all my usual produce with organic, nor do I think that I'm a bad mother for not doing so. So I would just thank her politely for the advice (I'm guessing we'll all receive a lot of unsolicited advice that we may or may want over the next 7/8 months!), and then do what you want to do.

AFM, still chugging along. Enjoying our current spring days and then feeling sick all evening. Can't complain though, I'm just pleased to have a portion of the day when I feel more normal.

Take care,
Hazel

[karenthescorpio]

Katie (and any other spotting IVF'ers)- Even though you will worry about spotting, it really is common. IVF pregnancies and the ole natural ones. My mother-in-law had spotting, she said (natural pregnancy). I've had brown spotting atleast once every week since week 4. I think a couple of my wipes I did there was a slight pink tint mixed in, but mostly it's always brown and light in amount. I have asked my nurse twice about it (feeling worried and nervous) and she says it is normal. She said as long as you don't feel significant cramps with a bright red flow, it is normal. And in my case, she said, especially with twins. But of course, I still worry and obsess every time I wipe. I, too, am on wipe alert b/c today I've had a light brown discharge on and off. It really really sucks, this constant state of alert, but given what we have gone through to get here, us IVF girls are much more sensitive. On the pregnant after treatment main page I posted a link to a free pregnancy mediation and affirmation. I used the affirmations today to ease the worry feeling. It really did help keep me mentally positive and shift my thinking. Why don't you give that a try. It's free...unlike organic stuff! hehehehe

My opinon on organic food is that if you can afford it great, if you can't not a deal breaker. I read a few articles about how if you can't afford to buy all your stuff organic, there are some that are more beneficial than others to buy organic. Like, in the fruit department, things that don't have a thick, tough skin should be bought organic if possible. This would be things like raspberries, strawberries, blueberries. A banana is more protected due to it's thick peel, so it's not as big of a deal to buy non-organic bananas. Here is a good article I read:
http://www.foodforthought.net/learn-mor ... udget.html

Hope everyone is feeling good, healthy and happy! Can't wait for next Wed! That's my next u/s to check for heartbeats!

Hug to all,
Karen

[DandMe]

Katie I have to admit that I am getting more worried by the hour. I hope everything is fine and you've just been busy with family.... we really are quite anxious about losing contact with you! (((((katie)))))

[Stephanieford78]

Hello mommies! New to the forum and just tring to fit in. Is it too soon to post in here? I'm not that far along. I was posting in my cycle thread, but one person suggested I leave and post in a pg thread. Not sure where I belong right now. My hCG test came back positive but I am still so scared waiting on the US. I have read some really sad stories throughout the threads and some very happy ones. Happy or sad, I tear up reading them. Not sure which end of the spectrum I will end up and that is terrifying. I am trying to stay positive, I usually am that bright ray of sunshine for everyone, but I guess I am having a bad day. I suppose this is normal after the kinds of things we have been through huh?

[katie99]

Hi everyone -

OMG - I feel like I've risen from the dead or something. I've been in bed since friday! I must have picked up a bug, because I slept pretty much through all of the weekend. I felt awful, it started on thurs night, and I was thinking is this finally morning sickness? But I felt weak, exhausted, nauseous - but thankfully no fever and it just continued from friday on - ugh! Then this afternoon I woke up and my DH told me that I slept for 16 hrs straight through. Today I feel great - go figure. Oh, I hate to be MIA - look at how much I missed! and you all sure have been busy! It took me 45 minutes to catch up! I missed you all so much!
Thankfully theres been no more spotting - whew! But I'm still wondering where all of these symptoms are? Other than really tired and my boobs being sore, i havent really been feeling any different. How about you all? Oh, and I did look at the organic foods section and I think i'll switch for at least meat, poultry and thin skinned fruits / veg - but I dont see myself going completely organic for now - at last not when a gallon of organic milk is 5 dollars a gallon! Jeez!

Hazel I've missed you! I hate to be MIA - I feel like I miss so much. How are you feeling Mum?

karen Is your u/s on Wed? I'm crossed for 2 strong heart beats! How are you feeling?

Ashley How's it going Mom? Is your appetite still through the roof? I hope you're getting enough rest

Sonya I know you'll be the first through the door on Tues! I cant wait to hear all about it!

Stephanie Welcome and Congratulations! Yes, the stress of all of the trying to get get pg - sure does make us all extra cautious! And being an Army dependant is another form of stress altogether. I was an Army wife a long time ago, but I remember how even on a huge post how lonely you can feel. Settle right here - theres a wonderful support group right here! We are all in this together for the next 7 - 7 1/2 months. When is your u/s scheduled for?

Merri Oh honey! Hooray for seeing the heart beat! You and your DH must be over the top! Now you really can go have "baby aisle" dates! I'm dying to go myself! When will you have your next u/s? Or are you in the same boat as me? Waiting to be released to the OB? I feel like I'm in limbo a bit - hee hee

hugs & prayers to us all - xoxo

[DandMe]

Katie, thank god you are okay. I was beginning to think the worst.

I'm with you on the symptoms. I just don't have that many. I'm a bit grouchy, a bit (quite a bit) more tired, some sore boobs, and some pulling, aching sensations in my lower abdominal area (stretching uterus?), a bit of a sore back. That's about it, nothing really overwhelming, no serious nausea...

[Stephanieford78]

Katie, wow... thank you for the warm welcome! You are right, even being on a big post , I feel more alone then ever. I haven't been able to make a lot of friends here at all. Just a few aquaintences who only bring on bad vibes. I actually tried to confide in one neighbor and told her about our first cycle. We were very optomistic considering DH's swimmers looked "perfect" and I am healthy. After the cycle failed, she told all the neighbors bragging about the failure. Of course to avoid anymore pain and drama, I secluded myself from everyone. We had another failure and now this BFP. It feels great that it finally worked, but still very scarey. I think I am just having a bad day, but reading your welcome really helped pick me up a bit. It's nice to finally have people to talk to about this stuff, I should have joined a forum like this a long time ago.

DandMe - Nice to see you in here. I can't wait till your US, Tuesday right? It will give me hope. lol Can't wait to see how it goes!

I am having symptoms I think, tired through the middle of the day and sore boobs is about it though. I was having a little uncomfortable cramps, but they are pretty much gone now. Trying to stay positive and get through the next few weeks. My US isn't until 8wks on 3/22 and I only had my one beta on 3/2. I would feel a lot better if I could just get one more test to show my numbers are going up. Maybe I can ask my PCM's office to do a test? We shall see.

[karenthescorpio]

Stephanie- Welcome, fellow mommie-to-be. We all understand the "feeling worried" days. The IVF process can be mentally exhausting. I finally had to seek out mental relaxation exercises and meditations after my first failed cycle. It has made a world of difference in keeping up my positive mental attitude...which is very hard some days. We'd be unfit mothers not to worry about all being ok, so don't beat yourself up. Below is one free meditation/positive affirmation link I've used lately. I play it on my laptop and lay down where ever I feel comfortable in the house when I listen to it. I find the affirmations really help in getting rid of the negative thoughts and energy (whether internal or from others). I too have sensed negative vibes from others from previous threads during my cycles and just finally decided to shut it out of my thoughts.
Here is the link:
http://www.healthjourneys.com/kaiser/he ... _flash.asp

I can't wait to hear your future stories of you prancing around your neighborhood with your pregnant bump! Let them gossip all they want about that! Some people are just plain mean spirited. Don't waste your time thinking about it. Think about your blessings. All will be ok. Glad you joined our group!

[hjw]

Wow, sloooooow thread over the weekend, I kept checking in and wondering where everyone had got to!

Katie - so pleased to hear from you - like DandMe I was trying not to get worried that you hadn't posted for a while. Eeuurgh, your weekend bug sounds like not much fun - but not dissimilar to how I felt with the morning sickness, by the way, so don't complain too much about still having few pg symptoms! Hopefully you're still feeling better and it hasn't come back. Have you got those pregnancy books out of the closet yet?

DandMe - good to hear from you, seems like it's been a while. Like Katie, be careful what you wish for - bad morning sickness is truly horrible, trust me!

Stephanie - welcome! Always nice to have a new member on the thread to share stories with, and it's never too soon to come and say hello! I'm so sorry to hear that someone on your cycle thread suggested you should leave because you got pregnant - I always loved hearing from the success stories on my cycle threads as it gave me hope that one day I too would get that elusive BFP! Anyway, you've found a good home here, we'll look forward to getting to know you over the next 7-8 months. We'll help you pass the time until your first u/s. I had to wait until 7wks2days, seemed like an eternity at the time, particularly because my clinic doesn't do betas so all I had to rely on that I was actually pregnant were HPT's at home!

Ashley - how did your u/s go on Friday? How is the morning sickness, are you still feeling dreadful? At the height of my m/s, sitting in front of the laptop made me feel much worse, so I had to go MIA for a while on the boards.

Riley - how are things with you? I'm hoping you haven't had any repeats of the scary bleeding.

Merri - long time no hear, is all OK with you? Have you been on any more baby aisle dates?

Karen - not long to go until your u/s on Wednesday and then you'll see those two heartbeats! Can't wait...

AFM, all is OK. My m/s appears to be 80% gone (hurray!) and I just have some nausea at nights now, which I can cope with. I told DH that at the weekend I wanted to take advantage of finally feeling more human during the daytime, so after taking Joya to the vets for another check-up we went out for lunch on Saturday at a local pub, and then played golf yesterday. I can't tell you how excited I was to have a 'normal' weekend again, after spending so many weekends in bed or on the sofa being sick! The dog's injured pad is an ongoing saga still - around the middle to the end of last week it became clear that the stitches hadn't held (largely, I think, because she insists on racing round the house with our other dog irrespective of how quiet you try and keep her), and the pad had pulled away from the leg and wasn't healing. The vets offered to re-stitch it on Saturday under another anaesthetic, but we were concerned that the same cycle would just repeat itself, so we asked if they would bandage it for a few days instead, and give it a chance to knit back onto the leg by holding it in place that way. I took her back to have it checked this morning, and unfortunately it seems that infection set in at some point last week and just thrived inside the bandage, because the whole thing is now a gunky mess. So they can't bandage it anymore, and I've been sent home with antiseptic solution to clean it 3-4 times a day along with a 7 day course of antibiotics. We now just have to hope that the wound starts drying out on its own over the next week once the infection goes - it's been almost 2 weeks since she injured the pad, so it seems to be dragging on for a while now, poor thing.

Hazel x

[ktelise]

Hello all,

I have been reading the posts in this forum for over a week now and I am thinking maybe I could join? I had 2 miscarriages around this time so I am being cautiously optimistic. I do go for my 1st u/s tomorrow and I am quite anxious and I am hoping for excellent results.

I do not have too many symptoms yet either. I am quite tired in the evenings and my boobs are heavier and fuller but not really sore. They also have blue veins that are quite visible.

Stephanie - I had my transfer 1 day before your's and my nurse told me that I am 5 weeks 5 days today. I noticed you have that you are 6 weeks today and your transfer was the day after mine, did you have a 5 day FET? I am just trying to see if I am off on my dates. Also, I checked out a website and seem to be 5 weeks 5 days today. hummm....what do you think?

I am looking foward to chatting with you all over the next few months on our journey!

[ashleyncsu77]

Hi ladies - I too have been MIA for a few days. I had been checking the board but there weren't many posts and then I got busy because we finally had some nice pre-spring days to enjoy.

Katie - I am so glad everything is OK with you. I, like others, was terrified something had gone terribly wrong. I am sorry you were so sick but glad you are feeling better. Regarding symptoms, I know I have said it before but I had absolutely no symptoms with my DS. The only way I knew I was pregnant was b/c I had u/s at 8 and 12 weeks and saw him moving around. I read so many books and freaked myself out that I wasn't feeling anything that they said I should. And I have to say that now that I am having mild m/s, I wish I could go back to not having any symptoms.

Hazel - Thank goodness that your m/s is almost gone. You are going to be like a different woman once you are 100% back to normal. Are you starting to show more? I think you said your clothes were starting to fit more tightly? Seeing your belly grow is so exciting!

Stephanie - like the other ladies, I hear you on worrying. We have all been through some version of loss with the IVF journey so you are right at home here. I am a little unique in that my first IVF worked but I had three natural miscarriages before that. So I think I am probably more stressed now that I am pregnant than I was during the IVF process. But know that this is a great group of ladies that will support you through the whole thing.

ktelise - Welcome to our group! I think most of us came over here in the 5-6 week range so join the crowd!!! It's nice to hear more success stories. Good luck with your u/s tomorrow. I'm guessing they probably won't see the heartbeat since you are less that 6 weeks but like Katie and some others hopefully they will be able to tell you things are progressing as they should. Will you have another u/s after the one tomorrow? Assuming they will do a follow-up?

AFM - yes I had a u/s Friday and everything still looked good. My DH thought it was so funny that both babies were wiggling around their little arm buds. I'm relieved that the next step is done and now I only have a few more weeks until my 12 week u/s and the end of the first trimester. On the flip side I continue to be paranoid partly because I keep catching myself thinking of things like names, buying a minivan, etc. I know it's perfectly normal to start planning but I don't want to get myself too attached. I keep telling myself that if the 12 week u/s is good I will officially let all the worry go and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy.

On a side note, I'm not sure if you guys know this or not, but some women get nosebleeds when they are pregnant. I had several with DS but they started later in the pregnancy. So I get to work this morning and I felt like I had to blow my nose. Of course that was not the best idea because (TMI) it was a blood clot and my nose started bleeding. Luckily it was not too bad and I got to the bathroom before anyone saw me. It's just so funny what our bodies do during all of this.......

Hope you ladies have a great week!
Ashley

[Stephanieford78]

Thank you everyone for more warm welcomes. I think this is the spot for me! As for the other thread, at least it was tasteful and not too rude, but it still got to me. After all, she didn't ask any of the other pg people in the cycle if they were posting in the pg threads. I think it's just because I joined the cycle thread a little too late. I'm still going to check in on the girls in there and comment on their BFPs... thinking positively of course. They deserve it so much!

Thanks for the link. I will try the relaxation techniques. I am feeling a little better today, had a lot of pregnant dreams to fill my night. So I woke up happier.

ktelise - To tell you the truth I am just guessing on how far along I am. I could be a few days less, but my RE didn't give me a due date. I did have 5 day embies transfered though. The way I came up with how far I was, was talking to the person who scheduled my US. She said last week.. ok you are in week 5, we like to do the US at 7 weeks but the Dr is out so we have to do it on week 8 and scheduled it for 3/22. That's a Monday, the beginning of a week sooo... I came up with 6 weeks today. lol Though my FET calender did go along with my regular cycle as well, so I figured it was pretty accurate. When I finally get a due date from the RE, if it is different I will change it. lol Just two more weeks from today. UGH

I called the clinic I go to on post and they scheduled me tomorrow to talk to a Dr that also happens to be an OB, she is going to let me take a blood test. So that will be enough to give me a big sigh of relief until the US.

Here is a question... Why is the due date different for an IVF, FET and regular menstral cycle? I looked at the due date feature on this site and it gives different dates for all different situations. Other sites even give me different dates than the ones on here, upto a week in differences. If I followed my regular cycle, what is the difference in choosing the option for the frosties than the menstral cycle option? Are the frosties supposed to take longer to implant? I got a BFP on a POAS when I was 5 days post so I would think not? Anyone care to explain this to a Polish blonde? lol Thanks

[ashleyncsu77]

Stephanie - I am certainly not an expert on due dates but this is what I understand. If others have heard differently I would be interested to get other input.

Natural pregnancy - based on 40 weeks past the first day of your last period. So regardless of when you actually ovulated/conceived, they kind of assume that most women ovulate around day 14.

FET pregnancy - this is what I had - so my ET was on January 20th and they used day 6 embies. The RE counted back 6 days from the 20th which was the 14th - that takes the date back to what would have been ER or conception if they had not been frozen. Then they counted forward 38 weeks. This takes into account that first 14 days of a natural pregnancy and again assumes that the average ovulation is 14 days. This way they can count your due date based on a total 40 weeks.

IVF pregnancy - I think for this they just count forward from your ER because that is considered the conception date. So if your ER was on say February 1st, they would count forward 38 weeks from that to get your due date. Again that takes into account the first 14 days of a natural pregnancy and they can count you on 40 weeks.

I hope that makes sense. I may be wrong about the IVF pregnancy but pretty sure about the other two since I have been in both categories.

Ashley

[Stephanieford78]

Expert or not you are right!!! I called and talked to a nurse to get the real date once and for all! lol My due date is November 4th, not the 1st. Glad I got that straight, now I have to change my sig. Sometimes this can be so confusing, but fun none the less.

I can't wait till tomorrow. I have an appt with a Dr on post tomorrow so I can get an OB referal. The receptionist was so nice, she hooked me up with a Dr who also is an OB, a woman! I prefer this since usually all the clinic does is do a POAS to get a referal. I prefer a blood test because I want to know my hCG levels.. I want to be reassured that they are up where they are supposed to be. A non OB male Dr would likely not understand my request, but I know the OB will. So I am excited! Maybe, just maybe she will be cool enough to do an US. That is pushing it though. lol I can't wait!!

[Hope644]

hello old friends (and some new ones!)

i'm going to make the jump! Had our third beta today and we're at 3,168 at 22dpo. So after 3 betas, I'm going to embrace my newest pregnancy and jump on the new board!!

I haven't read very far back, but so far, it looks like everyone on here is doing well! So glad to hear it!!!

I'm amazed at how fast my symptoms have come on this time. Not only am I exhausted constantly, (tho I realize in taking care of a 15 mo old at the same time adds a new toll that i didn't have when i was pg with him!) but I'm really nauseated and having food aversions & cravings!... and I'm sure it has a lot to do with stimming, but I'm already feeling the need for extra space along the waistline!?! not fun. but certainly worth it. I expected to show earlier, as everyone has said you do with the 2nd, but geez... i'm only 5 wks!! and it's HIGHLY unlikely I've got 2 little kickers in there, since we did the single transfer!

I'm curious what those of you with frosties are thinking about doing with yours.... I've discussed this on the Jan/Feb cycle thread - so most of you know where I'm leaning, but DH and I are really thinking about it a lot... though I realize we could still be using them again sooner than later, as we are definitely not out of the woods. We both just feel really strongly that they *ARE* our children, now. and i think the more DH talks about it, the more he wants to transfer them all back to me - which I would love, don't get me wrong, but 5...more? granted, there's the thawing process and the success rate, etc. etc... but wow. this could mean up to 10 children!...??!! We have told our older boys about them and the current pregnancy... they have known about our tmt this time from the start (they are 14, 16, & 18, all DSSs of mine) and the first thing the middle one said was, "we are NOT going to be the Duggars!" hahaha.. had to laugh at that one. they just want us to have a little sister and be done with it! they said 4 brothers is enough. lol