Winter Cycle Friends 2009/2010 - Everyone Welcome!

[katie99]

Hi everyone -

Ugh! the nonstop nausea is back again - all day so far... and adding that to being so exhausted and dont forget heartburn too. In other words - I feel awful today! I hope tomorrow is better. I'm getting so antsy being in limbo like this, my next appt is for b/w next Tues (I'll be 10w3d!) I would really like to have an OB appt - He has to release me on Tues, right? I mean how long can he keep me? I've been wondering if the OB is going to be annoyed that she wont get a hold of me until 10.5 weeks? Doesnt that seem like a little late for a first appt? Hee heee well, ok - plus I'm really eager to have another u/s too!

Lou I swear that you are growing an athlete! I feel very lazy when I read your posts, so I asked my DH to get me a treadmill. I figure even just walking on that would be better than what I've been doing - which is nothing lately! Any s/s (signs & symptoms) yet? I'm hoping that you can ease into them instead of getting slammed with them all at once like I did.

Gi A kindle is just like an ipod - but for books instead. You can download them for a lot less than retail price - plus one of my biggest complaints about my area is that the nearest book store is a 40 minute drive. Thats crazy! I was laughing at what you said about maybe you'll believe it when you're in labor - ha ha - I sort of feel the same way too. I understand why you feel that way of no sex til the after the birth, once its taken this long to get here its like anything that may put your pg at risk is just not worth it. - But thats a long way away! Bless J! What a good man he is! Hi to your Mam!

Steph Hooray for hearing the heart beats! And I may be a bit biased right now, but to give a couple the chance to conceive is an amazing, selfless generous gesture from you & your DH! I wouldnt be here right now if it werent for someone as good hearted as yourself, and from that perspective I can tell you I thank God for them everyday!

Ronda HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!I'm glad that you had a nice lunch out - hope the m/s cuts you a break! Are you getting it every day? Or on & off?

Hazel How are you feeling lately? Out at the shops all the time? Good luck with your midwife appt tomorrow!

KTelise Good luck with your u/s tomorrow! Any day that you get to see the little bean is always a good day, isnt it?

positive Me too! Exhausted all the time! How much longer for this part? I'd like to feel awake again, for at least some of the day! Yay for getting the extended benefits - it can only help. Does your DH want you to just focus on being pg? I mean at least until we see how many beans you've got in there? I know its hard to be home all day ( I am) but who wouldnt love the time to take a trip to the south of France? Wow!

Jacqueline oh, honey - you've sure had it rough! I'm sorry to hear that. And here we thought the waiting and the stress of ivf ended after a positive beta
This type is way worse that the 2ww was. feel better!

hugs & prayers to us all - xoxo

[katie99]

Hazel- midwife appt on 3/24 - next u/s at 20 weeks - EDD is Sept 7
Lou- u/s on 3/29
Ronda- u/s on 3/29
Hope Yay! saw a strong HB! - EDD is Nov 7
Gi- u/s on 3/29
Ktelise- u/s on 3/24
Meganlynn- u/s on 3/19
Jacqueline- u/s on 3/26 - EDD is Oct 5
Katie b/w on 3/30 - EDD is Oct 24
Positive thinking u/s on 3/31 EDD is Nov 14
Merri Released to OB! HR at 169!



Ashley - 12 week nuchal scan on 3/26 - EDD is Oct 7
Karen- released to OB! 1st appt 3/19 - EDD isOct 4
Stephanie 2 strong heartbeats 130 & 149!

[Riley baby maybe]

Good Morning!

Gi - I'm not sure I could go 40 weeks! I would, of course, but it would get rough!! I am hoping our lives can be somewhat normal for a while since IVF took it away and now this stinkin' hemorrhage is! Either way, I'm not complaining! I'm still so thankful to be pregnant!!

Lou - I wish I wanted to exercise. I'm so lazy and always have been! Luckily, I am not cleared medically right now so it makes a great excuse! Just to compare, I never had any m/s. I just felt the need to eat more often and the typical growing bbs and bloating. Oh, and being exhausted starting around 8 weeks. Since you're so active, you may miss out on that one. And, passing the 12 week mark feels great, but I still can't believe I'm pregnant!

Steph - I know how you feel with the bleeding. I've done lots of research on this condition and it usually clears up on its own by 16 to 20 weeks. The majority of the time, everything ends up perfectly normal! I still went to work and did some things on the weekend with DH, but tried to rest as much as I could.

Katie - Your m/s sounds awful...I'm so sorry! You know, my RE never drew any blood after my beta. When we saw the HB, he took me off of injections and put me on Crinone until 10 weeks. That was it. Crazy that they are all so different! I hope your symptoms clear up soon.

Sorry for those I missed, I only went back a page or two because I'm lazy, I mean because I'm hard at work! Take care...talk ya'll again soon!

[Stephanieford78]

Riley - How often does the spotting happen for you? I seem to wake up with blood then it tapers off throughout the day and by night time I have hopes that it is finally over until it starts again the next day. The doctor said the bleed was small, but I have been bleeding for a week now, how small of a bleed is it if it hasn't stopped yet? It's so frustrating, but since the bleeding I have seen the twins and thier heartbeats twice, so that keeps me positive as well as your story and how your baby is just fine. I'm not ready quite yet to do much more then rest... I wish I had one of those hand held u/s machines they are advirtizing on tv now. lol The commercial that has a bunch of doctors saying, "Let's have a look." Now that would be a good way to help relax.

Katie - Sorry the m/s is back. As far as my RE, he isn't keeping me from seeing an OB. He even asked if I had one yet. So, do you have to be released? What is keeping you from just going really? That's what I did, I just went. Though I am going to switch hospitals soon anyway. Also... I am glad that there was a generous couple out there for you. You are a perfect example of what I picture in my head when I let my embies go. You deserve this happiness... sorry it comes with m/s though.

ktelise - Oh no... yours is back too. You and Katie seem to be on a m/s track or something. I hope you feel better today! So how was your u/s???

[hjw]

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA. DH and I had a lovely weekend away at a hotel playing golf during the days and relaxing in the evenings (although we got soaking wet one day by playing golf in what felt like a monsoon!) but this week hasn't been so great. I've been panicking that something has gone wrong with the baby as I've had lots of pain in my stomach, not just on the sides (which I know is from the ligaments stretching) but in the middle and 'underneath' as well, which has been stressing me out. Sometimes the pain has been so bad that I've been doubled over, so I was really getting worried. Of course. I've had headaches this week as well, but I think they had nothing to do with the pregnancy per se and everything to do with my stress levels! I had my routine 16 week appointment with the midwife today and persuaded her to listen for the baby's heartbeat with her handheld thing (a Doppler, I think it's called?). Thankfully she found it fairly quickly (beating at 150, which she seemed to suggest was fairly normal for 16 weeks), and she thinks that the pains are 'probably' just everything stretching, but said to go back again if I'm still worried. So I guess I just have to trust that everything is OK, even though it seems like it can't possibly be when I'm in such bad pain on and off. Ugh, is there ever a period of this journey where we won't be worried about something or other?

gi - not long to go until your u/s, I'm getting excited for you already! Glad you had a good weekend, although it must have been a trial to watch everyone else get drunk and stick to the sparkling water. It always aggravates me a bit, not because I desperately want to drink too, but because the only person capable of having any sort of sensible conversation after a while is me, and I'm surrounded by giggling idiots!

lou - likewise, only 5 more sleeps for you as well! It'll feel much more real once you see that little blob on the screen. I see you're 6 weeks now - 6wks1day was when my m/s first started rearing its ugly head, so just watch out, you could have your head down the toilet any day now, lol!

Ronda - I see we have a trio of u/s appointments on the 29th! Going to be a good day for good news next Monday... Sorry to hear we have another m/s victim on the thread! I don't envy you trying to juggle a sick bucket with childcare, hope it doesn't play up too badly for you for too long. Belated Happy Birthday for yesterday!

Katie - I totally agree, maternity jeans are amazing, I may never go back to non-elasticated waists ever again! Oh honey, I'm sorry that your m/s is back. I know how miserable it is, but at least you are getting some days when you're free of it, and it was good enough to stay away to let you have a nice birthday! And heartburn too, not fair! It won't last forever, promise... I can't believe you're 9wks4days already, where does the time go??? My m/s started easing up at about 12 weeks, so hopefully only another few weeks of it to go for you... And the need to sleep ALL the time eased up at around the same time, although even at 16 weeks I still feel tired if I don't rest at some point during the day. I'm sure your RE will release you next Tuesday - I mean, by then the placenta will have started kicking in properly anyway, regardless of what your PIO levels are, so surely there's not much point in keeping you back any longer than that? p.s. for our update list (thank you as always!), my next dates are a scan on 16th April (when I'll be 19wks3days) then the next midwife appointment isn't until 25 weeks (yes, a 9 week wait!!) on 26th May.

Hope - yuck, your m/s sounds like it's giving you everything it's got. Thank goodness the Zofran is helping to take the edge off - did you manage to get an increased dosage so that it takes you through the whole 6 hours between pills? Thank you, yes, the heartburn appears to be more under control at the moment - I'm putting that down not to the Gaviscon, but to acupuncture as my lovely acupuncture lady has been doing some needles for it when I saw her last Thursday and this Tuesday, and it has reduced to feeling more like a lump at the back of my throat (does that make sense?) rather than feeling my whole oesophagus burning and causing me to regurgitate acids. Thank God for acupuncture...

Ashley - you're really taking a battering, between the m/s and the migraines. You poor thing... You'll have a nice lift on Friday when you see both babies on the screen for your scan - will that be the first scan since your early 7-8 week scan? It was for me, and I was gobsmacked at how this little blob had turned into a miniature baby in the space of 4 weeks!

Karen - hurray for having a great OB, believe me I am SO jealous as all I get is midwife care (and I only see her for about 10 minutes each time for a total of 7-8 times throughout the WHOLE pregnancy), plus the midwife I've been landed with through my doctor's surgery is totally unhelpful and dismissive of all my questions and concerns. I'm so happy to hear that the bleeding has pretty much stopped, that must be such a relief, even though you knew that the source of the bleeding wasn't a cause for concern.

meganlynn - yippee for a strong heartbeat on your first u/s, now you can properly celebrate! Have you told people your news yet, or are you waiting until you get to the 12 week mark?

Stephanie - sweetie, I'm so happy to hear that your RE appointment went well, that he's not worried about the bleeding and that the bleeding itself is easing, at least for part of the day. Now we just want nice smooth sailing for the next 7 months for you and your two little cargo! Has your insurance approved you seeing the RE and going to the hospital you want? I too have read everywhere that it's an extra 300 calories during pregnancy, so for a twin Mum I assume that means 600. You'll hit that easily, it's only really the equivalent of a couple of slices of toast with something yummy on!

ktelise - how did your u/s go today? Hate to say it, but pounding head plus nausea sounds very like m/s! I picked up a theory from some fertility books that it's the IVF drugs which cause us to have m/s worse than a woman who gets pregnant the 'normal' way - our livers do so much trying to process the drugs we take for the IVF cycle(s) that when they have to process the extra pregnancy hormones as well, they struggle and our body can't cope as well as someone whose body is 'fresh' going into the pregnancy. So that might explain why you might get it this time but didn't for your DS? On the sore boobs question, mine got slightly more tender during the 2ww after I started the progesterone, but then stayed the same for pretty much the whole trimester. They got a little bigger but no more sore. Then since about 13 weeks I'm finding that they are really tender, particularly at night when I try and turn over in bed and I'm not wearing a bra. And yet you read people on here saying their boobs get really sore very early, so there's just no way to tell. So don't worry either way!

Riley - oh honey, I'm so sorry to hear about your gall bladder, as if you didn't have enough to think about with the bleeding. Congratulations on getting to the end of the first trimester though, hopefully the bleeding won't reappear and you can relax a bit and get back your PMA.

Positive - our weekend was great, thank you, sounds like you had a good weekend too! What a great way to start your weekend, with that letter about your unemployment benefits - that must be a relief. p.s. Oh yes, the inability to function before midday, I know it well!!

Oh look, another essay! That'll teach me not to post for a while and have 5 days of personals to catch up on...

Take care,
Hazel

[lou71]

Hello my pregnant friends!

Katie -- Oh no! Not the m/s again! And with heartburn!!! I feel so bad for you. I do hope you feel better today. I do think you'll be released soon so your OB gets a shot at you too... but I'm with Stephanie... just make an appt. I called the office of the new OB I want to use and they insisted on scheduling me for April 19th. I'm going to keep that appt either way, released or not. And <sigh> no... still no symptoms. I honestly feel so freakin' normal it's truly scaring me. I started researching "pregnancy with no symptoms" and came across something known as a "missed miscarriage" which is where the fetus dies but stays in the uterus and the woman has no idea until diagnosed on u/s. I am now officially completely freaked out. My husband thinks I'm crazy and overreacting for no reason.

Steph -- Oh yes... I do want to tell the world I'm pregnant. And I will do that on Monday as soon as I see that ultrasound! How are you feeling today?

ktelise -- I hope your headache is better today. I'm really excited about your ultrasound today! Be sure to update us.

Riley -- Well it makes me feel a little better that you didn't have m/s either. I'm just used to hearing that it's a sign of a "strong pregnancy". So then I wonder... what do I have? A weak one?

AFM-- Working today and then going to Shaw's Crabhouse for dinner tonight. It's a drug company sponsored dinner with a presentation, so it's FREE. I'm looking forward to it. Still without pregnancy symptoms. Starting to get concerned about a "missed miscarriage" possibility. I know... I mean I HOPE... that I am needlessly freaking myself out here. At least DH thinks so. But WHERE THE HELL ARE MY SYMPTOMS? I'm not tired, no hearburn, no nausea, no increased boob size, normal appetite, normal energy, etc. I'm peeing more and my boobs are a bit sore but these were there on progesterone alone too. Gosh, I really hope everything is OK in there. I'm just so worried.

[lou71]

Hazel! Missed you! We posted at the same time. I'm so sorry about your pain and worries, but happy your nurse was able to quickly find a healthy heartbeat. I can't believe you're 16 weeks along! I remember cycling with you back in Nov/Dec when I got my first BFN. I guess that was a long time ago. But we're here together now! And I would relish a lil m/s at this point... I'm scared to death by my lack of symptoms so far. When they get here... you will ALL know!

[ktelise]

I wanted to give an update on my ultrasound today. Everything was perfect! The baby measured at 8 weeks 0 days and the beartbeat was 169. We were able to see little arm and leg limbs so we are praying everything continues to go smoothly. Also, I got released to my OB...so exciting!

Thank you all for letting me know about m/s...mine seems to come and go but the headache is killer!

So, I think I am ready to add a ticker...I found and created one from a website but how do I attach it to my signature???

[lou71]

I wanted to give an update on my ultrasound today. Everything was perfect! The baby measured at 8 weeks 0 days and the beartbeat was 169. We were able to see little arm and leg limbs so we are praying everything continues to go smoothly. Also, I got released to my OB...so exciting!

Thank you all for letting me know about m/s...mine seems to come and go but the headache is killer!

So, I think I am ready to add a ticker...I found and created one from a website but how do I attach it to my signature???

Yay! That is great news on your u/s!!! Makes me excited for mine. As for the ticker... just paste the code in the signature box in the user control panel. Delete any text before and after [img]

[Arabsrcool]

lou,

ok girl, take a deep breath, let it out and repeat!. No missed m/c for you. You are freaking yourself out. You just are one of the lucky ones with no m/s symptoms. I have a girlfriend that felt wonderful during her whole pregnancy, so much in fact she said she wished she could stay pregnant a few months longer and skip the newborn stage. You are also in great shape, so your body is probably just taking these pg changes in stride and not making you sick. You are fine, your baby is fine. Now repeat, you are fine, your baby is fine!

ktelise,
Hurray, I am so glad your baby is looking good!. Do you have an OB picked out? I get you on the headache, I have a constant one, from the time I wake up until I go to bed. If I wake up in the middle of the night (usually to pee) I still have it. RE nurse said its ok to take tylenol and drink lots of water.

Hazel,
I am so sorry about your pain. So you only get to see a midwife? No OB?

Riley,
I totally feel your pain about your gallbladder. I had the same thing with my first pregnancy. They gave me antibotics to help clear it up it was so bad. I also was told not to eat pork as it makes it worse. Did they give you anything? I know the pain is awful!

Ronda

[katie99]

Hi everyone -

I'm hopeful that today is looking like an m/s free day -please? So I have to vent for a minute, since I know that you guys will get why I'm pissed off.
My insurance company ( yes the same one that doesnt cover ivf at all causing us to be out of pocket for ALL 7 ATTEMPTS!) And who also has refused to pay my RE for u/s and b/w after 6 weeks - GRRR! Anyway, they called me last week and kept me on the phone for 40 minutes asking all kinds of history & pg questions, annoying? Yes! Most of their questions are related to preterm labor (guess they dont realize that A- I have a nursing licence and B- I'm pretty intelligent) So after forcing myself to be polite to them, I just cant help but be irritated by them pretty much saying "oh, you cant get pg without IVF?" "Well too bad, pay for it yourself" and now they want to call acting like they're concerned about this pg? Please! I get the point of this phone call - its to assess how at risk I am for this baby to cost them a million dollars in NICU costs. Well guess what? An OB nurse just called me saying that she has been assigned to me for the length of my pregnancy and that she'll need to speak with me every two weeks! Are they kidding me? I'm 9.5 weeks along! And you want to keep asking questions regarding preterm labor? WTF????? I know that this nurse is just doing her job, but I cant help but resent the insurance company that has been completely useless throughout the entire IVF roller coaster starting with my first RE appt in Aug 08! NOW you're concerned about me?
Grumble, grumble, grumble. So i'm feeling forced into having to have to play 20 questions with this OB nurse now. Is it just me? Am i getting all fired up over nothing?

I'll have to do personals in a little while - I have to go run errands - xoxo

[lou71]

Hi everyone -

I'm hopeful that today is looking like an m/s free day -please? So I have to vent for a minute, since I know that you guys will get why I'm pissed off.
My insurance company ( yes the same one that doesnt cover ivf at all causing us to be out of pocket for ALL 7 ATTEMPTS!) And who also has refused to pay my RE for u/s and b/w after 6 weeks - GRRR! Anyway, they called me last week and kept me on the phone for 40 minutes asking all kinds of history & pg questions, annoying? Yes! Most of their questions are related to preterm labor (guess they dont realize that A- I have a nursing licence and B- I'm pretty intelligent) So after forcing myself to be polite to them, I just cant help but be irritated by them pretty much saying "oh, you cant get pg without IVF?" "Well too bad, pay for it yourself" and now they want to call acting like they're concerned about this pg? Please! I get the point of this phone call - its to assess how at risk I am for this baby to cost them a million dollars in NICU costs. Well guess what? An OB nurse just called me saying that she has been assigned to me for the length of my pregnancy and that she'll need to speak with me every two weeks! Are they kidding me? I'm 9.5 weeks along! And you want to keep asking questions regarding preterm labor? WTF????? I know that this nurse is just doing her job, but I cant help but resent the insurance company that has been completely useless throughout the entire IVF roller coaster starting with my first RE appt in Aug 08! NOW you're concerned about me?
Grumble, grumble, grumble. So i'm feeling forced into having to have to play 20 questions with this OB nurse now. Is it just me? Am i getting all fired up over nothing?

I'll have to do personals in a little while - I have to go run errands - xoxo

Katie -- Who is your insurance company??? I'm out of pocket too for IVF but now that I'm pregnant, I was going to ask RE office to bill my insurance for u/s, b/w, etc from this point forward. I hope I don't have the same response from my company! Are you saying that the insurance company assigned you an OB nurse to call every two weeks??? That's nuts! I would tell them they can get the medical information from your OB. They might twist anything you say into a reason that they don't have to pay for something. Don't talk to them!! They're evil and will hang you. Tell them to contact your medical professionals for information. I think I'd be super pissed too!

[ktelise]

Katie99 & Lou71 - My insurance company also did not pay for any IVF costs but after I got a positive pregnancy test they covered all u/s, bloodwork, etc. from my RE. However, I do have a friend who says her insurance co. covered the same as mine but will not cover delivery??? Strange that they will cover all tests to make sure the pregnancy is going well but not delivery. I pray this is not the case with me and I am not calling to find out. I will scope out my insurance booklet but if it is not listed that they do not cover costs related to IVF pregnancies I would think they have to cover the costs.

Also, did you know you can appeal charges? Up to 80% of all appeals are approved. It sounds like a lot of people don't take the time to appeal but it looks like it may be worth it. I would read through the insurance book and see what you find out.

[meganlynn]

Hi there mommies! Just wanted to say hello and catch up on all the posts. I am doing really good- still no prego symptoms other than I seem to be more tired this week and can't seem to get enough sleep. That might have a little to do with the daily caffeine I cut out..?? I am still really bloated and having some problems going to the bathroom.. is that from the progesterone? And how long do I stay on that?? But other than that I am feeling pretty good and taking one day at a time. Just still taking it all in and being happy that I am even pregnant!! And patiently waiting for my next u/s on good Friday- 4/2.

Stephanie- good to hear things are going ok for you and the babies after all you went through. Your u/s picture looks great. And thanks for the ticker info- I need to work on that.

hjw- our immediate friends and family know about the pregnancy but other than that we are keeping it quiet. I wanted to wait a few more weeks before we spread the exciting news to the world!

ktelise- glad to hear things went well with the u/s. That is one good thing about having fertility issues is all the u/s once you get pregnant! It is always nice to see what going on in there.

katie- thanks for the encouragement and I might be shopping for new cloths soon. It is hard to believe my work pants are fitting like this now! Thanks for the info.

Well, I have to get back to work. Keep up all the good news ladies and take it easy.
Happy baby thoughts to all!!
-Megan

[ktelise]

Did anyone spot the day after a transvaginal u/s???