What a ride!!!

Wow... that's all I have to say. I haven't had much time since my last post to update my Bloomin' Babies fans... remember me - Glow Bud???? :)

**DISCLAIMER** - this post may be long!!! Last I wrote I was still up in the air as to what route we were going to take in meeting little Baby GB.

Well, I was still pretty indecisive up until the last day but we scheduled the induction for the night of the 28th. In the meantime I did all I would with the old wives tales they suggest to induce labor: nightly walks, sexy time, spicy foods, eating pineapple, castor oil.... ok no... just kidding!

No such luck.

So Mr. GB and I took advantage of our last night "alone" together and went out Sat night to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and we had a blast. We didn't really talk about the baby much but just enjoyed each others company. Then we came home and just watched a movie, it was very nice. Sunday came and we just spent all day around the house. Not really doing much but trying to keep busy and get stuff done and be as prepared as possible. It was a weird feeling that day knowing we'd be parents in less than 24 hours!!! Around 7:30pm we packed up our bags in the car and headed off to the hospital.

We checked in and the wasted no time getting things going, we were escorted within minutes to room 2040 (Mr. GB's baseball and football jersey numbers from high school!!!). They got me into my gown and hooked up to the monitors for my contractions and for Baby GB's heartbeat - surprisingly I was already contracting pretty regularly and I was dilated to 1cm and 40% effaced... progress and all on my own!!! Then the nurse put in the 1st round of Cervadil, gave me an Ambien and told me to "get some rest." Ya right. The Cervadil was doing its job... All night my contractions were about 2-5 minutes apart and getting consistently stronger. I didn't sleep a wink. Mr. GB on the other hand slept for hours on the couch, waking a few times to see how I was and what he could do. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything but to wait.

Around 9am, our new nurse came in to meet us and to start me on Pitocin and Penicillin (because I tested positive for Group B Strep) and shortly after Dr. C stopped in to see how I was. At that time I was dilated to 3cm (I can't recall how effaced I was?!) - more progress though. Thank goodness! The nurses kept asking me to judge my pain on a scale of 1-10... I kept thinking... well, I don't know how bad this is going to get!!! So I think I kept underestimating and telling them 4 or 5... when now I look back I should have been saying 7 or 8.

Within an hour I was in so much pain from the contractions that I was already considering getting the epidural but wanted to hold out as long as possible. I think it was around 11am I finally caved and asked for it and within 15 minutes the anesthesiologist was up in my room getting it all started. Mr. GB was a rock holding my hands while they worked and within 3 contractions they were finished and I was laying back starting to feel the effects of it.

I don't care what anyone says... the epidural was FABULOUS! :)

After that my mom and sister came in and I could actually hold a conversation and we'd watch the contractions on the monitor and I couldn't feel a thing! Around 1pm Dr. C came in to check me again and to her (and my!) surprise I was dilated to 7cm! At that point she broke my water and that's when I got REALLY nervous cause she said we'd have our boy in the next few hours! Those next few hours were kind of a blur, we didn't do much except hang out in my room watching TV and chatting.

Around 3:30pm I was checked again and the nurse let me know she was going to call Dr. C and let her know that I was fully dilated to 10cm and it was time to start pushing... eeeek! I was really worried about Mr. GB cause he told me from the beginning that he didn't think he'd be able to watch or even help hold my leg. Well, that went out the window cause the nurse didn't give him a chance to decline and by 30 minutes in he was watching the whole thing. I also had said I didn't want anyone in the room except Mr. GB and the nurses while I was pushing but that went out the window as well when my mom poked her head in mid-push to see how I was... so I told her and my sister to come on in! So... all you girls on my favorite message board - there you have it... YOU WERE RIGHT! :)

For the next two hours Mr. GB, my mom and my nurse coached me as I pushed and slowly started to feel my epidural wear off. There was a point right before Dr. C came in that I really thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. And once she got there everything was a blur cause I was so worn out and in so much pain. I remember her telling me that she'd need to do an episiotomy and that I'd need to push with all I had the next few pushes because Baby GB's heart rate had dropped and we needed to get him out. Two pushes later and Baby GB was here at 5:49pm - 6 lbs 14 oz - 18 1/2 inches. Dr. C asked if either Mr. GB or my mom wanted to cut the cord - neither wanted to, so as soon as she did it they took Baby GB over the the warmer to check him out since his heart rate had dropped so low right before delivery. Mr. GB was right by his side and I remember thinking he looked so proud!

He came over to me and gave me the BIGGEST hug and told me how proud he was of me and how great I did. Oh and that he loved me of course :)

For the next 1/2 hour as Dr. C stitched me up, all I could do is lay there and shake from the adrenaline. I FINALLY got to hold my sweet little boy as they told me that his breathing was very erratic and that he took in a lot of fluid during delivery so they would need to take him upstairs to the NICU for monitoring for a few hours. So after only a few minutes with him, off he went with Mr. GB. I don't think I really knew what was going on at that point cause I was so out of it because I didn't cry, which is really unlike me.

In the meantime, they moved me to another room where we'd spend the night to get settled and wait for Mr. GB to come back with my little boy. After about an hour Mr. GB came to our new room and said he was going to bring me food and then we'd go up to see our little man because he wasn't going to be spending the night with us - he was on oxygen and would need to be monitored for the night.

Once we got upstairs he was sleeping so peaceful but I got to hold him and the nurse tried to help me nurse him - he wasn't too interested though and we needed some sleep as well so we went back down to our room to do our best to again "get some rest." I think Mr. GB set his alarm to go back up and see him around 3am but was back in bed shortly after.

The next morning, the nurses came in to check me and remove my IV's so I could be more mobile. I took a shower and ate some breakfast and then headed up to see my baby again. This time we met with the doctor who was taking care of Baby GB - he informed us that his chest x-ray had shown possible signs of infection and that they started him on antibiotics through an IV. We wouldn't know for 3 days the outcome but likely the NICU would be his home for 5-7 days... possibly 10-14 days. :(

I spent that whole day between my room and the NICU and I also met with a lactation specialist who hooked me up with a hospital grade pump to hopefully help bring in my milk and to supplement what Baby GB was getting through his IV. While I was spending time with him I was clueless as to what I needed to be doing. The nurses filtered in and out in 12 hour shifts and some seemed to take charge while others just let me do my thing - which was hard as there were 3 monitors hooked to him at all times beeping and just being in the way of holding my sweet boy.

The next day I was discharged from the hospital and I have to say that was the HARDEST day of my life. Going home alone. Alone without my baby that had been with me 24/7 for the last 9 months. Also, Mr. GB had to go back to work to get his mind off things and my mom and my sister hit the road to go back home since they couldn't do much in the way of helping me out my first week with baby. So, for the next week, it was back and forth from our house to the hospital. I tried to spend as much time as possible with him and Mr. GB would go back with me every night after work to see our little man. It was so hard to leave him every night but the hospital had a policy that you could not sleep by his bedside :(

I think it must have been about mid-week that we got the news that Baby GB would be able to come home with us on Easter Sunday. It was an awesome homecoming and we are so happy to be settling in.

It only took me a week to get this birth story done! haha **woot**woot** I'm sure I missed a ton but that's the gist of it... Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll still be able to blog through Bloomin' Babies but I can't promise how much I'll be around. I've got a few things left in me before I throw in the towel but I have to say blogging for BB has been a great experience for me and I'm so glad to have been given the opportunity to do so!!!

Let the fun begin...

I'm happy to report that we got a BFP this weekend! I had a light 2nd line on a FRER Saturday morning at 12dpo, then confirmed with a FRER digital Sunday morning at 13dpo. DH and I are both over the moon! It was my 9th cycle off BCP - a long and rocky road with the sweetest ever ending!

As you might remember from my recent post, at the beginning of March we got a less-than-ideal sperm analysis report, showing only 3% normal morphology. We kicked into gear right away, cutting out alcohol and supplementing with Pycogenol (for DH) and Pom juice for both of us. I never expected it to happen so quickly, and had totally prepped myself to wait the 3 months it takes for sperm to regenerate. I have no idea if these "home remedies" did anything, or if it was just luck. Let's hope this little jingle baby is a sticky one!

For those who are interested, here are the symptoms I had in this 2ww. I'm only listing the ones that I didn't experience before, because in my 9 mos. TTC, I had many, many fakeouts:

• Single-boob soreness started at 4dpo - other boob felt fine
• Clear implantation dip at 7dpo
• Started feeling really fatigued at 7dpo
• Cramps also at 7dpo that went away
• Increased appetite at 8 dpo
• Woke up with a headache every day since 10dpo, which continues
• By 12dpo both boobs were swollen and very sore, even to the touch, continues

Since it's still only Sunday night, I haven't called my doc yet, but FF gives me an EDD of 12.20.10, which is a day before the 5-year anniversary of our engagement. DH told me this morning at breakfast that when he first woke up today, he felt as giddy as he did the morning after he proposed to me. He is going to be the best dad, I'm swooning already!

Lots of Updates

I'm sorry its been a while since I updated everyone. I was sort of waiting to see if things progressed before getting too committed to being excited. Its a bittersweet feeling to always have that impending what if question in the back of your mind.

The last time I wrote, my HCG was 299, it jumped to 1288! So they're not doing hCG draws anymore, but unfortunately I am now having to get Progesterone Injections three times a week because my Pro went from 15 to 13 to 10.3. This had me SO worried before our first u/s appointment this week because low progesterone probably contributed to our loss.

Well, we went to the u/s and of course I was a nervous wreck. We ended up having to wait 45 minutes after my appointment to get in. They were really busy. We got in, they took us to the room that I deemed "D-Day" (where we found out Angeline hadn't had a heartbeat)... and almost instantly we saw the little flicker on the screen. Well... it was really hard for me to see but Mr MB saw it instantly. Our little one had a heartbeat of 97 bpm!!

Doc said thats a little on the slow side, but because I was measuring 6w2d (I thought I was 6w5d) I probably implanted a little later so it was right on track.

As of now, I'm just praying that at my 8 week appointment the heartbeat is still there, first of all, and secondly that it's a little faster. My due date got changed to November 28th.

Unfortunately, in my personal life my grandma is on her death bed in California. She's been fighting a very rare stomach cancer for two years and all of the steroids they had her on trying to figure out a treatment plan gave her lesions and sores over her entire body. They got that under control and we thought she was improving and all of a sudden she had a massive amount of internal bleeding. She's on morphine for pain, and she's ready to go. She promised to watch over the baby and I for the rest of our blessed lives. This will be the first loss in the family I've ever experienced (and at 25, I'm pretty lucky!) so it's been extra hard.

After we finish telling our parents, I'll share our reveal stories! Hope everyone had a happy Easter!

15 Weeks

So Obsessive Bud is 15 weeks! Awesome! Not much has been going on since last week. I have been looking at nursery stuff and decided to copy a fellow bud, Love Bud, because I loved her bedding!
The bedding for a boy is.. drum roll please!

And for a girl

We are super excited to find out exactly what we are having boy or girl. We really go back and forth on what I'm baking. I really think its a boy, then I don't want to press my luck and think its a girl. Yeah so WHO really knows?

We also decided on a stroller and carseat. After reading an awesome book, Baby Bargains, I highly highly highly recommend it! We did some research and found the best stroller for our activities as well as the safest easiest carseat.
This City Mini Jogging stroller with a pram attachment in black. Also comes with carseat attachment

We are choosing between two carseats
The Graco SnugRide


Or the Maxi Cosi

The only other thing I have settled on is a pack and play



So I guess you can say, I have been a little busy! HA! We are so excited. I can't believe this is finally happening. So amazing!

I feel like my morning sickness is getting a little better but now that I say that I bet I will lose my lunch. Its how the cookie crumbles.

I did have some major cramping and it freaked.me.out. So freaking scary! I called the doctor and apparently its pretty normal. The cramping is really strange. It isn't constant just on the side every now and then. Apparently its my uterus and round ligament pain. Just my uterus making room for little jelly bean! Very scary especially when you get some contraction like pains after sex. EEK!

No real new cravings have hit. I am on a fruit kick. Mmm and I really want a virgin pina colada!

Our next appointment is on Thursday and I'm going to ask my doctor about drinking in the hospital during labor and walking around. Also going to ask him about a pap smear I need to have since I have had cryotherapy and also have my cervix checked out again.

Hopefully we will schedule the big U/S the week following and in a couple of weeks I will know if I'm carrying Olivia or Jack! We can't wait!

9 weeks, 6 days!

Hey there everyone! I apologize for being so MIA lately - I have been sooo busy @ work; I'm going to training for two weeks at the end of this month, so that has made me even more busy. Besides that, I haven't had too much going on Baby Worry Bud-wise. I did have my first OB appointment last Wednesday & it was pretty uneventful - they just went over some Dos & Don'ts of pregnancy, took my weight (up about 4 lbs since starting IVF...eek), asked a few questions, allowed me to ask any I had, gave me some literature on some optional testing I could have done, as well as some general pregnancy, took blood & urine for some testing. All my tests came back clear & I found out that my blood type is B+....no, I never knew that, lol.

My next OB appt. is on Friday, April 23rd - and that'll be a "fun" one - we get to hear the baby's h/b with the Doppler!! I'm so excited about that b/c we have never heard Baby WB's h/b (only seen it) & that'll also be our last appt. before we enter the second trimester! Even though, I know that after you see the baby's h/b that the chances of miscarriage go down to like 2-5%, but I'm still nervous. Can't help it I guess - it's in my nature to worry. But, I just continue to pray that everything with Baby WB continues to go well & that s/he continues to grow, big, strong & healthy.

Photo Credit

As far as the optional tests, we will likely do the u/s called the nuchal translucency (NT) scan (which examines the baby's skin folds behind the neck) although I am considered relatively low risk for Downs Syndrome, but it's an extra u/s & my insurance will likely cover it 100% (I'll check on that first) & it carries essentially no risk to the baby since it's just an u/s & I think maybe some b/w. My OB routinely only orders just one u/s at about 18-20 weeks & that mid-late June for me! I don't know if I can wait THAT long to see Baby WB again. I kinda wish my RE didn't release until 10-12 weeks, sigh. At this point, we don't plan on doing any other optional testing b/c many of the tests come with risks to the baby - small risks, but I don't want to do anything that could potentially cause harm to the baby or the pregnancy.

As far as symptoms -they are on & off. I still get pretty intense, but very short-lived stabbing/twisting pain in my ute area & I have had this really sharp pain in my butt that radiates down to my leg on my left side. I spoke to the nurse at my OB office & she said it sounds normal. That unless it sticks around for several hours or becomes excruciating, then it's normal to have pains here & there since your body is going through lots of changes. I feel nauseous sometimes, but only when I don't eat often enough, but I haven't thrown up yet, woot! I have gained weight in my mid-section area & have started wearing belly bands with my pants that are a little too tight & they have been working really well for me. I got the exact ones (in black and white) pictured above from Etsy seller RunSystem63 - she has awesome prices...I got two for the price of one Target brand Be Band. Also, Old Navy was having an awesome sale this week, so I got some maternity hidden waistband work slacks in a few colors & some low-rise jeans in a dark wash. I'm a long way from needing the shirts, but my pants are getting pretty tight. If all continues to go well with Baby WB, I'll start posting regular "bump" pics starting at 12 or 13 weeks. I have been taking them since 4 weeks, when we found out I was pregnant, b/c I have this awesome pregnancy journal, called "The Belly Book" by Amy Krouse! It chronicles your pregnancy & belleh thru out your 40+ weeks of pregnancy. It actually starts with week 1, which is a little pointless since you aren't even pregnant by then, so the first 3 weeks are blank in mine.

In GREAT news - we got paid out from our FSA for the $10K we put in, so we paid off that portion of our IVF loan, which takes a huge financial pressure off of us. We are saving about $250 a month in loan payments, holler...all of which will likely go towards saving for stuff we'll need for the baby. The room in our house (the guest room) where the nursery will be is on my spring cleaning list - we need to dispose of or Freecycle the mattress & bed rails, get rid of my old desk, clean out the closet & put in a closet organization system (it's a teeny tiny closet), clear out all the other clutter in the room (it currently holds all of our important papers, my crafts, etc). I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby & get started for real on a nursery! That's all I got for now, hopefully work will calm down & I'll be able to post more often again. Thanks as always for all the continued T&P for baby WB...it means so much to me & Mr. WB!

25 weeks....

and 3 days to be exact :)

Yesterday was a busy day! Mr. LB was off of work so we had a fun-filled day of shopping. Mind you, it was supposed to be shopping for Mr. LB but somehow he ended up with 1 pair of shorts and Baby LB got 2 pairs of shoes and a bunch of clothes. We also found a lamp for the nursery and we bought a Wii! If you don't own one, you really should. It's awesome. We were playing with it all night, till about 3am.

In between all the shopping we went and had an u/s @ this place not far from home that does then for free. It's a training center for u/s techs and they let the student do them. None of the pictures were all that great mostly just of things they need to learn to take measurements of. We, however, got to hang out and watch our boy for about an hour :) It was great. He was moving around like crazy, kicking and punching at the u/s wand. Entertaining to say the least.
We got new stats for him! All his measurements are still ahead buy a few days to a week and he's weighing in at 1lb 12oz. The last time we went was at 22 weeks 2 days (exactly 3 weeks ago) and he weighed 1lb it's amazing he's put on almost a pound!
They were also able to measure my cervix which was 4.80cm, this made me very happy.
All in all it was a great day.

The nursery is coming along. Mr. LB has weird days off so finishing the painting has taken a little longer than expected. He's almost done, though. Just touching up the paint under the chair rail. We're thinking the carpet will probably be replaced sometime within the next 2 weeks and then we can move the glider in here and some other things. As soon as my desk is out of here I'll take pictures.

Baby steps!

HSG

I had my HSG done today. My gyn referred me to a RE, which is where I had the procedure done.

They had me go in and lay on a table underneath an xray machine. First, she put in the speculum and cleaned off my cervix. This part was only mildly uncomfortable- maybe a little worse than a pap. Next they inserted the catheter. This part was painful, but bearable. The worst came when she inserted the balloon with the dye. The balloon stretches your uterus and causes very painful cramps. The dye seemed to increase the cramping. The nurse put pressure on my abdomen and that helped a tiny bit.

The whole procedure took 5-10 minutes. While it was extremely painful, it was bearable and quick, so not all that bad. They gave me a pad to wear until the dye all comes out and an Rx for an antibiotic.

The great news is the results were all clear. The doctor said my uterus and tubes were "beautiful" and she said Clomid should be a good course of treatment for us.

Next up- S/A.

Quick Update

AF showed up. I'm not sure that I even O'd at all last cycle, but time to move on.

HSG is scheduled for Monday. I'm somewhat nervous about the pain aspect but hopefully it will be quick and I can get it over with.

S/A is on hold right now due to a personal issue Mr. Sassy Bud is having but we'll get it done soon enough.

I'll update after the procedure with the good, bad & ugly of the HSG.

April Showers Bring a FET...

Photography Credit

So after a relaxing and much needed month off Mr. Blessed Bud and I are preparing for our first Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET). I am thankful for the fact that FET's are non-invasive unlike our fresh cycle in February and Dr. B and I have decided we are only going to thaw and transfer 2 of our little munchkins who are at the blastocyst stage.

So this is how our FET cycle will go:
*CD 3 Ultrasound and Blood Work = All Clear
*I started BCP's yesterday and will be on them for 2 weeks
*I will have another ultrasound and start Lupron
*I will take Estrogen & as we move closer to the FET I will take Progesterone *When my lining is ready the FET will be scheduled and our little munchkins will be thawed out the day of the transfer

Mr. Blessed Bud and I have decided to Let Go and Let God this cycle. Babies are truly gifts from God and when he intends for it to work, it will work...

The witch arrived

on Monday. After a temp drop on CD27 and some spotting I knew AF was on her way.

I was a little hopeful for last cycle, but I know with the UTI we really did not BD as much as we should have. Well, Here is to cycle #11...