Beta #3

Monday, February 29, 2016

Had our final beta hcg today. Officially 21dp6dt (are you following my lingo yet?). In my head I was hoping for at least 2,000. One of my sweet pregnant nurse friends graciously stalked the results for me. Beta today was 5,057!!!! Doing my happy dance today. Ultrasound Wednesday. It may still be too early to see the heartbeat but I'm hoping to see the yolk sac (what will become the placenta) and the fetal pole (what becomes the baby). A heartbeat would be amazing!! 

Fell in love with the app called Sprout. Here is what our little Baby Snowflake looks like this week. About the size of an apple seed. 


edited to add: no, that does not mean twins!!


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Beta #2

Monday, February 22, 2016

We had our repeat quant today. Like I said last week the first was 119 at 11dp6dt (11 days after transfer). The goal to pray for was 357 and our repeat today was 349!!! That's great news. Everything seems to be increasing as it should. They like to do 1 more blood test a week from today. The goal for that is around above 2,000. My fertility clinic likes the first ultrasound to be done at 7 weeks but being a midwife surrounded by OB-GYN's I'm not sure my uterus can wait. We may cheat and do the first ultrasound at 6 weeks which would be the first week of March. We will see how patient we can be.

Everyone keeps asking how I feel. We are probably a little early for pregnancy symptoms but I do have increasing breast tenderness and one other symptoms. I'm not tired per say but I sort of feel like I've just had a glass of wine. I feel the tiniest bit dizzy and loopy all the time. Very weird.

I will stay on estrogen pills as well as progesterone suppositories until around 9 weeks. I'm sure that magnifies any pregnancy symptoms.

Thank you all so much for your love, support, prayers and well wishes. This is one loved Baby Snowflake!

Keep praying a healthy sticky baby!
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The Results Are In

Friday, February 19, 2016

Is the anticipation killing you??




I'm Pregnant! (We are pregnant!) I never thought those words would come out of my mouth (nor my fingertips). For years I have stared at negative pregnancy tests. I have scrolled past Facebook pregnancy announcements thinking, "must be nice, that will never be me". The group of women that originated on Baby Center all trying to conceive at the same time ("cycle buddies") are having their 2nd babies since we all started together. The last 3 years have been an absolute roller coaster with Brennan at the peak! I can't believe it's finally our turn.

I would never recommend that someone announce their pregnancy at 4 weeks along. However when we started this journey and started this blog I promise transparency. I don't know if I would be writing this post if it weren't for the hundreds of people praying with and for us. So please keep praying!! This is only the beginning.

Beta HCG (Quant) today (11 days after transfer 6 day embryo transfer or 11dp6dt): 119 
Next Beta HCG: Monday (goal of 357)
Final Beta HCG: February 29th
Ultrasound: 6-7 weeks - my husband will be in Ohio for work!! (same place he was when our daughter was born in South Carolina)

Please keep praying for our little snowflake to stick!

New favorite game:
Me: Brennan, what's in mommy's belly?
Brennan: A baby Me:
What's the baby's name?
Brennan: Baby Snowflake
Brennan: I have a baby in my belly (as she lifts her shirt for me to kiss her belly)
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Today is the Day!!

I am officially 11 days past transfer. My "quant" or "beta" is today. This will determine exactly how much HCG (pregnancy hormone) is in my bloodstream, if any. Anything >5 is considered pregnant. The most important thing is that the number doubles after 48 hours.

So now I need a favor. I entered Brennan into a Cutest Kid contest. If she wins she gets a free photo session. If she wins over ALL of the kids (like 300 votes) she will free photo sessions for a year. How great would that be!? Especially if we end up with another little baby. Free sessions would be amazing!

Now we bargain. If you all help Brennan win, I will post the Beta HCG results here today, as soon as I get them!  Otherwise I will make you wait until all of my family has been notified and I have time to either celebrate or grieve.

Click this link and like Brennan's photo. Contest ends at noon!!!

(Comments do not count only photo likes)
Click Here to Vote

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Snowflake on Board

Monday, February 8, 2016

Transfer is officially done. They initially thawed the "youngest" embryo, a Day 5 4BA but when they looked under the microscope there was no embryo to be found. He then thawed the next best (a Day 6 5AA I believe) and the cells expanded perfectly. The goal is for 100% of the cells to expand with no cell damage. The minimum is 50% expansion. He saw no cell damage and it expanded beautifully. 






The transfer itself was a breeze, the uterus looked great and everything seems to be going perfect! They plan for us to have a quantitative HCG on February 19th. If positive it will be repeated 2 days later. This kind of blood work will give us a number for the amount of pregnancy hormone that will be monitored for 3 tests to ensure it is rising appropriately. We may do a home urine pregnancy test before then but  I don't know for sure!! 

Keep those prayers coming!! 

Also please pray for baby Jude. He had a long complicated spinal surgery today and we need God's power to heal him.


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Here we go!!


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Shots, Pills and Suppositories OH MY!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

3 days ago I had my lining check and blood work. I believe the goal is for an endometrial thickness of at least 8 mm. My lining was 12mm!  It had a beautiful triple stripe appearance which just shows that the lining has had a good response to the estrogen supplements and that it's making a beautiful fluffy bed for our little snowflake! 

Having never gone through IVF before we haven't had any interaction with our embryologist. He is the one who makes, babysits, freezes, thaws and prepares embryos. We currently have 4 embryos. He has decided to thaw the "youngest" embryo first. 1 of the embryos achieved the best stage for freezing on day 5. The other 3 embryos took any extra day of growing to achieve the same stage. He thinks our chances will be best with the embryo that got to that stage the fastest. We will be transferring a Day 5 4BA assuming "he" survives the thaw. Our embryologist says that 80-90% of embryos like ours will survive the thaw.

My meds have increased significantly this week. I did my last shot today (woo-whoo!). I am taking 13 pills per day in addition to 2 suppositories daily. These meds will continue until Sunday then I go down to just 10 pills and 2 suppositories every day. I remember thinking how hard it was to remember to take birth control pills every day. I even have a hard time taking antibiotics as often as prescribed. But when you are taking medications to make a baby it's surprisingly easy to remember. Guess when you think about getting pregnant every minute of every day it's easy to remember the medications used to achieve it.

morning meds



As a midwife my life is always baby-crazy. In the past week a dear friend of mine had her baby (after being told she would NEVER get pregnant without IVF... had a natural pregnancy not even a month later), another friend is having her baby today and another just recently found out she is expecting. Praying for all of these babies and future babies. Being a mom is one of life's greatest blessings (next to God's grace) and I pray that the Lord keeps these babies safe.

Prayer requests:
We are praying that my body continues to do what it needs to do to grow our precious snowflake into a healthy little baby.

Pray for our transfer Monday February 8th at 2:30 pm!!

We continue to pray for all of the women out there trying to find their babies. Be it natural pregnancy, IUI, IVF, donor sperm, donor eggs, donor embryos, domestic adoption or international adoption I pray that God grants each of you your heart's desires. A good friend once told me that "your baby will find you" and I pray that yours does find you.






This is the Bible verse I read on the morning Brennan's birth mom signed the consent and we got to meet her for the first time. I didn't chose it, it was part of a reading plan app for that day. I had and have been praying for God to grant our heart's desires. God does speak to us through His word and in that moment I knew the consent would be signed and she would be ours forever.




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