Chris & Courtney Plus 8

Just kidding! But we do have 8 little embryos growing in the lab right now! I called Dr. G's office this morning for the fertilization report and was told three times by the nurse that we had 17. My first question was, "17 what?" She said, "They're watching 17." I specifically asked her if that meant that we had 17 fertilized embryos and she said "Yes", three times. Now, I knew that this sounded way too high but I called Chris anyway to share the good news. I decided to call back one more time and make sure that she had read the report correctly. You see, we already know that this nurse is not the brightest star in the sky and we usually end up questioning everything she tells us. Well, I was right. She agreed to call down to the lab and speak directly with the embryologist. When she got back on the phone it was a different story. What we have is 8 fertilized embryos, but there are a total of 17 eggs that they're watching. Apparently, 17 of my 24 eggs were mature enough to use and of those 17, 8 have actually fertilized. They will continue to watch the other 9 today to see if they make it to fertilization too.

As of now, we are scheduled to transfer two embryos next Tuesday. This is two more embryos than last time so we are really happy with the results! Please pray that our 8 little embryos continue to divide and develop over the next several days. Please pray that we have two, excellent quality blastocysts to transfer on Tuesday. That's it for now!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Quick Update

Our egg retrieval went really well this morning. However, this time it was a bit harder for me. I was in a lot of pain from the procedure and when I started waking up from the sedation this morning the pain was the first thing I noticed. I didn't even realize at first that I was back in the recovery room. All I knew was that I was in pain and I wanted it to go away. The nurse came in and gave me some medicine for the pain and I drifted back to sleep for awhile. As I did last time, I kept repeating myself and asking Chris the same question. "How did it go?"..."Good!"..."How did it go?"..."Good!"..."How did it go?"..."Good!" Poor Chris. I'm glad he has patience with me! :-)

Dr. G was pleased that we ended up with 24 eggs this time. Last time we had 17. We'll get the fertilization report tomorrow morning to find out how many of those eggs were mature enough to use and how many litle embryos we have in the incubator. I pray that we get good news tomorrow! I'll post tomorrow once we get the report. Thank you to all of you for the comments and prayers!

Thursday it is

We had our last monitoring appointment this morning. My follicles were measuring where they should be this morning and Dr. G decided to give them one more day to grow. We'll take the trigger shot tomorrow evening and then I'll get a break from injections Wednesday night. Our egg retrieval is scheduled for 7:00 AM Thursday morning. Assuming that things go well with the retrieval and we have fertilized embryos, our embryo transfer will be next Tuesday. So, hopefully I'll be getting embryos for my birthday (my birthday is Nov. 4th)!

I have one more acupuncture appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and then I won't have another one until the morning of my transfer. My ovaries actually responded pretty well to the meds this time and I was able to stay at 300 IUs of Follis.tim this time. Last time Dr. G ended up having to increase my dosage to 450 IUs towards the end. I can't help but think that the acupuncture had something to do with the better response this time around. I would definitely recommend acupuncture to anyone who is struggling with infertility, even if you're not having to go the IVF route.

Thanks to all of you for the comments and support with this cycle. Please continue to pray that the egg retrieval goes well and that we end up with mature eggs, fertilized embryos and excellent grade embryos for the transfer.

It's the weekend!

I had another monitoring appointment this morning. Things are still going well. My ultrasound showed that the 6 largest follicles on each side are measuring between 9-12mm. Dr. G said that the goal is for my follicles to grow about 1.5mm a day and thankfully they have been cooperating so far. They tested my LH level in my blood work today and Dr. G decided to have me take the Cetro.tide tomorrow night. This is an injection that suppresses my ovaries from trying to ovulate on their own while my follicles are growing. Right now, it looks like we're on track for an egg retrieval next Wednesday or Thursday. My next appointment is on Monday morning.

Not much else is going on with us. I'm sooo glad it's the weekend and I am loving this cooler weather that we're having! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

P.S. A big congrats to my sweet friend at Its a Journey! She had her first ultrasound today and found out that she has been blessed with twins!!! Please pray that she continues to have a healthy pregnancy.

Monitoring Appt.

Today was my first monitoring appointment since we started the injections Saturday night. Dr. G did an ultrasound and measured the 6 largest follicles in each ovary. So far, the 12 he measured are coming in between 7-8mm. Dr. G said, "So far so good." I'll call the nurses this afternoon to get the results of my blood work and to see if my dosage will change for tonight and tomorrow night. My next appointment is on Friday morning.

For everyone who is visiting my blog from ICLW, Welcome! I'll try to post some sort of timeline at some point, but basically my husband and I are going through our second IVF cycle right now. The first one that we did in July/August of this year didn't work. I've added acupuncture to the mix this time around and I'm hoping that it helps to prepare my body for the procedures and the embryo transfer.

Also, thanks so much to all of you who have prayed for James Thomas (the 4 month old baby of our friends, Lindsay & James). Thankfully, they are being released from the hospital today! They have a long journey ahead of them but they are so strong and have amazing faith, so I have no doubt that they will overcome this obstacle! I have posted a button for James Thomas at the top of my blog so when you see it, please remember to say a prayer for them and their journey.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far!!

P.S. For those of you who love pumpkin flavored treats as much as I do...you have got to try pumpkin ice cream. It is sooo yummy! Dreyers makes a great pumpkin ice cream and I am not a huge ice cream person. For those of you going through IF treatments who cannot have caffeine, Starbucks has a decaf version of their pumpkin spice latte. It's yummy too! I love to have that as a treat this time of year and I was so bummed that I wasn't going to be able to have it this year because of the caffeine. A big thank you to my friend at We're Expecting! for clueing me in to the decaf option! :-)

Let's try this again...

IVF round 2 officially kicked off today. My monitoring appt was this morning and I had an ultrasound and blood work. Thankfully my ovaries are nice and quiet so we will start the injections again tomorrow night. The protocol has not changed since the last cycle, but let's hope the outcome does! I will be taking 0.1 ml of Mic.ro Ovid.rel and 300 IUs of Follis.tim. I have decided to have a different attitude this time around. My new attitude is to just go with the flow and say "Whatever"! We were actually supposed to start at 450 IUs of Follis.tim and then this afternoon at the last minute Dr. G decided to change his mind. Now, last cycle this would have stressed me and I would have been wondering why. Today, however, I just said, "OK", when the nurse told me there had been a change and I thought to myself "no big deal...whatever."

We were so crushed when the last cycle didn't work so I'm really trying to guard my heart this time. I do want to stay positive, but it will be cautious optimism this time. My next appt isn't until next Wednesay so please pray that the meds do their job and that my ovaries cooperate and do their part too!

I want to ask you to also please pray for my sweet friend, Lindsay, and her 4 month old baby boy, James Thomas. They were admitted to Texas Children's Hospital yesterday because James Thomas' hemoglobin level is really low. They have been giving him blood transfusions in an effort to increase his levels and he will hopefully be having a bone marrow biopsy on Monday. The doctors are not sure what is going on so please pray for guidance and wisdom for the doctors. Please pray for strength and peace for Lindsay and her husband as they fight to stay strong for their little boy. Finally, please pray for healing for James Thomas. I can't even imagine what they're going through right now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I Love Blog Awards!

This is going to be a three part post. So, first of all let me start by thanking my sweet friend, Katie, over at Once Upon a Time for this first award! Her blog was the first one I found after Chris and I were diagnosed with infertility and reading her blog is what inspired me to start my own. I love her wit and her honesty and she is a true IVF success story! She is currently pregnant with twins!!! Thanks for all your support and encouragment, Katie!







Here are the rules for this award:




1~Thank the person who nominated you for this award.



2~Copy the logo and place it on your blog.



3~Link to the person who nominated you for this award.



4~Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.



5~Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.



6~Post links to th 7 blogs you nominate.



7~Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they've been nominated.



Now, 7 things about me~


1. I LOVE to watch old reruns of Golden Girls and Designing Women.

2. Sometimes I wish that Chris and I could just quit our jobs, buy some land and open up a doggy
daycare.

3. I love Christmas music.

4. I like to make lists and I really like being able to check things off of my lists.

5. I wish that just for one day I could have an amazing voice and just be able to belt out any
songs I wished.

6. Our animals are seriously like members of our family.

7. If I could eat funnel cakes and drink fresh squeezed lemonade everyday I would.


Here are the recipients I'm passing this award on to:

1~All in God's Time

2~Baby Steps...My Journey to Motherhood


3~Dancin' in the Rain

4~Everyone else but me

5~In God's Hands

6~Making Me Mom


7~No Oven for the Bun



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Now, for my next award! Thank you, Jess! I love her blog because she is honest and has incredible faith. I love that she leaves such sweet and encouraging comments on everyone's blogs. I have really enjoyed following along in her journey so far and I think you will too so click on the link above and go check it out!

All we need is a little LOVE! This blog is about sisters uniting together and giving others some love because life is hard and who couldn't use a little love? The rules for this award is simple.

I LOVE YOU=8 letters which gives you 8 rules :)

Here are the rules:

1-Thank the person who nominated you for this award and write a little bit about why you love them.

2-Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3-Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

4-Nominate no more than 17 people (why 17?) who you love or you think could use some love.

5. Write one word (you can only use a word once) about what you love about their blog.

6. You cannot nominate someone who has already been nominated-the love has to spread to all.

7-Post links to the 17 blogs you nominate.

8-Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they’ve been nominated.

Here we go!

1~All in God's Time strength

2~Baby Steps...My Journey to Motherhood perserverance

3~Dancin' in the Rain courageous

4~Everyone else but me determination

5~Hope Endures hopeful

6~Hope in Virginia cashew

7~I never thought it made sense anyway. incredible

8~In God's Hands faithful

9~Its a Journey success

10~Jaxson Life cute

11~Life, Love and TTC Mysteries friendship

12~Making Me Mom sweet

13~No Oven for the Bun amazing

14~Once Upon a Time witty

15~unquestionable love patience

16~We got hitched. We bought the 4 bedroom house. Now what??? honest

17~We're Expecting! awesome

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The final part of my post. Thanks so much to all of you for the thoughts and prayers for my mom. The neurologist was able to give her a diagnosis and thankfully it turned about to be something fairly minor. He was also able to give her some medicine and her symptoms are now gone! We drove her back home yesterday and are now back to our routine and ready to get started with this second IVF cycle.

Lots going on

Where do I start? First of all, I was able to get our tentative schedule for this next IVF cycle. It took me having to call the nurses to follow up, but whatever. I will continue to take the birth control pillss until Oct. 12th and then I'll have an appt. on the 16th to make sure that my ovaries are suppressed. If all goes well, I will get the meds that day and will begin injections the following day on the 17th. I will have several monitoring appts. the following week and our tentative egg retrieval date is Oct. 28. I told my husband that it looks like I will be getting embryos for my birthday this year...I just hope they stick around and become the gift that just keeps on giving! :-) My birthday is Nov. 4th, so our embryo transfer will more than likely fall some time around my birthday.

In other news, my mom is really sick. She's been sick for the last several months but she just let on this past Sunday as to how bad it really is. She lives in a small town about 3 1/2 hours away from me, so my husband and I are bringing her here to Houston tomorrow night and I will be taking her to an appointment with a neurologist on Thursday. I have been stressing since Sunday evening trying to figure out how Chris or I would be able to take off work tomorrow to go pick my mom up, bring her back here, go to work Thursday morning, leave work to take her to the doctor's appointment, not knowing how long she's going to be here and wondering how in the heck am I supposed to endure another IVF cycle while I'm trying to shuttle my mom back and forth to appointments. All I can say is thank you God for my best friend, Morgan! Out of nowhere yesterday she called and offered to pick my mom up for me tomorrow and meet me half way to get her. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

My poor little cat, Sweetpea, also has a really bad bacterial infection in her ear and I have to chase her down twice a day to put medicine in her ear that she hates. Ugh. Why does life always have to happen all at once? I think Chris might have to ship me off to the looney bin after this...I wonder if I can blog from there??? :-)

Yay for my blog award!

Mrs. Bee has awarded me with an awesome blog award! I love reading her blog. She is hilarious and she lives in Australia!

Rules

1. You Can Only Use One Word!

2. Pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers

3. Alert them that you have given them this award!

4. Have Fun!

The Survey~

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse

2. Your hair? Brown

3. Your mother? Compassionate

4. Your father? Heaven
5. Your favorite food? Mexican

6. Your dream last night? Odd

7. Your favorite drink? Iced Tea

8. Your dream/goal? Mommy

9. What room are you in? Office

10. Your hobby? Reading

11. Your fear? Snakes
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Parenthood

13. Where were you last night? Zumba!

14. Something that you aren’t? Tall (sorry, had to steal this one!)

15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. Wish list item? Boots

17. Where did you grow up? Johnson City

18. Last thing you did? Work

19. What are you wearing? Clothes

20. Your TV? DVR'd shows

21. Your pets? Three

22. Friends? Great

23. Your life? Blessed

24. Your mood? Anxious

25. Missing someone? Family

26. Vehicle? Honda

27. Something you’re not wearing? socks

28. Your favorite store? Nordstroms

29. Your favorite color? Blue

30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Sunday

32. Your best friend? Morgan

33. One place that I go to over and over? Target

34. One person who emails me regularly? friends

35. Favorite place to eat? Pappasito's



I am awarding this blog award to:

1. Making Me Mom

2. Once Upon a Time

3. Its a Journey

4. The Burks

5. In God's Hands

6. Dancin' in the Rain



Don't forget to pass it along!



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In other news, the birth control pills have made me sick again. They made me sick last time, but this time it was worse. I took a sick day on Wednesday and just stayed home in bed. I woke up around 1:00 am Wednesday morning with a horrible headache and was feeling really nauseous. Thankfully I'm feeling better now. I was bummed that I had to cancel my acupuncture appointment on Tuesday. I was really hoping that it would help with the side effects from the birth control. I ended up having to stay late at work on Tuesday, so that meant no acupuncture for me. Oh well. There's always next week!

I still haven't heard from the IVF coordinator. She isn't in the office on Fridays, so I think I'll give her a call on Monday. She was supposed to get my file this past Monday so there's really no reason why she shouldn't have already called. But like I said in a previous post, this woman is already on my list from last time! :-)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I can't believe that it is October already!