6 Weeks

I was really sick on Saturday so I completely forgot to take my 6 week belly pic. There is no change, so it's okay. But this is a much better picture- it's our ultrasound picture at 5 weeks 6 days!! (It says 6 weeks 1 day on the u/s, but that's based on my LMP, not on my ovulation date.)

How far along? 6 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Even
Pregnancy Symptoms: Sore boobs. The nausea and exhaustion are definitely increasing.

Maternity clothes? No, but I scored pretty much an entire wardrobe of maternity clothes from my cousin's wife for $30 at her garage sale!! I'm so excited about this bargain!

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: I am so tired. I'm having a problem with having to go to the bathroom 4 times a night though.

Best moment this week: Seeing the tiny heartbeat on the ultrasound.

Movement: Way too early for that.

Food cravings: Still having to force feed myself.

Gender: I am still referring to it as a he.
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: Not feeling seasick all the time.
What I am looking forward to: Our next ultrasound in 2 weeks.

Milestones: Seeing the gestational sac, yolk sac, and tiny heartbeat on the ultrasound!

Funny Will Comment

Will saw a picture of childbirth in a book my mom gave me and said:

"That's not a vagina, that's a cannon!"

That right there is my late afternoon bloat. My stomach feels so full and I can't suck it in. It's pretty isn't it????

How far along? 5 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Even

Pregnancy Symptoms: Sore boobs and on and off mild cramping. I'm also feeling seasick starting every day in the early afternoon. The seabands really help. I'm also constantly exhausted.

Maternity clothes? No, I'm just bloated right now. It gets worse in the afternoon.

Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Amazing and I need a lot of it. I am definitely feeling the first trimester exhaustion.

Best moment this week: Getting a great second beta number.

Movement: Way too early for that.
Food cravings: Kinda having to force feed myself because of that whole seasick feeling.

Gender: My mom, my aunt and I are so sure it's a boy.

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Not having to wear seabands- these things are UGLY.

What I am looking forward to: Our first ultrasound on Friday. I'm so excited and nervous!!

Milestones: Great second beta #, morning (or in my case, afternoon) sickness.

Beta #2

462!! I'm so excited for good strong numbers. I scheduled our first ultrasound for Friday, May 29th. That seems like so far away!!

4 Weeks

This is what I look like at 4 weeks. I'm nowhere near as skinny as I used to be (thanks, PCOS) but my belly is still pretty flat. There won't be a baby bump for quite some time, but it's fun to document the changes every week of pregnancy. So, here's my 4 week belly shot:

Also, I've seen this set of questions in other blogs, so I'm going to use it for mine each week.

How far along? 4 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Down a couple pounds because I'm a bundle of nerves right now.

Pregnancy Symptoms: Sore boobs and on and off mild cramping.

Maternity clothes? No need quite yet. But, I don't understand women who resist maternity clothes. Seriously, there are only two times in your life when it is acceptable to wear an elastic waistband- pregnancy and old age. As soon as my pants start to get tight, you better believe I will embrace the elastic :)

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Amazing
Best moment this week: There were so many- getting the positive test, telling Will, getting 9 more positive tests, telling our family, getting confirmation from the doctor.

Movement: Way too early for that.

Food cravings: Grits and sweet tea. You gotta teach 'em young, y'all.

Gender: I have no idea, though I tend to accidentally refer to the baby as "he." The ancient Chinese Gender Chart says girl- haha.

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Not having so much to worry about. Seriously, my nerves are out of control.
What I am looking forward to: Our first ultrasound. I'll be so nervous until then.
Milestones: Great first beta #.

"Mommy, where do babies come from?"

I'm sure we'll get this question one day from our kids. Luckily, Will and I have learned exactly what it takes to make a baby:

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On second thought, we'll just tell them that all you have to do to get pregnant is hold hands with a person of the opposite sex. Until they are out of college and married, they need to think that getting pregnant is VERY EASY!!!!!!!!

Our Journey Through Infertility

I got off the birth control pill in January 2008. Unfortunately, my body could never learn how to work on its own anymore after coming off the pill. It was so used to being artificially controlled by the pill, that my hormones couldn't regulate on their own. I was having horrible symptoms- night sweats, insomnia, rapid weight gain, headaches, fatique, acne, etc. And, most importantly, I was not ovulating or getting my period. This makes conceiving very difficult. I went to the OB/GYN and they ran some blood work. Without getting into too much boring detail, it showed that my hormones levels were not working in sync, but she didn't give me an official diagnosis.

I did a cycle of 50mg of Clomid with her. I did not ovulate on that cycle. She then referred me out to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) at University of South Florida. He (Dr. Plosker) ran additional blood work and did an ultrasound to check out my ovaries. The ultrasound showed tiny cysts all over my ovaries and the blood work confirmed my hormone imbalance. He officially diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I was told I have anovulatory PCOS with moderate insulin resistance. This was pretty devastating, because that's a difficult diagnosis. It cannot be "fixed" and getting pregnant is often very difficult. At least it explains why I put on a quick 25 lbs since going off the pill. You can read more about PCOS here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome if you are interested.

We then did a whole bunch of medicated cycles with the RE until we finally got one to work. I have had horrible side effects from some of the medicine that has been very hard to deal with. I even had to learn to give myself shots in the stomach!!! I'm super squeamish, but I figured it out. It's been a difficult journey physically (tons of side effects from the meds plus, when your hormones are out of whack, you just feel miserable ALL THE TIME), emotionally (I have never cried so much in my life), and, of course, financially (our insurance does not cover one penny of fertility treatments).

Though this has been the most difficult year of either of our lives, we have learned and grown so much and we are better people and will be better parents because of what we've gone through. I'm sure I'll post more about this in the months to follow.

Beta #1 at 13dpo

101!!!!!!!!

I had my beta HCG blood draw on Friday morning, May 15, which was 13 days past ovulation. It took ALLLLLLLLLLLL day for the doctor's office to get back to me with the number and I was panicking. I even took two more pregnancy tests.

According to betabase.info, the median beta HCG number at 13dpo is 62. So, we are right above average :)

We'll have our second beta draw on Monday, at 16dpo.

Two Pink Lines

This is the test I took Tuesday morning, which was 10 days past ovulation. It was pretty early to get a positive test, but I am a glutton for punishment and I tried anyway. I jumped in the shower and let the test sit. When I got out, I looked at it and there was this very very very faint line. It was after the 10 minute limit, so I didn't think it was that accurate. That day at work, I just felt very weird all day. So, when I got home, I took another cheap test and this is what I saw:

It was still very faint, but it was there and it was there during the time limit. So, I took a more accurate First Response Early Response Test and this is what I saw:

The second line came up within a minute. It was the most amazing feeling because these tests are extremely accurate!!! I had such a rush of emotions and I immediately just started praying and thanking God. Will and I have prayed for this for so long and it was finally here. Then I started pacing and waiting for Will to get home.

Once Will got home, I gave him a present with these adorable little Gator socks that I had bought over a year ago when we first started trying to have a baby. I also included the three pregnancy tests. I have a video of him opening the present and figuring out what it all meant. It's hilarious and I'll post it later. Needless to say, he was ECSTATIC!!! We had such a fun night discussing everything. We sure couldn't focus on American Idol that night.

Later that night, we decided to take a digital test, just for fun. I know the digital tests are not as sensitive as the FRERs and even the cheap ones, so I wasn't sure it was going to be positive since it was so early still. But this is what it said:

It was such a fun night that I'm sure we'll never forget. We are praising God and so excited about all of this. However, we are so incredibly nervous and scared. It's still so early in the pregnancy and so much can go wrong. All we can do at this point is pray.