Hurray!!

Well, I am pleased to announce that after 20 days of severe morning sickness I am beginning to feel better! The morning sickness has calmed down to a manageable level. I still get very tired throughout the day but I'm not green anymore! I still feel nauseated but now I can make it through the day without killing anyone!

8 Weeks and 3 Days Pregnant

Only 5 more days of shots!! So very happy about that. My butt is sore all the time from getting nightly injections. YUK!! I went back to the doctor yesterday (8/28) and the babies are doing just fine. Both have strong heartbeats. Joe thinks they have his eyes. Ha Ha Ha!!

Morning Sickness

Morning Sickness kicked in and it goes on ALL DAY!! After 4 days of feeling really, REALLY sick, I called the doctor and told her I'm a weinie and I needed the morning sickness medicine. So far it is working very well! God bless modern medicine!

Love at First Sight!!

TWINS!!! Joe thinks they have his eyes. What do you think?

My Doctor(s)

As I have mentioned before, Dr. Rehman is the one who did implant #2 and #3. He is such a wonderful doctor and really took excellent care of me. I have to go to CAR until I am 9 weeks pregnant and then I will go to an OBGYN. I am now being seen by Dr. Kathy Doody because after the implant, Dr. Rehman informed me that he was moving to Seattle. Such a bummer. I really liked him. There were two major factors in getting pregnant. The first was God. The second was Dr. Rehman. Without these two factors, this wouldn't have been possible. Joe and I contributed very little. :)

Trying to Get Pregnant - Pictures

Above is what the embryos looked like frozen (left) and then thawed (right). Below is what they looked like after the implant.We are so very excited!!!

Trying to Get Pregnant - The Results

On July 29th, I went in for the pregnancy test. Joe and I both felt that it had worked. We were sure of it!! After the test, Joe and I sat in the living room reading. I kept watching the clock because I wanted Joe to get the call from CAR and I didn't want to hear the phone ring. So at 10:45 I crawled in the bed for a nap. About 10 minutes later, Joe came bouncing across the bed on his hands and knees saying "You're gonna be a MOMMY!"
The doctor looks at the levels in the blood and is looking for a 20 or higher. My level was 307!! Then, 2 days later, I had to take another pregnancy test and the doctor is looking for the levels in the blood to double. My level was 697!! Joe and I think I am pregnant with twins! We are so excited. Since the second pregnancy test was taken on July 31st, I have taken 3 home pregnancy tests and all are positive. Since it was so hard to get pregnant, I am scared to death of losing these babies so I started taking home pregnancy tests. The re-confirmation is worth it!!

Trying to Get Pregnant - 3rd Attempt

Only 2 weeks after the second negative pregnancy test did we begin again. This time was a little different. Since Dr. Rehman used frozen sperm on the second attempt, we got a refund. And it just so happened that the refund we received was the same amount it cost to do it a third time but without the egg retrieval. Let me explain... During the first attempt, there was 1 fertilized embryo left over that Dr. Craig had frozen for us. Then, during the second attempt, there was 1 fertilized embryo left over that Dr. Rehman had frozen for us. When going through in-vitro, the doctors prefer to always implant 2 fertilized embryos during each cycle for people 30-39 years old. Younger only gets 1 and older gets 3.
Since we weren't going to have the egg retrieval or the hormone meds, it dropped the cost conciderably. So we started again. Still took 6 weeks but was so much easier on my body. And my PCP decided to keep me on Paxil until I took the pregnancy test since my depression got so serious after 2 failed attempts. If I got a positive result, stop taking it immediately.
This time, as soon as we decided to go another round, I knew I wanted my mom to be there with us. No matter how old you are, sometimes you just need your mommy. On July 20th, Joe, my mom, Dr. Rehman, the nurse, and I all crowded into the little room and Dr. Rehman implanted the 2 remaining frozen fertilized embryos.

Trying to Get Pregnant - Happy Pills

During the first attempt, I stayed on Paxil, which made it much easier to get past having a negative result. During the second attempt, my PCP told me to stop taking my Paxil. Needless to say, I was much more emotional during the second attempt than I was the first. Poor Joe. He handled it like a champ!
Immediately after we received the phone call telling us that the test was negative, I got right back on my Paxil. It made it easier to deal with the depression of 2 failed in-vitro attempts. Plus not knowing why they failed is very difficult. They couldn't even tell us if it was me or Joe. I kept feeling like it was my fault, and Joe kept feeling like it was his fault. In reality, it isn't either one of our faults. It just wasn't meant to be.

Trying to Get Pregnant - 2nd Attempt

In April 2007, we had saved up enough money to do it again. The first time, we took out a loan, but we couldn't afford to do that again so the second time, we paid cash. Our insurance does not cover anything related to infertility.
Dr. Craig had moved on to another company so we chose Dr. Rehman this time. He had done a few of my sonograms the previous year and had really made a good impression on us.
We did everything again. First came the pills, then the shots, but this time we didn't know if we would need fresh sperm or not. When CAR did the sperm aspiration from the previous year, they froze what they didn't use. So Dr. Rehman was going to try to use the frozen sperm but would not know until the morning of the egg retrieval if the frozen were viable or not. When we got there, Dr. Rehman said the frozen had thawed very well and were swimming again. So I went through the egg retrieval, but Joe did not have to go under for another sperm aspiration. The retrieval is very hard on my body. They have to put me under and as soon as I wake up, my body feels bloated. It's actually not bloated with air, it is fluid that has surrounded my uterus. But it is very painful. Then, only 5 days later, I have to go back for the egg implant.
This time, 8 days after the implant, I got the same strange feeling and I knew the embryos were gone. Then on day 9, I went in for the pregnancy test, and again, it was negative.

Trying to Get Pregnant - Surgery

In September 2006, I went into the hospital to have the fibroids removed. After the surgery, the doctor told Joe that the smallest was smaller than a peanut and the largest was as big as a golfball! I was in the hospital 3 days and 2 nights and my wonderful husband was right there with me the entire time. I remember the first night, I couldn't sleep because I was high on meds and Joe was sound asleep next to me on a roll-away bed they had prepared for him. He looked so precious!
The doctor said the surgery was a lot like having a C-section. And I have the scar to prove it! I was then out of work for 2 months.

Trying to Get Pregnant - 1st Attempt

In April, 2006, we went to The Center for Assisted Reproduction (CAR). We knew we couldn't get pregnant the old fashioned way since Joe had a vasectomy about 3 years earlier. Our doctor was Dr. Craig and she was very nice. We were also introduced to several different doctors during each visit; Dr. rehman, Dr. Kevin Doody, Dr. Kathy Doody, and Dr. Ann Nackley. Anyway, we went through the entire process of all the shots, the pills, the egg retrieval, the sperm aspiration, and then the egg implant. During the process, Dr. Craig found 4 fibroids in and around my uterus but said she was not very concerned about them.
The same day of the implant, Joe and I went home and crawled right into bed. Only a few hours later, I knew it didn't work. Nine days later, I went in for the pregnancy test and it was negative.
Dr. Craig talked to us and said that if we were going to try in-vitro again, we really should have those 4 fibroids surgically removed.

How Joe and I met

In August 2005, I was sitting outside during the morning break from work, just talking to some co-worker about trying to handle my divorce myself. After my co-worker left, this man came up to me and said “I don’t mean to be rude but I overheard you talking about doing your divorce yourself and I’d like to know more because I’m getting a divorce as well. Oh, by the way, my name is Joe.” We chatted and then went our separate ways. Soon we began spending every break together, chatting. Later we began to hang out together after work. It was interesting because I was already dating someone, but I found myself wanting to spend all my time with Joe instead of the guy I was dating. Joe and I would hang out together with my friends, or just the two of us. He never made a move on me; he was always very respectful. One Sunday afternoon, I had a fight with the guy I was dating and I called Joe and told him I wanted to go out for a drink. He and I went to Billy Bob’s and had a few beers and danced a little. We had a great time. Next thing I knew, I kissed him. I couldn’t help myself. We didn’t talk about it the next day. We went right back to being friends. But I sure did like being with him.
During the holidays we spent more and more time together. Then on Halloween night, he proposed. I blamed the beer and just blew it off. During late November, he proposed again. And again I blew it off as joke. Then on Christmas day eve, he and I went to my friend Leslie’s apartment. We had some drinks, played games, and then decided we were going to give Joe a makeover! He was a very good sport about it. But it was when my friend took finished Joe’s hair and stepped away so I could get a good look at him, I just gasped. The look he gave me made my heart just melt. He got down on one knee and proposed again. I said “I don’t know.” My friend was standing behind him whispering “Say yes!” He then asked me to go to Chicago with him the next morning. I agreed. He followed me home, I packed some clothes and stayed at his house. We never separated after that Christmas night.

In Chicago, on New Year’s Eve, he proposed for the fourth time. I’m so glad he was persistent! We were married 5 weeks later, 02/04/06.