3 months old!
These months have flown by.
Val grows each day and I really do still cry everyday.
I'm so lucky.
Through the tears and pain, I look at him and cry because I know that I'm lucky to see this beautiful baby.
I can kiss him, hug him, and touch his body.
When pregnant, I was terrified all the time and especially when I started bleeding.
Getting pregnant was hard and so was staying pregnant.
This fun and happy baby boy makes me so happy.
I was watching Sixteen Candles while typing this and her father told her "If you're given things easily, you don't learn to appreciate them."
Ain't that the truth!!!
Us infertiles will ALWAYS appreciate our baby.
Val grows each day and I really do still cry everyday.
I'm so lucky.
Through the tears and pain, I look at him and cry because I know that I'm lucky to see this beautiful baby.
I can kiss him, hug him, and touch his body.
When pregnant, I was terrified all the time and especially when I started bleeding.
Getting pregnant was hard and so was staying pregnant.
This fun and happy baby boy makes me so happy.
I was watching Sixteen Candles while typing this and her father told her "If you're given things easily, you don't learn to appreciate them."
Ain't that the truth!!!
Us infertiles will ALWAYS appreciate our baby.
Reliving IVF
I have 2 friends in IVF cycles and another friend who is doing injectables for the first time.
Keeping in touch with friends who are still following their dreams makes me hopeful that they will be successful.
But I would be lying if I said it didn't make me re-live the entire process and cycles.
If you don't have anyone that is also going through the process or already did, fertility treatments can become daunting and exhausting.
One of those friends was a friend of a friend who just started at Shady Grove.
I did not know her, but our mutual friend got us together.
I am proud to be out of the fertility closet for if I was not, she wouldn't have someone to ask questions to or just text basic comments!!!
Between the appointments, blood tests, ultrasounds, and meds, doing treatments can make you feel confused, nervous, and overall hopeless if you hadn't been successful.
Please continue to do these treatments until you are READY to be done.
My 2 friends doing IVF are both doing PGS (pre-implantantion genetic screening). Both are doing it for different, but similar reasons.
This is the last cycle for my friend who's suffered multiple miscarriages and most recently had a 10 week pregnancy with 2 heartbeat confirmations, only to go to the next ultrasound and have the heartbeat gone. The D&C concluded it was Down's Syndrome (Trisomy 21). Make sure you beg your doctor to test the tissue after your procedures!
I did not realize that Down's syndrome embryos could miscarry 50% of the time.
During her egg retrieval, she had many follicles, but only 8 eggs. Her RE explained that sometimes eggs can be 'sticky' and not come out (showing poor quality).
Another thing I did not know!
Anyways, she went from 8 eggs, to 4 embryos on day 5, and 2 normals! She is transferrring 1 during a frozen cycle.
My other friend decided to do PGS after I told her how important it is: justifying the extra money is difficult, HOWEVER, the emotional pain is far more difficult.
She had 17 eggs and ended with 8 embryos. She just found out she has 4 out of 8 as normal. Now she is deciding on whether to transfer 1 or 2.
My 3rd friend has had multiple miscarriages and lost a tube due to an ectopic. She had been trying for 5 years and had a lap surgery.
She had been doing oral meds and IUI's. She did injectables and timed intercourse and is currently pregnant with twins!
She is terrified of losing them and goes to the ER often when she feels every little cramp or notices some brown spotting that her RE and OB told her was okay.
Now when I tell you that I feel every bit of nervousness and excitement that these girls feel, it's the truth!
I remember wanting to give up, scared it would work, frightened I wouldn't get any normal embryos, and terrified I'd lose the only one I got.
It's so hard to get pregnant and then it's worse to stay pregnant.
If you are going through treatments, find one supportive friend and confide in them. It really makes you feel better because many people won't understand what you will do to have a baby in your arms.
Keeping in touch with friends who are still following their dreams makes me hopeful that they will be successful.
But I would be lying if I said it didn't make me re-live the entire process and cycles.
If you don't have anyone that is also going through the process or already did, fertility treatments can become daunting and exhausting.
One of those friends was a friend of a friend who just started at Shady Grove.
I did not know her, but our mutual friend got us together.
I am proud to be out of the fertility closet for if I was not, she wouldn't have someone to ask questions to or just text basic comments!!!
Between the appointments, blood tests, ultrasounds, and meds, doing treatments can make you feel confused, nervous, and overall hopeless if you hadn't been successful.
Please continue to do these treatments until you are READY to be done.
My 2 friends doing IVF are both doing PGS (pre-implantantion genetic screening). Both are doing it for different, but similar reasons.
This is the last cycle for my friend who's suffered multiple miscarriages and most recently had a 10 week pregnancy with 2 heartbeat confirmations, only to go to the next ultrasound and have the heartbeat gone. The D&C concluded it was Down's Syndrome (Trisomy 21). Make sure you beg your doctor to test the tissue after your procedures!
I did not realize that Down's syndrome embryos could miscarry 50% of the time.
During her egg retrieval, she had many follicles, but only 8 eggs. Her RE explained that sometimes eggs can be 'sticky' and not come out (showing poor quality).
Another thing I did not know!
Anyways, she went from 8 eggs, to 4 embryos on day 5, and 2 normals! She is transferrring 1 during a frozen cycle.
My other friend decided to do PGS after I told her how important it is: justifying the extra money is difficult, HOWEVER, the emotional pain is far more difficult.
She had 17 eggs and ended with 8 embryos. She just found out she has 4 out of 8 as normal. Now she is deciding on whether to transfer 1 or 2.
My 3rd friend has had multiple miscarriages and lost a tube due to an ectopic. She had been trying for 5 years and had a lap surgery.
She had been doing oral meds and IUI's. She did injectables and timed intercourse and is currently pregnant with twins!
She is terrified of losing them and goes to the ER often when she feels every little cramp or notices some brown spotting that her RE and OB told her was okay.
Now when I tell you that I feel every bit of nervousness and excitement that these girls feel, it's the truth!
I remember wanting to give up, scared it would work, frightened I wouldn't get any normal embryos, and terrified I'd lose the only one I got.
It's so hard to get pregnant and then it's worse to stay pregnant.
If you are going through treatments, find one supportive friend and confide in them. It really makes you feel better because many people won't understand what you will do to have a baby in your arms.