10dp5dt

Yesterday and today has been interesting.

We had dinner with one of Babe's friend and his family last night.  On the way, there I felt super hungry and became kind of queasy from the hunger.  After dinner we stopped by the friend's house to visit for a bit. When we got there, he had the wood stove/ fireplace in the basement and it was a little smoky in there.  After about 15 minutes my stomach didn't feel right.  It felt odd, kind of knotty or queasy.  I told Babe we needed to leave.  We had agreed we couldn't stay long anyway as we needed to get home for my PIO shot.  The smell of the smoke made me queasy.  Again, on the way home, my stomach didn't feel right.  Maybe it was the dinner..... could the shrimp or clams be bad?

Is it possible that is is a symptom of my pregnancy, or was I just imagining things?  Am I feeling more "sensitive" now that I know I am pregnant?  Would I have felt the same way if I didn't just find out that I am pregnant?  I've heard that morning sickness doesn't start till 6 weeks along, but some have felt queasy before then.  I do think that if I let myself get too hungry... my stomach doesn't feel quite right.  But this has only happened yesterday and today, so we'll have to see if this continues, or if it's just my imagination.

On a different note, I think I have ever been so happy to get my PIO shot last night!  It's amazing how different one can feel about the shot now that I know I am pregnant.

It still seems unreal that I am pregnant.  I still tear up just thinking about it.  I'm trying not to get TOO excited, at least not until Monday.  Of course there are the other milestones... the 6 week and 9 week appointments.  But let's just take one step at a time.

Beta Results!!

WE'RE PREGNANT!

I can hardly believe it myself!  When Katie the NEDC nurse told me that I am pregnant, I actually yelled "Yes!!" on the phone.  It was kind of embarrassing.

My beta came in at 159 at 9dp5dt.  Katie said they usually like to see the numbers come in between 75 - 100.  If it was more than 100 that would be pretty good.  But mine was 159!  I asked what that means, singleton or twins?  She said she is usually pretty good about predicting the number of babies based on the number, but she said those in the 150's always throw her off.  I guess we will have to wait until Monday for my next beta to see what my numbers are.  The numbers have to double every 48 hours, and since my appointment is 4 days away, they want to see my number quadruple.  That would mean my pregnancy is healthy and viable, and they would be able to tell better if there is one or two little ones in there.  For now, 159 is a great number!

As soon as I got off the phone with Katie, I realized I HAD to take a home pregnancy test.  I needed proof that I am pregnant!  Before this, I have never been pregnant before.  This is the first time I have EVER had a positive HPT in almost 10 years of trying!

I was so happy!  And relieved!  I still can't believe it is true.  I started sobbing.  And laughing.  And thanking God for this miracle that he is letting me experience.

Proof that we have a little one (or two) brewing in there!

I have to admit, feeling that I had so much at stake, yesterday I emailed Angie the coordinator to find out if NEDC had received any new donor families that meet our needs since May when we were given our profiles.  I received an email this afternoon from her saying she was confused as to why I was asking about profiles since I don't know my beta results yet.

Then, when Katie called this afternoon, the first thing she asked was why I had inquired with Angie about new donor families.... was I looking for backups if this transfer or if I was looking for future siblings for those embryos we already adopted?  I sheepishly answered, well.... both.  I didn't want to admit to her that I was worried this transfer was not going to work.  Then she said let's put it this way, the only reason why you'd need to look at new donor families is if you are looking for siblings.  You're pregnant!  Oh man.... I can't even express how relieved/happy/excited I was!  This is when I yelled "Yes!!" into the phone.  Like I said, a little embarrassing.  Katie.... she's such a riot.  And I love her!

So this is the wonderful news we have so far.  If you are like me, and have gone through the infertility journey and/or loss, you know that with every good news, we have to be cautious and have to guard our hearts and emotions, until the next milestone.

For now, Babe and I are beyond the moon about this good news!  Please pray for us for good numbers again at our next beta on Monday.  I am so grateful for all of you who have been praying and rooting for us this entire time.

**For those of you who know me in real life or on FB, please do not mention any of this.  We have only shared this news with a few family members and close friends.  Thanks**

Beta In The Morning

This is it.  It all comes down to this.  My beta test is tomorrow morning at 9:40 am CST.  The clinic will take my blood, send it to the lab, and fax the results to NEDC.  So I probably won't hear from Katie with the official results until about 3 pm in the afternoon.

I've been nervous about my beta, but for the first time I am not only nervous but actually stressed out about this.

I know I should be positive/optimistic about this transfer.  Odds are in my favor this time.  I can't remember the exact pregnancy rate at NEDC but it's close to 50%.  Since it didn't work last time, odds are in my favor this time, right?

It's hard to tell if I am even close to being pregnant.  Before my last chemical pregnancy in November, I had never been pregnant before.  At least in November I had some implantation spotting.  Nothing this time.  I don't feel pregnant.  I don't feel anything.

There is a lot at stake here.  If I am not pregnant from this transfer, there are a lot of things that will need to happen.

1. We have 2 embryos left.  That means we need to be matched with another donor family as NEDC wants us to have at least 5 or 6 embryos on hand during a transfer, in case some of the embryos do not survive the thaw.
2. That means we will need another ODA (open donation agreement) with the new donor family.  That means it will take more time and additional fees for the ODA.
3. We will have to wait till May to do the next transfer because of selecting the new family and the time needed to work with the new family on the new ODA.
4. Because NEDC requires everyone to have a current home study, we will have to update our home study as our current one expires in April.  Not sure how long that will take.  And of course additional time and fees.

Sigh...... I know I should not be worried.  Or stressed.

I know that again, God is in control, and whatever happens, He's got it.  He has a plan for me.  I just need to let go and trust.

Please pray for my beta result, and for peace and patience during the wait.  Pray also for safety as tomorrow we are under a winter storm warning, with 1 - 5 inches of snow expected during the morning rush hour.  Just in time for my drive to the clinic.

Thanks!

Embryo Adoption Featured on Local News

Last night, one of our local news stations featured a story about embryo adoption.  I was pleasantly surprised to see it.  It was a family that adopted through the Snowflakes program of Nightlight

Here's the link to it.

My only pet peeve..... they got the graphic for the number of frozen embryos in the US wrong.  It says 6,000 but should say 600,000.

I. MUST. RESIST.

This is sitting in my linen closet.  ONE pregnancy test left.  I am not going to test before my beta tomorrow.  I didn't last transfer, and I will not again this time.

Temptation in the linen closet!

Only ONE day left to my beta test.

I. MUST. RESIST.

7dp5dt

Today is 7dp5dt (7 days post 5 day transfer).  I can't really believe that it has been a weeks since my transfer.

Only 2 more days to my beta on Thursday.  A lot of people feel like the 2WW (2 week wait) to the pregnancy test is unbearable.  For me it has been OK.  I have tried not to think too much about it.  People have asked how I am feeling so far.  I'm feeling OK, not super optimistic, but also not defeated (yet).  Honestly, I feel kinda....... meh.  In a way, I want to get the the beta ASAP so I can just find out what the result is.  On the other hand, I don't really want to know.

I have to admit that I have experienced "embryo envy" this transfer.  At my last transfer in November, I had two "excellent" embryos graded at 4AA and 6AA.  This time, they were "great" at 3AA, "good' at 2AB, and 2BC which probably wouldn't survive.  I can't help but think if I had such great embryos last time and it didn't work, how is this time's embryos gonna fair?  To be fair, a few other EA mamas that have told me that their lower grade embryos have turned out to be wonderful babies.  And sometimes even their best quality embryos did not result in babies.  So I guess, I should not give up.

During my last transfer, at 4dp5dt, I had some pretty strong cramping and implantation spotting.   It was the first time I had ever experienced implantation spotting.  But in the end I had a chemical pregnancy.  Still it was the first ever and ONLY pregnancy symptom I've ever had.  This time around, I have felt nothing.  I am aware that because my embryos were not as expanded as the last transfer's it may take a bit longer for the embryos to implant.  I keep hoping I will feel some cramping or have some implantation spotting.  Or sore boobs.  Or nausea.  But so far, nothing.  The only thing that could possibly come close to a "symptom" is me being really tired.  I have been sleeping in lately, and even then I am tired by the afternoon and need an afternoon nap.  Maybe it's just the progesterone.

I found out that another NEDC mama who had her transfer 3 days before me is not pregnant.  I am really sad for her.  Another NEDC mama that has her beta today took a home pregnancy test and it is positive.  I'm praying that she will have a great beta number.  Then on Thursday, myself and another NEDC mama who had her transfer on the same day as me, we will have our betas.  We are praying that we will both be pregnant at the same time.  How fun will that be.

I caved and went to this website to calculated my due date.  If we are successful in getting pregnant with a singleton, our due date is October 9th, 2014.  If twins, September 17, 2014.

I mentioned this to Babe, and he said, "So, September?".  Hah... I think he may want twins.  And I know a lot of people are actually praying for twins for us.  I guess we will see.

Transfer Day 1/21/14 (Delayed Post)

I apologize if you have been patiently waiting for a more detailed post about our transfer.  I have just been relaxing and not doing much since we got home from Knoxville.

The night before the transfer Babe and I went to the Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner.  We splurged a little and I had a yummy steak and a glass of red wine.  An embryo adoption mama had suggested the red wine as it is supposed to help with the transfer.  After dinner, I was able to meet up with another embryo adoption mama for dessert at a cute little cupcake store.  Both and her and I had the same transfer day.  It was so much fun finally meeting up with another EA mama, catching up, sharing stories and for our husbands to meet another EA dad (to-be).  We wished we had more time to keep chatting and hoped that we would see each other at NEDC for our transfers.

This transfer was a lot like the one in November except we were and hour later this time.  Our transfer was at 12:45 pm, so I started drinking water a little earlier than last time where my bladder was not full enough and a catheter was used to fill my bladder.  Not fun.  At 11:45 am I took my medication for my transfer: a Va.lium, 2 Albu.terol tablets, and 3 ibuprofens.

We arrived at NEDC at 12:15 pm and were excited to see that the EA mama that we met up with last night was in recovery.  Her bed was right next to mine!  Of course we started chatting again which was nice as it make the time go by fast and I was more relaxed.  I undressed below the waist and put on a gown and a cap.  I had worn my snowflake earrings which I made a while back, the snowflake chain and pendant and a pair of Christmas snowflake socks.  Babe looked and me and said, hey.... two earrings and a pendant... maybe we will have three this time!  I said, don't say that, I'm not sure if I can handle triplets!  Plus look at my feet.....I have a whole bunch of snowflakes on my socks.  How many does that make??  We had a laugh about it.  

Snowflake earrings that I made

Snowflake pendant and necklace that Babe gave me for Christmas

My Christmas snowflake socks

Carol the embryologist came over and told us that they thawed 3 embryos from our donor family.  All three survived.  

• The first (A) was of "great" quality, graded at 3AA.  
• The second (B) was "good", graded at 2AB.
• The third (C) did not thaw so well, graded at 2BC.  She did not think this little guy was going to make it.  She did mention that some part of it (I can't remember what) was already starting to disintegrate.

From my prior research, here is what the grading means at a high level.  Embryos are assigned 3 separate quality scores - a number and two letters.

1. The blastocyst development stage - expansion and hatching status; with a rating from 1 - 6.  Excellent embryos can be anywhere from 2 - 6, with a fully expanded embryo being a 5, and a hatched embryo being a 6.
2. The inner cell mass (ICM) score or quality; with a rating of A-C.  This is what becomes the baby.
3. The Trophectoderm (TE) score or quality; with a rating of A-C.  This is what becomes the placenta.

To read more about what exactly this means, you can read more about it at this website.

Embryo A graded at 3AA, Embryo B graded at B2AB, and Embryo C graded at 2BC

So we transferred three embryos - one "great" (A), one "good" (B) and one that will probably not make it (C).  To be honest, I was a little disappointed at the quality of the embryos.  At our last transfer, we transferred two "excellent" embryos - 4AA and 6AA.  It's hard not to get disappointed when I had such excellent embryos last time but it didn't work.  I can't help but wonder, since these are not as good, will THIS work?

It was then time for me to head over to the procedure room.  When I was being prepped, Katie the nurse noticed my snowflake earrings and complimented me on them.  Of course I had to show off my pendant and my socks too.  It was funny because the the other nurse and Dr. Keenan wanted to see them as well!

Dr. Keenan asked if I thought my bladder was full enough and I responded, I hope so.  I had been drinking water for a while but it was not uncomfortably full.  When Katie put the ultrasound wand on my belly, Dr. Keenan said well done!  It was full!  There were cheers going around which I thought was pretty funny.  It was a relief for me because it was not a fun experience having your bladder pumped full with fluid.  I was able to see the ultrasound image on a large screen TV.  The dark blob on the top of the screen was my bladder.  The middle part below the bladder where the "+" sign was my uterus, and to the left of it was the cervix.

He inserted a catheter in through my cervix and into my uterus.  He told me to watch for the white line (the catheter) snaking in from the left and pointed out that was the catheter.  It was only a test transfer with no embryos in it.  When we were all ready, Carol passed the embryos in a catheter to Dr. Keenan through a window in the wall.  I was asked my name, birthdate and how many embryos were to be transferred.  Dr. Keenan inserted the catheter with the embryos into my uterus and told me to watch for the white flash of light as that's when the embryos would be transferred.

There was the flash of white light!  There babies were in!  I'm PUPO!  The catheter was removed and Carol checked to make sure no embryos were left behind in the catheter.  We were done!  You can see three little white spots under the "+" sign where the embryos were place.  They look like little grains of rice!  I hope these little guys had a chance snuggle in nicely.

3 embryos (white spots) transferred into my uterus, right below the "+" sign on the screen.

I rested in the room for a bit before being wheeled back to the recovery room where Babe was waiting for me.  I was a little bummed because the other EA mama had already left.  There was a new couple on the other side of my bed now.  The foot of my bed was raised, and I had to rest for 30 minutes before I could go pee.  Fortunately my was not extremely full, or else I would have had to go in a bed pan!  After the required wait time, I was able to get up and use the bathroom and change back to my regular clothes.  A different nurse, Sandy gave us our instructions for after EA transfer and spent a few minutes going over how to do PIO shots.  I think that was very nice and helpful, though when she was demonstrating how to do it, she kept hitting me in my sore spot!

When we left the clinic, it had started snowing.  Beautiful snowflakes were falling from the sky.  Coming from MN, it's not a big deal, but snowing in TN, that's something special.  I hope that is a good sign for us!

We went out for a quick lunch on our way back to the hotel.   When we got back, I tried really hard to respond to some texts and email, but the Va.lium was kicking my butt.  I actually nodded off in the middle of texting.  I gave up and took at FIVE hour nap.  I was that tired.  We had Italian food for dinner and stayed up watching movies.  The next morning, we headed to the airport for home.

My first beta test is next Thursday, 1/30.  It's less than a week a way, but I'm hoping that I will be able to keep myself busy and not obsess over every symptom, or lack of.

Prayers appreciated!

Quick Transfer Day Update

I just wanted to do quick update about our transfer today.

Everything went pretty well. Three day 5 blastocysts were thawed and all survived the thaw.  All three were transferred.  One embryo was "great", another good, and the last one is not expected to make it, but they transferred it anyway. 

So, I'm currently PUPO (pregnant until proven otherwise)!!  We leave to head back home tomorrow. I will do a longer update later. 

Transfer Day & January 2014 ICLW

Hello ICLWers!

I just realized that I missed the last 2 months of ICLWs.  Oh well, November ICLW was right around first transfer, and December, it was just a crazy month with Christmas.

Well this ICLW is an exciting time for me.  Today, we are are having our frozen embryo transfer for our adopted embryos at 12:45 pm EST.   Depending on when you are reading this, I may already be PUPO (pegnant until proven otherwise).  We are working with The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) in Knoxville, TN.  We adopted frozen embryos through them which we will transfer and hope that we can be pregnant and carry our adopted child(ren).

This is actually our second try at NEDC.  In November, we transferred two excellent quality embryos at NEDC.  Unfortunately, it resulted in a chemical pregnancy.  So we back to try again.  Prior to this, we had gone through over 9 years of trying to start our family......... Clo.mid, IUIs, IVFs and surgeries.  Originally we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility but towards the end, I was diagnosed with low quality eggs during our IVFs.  We decided to adopt instead.  We started going down the international adoption route but switched over to embryo adoption because we felt that was the better choice for us.

If you new to my blog, or if you'd like to see where we've been on our journey, you can see the highlights on the Our Journey So Far page.  Stick around to see how this things play out in the next couple of months.

We Have A Transfer Time!

Katie the NEDC nurse called around 2:30 pm with our transfer time.  I was getting a little nervous as it was getting late.

Our transfer is scheduled for 12:45 pm EST tomorrow (Tuesday). 

I will take my Va.lium, albuterol tablets and 600 mg of ibuprofen at 11:45 am.  We check in at NEDC at 12:15 pm.  I hope I do a better job filling my bladder this time.  At the last transfer in November, my bladder wasn't full enough so Dr. Keenan had to fill it with saline solution using a catheter.  Not the most pleasant experience.  This time the transfer is a little later so hopefully I will do a better job. 

The embryos will be thawed sometime in the morning.  Please pray that the embryos survive the thaw. We currently have 5 embryos from the donor family and plan to transfer two.  Pray that they only need to thaw 2 and both will survive.  If not, pray that we have at least 2 excellent quality embryos to transfer. 

I am finally getting excited about this.  We are here in Knoxville and will finally get to meet our babies for the first time. 

Prayers for our transfer tomorrow is most appreciated!!

Knoxville Day 1

Our flights to Knoxville went pretty well. They were either on time or early.  I was quite surprised to see how busy the Minneapolis airport was at 5 am on a Sunday morning.  Charlotte was super busy too when we arrived. 

Our first order of business was to look for a family restroom to do my PIO shot.  If wasn't hard to find as there was at least one on in each concourse.  Babe and I both felt a little weird going into a family restroom together.  You know, a couple going in without a baby or any children.  What would people think?  Are we up to some "hanky panky" business?

Doing the PIO shot was actually pretty stressful for me.  I had to take the shot while standing up.  I have never done it standing up before.  I put my weight on one leg and had the shot in the hip of the other.  I wasn't as relaxed as I'd like to be.   Plus halfway through the shot, someone knocked on the door wanting to use the bathroom.  Babe yelled "Busy!!".  Though I am not a fan of the PIO shot, I'm usually quite relaxed during my shot. Today in the family restroom however, I couldn't wait to be done.  When we finally walked out of the restroom, we looked around sheepishly, half expecting someone to come up to us and demand, "what were you two doing in there??!".  Fortunately nothing like that happened. 

Here's a shot of the Smoky Mountains (I think) as we were flying into Knoxville (sorry about the blurry photo, I had a dirty window). When we were here in May for our initial appointment and mock transfer, we spent a day driving and exploring the park.  It was nice to see it from above this time. 

Shot of the Smoky Mountains

When we got to Knoxville, we were heading to Tar.get but somehow Waze navigated us in circles. We ended up at a park and since it was such a beautiful day, we stuck around for a few minutes. 

Beautiful day in Knoxville. 

After checking into our hotel, we bummed around a bit and watched a movie.  We then went to dinner at a restaurant close by.  I wanted something southern, so I had Shrimp & Grits.  And man, was it yummy!

Shrimp & Grits!  Yummy

We are just relaxing and watching movies now.  A little mini vacation.  Having a great time so far. Tomorrow I should be getting a call from NEDC with our transfer time. 

Knoxville, Here We Come!

**Not sure what happened. This post was supposed to be automatically posted at 5:30 am this morning.  So it's a little late.  **

We are off to Knoxville!

We are leaving super early this morning, with our flight at 6:30 am.  We will be connecting in Charlotte and will need to find a family restroom so that Babe can give me my PIO shot.  That will be interesting.

We will arrive in Knoxville sometime in the afternoon, around 2 pm.  Monday is our free day in Knoxville, so we will have to figure out what to do around there.  Transfer is on Tuesday, though I do not have a definite time yet.

I started my PIO shots yesterday.  So far, they have been going OK.  My butt is sore, but not too bad.  We will have to see how the plane ride goes, if it make the soreness of my butt worse.

I will update as I can when in Knoxville.

We Are A GO For January Transfer!

I had my ultrasound and estradiol appointment this morning.  I was a little nervous that my lining would be too thin, like it was in September.  My lining measured at 7 mm this morning.  I remember back in September I was told that NEDC requires the lining to be at 7 mm at this point of the cycle.  I JUST made it.  I was so nervous about it that I emailed Katie the NEDC nurse right away but I didn't hear back from her until when she called.  Of course when she called, I was in the middle of my eye appointment, so she left a message.  Thankfully, everything looked good.  And yes, 7 mm is the minimum for the lining to be at this point in time.

But, I'm good to go.  We are still a go for my transfer on Tuesday the 21st.  I won't know my exact time of my transfer until closer to Tuesday.  We are going to be leaving on Sunday on a super early flight.  It leaves at 6:30 am so we will have to leave our house at 4:30 am.  I'm not looking forward to that as I am not a morning person.  Also, Babe will have to give me my PIO when we connect in Charlotte, NC.  We will have to find a family restroom so he can give me a shot there.  There is no way I can give myself a PIO shot.  That will be interesting to see how that turns out!

More than a couple of people have asked me how I feel about this transfer.  Excited?  Nervous?

I guess the answer is neither, but also a little bit of both.  After so many rounds of failed IUIs and IVFs, in the past few years, plus the last transfer that resulted in a chemical pregnancy, I guess I am approaching this like I did in November.  Cautiously optimistic.  I am optimistic that this can work but also cautious because I know that it can not work.

I feel like I should be more excited about this transfer but at this point, I'm not.  Maybe part of it is I was nervous that the transfer may be delayed if my lining wasn't thick enough and I didn't want to get disappointed.  But now that that hurdle of it is out of the way, I will hopefully start getting excited.   Especially since I start my PIO shots tomorrow morning (Ouch! Not really looking forward to that!), it may seem more real.  I'll probably be more excited once I'm on the airplane heading south to (slightly) warmer weather.

Now, off to start packing for my trip to TN!

One Week To Transfer!

My transfer is in exactly one week.  We hop on the plane (hopefully) on Sunday, pending my ultrasound and estradiol appointment on Thursday.  My lining will need to be at at least 7 mm for this to be a go a planned.  If all is well, our transfer is on Tuesday the 21st.

Truth be told, I'm a little nervous.  Though my appointment for my last transfer in November went fine (my lining was 9 mm), I'm a little nervous that it may be thin like it was for my originally planned September transfer when it was only 6.3 mm.  It was supposed to be delayed a couple of days but in the end was cancelled when we found out I had a polyp that needed to be removed first.  So, I'm praying that my lining will be at least 7 mm, so we would not be delayed.  To help it along, I have been going in for weekly acupuncture sessions, though I will have 2 this week.  I have also been eating fresh raspberries and putting a hot pad over my uterus to help with blood flow to the lining, as per my acupucturist.  If all goes well, I should start my PIO (progesterone in oil) shots on Friday.

On another note, I had an appointment with my doctor to follow-up on my blood pressure concern.  At my hysteroscopy to remove my polyp, they found that my blood pressure was really high.  I went to see my doctor and we discussed that we would monitor my blood pressure at home for a couple of months, increase my activity levels, lower my salt intake and eat more fruits and veggies.  Well my blood pressure was still slightly elevated.  I have to admit, I have not been good at eating a low sodium diet with all the holidays and traveling.  Nor have I been exercising much with my butt being sore during PIO shots, being on vacation, and trying to get out to exercise in this recent extreme cold weather.  

I am not keen to start taking BP medication.  But with a family history of high BP, and me potentially being pregnant, my doctor has started me on a BP meds called Metholdopa.  This medication is safe for pregnancy, and is in fact used by pregnant women to control high BP.  At this point, it is more important to manage my BP as having high BP during pregnancy can lead to complications such as preecampsia, low birth rate and stillbirth.

I will have a follow up appointment with my doctor in about 3 weeks.  By then, I will would have had my transfer, and will know if I am pregnant.  It is not the way I was hoping to start off 2014, but I will do what is best for my body and my future baby (babies?!).

2014.... Here We Go!

I can't believe that we are already almost to the second week of 2014.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration with family and friends, and hope your ushering in of the New Year was fun and safe. 

Our Christmas this year was pretty uneventful.  The weather here in MN cooperated, so we had cold but good weather for Christmas eve and day.  We were able to attend Christmas eve service at our church and they had really awesome Christmas music and message.  On Christmas Day, we drove an hour up north to Babe's family and celebrated with all the extended families.  We celebrated New Year's by having a small get together with a few friends at our house and had food, fellowship and played some games.  It was nice and intimate.

As you may know, we have a transfer coming up on January 21st for our adopted frozen embryo(s).  This is a great way to look forward to the new year, with the hope that we will be pregnant and have a baby this year.  So far, I had been on BCPs for about 3 week (done now), am currently on Lu.pron (started on 12/22) and started taking Es.trace on January 1st.  I have my next ultrasound and E2 appointment on January 16th, and if all goes well there, I will start my PIO (progesterone in oil) shots on the 17th. 

It seems like everything was a waiting game, and now the transfer is almost here.  Transfer is in 12 days and we hop on a plane in 10 days!

This Christmas, Babe surprised me with a sweet gift.  He's usually not so great about getting gifts, plus we also agreed that we were not going to get each other a Christmas gift as our little Texas vacation was our gift to each other this year.  Anyway, Babe had heard that I would have liked to get something "snowflakey" to commemorate our embryo adoption transfers..... earrings, a necklace, etc. Well he surprised me with this little silver necklace with a sparkly crystal snowflake!  Sorry the photo isn't the best, but it really is pretty.  

My pretty silver necklace with a pretty crystal snowflake

Speaking of snowflakes, I forgot to post about this after my November transfer.  On our long drive (14 hours!) back to MN from Knoxville, we stopped at a rest stop in Berea, KY which also happens to be the Kentucky Artisan Center.  It is a neat place that showcases art and handmade items by local artists.  I wanted to pick up a Christmas ornament that would be a keepsake from our transfer.  I saw some cool wooden snowflake Christmas ornaments.  I had a hard time deciding between these 2 snowflakes, so Babe said let's get both.  We did transfer 2 embryos, so one ornament for each embryo.  Even though our November transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy, I'm glad we picked these 2 up.  It is a wonderful way to remember the 2 embryos that I was pregnant with, even if for just a couple of weeks.

Wooden snowflake Christmas ornament from KY

Wooden snowflake Christmas ornament from KY

I am usually not one to make new year resolutions, but I have decided to read at least 25 books this year.  It shouldn't be too difficult, right?  Less than one book every 2 weeks.

What are you looking forward to in 2014?