Facebook Official

Even though I was really hoping for confirmation that everything was still going well at our "appointment" we went ahead with our original plan and our news was finally shared with all of our family and friends! 

I headed over to a small park to try and create some cute photos for our announcement. Armed with some chalk, a pair of baby shoes and a onsie. Lucky for me they had just paved one of the side streets that runs along side the park. 

I choose this pic to post on my page. 

Paul decided to post this photo along with a clever summation of how we got here.

"When a man and a woman and a doctor and a petri dish and a pile of money love each other very much.... "

The response of "likes" and comments for our posts from loved ones near and far was overwhelming. Thank you for being our cheerleaders, shoulders to cry on, a fantastic support system and prayer warriors.

1st Kaiser Appointment

After the long 3 week wait we were super excited to finally get to go to Kaiser. Paul and I drove down separately since I would be heading straight to work as soon as it was over. I checked in and was given a clipboard to fill out our family medical history. Basically it was a whole list of diseases and we checked if there was anyone on either side of our families that had it along with information about my pregnancy thus far. About 15 minutes later I was called back and to our astonishment Paul was told he couldn't come! WHAT!?! I was spitting mad! He drove all the way down here and couldn't come back for my appointment? Grrrr.

So I followed the lady to the back where my blood pressure and weight were taken. Then I was seated in a mini office type area with partitions. I sat and waited. Then waited some more. And waited. By now I was super annoyed a lady finally came over and said well while you are waiting why don't we make your future appointments. The next available appointment wouldn't be for almost another month, which I was expecting since once you are with an OB they only see you once a month not every 10 days like I was used to. Another lady walked up when she had just finished making the appointment and asked what she thought she was doing, apparently this new lady was the one who made the appointments and the one who was doing it would be going over my medical history when she was done. So the new lady took over making the next few appointments, which took her FOREVER. She was not skilled in getting the information into the computer. I kept looking at the lady who was originally helping me who was standing in another cubicle area just a few feet away pleading with my eyes for her to come help this woman who could not work the computer. Finally she managed to set up the appointment for the month after that as well as a radiology appointment for my big ultrasound between 18-20 weeks.

Once the appointments were sorted out I was anxious to get this moving along so that I could see the Dr and get a peek at the little one. The first lady came back over and went over piece by piece the questionnaire that I filled out. Then she started asking me weird questions like if I was afraid of the baby's father (WHAT?). I answered with NO, I am not afraid of my husband. She followed up with has your husband ever hit you (is she serious?). Another NO (along with my very annoyed face)! Once she finished up her odd line of questioning she asked if I had any questions, discussed food I should stay away from, gave me some newspaper things that Kaiser puts out for each week of pregnancy.

THAT WAS IT!

What a second.... I am not seeing a Dr. today? There will be no ultrasound? Not even to check for a heartbeat? Now I was livid! This was not okay! My next appointment will not be for another month which means it will be over 2 months since I was seen at HRC before I would see a doctor at Kaiser. NOT OKAY!

I headed out to the waiting room to tell Paul what had transpired...

We had been planning on becoming "Facebook Official" with the news of our pregnancy after this appointment but that was when I thought we would get confirmation that everything was still going smoothly... now I am wondering if we should wait.

Too Long!

Once we "graduated" from the clinic I was told I had to get an OB with Kaiser ASAP so that HRC could sign off on me and turn over my medical records. They actually told me at my 8 week appointment to call and get the process started of being assigned to an OB but I was scared that something would go wrong and my world would come crashing down so I didn't. I waited until I absolutely had to as HRC would no longer be booking me for appointments. I called Kaisers Orchard medical offices to set up the appointment and they said it would be THREE WEEKS till they could get me in to see a NP! I was floored, how in the world could they not want to seem me for so long! What were they thinking did they not pay attention when I explained what I had to go through to get to this point?!? This was not okay with me and I began to freak out (A LOT) about all the things that could happen in that long stretch between appointments.

So I held onto my security blanket of medications that I was still on, knowing that they were helping to sustain the pregnancy and we began the waiting game....

The parade of medications continues:

         - Progesterone lozenge: 3x a day

         - Endometrin insert: 3x a day         
         - Estradiol tablet: 3x a day         
         - Vivelle Dot patch: time to stick on a new one every 3rd day

         - Prenatal vitamin

         - Folic Acid

         - DHA

         - Fish Oil

         - Baby Aspirin 

Last Visit?

At 9w5d we had our next appointment with Dr. W, each time we have an appointment I hold my breath until we hear that heartbeat. This time was no different and this day had the potential to be significant in our IVF journey. Dr. W got right down to business. He asked how I was feeling, if there were any changes or problems since the last visit and then we did the ultrasound. After a few seconds that beautiful sound filled the room once more. The sound of the little's heartbeat still amazes us and is mesmerizing. 

I wish I could say that I do not have fear and anxiety about this pregnancy but that is just not true. It is a feeling that I am not sure will go away until we are holding our little one in our arms, till it takes its first breath and we hear its first cry. There are times that I am in disbelief that this is actually happening for us. I kept telling Paul that maybe I just have a sickness that lingers because maybe then if something happens it wont hurt as much (talk about denial). We have just been down such a long road to get here and I am afraid to let myself love this little too much (who am I kidding we all know I am smitten) because nothing is promised. 

So I continue to pray for strength, for my little ones life to continue, for us to be at the start of a new chapter and little by little we start to venture into the deep waters to begin to plan for this little one who WILL invade (take up residence in) our lives, our home and our hearts. 

Juniors heartbeat at a whopping 180 bpm.

Measuring Junior : You can actually see arm and leg buds now. Such an amazing difference from just 10 days prior when you couldn't really make out what anything was and it just looked like a blob. 

Since Junior is doing well and in just 2 days we will hit the 10 week mark we were told that this would be our last visit at the clinic! We graduated!!! This is a huge deal for those who go through IVF.

As a parting gift we were given a baby blanket, bib and spoon. 

Now comes the scary but oh so exciting part.... we had to find ourselves a good old fashioned OB!

And of course I am still taking these every day:

         - Progesterone lozenge: 3x a day

         - Endometrin insert: 3x a day

         - Estradiol tablet: 3x a day

         - Vivelle Dot patch: time to stick on a new one every 3rd day

         - Prenatal vitamin

         - Folic Acid

         - DHA

         - Fish Oil

         - Baby Aspirin

By the time we have our first OB appointment with Kaiser I should be off most of these!