Happy Girls!

Happy Girls!
April 2019

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Nurse Talk


Our next scheduled appointment was set for February 24th at Centre OB/GYN. They had officially released us from Carolina Conceptions! This appointment was basically just a nurse talk. We weren't really sure what the appointment consisted of, so Justin decided to join me, just in case something fun went on. Well, the first part consisted of sitting down with a nurse and you guessed it, talking! She gave us a folder full of info ranging from hospital pre-registration forms (seems a little early for that), how to reduce nausea, what to eat, what not to eat, etc. Once that part was over, we went into a room for an ultrasound. Here is one of the pictures they took of the baby...a little bigger than last time, but not much! This time we got to hear the heartbeat and it was the prettiest sound I have ever heard! The nurse technician said the baby had a strong heartbeat and that's all we could have asked for. After that I had to pee in a cup & give 6 viles of blood, which will apparently happen every time I am there! Obviously they didn't get the memo on me not enjoying giving blood! Oh well, it's all for a good cause. At the next appointment, which has to be scheduled within 10 days of this one, will be to discuss the results of all the tests and for a full-blown physical. Fun times!

Friday, February 18, 2011

First Doc Appt.


We strategically set up our first official appointment for February 18th. Justin's parents were arriving into town late that night and we wanted to be able to tell all 4 parents together. We were hoping that we would be able to see/hear a heartbeat, which would make telling our parents that much better. We were in luck! They did an ultrasound and were able to pick up the heartbeat! We didn't have sound, but you could see the little pulsing heart on the screen. The little heartbeat reminded me of the scene in ET, when he is packed away, but you can see his heart through the window and Elliot freaks out!! That was me! Once again Justin and I were amazed...we couldn't believe the turn of events and were soo excited to tell our family! The picture is of our little baby at just about 7 weeks, not much to see just yet!

Justin's parents got into town at about 1 am that night and it was so hard not to spill the details! I told Justin that if I was able to work with my parents and sister and not say anything, he would have to do so for 1 day. It seems impossible, but we did it. Saturday night we all met up at my parents to watch the UNC game and have dinner. It was the 4 parents, Amanda, Shelly, Justin and I. I was nervous, I couldn't contain myself any longer and was begging Justin to say something. Finally my mother brought up the shower she had just been to that day and it was a prefect lead-in EXCEPT Shelly had left the room to talk on her cell! Finally, she came back into the room and my mother said something else about the shower and Justin took his cue. I honestly don't remember much of what he said or what I said because I was crying and shaking. I do remember both mom's looking at me and just staring....I think they thought it was a joke, they looked like confused puppies with their heads tilted! After a few minutes, it had sunk in and hugs & kisses went all around! It was a GREAT night and will forever be thankful we could share our news with all the parents together.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Oh Baby!

Wow, I can't believe I am actually entering into the world of blogging...I never thought I'd see the day! I basically wanted to start this blog to keep family & friends from all over up-to-date with our lives. I am going to apologize to my sister Amanda right off the bat because I am guessing she will find grammatical errors throughout my posts, but I will try my hardest!! As most of you know, Justin & I have been trying to get pregnant for some time now (3+ years!) After many trips to Carolina Conceptions, a practice dedicated to fertility, we were at the point of having to try IVF. Unfortunately, IVF just wasn't in our budget ranging anywhere from 15K - 20K. Thankfully, I heard about the Pay It Forward Fertility grant. The Pay It Forward Fertility Foundation (http://www.payitforwardfertility.org/) was created to give hope to people who want to build a family. It is a non-profit organization that helps people of various circumstances afford fertility treatments that are not covered by health insurance. So in September 2010, I filled out all the paperwork needed to apply for the grant and sent it on its way. The recipients of the grant would be announced in December. Well, December came and went! I finally emailed someone and they said because of the overwhelming amount of applicants, the recipients wouldn't be announced until January 2011. Uhhh, the wait was killing me!! Finally on January 12, I received the best call ever for Robb & Lori Moscato, the founders of PIFFF. They called to say that Justin & I had been 1 of 2 couples to receive a grant!!!! I have no real idea what the Moscato's told me on that phone call because I was so busy crying!! Tears of joy, relief, hope, etc.! After I got off the phone with them, I immediately called Justin...I was able to cry out that I was "good crying" and he knew EXACTLY what that meant. We had been given new hope that our little family would some day include a baby!!

We scheduled our IVF appointment with Carolina Conceptions for Tuesday February 8th. This appointment consisted of going over ALL the details involved with IVF. Well, as luck may have it, I decided on Monday night that I needed to take a pregnancy test. I had been feeling completely off and I never really had gotten my period that month. I thought it was a long shot, but what the heck...after waiting 3 minutes, a plus sign developed in the window!! I was so confused, so I decided to send Justin a picture of it over the phone to see what he thought. He agreed that it looked like a plus sign, but I told him to stop at the grocery store on the way home to buy a few more tests. Not to bore you with the details, but the second test had 2 lines (positive) but one was very faint. I decided to wait a little longer for the 3rd test and Justin made me drink a ton of water before taking the test again. The third test had two lines again, but this time very distinct! So for the rest of the night, we sat there looking at one another soo confused. What did this mean for our appointment? I was able to email the Dr. Park at Carolina Conceptions and tell him what had gone on. He asked that I come in before our actual IVF appt. to have blood drawn. I was able to skip out of work a little early, but the results usually take 1 hour. So Dr. Park sat there with Justin & I and went over the details of an IVF round. We were then sent to the financial dept. to talk over the logistics of the grant. We sat down and a minute later Dr. Park came in and said my HCG levels were already really high and we were definitely pregnant! Again, J & I were floored....could this really be happening!?
We left the appt. that day knowing I would have to go back in 2 days to check my HCG levels again. If the levels had doubled, that meant all was going well.
So basically after finding out about the grant my body finally decided to relax and let nature do it's thing...