4 weeks

Ok, so my goal is to do at least 1 post a week detailing my entire pregnancy. I want to do a better job of journaling it. So here we go (first week is already one day late...oops).

Weeks: 4

Weight Gain: 0 (I did weight myself and I will tell you that I weigh a whole 30 pounds less than when I started with Noah and if Noah's pregnancy is any indication, I will lose weight before I gain).

Symptoms: I had horrible acid refux on Fri, Sat, and Sun but after avoiding trigger foods and taking Tums, that symptom has pretty much gone away. Some morning sickness/nausea.

Belly Size: Eventually I will start measuring this, but for now I will say my pants are getting tighter and my abdomen seems to be hardening already. At this rate, I'll be in maternity pants by 6 weeks!

Next appointment: I haven't officially set up my first appointment yet (I want to make sure my bloodwork on Monday is ok). I am getting bloodwork done on Saturday, though.

WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!

That's right, I am officially 100% pregnant. The lines on the pregnancy test just kept getting darker and darker along with some very strong side effects like acid reflux (from the excess progesterone in my body), dreams, and morning sickness. I told the fertility specialist that I thought I might be pregnant and I was worried she would yell at me for testing so early, but absolutely not. She sent me for bloodwork on Monday, when I was 12 DPO and the result came back at 59. She said that anything over 5 means your pregnant and they like to see the number over 50 which it is.

I'm slightly worried because on the same day with Noah's pregnancy, I was at 114, but it could have mattered depending on what time of day I went or whether I was actually off a day or so, since the number doubles every 48 hours or so. The bigger test will be when I go again on Saturday and get the result back on Monday. They need to see those numbers increasing every 48 hours or less for it to be a good pregnancy so far.

After that point, I will have to wait another 2-4 weeks before I can go for my first doctor's appointment where they'll do an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy and hopefully see a heart beating. After that, I'll feel pretty confident going forward. Until then, I'm SUPER scared. I don't remember being this scared or nervous with Noah.

I remember being super pregnant with Noah and feeling him kick and move all the time and so it's hard to remember this part of pregnancy, which makes me feel NOT pregnant and makes my fears worse. On top of that, the acid reflux and a lot of the morning sickness went away. David said it's just my body adjusting to everything and it's a good sign that I'll have an easy pregnancy again, but I'm not convinced.

That's the other thing. I feel like I had a pretty good pregnancy and birth with Noah and he's such a good baby/toddler and then it was almost TOO easy to get pregnant this time around (ok - well we had to do fertility treatment, but considering). I think we got too lucky and something bad is bound to happen. Sigh - I just need to push all these bad thoughts out of my head and start enjoying the pregnancy and relaxing. There's no reason to worry until I'm given a reason to worry!

So I'm due April 4, 2012, according to my calculations, but that could, of course, change at my first appointment. I'm excited to have more of a spring baby than right in the middle of winter. I'm a little bummed that it couldn't have been a few days later to not mess with the end of busy season, but it is what it is.

Ok finally some pictures of my tests. I went maybe a tad overboard in how many tests I've taken. Don't judge.

This is my progression picture. If you look closely, you can see the line going negative and then slightly positive.

Here you can see the line getting MUCH darker.

I took this on 14DPO when I expected AF to show. Obviously pregnant!

And you really can't get any clearer than that!

Cycle #4 - CD 24 (9 DPO)

Ok - so I think before I said that I had ovulated Tuesday, July 12. Well after doing some more research, it seems like you can ovulate anywhere between 24-48 hours after the trigger. I gave myself the trigger on Monday, July 11, at 7pm, so really I should have ovulated between Tuesday 7pm - Wednesday 7pm. Since I had all those abdomen pains on Wednesday, I'm going with that day as my O date.

So that puts me at 9DPO (days past ovulation) today. Still pretty early to see anything. But I was almost positive that the pregnancy test yesterday was negative and today there is a faint faint line. But I could just be seeing things or maybe I didn't see yesterday's line. By now, I would think the trigger med would be completely out of my system, so any line is hopeful. I'm just going to have to wait and keep testing to see, but I'm very excited to think of the possibilities.

I have been having some symptoms. Mostly abdomen pains/cramps and sort of those round ligament pains I got when I was pregnant with Noah (which means my uterus is growing). I have these crazy intense cravings where only 1 certain thing satisfies me, lately, it's been milk. And the most prominent symptom is my crazy vivid dreams. For 2 nights now, I've had these really vivid, realistic dreams. I end up waking up in a light sweat. I've heard this can be an early pregnancy symptom.

As I said before, I'm not going to post pictures until I know I'm pregnant. If I'm not, why bother? Until next time..

Cycle #4 - CD 21 (7 DPO)

So I have been testing, and I'll post my pictures if this all turns out in a pregnancy (otherwise, who really cares, right?) Yesterday's was a faint positive and today's was either negative or a very very faint positive, so I'm pretty sure the trigger med is all out of my system. So anything after this that is positive, I will take to mean it's a real pregnancy. I'm sure I will test on Wed and Thurs, but I don't really expect any darkening until at least Friday.

I was feeling really confident in this cycle and then something happened yesterday and I just started thinking that it wasn't going to be this time. Not sure what happened, but I just had a feeling. Again, I won't be completely heartbroken if it doesn't happen this cycle. Next cycle we will be completely out of busy season for the due date and we already know what works (150mg Clomid) so I'm confident that next cycle we'll get some good eggs again. I'm just worried that if it doesn't happen the next cycle, when will it happen?

I keep seeing all these pregnant women and it makes me so jealous. They aren't even just pregnant, they are pregnant with a little one. I want to be pregnant with Noah. Sigh.

On an unrelated note, I'm going to the NKOTBSB concert tonight and I'm excited about something to take my mind off of all this.

Cycle #4 - CD 16 (2 DPO)

Sometimes I forget that not everyone who reads this is into the "lingo", so I will interpret. Cycle #4 is the number of cycles we have been trying since we had Noah. CD 16 is the "cycle day" we are currently on. A normal cycle is 28 days, and for this month, it's pretty close to that average. 2 DPO means it's been 2 days since ovulation. That's because I'm pretty sure I ovulated CD 14 (Tuesday).

I took the trigger Monday night which went fantastic. I even did it myself, which I was impressed with how much it really didn't hurt. It hurt worse the next day when it was a little bruised, but now it's fine. Yesterday, Wednesday, was the worst day yet. I had so many pains and cramps in my abdomen. It was mostly on my right side, where the bigger follie was, but I had some on my left side as well, so very possible that both eggs were released. At this point all we do is wait, wait, wait. I'm pretty sure I will start testing next Monday or Tuesday, even though the trigger will still be in my body and it will be a false positive, but I really want to see the lines get lighter and then hopefully darker.

The HCG meds (Pregnyl, if you care to know the name) has a half life of about 24 hours, meaning the 10,000 units should be out of my body in about 10 days, or July 21 (CD 23). That's when I should really know if I'm pregnant or not. Although the fertility people say I shouldn't test until July 28. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much since this really is the first REAL cycle that anything could possibly happen. Not to mention, if we aren't pregnant, then I don't have to worry about a baby being due in busy season.

Cycle #4 - CD 13 Ultrasound

The most amazing ultrasound EVER! Ok, well maybe not better than Noah's ultrasound, but still. I went with the expectation that we would see a few follies between 10-15mm and then we would do an injection to make them grow bigger/faster and then trigger later this week. Well, all my expectations were blown completely out of the water!!! I had one on my right side at 21mm and one on my left side at 16mm. Not only do I not need any injectable meds this cycle, but I'm ready to go. I will trigger tonight. This will be the first time I do the trigger myself (well David will do it). We did the injectable meds before on our own, so I think we can handle it. We are waiting until tonight to wait and see if we can give a little more time to recruit that 16mm. They really want them between 18-20 to be able to fertilize properly.

So I did the math. If we get pregnant this cycle, I would be due April 3, 2012. It's still a good 2 weeks from the tax deadline. But, the end of busy season is usually slower, so I don't think it would be horrible. At least, if it doesn't work this cycle, I can be happy about the fact that I will definitely be out of busy season the next cycle. Oh also, it looks like Easter falls on April 8 next year, so I could potentially still be in the hospital, or even miss the family Easter/church because we'll have a newborn. But who knows, maybe I'd still be pregnant by then. Ok, enough dreaming/wishing. I may do a few more posts on symptoms, testing out the trigger, etc, but I won't be posting them until later. I will not post again until at least August regarding TTC so that if I am pregnant, I can tell the appropriate people first before I announce to everyone.

Fourth of July

I wish I could come here with all the great pictures from my weekend, but there was very little picture taking, mostly because there was nothing much to take pictures of.

Friday night, we went to Incredible Pizza Company. Noah didn't really care for the toddler rides, but he liked watching us play games and of course, he loved the ball we won for him.

Saturday we worked in the garden and then grocery shopped and went to David's co-worker for fireworks. This guy must have spent a small fortune for the amount of fireworks he shot off. It was very entertaining and Noah really enjoyed himself, even if it was several hours past bedtime.

Sunday we did some shopping and then the plan was to go downtown and see Maroon 5 and the fireworks, but it was all cancelled due to that stupid storm (more on that later). We ended up just putting up chairs on our driveway and watching everyone around us shoot off fireworks. It's kind of fun since we live in an unincorporated area and it's legal to shoot fireworks.

Monday we had my brother and sister to be along with my dad over for a BBQ. Delicious food and some homemade ice cream to top it off. And then the grand finale of our neighborhood show.

Overall, a good weekend, but nothing to share pictures of (sorry - again). That stupid storm also did something to our TV. BUT, it's covered under warranty and there is a guy coming out to fix it on Friday who thinks he knows exactly what is wrong and how to fix it (all my fingers are crossed). In the meantime, we are using Noah's little TV has a poor substitute. We aren't TV addicts or anything, but we are really used to having the TV on all the time. Usually it's the news or the baseball game.

I think Noah did like the fireworks. He would point and say "Boom" and then clap. He was super tired though, so he was content just sitting in our laps enjoying the show. It was really cute and I'm so glad he liked them (vs screaming like a crazy toddler).

Not too much on the agenda this week. Just working and living our life, I guess.