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12 weeks pregnant

So here I am 12 weeks pregnant!

Yay! I am so happy our whole process took successfully – so sorry I have been gone these last 12 weeks have been rough. With mothering 3 kids – being nauseous and sick pretty much all day + Christmas just passed it was more than I could handle.

This pregnancy has definitely sucked the life out of me. I have been so sick throwing up everyday and just having that lurking nausea.

Let me sort of pick up where I left off. So once they confirmed pregnancy I had to continue all my shots. I would take a shot of estrogen every 3 days + a shot of progesterone every day along with 2 suppositories of progesterone. The reason I had to continue these until 10 weeks pregnant was my body didn’t naturally conceive a baby. An embryo was just placed inside of me. In a normal conception you release an egg and it gets fertilized and then your body releases these hormones.

Ah lol so yes that’s why I had to forcefully give myself (we’ll James did ) these shots . If I didn’t continue I would have miscarried.

I stopped estrogen December 22 + progesterone December 28th and I couldn’t be more thrilled ! I really think a lot of my nausea was a side effect from the progesterone- BUT here I am 12 weeks 6 days and I’m still randomly feeling the nausea:(

Today we had our 12 week scan and I was really hoping she would be able to show me baby girl but she was so still and hardly moved that we couldn’t see much. Oh well next scan hopefully.

Thank you everyone for following me and supporting our family we love you all + god bless 💟

– Melissa

We’re approaching the end

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I’m FINALLY seeing the light

Ahhhh you guys I am over and beyond excited!

So sorry I have been MIA lately – life has just been so hectic. Here is a quick update.

So I’ve started a new shot 2 weeks ago this shot is designed to trick my body into thinking it’s pregnant, so that way when they go put baby in me by body accepts it.

In a traditional conception your body starts working as if it’s pregnant the moment the egg is fertilized – in my case we’ve fertilized the egg but my body doesn’t know that. So this shot helps make that happen. This shot isn’t pleasant ha ha, James has to give it to me in my butt. The worse part is that entire needle has to go in because it has to go through my muscle, needless to say I’ll be happy when this part is over.

So for 2 weeks I’ve been taking this once every 3 days. Friday I had an appointment the doctor had to check my levels and make sure my body was accepting the medicine and YAY! It is!

Yesterday he started me on another injection progesterone- this one is required every day, I also had to start these pills + a progesterone suppositories yuck! Seriously this is the worst – I have to do the suppositories once in the morning + once at night.

This process continues until transfer day which is set for Thursday November 1st. After that date I believe I continue what I am doing (injection part) until I am 8-10 weeks pregnant.

So November 1st! Ahhh it’s so surreal to me because anyone who has known me really truly understands my want for this baby + to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel is so exciting.

I go into their surgical center which is in Pasadena at 6am. He told me the procedure is like a Pap smear – very calming and “pleasant” ha ha! Total time spent is about 15-20 minutes. After transfer I have to be on bed rest for 48 hours , kind of excited for that not going to lie!

Until then I will wait to update everyone.

Once I get confirmation I am pregnant I will announce it , despite the fact that I may miscarry I truly believe this baby is a gift and deserves to be celebrated.

Thank you all for the continued support and well wishes I can’t even tell you how much it means to me. All the positive vibes are welcomed always

Xoxo

Melissa

Results are in….

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Ahhhh I feel like I’ve been waiting so long to hear from my nurse with my results.

So they retrieved 41 eggs from me on egg retrieval day- that same day they fertilized my eggs and we got 20 embryos. A few days later they go to another stage I forget the terminology but 19 embryos survived.

As of now the embryos are 1 week old and in the freezer. They stay there until transfer day. How they are able to test them is they keep a cell from each embryo. This way they are not disturbing the embryos. They only will defrost them when we are ready for transfer.

My nurse called me and asked how many embryos I wanted to test for gender – with the money we’ve sent in we get to have 12 tested. Any others we want tested beyond our 12 cost $250 per embryo- making it $1,700 if we wanted to test the remaining 7.

James and I decided to just test the 12 and if needed we could still test the others- but why spend more if we don’t need too.

Yesterday my nurse called me and to say I was excited is an understatement.

So what we have (out of the 12 embryos we tested )

4 healthy boys

4 healthy girls

2 abnormal boys

2 abnormal girls

My first response was so he does make girls lol + I literally had a 50/50 chance of having a girl. She said yup! But then I said yes but I would of had a boy! Ha ha!

So now my next step is a mock transfer (I am doing that tomorrow) + then more shot, to prep my uterus so it accepts the embryo when we transfer.

I am beyond excited to be one step closer ☺️.

Egg Retrial Day

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Philippians 4:13

13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Today was the day, egg retrieval day. I was so nervous because I had no idea what to expect. My doctor had run everything by me but still this is all so new to me. The best way to describe this process is – your on a need to know basis- there is so much information it would be too much to hit you with it all so as you move onto the next step you find out more.

The weekend before my retrial I seriously felt like I was 6 months pregnant so bloated and so uncomfortable. That morning I walked in to get ready for surgery I asked the nurse why I felt so horrible and she explained to me that my ovaries were so huge from the medicine for this procedure (which makes sense).

The total time of procedure was 20-30 min and recovery time was 45 min. The last thing I remember is the anesthesiologist asking me if I understood everything – YES I replied and that he was going to give me something to relax me. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery and a nurse asking me if I had someone she wanted to call for me – I told her to get James.

James came back and all I wanted to tell him was that Dr. Norian did my surgery can you believe he showed up – then I don’t remember much only that the Dr. came in to tell me Hi and he retrieved 41 eggs….41 OMG I said is that good, he said that’s great!

Soon I was cleared to be sent home.

All day I just slept, I would wake up and then doze off. Thankfully my mom came over that morning got the kids off to school and was there after to help us. The week after my retrieval the bloating was still so bad, they called me in for additional testing because they had retrieved so many eggs your more likely to get OHSS

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a medical condition that can occur in some women who take fertility medication to stimulate egg growth, and in other women in very rare cases. Most cases are mild, but rarely the condition is severe and can lead to serious illness or death.

Continue reading “Egg Retrial Day” →

If it’s meant to be it will be

This is where the road begins…

James and I didn’t just think about this one night and then bam started – No we thought long – we prayed hard – we well (I) cried asking the tough question

“God here is my life what is your plan for it.”

It’s funny that I actually quoted that- because I bet many are saying why is she asking God what his plan is if she’s clearly making her own plan.

I am a strong Christian woman who raisers her family the best way I know how to to follow Christ. My beliefs and the God I follow may look differently than most. I believe in a loving God, one who doesn’t judge whether that’s the color of your skin , the clothes on your back or whom you are married too. My God loves and accepts all who choose to love him, follow him and who believes he is the one who died and rose again and is alive today- That is my God.

I believe God gave us these tools, these doctors to help assist and get us through life. Because I am choosing to gender select is no different than someone who struggles to get pregnant and saying to that person – well you actually shouldn’t have a baby because maybe your body isn’t equipped for it.

On Monday – that was actually my egg retrieval day (and I will get to that process soon) but my nurse who was giving me my IV said to me – you know so many people just like you do this but they are so scared to talk about it because they are afraid of what people will say.

Currently I am reading a book 100 Days to Brave – the Friday before my egg retrieval I was having major doubts.. Is this what I should be doing? So I was driving and I turned on my audible (man do I love audible) she started this chapter with “Ask God those hard questions – be brave and ask god what is your plan for me? what is it that I am suppose to be learning right now? Ask those hard questions and listen for those hard answers – even if you don’t want to hear the answer.” So I sat there in may car tears running down my face and I asked God- what is it that you have planned for me ? What am I suppose to be learning right now? I sat I waited and I was prepared to hear those hard answers even if it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. This book has really brought me to bravery just starting this blog and sharing all of this has made me braver than I knew – 100 Days to Brave

My journey is far from over- I know God is more powerful than any man or medicine out there and if he wishes he will put barriers and stop our journey.

xoxo,

Melissa