Hurst Family: A Baby Story

POSITIVE! I'm terrible because I can't remember if she said my hcg was 105 or 150, but she did say "positive" and she did say it was a "nice and high number."  I go back tomorrow morning for a second test that should hopefully show an increase in my hcg level.  I had also taken a home test last Saturday that read positive, so I had a good feeling.  Now we just hope and pray that number increases and this pregnancy is healthy and sustainable. 

You know, I've heard of people possibly looking really pregnant and not actually being pregnant but having maybe a tumor in their abdomen or something along those lines.  But I never thought I would be one of those people and LITERALLY look like I'm going to give birth here in a couple months.  It is up there on my list of "cruelest jokes ever" and included amongst last January's positive pregnancy test followed up with a non-pregnancy.  I did see someone today though who is in the same OHSS predicament as me.  I thought she was pregnant (maybe 6-7 months along) until the nurse walks up and tells the receptionist that she and I both were checking out and just had a paracentesis.  I feel bad for her going through this as well, but I also feel better knowing that I'm not alone. I had arrived at the clinic this morning to have my blood drawn for my pregnancy test.  Jamie, the blood draw lady, whom I love and is always so nice and talkative, asked me how I wa...

I didn't set an alarm to wake up this morning because Kellen and I discussed the night prior that he'd get Khloe up and ready for her last day of VBS, then drop her off before heading in to work.  I woke up around 8:30am to the sound of the shower running and thought I should double check that Khloe was awake and starting to get ready. I had slept for quite a long stretch last night, falling asleep on the couch around 10pm after taking my final IVF meds for the day and a pain pill.  I don't like to take my pain pills when I don't need to, but I learned a good lesson this morning - take them, regularly and on schedule, especially until my ovaries get back to normal size. Before I got up to go check on Khloe, I could feel that the fluids (that had been drained just one day earlier from my abdomen) had built back up a little bit.  I decided to take one of my pain pills just before getting up for the day.  I walked in to check on Khloe, and within a matter of seconds...

After 5 days of having my mom around to keep my house clean, do all our laundry, run errands for us, make food, take care of Khloe, and even take her out to do fun things so I could rest and recover -- she's officially gone back home.  I need my body to recover from this OHSS so I can handle daily life again.  I spent just about the entire day today on pain medication and lying/sleeping on the couch.  My father-in-law was so helpful in picking up Khloe from VBS, taking her to lunch, and then bringing her back home and me a surprise lunch and flowers. <3  I'm really thankful for all the help I've received lately. At this point, we're just playing it day by day and hoping that my body adjusts back to normal.  It's a little scary to know that if I do become pregnant, these symptoms could become dramatically worse.  I'm trying to avoid reading horror stories about OHSS online, but it's hard to avoid when this condition is so serious and I want to feel info...

I'm not letting the roller coaster ride get to me this time.  I believe that things happen for a reason and that God uses everything for good.  Maybe what I go through, and choose to share and talk about, can be helpful to others.  Or at least informative to others who may be getting ready to go through IVF. OHSS, or ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, can be very dangerous.  In my particular situation, and with my background, the chances of me getting it were a very slim 2-3%.  But it happened, so whatever, we do what we need to to get through it. Warning:  These details may gross some out.  Like me.  I'm grossed out. I arrived at Dr. Jarrett's office this morning, with Kellen, at 7:30am.  I looked ridiculous.  Dr. J had me lay on the table, lifted my shirt and said, in his very "Dr. House" way of saying things, "That's impressive."  My belly was so hard and so huge that it didn't take him but a second or two to tell me that w...

I like writing in my blog.  Sometimes I write in it as if it's my own personal journal, sometimes I write to the hundreds that view my posts, and sometimes I write to my family or my infertility friends specifically.  Today, it's personal, and today I'm writing for myself. This weekend was something else...  That pain that started on Friday - that Dr. Jarret was unable to relieve - is still there.  I can feel the fluid pockets in my abdomen pushing against everything, and severely stretching out my abs.  There have been times this weekend where I felt serious suffering.  I've spoken to Dr. Jarret twice, today as he was driving his daughter to camp on the south side of Bloomington and I was crying while telling him my symptoms over the phone.  He knows what is going on and was so sympathetic but reluctant to send me to the emergency room.  He wants to do the paracentesis (a procedure to remove fluid from the abdomen) so I am going in tomorrow mor...

Today was an interesting day.  We received a phone call from the embryologist saying that another embryo had continued to grow, looked great, and we are now able to freeze 2.  (Praise God!)  Freezing embryos is a first for us, so I don't know much about it except that our clinic will keep them on site for one year and after that year they ship them to another state (I think Minnesota) for long term storage.  If this IVF round is not successful, we'll attempt a frozen cycle.  If it is, we'll have some decisions to make later on. This phone call from the embryologist came sometime around 9am.  I was unable to answer because I woke up this morning some time around 6:30am in excruciating pain.  Since the retreival last Saturday, I've been dealing with extremely large ovaries that should be contracting back down to normal size.  It is typical that after the retrieval they fill back up with fluid, which causes more discomfort and bloating (this is why...

Quick recap:  Last Saturday (Egg retrieval day), Dr. Jarrett retrieved 11 mature eggs.  The following day, 7 eggs had fertilized.  We received a call Tuesday with a transfer time of Thursday at 8am. I arrived at Dr. Jarrett's office this morning at 7am.  I was instructed to drink 32oz of water (this allows for a full bladder that helps get a better view of the uterus on the ultrasound scan) and take a valium as soon as I pulled into the parking lot.  It only took about 5 minutes until I felt like I was flying high as a kite.  When the nurse called my name to head back to the triage area, Kellen and I followed and I'm pretty sure I walked into part of the wall.  Nobody noticed.  ;-) After filling out all the necessary paperwork, and having Kellen sign the important stuff -- since you know, I'm high -- the embryologist came in to deliver the news; the much anticipated news that I have been trying to patiently and calmly wait for.  The news ...

The embryologist called me this morning to report that they were able to use ICSI on all 11 eggs and 7 of those eggs have fertilized.  What I like about Dr. Jarrett's office is that they leave the embryos alone to grow and will check them the morning of my transfer, which will be next Thursday.  My old clinic would call almost daily with updates on the embryos, but I think that leaving them alone is best.  This is great news, however, I have a hard time celebrating until we end up with a positive test and a healthy, sustainable pregnancy.  Seven embryos is much better than our 2 we had last January.  I do hope that all of them are healthy and we would possibly have some to freeze, but on the other hand, I think that I'm getting to the ending point of wanting to continue with fertility treatments.  I've been doing this for over 6 years.  If this cycle does not work, and we have frozen embryos, I would consider attempting a frozen cycle.  On the o...

Here are some of the things I think about when going through an IVF cycle after failing the two previous IVF cycles: 1.  What's on the calendar for us after 6/22 and 6/24 (the days of my pregnancy tests)?  Thankfully, we were invited up to Kellen's step moms lake house with her and my father-in-law the weekend right before, so that will be a great little getaway.  We always have a good time hanging out with them.  We're heading up to one of Josh's series in July with Katie and Brian for another fun getaway.  I've also got their wedding, and my friend Lauren's wedding coming up shortly after this cycle - including some crazy fun bachelorette parties to attend!  There are many fun things in my near future, and I get to enjoy these times with some of the greatest people in my life.  No matter what happens this month, I have a lot to look forward to. 2.  What can we do and where can we go as a family of three?  We're looking to move/build...

I can't tell if I gained 10lbs of straight fat overnight last night or if it was because of my trigger shot.  It feels like fat, but I know who's at fault here.  It's a weird feeling when you volunteer yourself to become a science fair project, shoot up a bunch of drugs, and feel them working in your insides.  Having volunteered for this IVF business many times now makes me wonder a little why it was always so hard for me to come up with good science fair ideas in elementary and middle school.  Even my "demonstration" speech was a terrible idea -- I demo'd how to iron a t-shirt in 5th grade.  Like, seriously?  How I ended up with any friends, I have no idea. Anyways, it's past midnight now and I'm officially not allowed to eat or drink anything.  I have to be at the office at 7:30am for an 8:30am retrieval.  Honestly, I kinda can't wait for the anesthesia nap because I haven't slept well at all lately!  I hope Dr. Jarrett gets some good qua...

I can't sleep.  I've had this insomnia going on for nearly the past 2 weeks.  I had a rough day yesterday.  I felt crummy as all these meds are blowing up my ovaries.  Then, I ate pizza and ice cream last night and felt better today.  Hah.  Every once and a while, it's important to throw some pizza and ice cream into your diet.  #truth  The fertility meds just push and push and push you to your max limit and the feeling is like a large knot in your stomach.  Everything else is being pushed out of the way.  I get full much faster when I eat foods because there's just not a lot of room for my stomach to hold much right now.  This process is always brutal, and I haven't even let the "emotional ride" get to me yet. I went in for another appointment this morning and the doctor decided to push me another day on meds and move my egg retrieval back to Saturday.  WELL THEN.  The nurse says to me, after measuring some very large/m...

I feel nauseous.  It could be the meds or it could be the ice cream and brownie thing that Kellen just made for me.  Everything in my general stomach area is cramped for space.  These fertility shots are doing their job, that's for sure.  My appointment yesterday went well.  Follicles are growing and I've got about 10 or so in each ovary.  They started me on the ganirelix shot Monday and I'm to take that along with all my other meds every day, but this specific shot has to be at an exact time each day, so 7:15am it is.  (Fun Fact:  In all the fertility treatments I've been though over the past 6 years, I've never once given myself a shot.  So, all my shots are determined around Kellen's schedule, because he's now a pro.)  The nurse told me that the retrieval tentatively scheduled for Friday could be Friday or Saturday.  I go for another scan in the morning, so I will get more information then as they see how I've progressed. ...