1st Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound today at 2:00. We didn't have to wait too long before they called us back. I was a little nervous...because I really wanted to see a heart beat or two and was afraid we might not see anything. But when she when she stuck that probe up me it wasn't long before we saw the sac. She zoomed in close and there it was...the heart beating. It was the coolest feeling to see a little heart just beating right there on the screen. I was so excited. After a while I asked if there was another one in there or just one and she said just one. I was kinda hoping for two just becasue two embryos were put back and of course I wanted them both to take, but I'm very happy with one baby. She measured everything, the sac, the yoke, the baby...and it all measured perfectly! However...when she measured the heart rate, she wanted it to be at least 100 beats per minute and it measured 85. I was worried after that. I just WISH that once we could go to the doctor and have a 100% perfect visit without leaving worried about something for the next week. The nurse said not to worry and that they would measure it again in a week. My next appointment is scheduled for May 27th. I think I just need a BIG coca cola to make the baby's heart rate go up!!!

Well, I would love to post more pictures of the pups...they are so freaking cute! But I am leaving for Austin right now and don't have time. I will next week.

Kelly

HCG levels are good!!!

Just heard from the nurse like 2 minutes ago and my HCG level is at 500 exactly. The nurse this morning said it needed to be around 300. It went up "beautifuly" those were the nurse's words. I am sooooooooooo excited I don't know what to do! My next appointment will be my 1st ultrasound on May 15th...that seems like forever.

Thanks a million for all your prayers...but keep them coming. I still need to hear a heart beat or beats :)

Kelly

WE HAVE PUPPIES :)

Saturday Holly's temperature finally dropped 98.0. This meant within 24 hours she'd deliver. She started panting Saturday night and wanted to sleep under our bed (she loves it under there and it's usually where she sleeps) but Rob and I thought it would be a good idea to put her in the whelping box just incase she deliverd. We got a baby monitor from a friend of ours to hear her during the night, but she just cried all night and tried to escape her kennel set up in the garage...so finally I got about 6 pillows and made a pallet on the floor and slept next to her. That calmed her down and she slept for a while (tossing and turning all night). Robby came out to the garage about 6 a.m. Sunday morning wondering what in the world I was doing. I told him I was going to get in bed and it was his turn to stay with her. I got in my comfy bed about 7:00 and not 20 minutes later Robby and screaming "KELLY". I jumped up and ran out there. Holly became a mommy with her first pup at 7:20. It was a girl. Robby did a great job helping Holly deliver the pups. The next one came at 9:00 (yes, an hour and 40 minutes later). I thought "Holy Cow...this is going to take all day!) It was a boy. The next 5 came a little faster and ALL BOYS. I was freaking out because we had 1 girl and 6 boys. Thank GOD the next 3 were girls and we thought we were done. It was 1:00 and Holly went to sleep. Poor baby was so tired. And so were we. We sat around just watching them and petting Holly for a few hours then Robby was going to run some errands. I was out in the garage by myself when I swear I noticed another contraction. We knew there would be at least 9 but possibly 11 from the x-ray. And we had 10 so far. I called Robby on the phone and told him to get home ASAP that Holly was having more contractions and bleeding again. He had only made it to the end of our street and turned around. We watched her for about 20 more minutes and out came another pup. A BOY!!! Another boy. So we have 11 total pups. 7 boys and 4 girls. They are just the cutest things you've ever seen. It was an amazing experience. I have posted lots of pictures...some of them are gross so beware.

As for me...I went to the doctor this morning for some more blood work to check my HCG levels. The nurse has not called with results yet, but I will post those tonight if you're interested with more information and possibly have my 1st OBGYN appointment set up if things look good.

Enjoy the pictures:
Kelly


Holly is laying down where I slept all night. She liked that spot better.



Robby rubbing the pup and Holly looking at it.



Here is one being born.



They latch on real fast!!!



Here is one already starting to dry. How cute!



This is where we kept them while the next one was being born.



Here are two pups trying to stay warm.



What a good mommy!



How cute is that???



Mommy's tired...Pups are hungry!

POSITIVE...as of right now!

Ok, the moment everyone's been waiting for! I've kinda been telling a little fib. I found out on Monday that I was pregnant. I just wanted to wait until today to tell everyone so Robby and I could be happy or sad by ourselves before everyone else knew. When the nurse said it was positive...I said "ok, so when do I need to come in again?" I just didn't know how to get excited. Don't get me wrong, I AM and so is Robby...very excited, but because I lost my first pregnancy 4 years ago, it's kinda hard to be overly excited. The nurse explained that this was a VERY EARLY pregnancy test and my HCG level was 56.5. I was 4 weeks pregnant that day. According to the study requirements you have to take another pregnancy test two days later. So Wednesday morning I went in again. It took them forever to call me back with levels that day. Finally at 3:00 (right at dismissal) the nurse called. My HCG level was 75.9 :( I just wanted to cry right then. I knew that technically your level rises about 60% a day...so I did the math and knew that it should be about 144. She did say that the level was a little lower then they expected...but to keep in mind it was STILL VERY EARLY! In fact if I wasn't in the study and was a regular IVF patient I still wouldn't have had my pregnancy test until tomorrow or Monday. Dr. Schnell wants me to have more blood work Monday morning to check the levels again. If they are still too low, we will have to schedule an appointment with Dr. Schnell to discuss what to do (I'm assuming a D&C...just like last time). But I can only HOPE and PRAY for a good high HCG level and try to stay positive. Please pray that this pregnancy is viable and that my levels skyrocket!!!

And by-the-way, Holly is still acting fine. Her temperature has not dropped yet...so who knows when she'll have those pups. Hopefully this weekend!

Kelly

Robby's 30th Surprise Party

Hey guys, well most of you know that I was planning a surprise party for my husband this past weekend. Yes, he left the 20's and jumped over the hill! And I'm right behind him this November. Actually today is his birthday. I'm waiting on him to get home from work so we can go eat at one of our "many to choose from" restaurants here in Alvin!!!

The surprise was a surprise! He really had no idea. So many people showed up - many after we got there...but that's fine. We were glad to have everyone there. My best friend, Ruth, from Dallas came in Friday night and we met them for dinner at Pappasitos. We told Robby that she and her boyfriend were coming down for a wedding. Thanks Ruth and Tim for coming! My mom and dad and niece, Sierra, also came in town for the party. Robby was most surprised that they came. We had lots of coaches from the Alvin staff and the Kempner staff. Tons of family and friends. I want to give a shout-out to Cindy and Bobby for cleaning, decorating, and cooking!!! (That's Rob's parents) I just thought I'd post some pictures of the party.

Here's Robby - The birthday boy!



D'Ann, Debbie, and Me



Thought a "football" cake would be appropriate!



Me and my old hubby.



Me & my friend Hayley (Her IVF transfer is Thursday...so say a prayer for her)



My best friend Ruth & me



This is my mom and dad



Robby's sister, Michelle and my niece Sierra



These are all the boys from TC (Texas City)



Robby and his Mimi


Holly is expecting anyday. You are suppose to count 63 days from the day they mated to see when they are expecting and that would be Friday the 2nd. So very soon she will be delivering some pups! I say "some" but we took her to the vet last Friday for an X-ray and the vet counted 9 skulls but 11 spines. The X-ray was kind of hard to see everything and very hard to match up the skulls with the spines! There were pups EVERYWHERE! So this weekend should be eventfull. I really can't wait. I will post pictures of that experience too. Here is a picture of Holly today. The milk is really coming in.

Holly just about to burst!

And I know many of you are wondering if I'm pregnant yet. Well, I will find out on Friday and YES I will blog that night...so get ready!

Kelly

TRANSFER (April 19, 2008)

Hey Guys, sorry it's taken me so long to blog about the transfer. I told you how far the embryos had divided in my last blog, on day 3. Day four we did not get an update, so on Saturday morning, day 5, we arrived at Docs office at 7 a.m. I had to come with a FULL bladder. So I started sipping water about 6:30 or so. I didn't want to over do it because my friends, Emily and Hayley, told me not to drink too much or you'd have to pee in your pants. So I took their advice. Of course Robby was like "come on...drink that whole bottle and start on another one!" But I took it slow. They called us back about 7:30ish for me to put my gown on and hair net (whatever you call those). Robby had to wear one too. I totally forgot my camera so made Robby take pictures with his camera. Now the problem is, for me to figure out how to transfer a picture from your camera to the computer (this probably won't happen today :( The nurse said there were a few transfers before me so not to drink too much. About an hour later I had to go....so bad. So I went to the bathroom and peed for about 3 seconds and cut it off, man that's hard! Then about 30 minutes later the nurse came in and asked how we were doing and I said that I went to the bathroom but still needed to go. She said that I could count to 10 one-thousand. YIPEE, I ran to the bathroom so fast and counted all the way to 10 one-thousand...it was the best feeling ever. Two hours had gone by, it was know about 9:00 and finally Dr. Schnell came in with our report. I glanced at the paper work and saw:

-blastacyst
-blastacyst
-morula
-12+
-12+
-12+
-12+

Dr. Schnell said that the 2 embryos that were at the blastacyst stage were the two that she'd be putting back in. They had good grades (I think). The others were not there yet. Robby and I were wondering if they'd get there and she said that we'd get a phone call tomorrow to see how many made it to the blastacyst stage so they could freeze them. They won't freezed the embryos unless they are at the blastacyst stage. I thought surely the morula and a couple of the 12+ cell embryos would make it, but didn't want to worry about that. She took us back to the procedure room and Dr. put one of those butterfly needles in (she's good, I didn't feel a thing). Took some blood then injected some Valium. I could feel the Valium traveling up my arm sooo fast, my first reaction was to grab my shoulder. They said "yep, it's working!" Then the nurse asked me if I could feel it in my head, just then the lights above were blurry. The procedure took about 10 or so minutes. Robby got to sit right next to me. He said you could see the "air bubble" go into my uterus, which indicated that the embryos had gone in. After that I had to just lay still on my back for an hour. I slept the first 30 minutes and then woke up. I had to go to the bathroom so bad (again) but held it because I refuse to go in a bed pan, which is what I would have had to do. That was a long 30 minutes! After that, we went home and it was time for bed rest!!! I was so excited. My favorite thing to do is sleep and I was about to get to do it for 3 days.

Well, after about 4 hours of bed rest I couldn't stand it any longer...all I wanted to do was get up and vacuum. I just set there and watched Robby vacuum, clean toilets, sweep, do the dishes, mow, he went grocery shopping, did ALL the laundry, and cooked dinner. It was nice, but I felt so helpless. That was Saturday.

Sunday morning I got the phone call from the embryologist to update us on the rest of our embryos. NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING made it!!! How could this be? We had one Morula, and several 12+ cells, how could NONE of them make it to the blastacyst stage??? I cried for a little while, then Robby made me feel better (he always does...that's why I love him so much). He said that the good Lord will be giving us the two that we have, and we didn't need the rest! Good Lord, I hope he's right. He's always thinking positive. We are not, however, naive...but our only hope is to TRUELY BELIEVE that the embryos put back into me are our miracles!!! By the end of the day...I had a HUGE fever blister on my lip. Hummmm, could that be from stress??? A BIG thanks to my friend Hayley, who brought me home-made yummy mac and cheese and the best ever cake balls! Love you!!!

Since that phone call I've decided that I should take ANOTHER day of bed rest. Yes, as bored as I am, I think it's that right thing to do. That way I can't say "what if I had rested one more day..." So today, Tuesday, is my last day at home. I will be returning to work tomorrow. My goal is to NOT let 22 6 and 7 year olds stress me out the rest of the year...GOOD LUCK with that! I should find out whether we have a positive or negative pregnancy test in a little over a week. And I will let everyone know...either way! We haven't discussed what we will do if it's negative (since we have NO embryos left), but I am hoping my next blog will be titled POSITIVE.

Here is an update on Holly. She is getting so big...I'm a little jealous (of a dog!) That's sad. Robby calls her mama and rubs her feet. I hope he does that to me when I'm big and fat! Her boobs are filling up with milk and she licks them all the time. Hayley says she's trying to toughen them up for the pups...that makes sense. I did take a picture of her this morning, so here it is. Ok, for some reason I can't upload the picture to the blog right now. But I will post it next time.

Kelly

DIVISION (Day 3)

Well, my phone call from Tod came really early (7:30 a.m.) which I was happy about since I missed his call yesterday during class. He said that all 7 continued to divide. Four of the embryos were 8-cell, and 3 of the embryos were 4-cell. I will not receive a phone call tomorrow because they don't call on day 4. But a day 4 embryo will look like the following picture called a Morula.

A morula contains about 10 - 30 cells or so. The morula stage is the final stage prior to formation of a fluid filled cavity called the blastocoel cavity.

Then the day of the transfer (day 5) the embryos are called a blastocyst. Here is a picture of that.

Blastocyst picture of a high quality human blastocyst embryo 5 days after in vitro fertilization
The clump of cells in the 10 to 12 o'clock area in the picture make up the inner cell mass which become the fetus

I still have to be at the Dr. office Saturday morning at 7 a.m. Dr. Schnell will speak with us first before the transfer to go over the "grading" of the embryos. After the transfer I will have to remain laying for 1 to 2 hours before we are dismissed. That's about it for now. I will not blog tomorrow, since I won't have any news. But if I feel up to it I will blog again on Saturday night.

Keep the prayers coming, they are truely working.
Thanks,
Kelly and Robby