9 Weeks

Yay! I'm 9 weeks! That means more than halfway through the first trimester, and I'm slowly but surely feeling more at ease.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 9 Weeks

Size of Baby: Baby Thumper is the size of a grape!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5 lbs total! Whew!

Maternity Clothes: Still in regular clothes, but it's getting harder and harder to find something that fits and looks good. I wear a lot of t-shirts and running shorts these days.

Gender: Still don't know, but Kirby has had 4 dreams where we have a baby and in every single one it has been a girl!

Movement: Still nothing

Sleep: I've been sleeping very hard lately. I get up about every 3 hours to use the bathroom and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out!

What I Miss: Drinking AdvoCare Spark! I was EXHAUSTED yesterday and kept thinking, "If I could just drink a Spark I'd be good to go!"

Cravings: My first official weird craving, I wanted homemade fried chicken with a side of chocolate cake frosting to dip it in!

Symptoms: Still tired all the time. I really only get nauseous when I get too hungry.

Favorite Moment of the Week: We saw baby Thumper! He/she definitely had a baby shape this time! We saw arms and legs, and even saw he/she trying to keck it's legs! The heart rate was 181, and my doctor asked me if I had a Coke that morning. I told her no, and she said, "Well get ready, cause you've got an active one!" I think baby is going to take after Kirby!

8 Weeks

I'm 8 weeks today! I know most people don't talk about it this early, but because everyone knew we did IVF it came out very early!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 8 Weeks

Size of Baby: Thumper, as some friends from church have named it, is the size of a raspberry! yum!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 3 lbs already! I'm so bloated I feel like for those that don't know I'm pregnant, I just look fat!

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing my normal clothes right now, but I have a feeling I'm going to live in leggings very soon! My mom just asked me last week when I'm gonna start dressing pregnant!

Gender: We've got a ways to go until we know, but I can't wait to find out! (I feel like it's a girl, everyone else is saying boy!)

Movement: Nothing yet

Sleep: I sleep pretty well through the night, and take naps during the day!

What I Miss: Sonic Vanilla Cokes!

Cravings:Last night I had the biggest craving for Thin Mints! I swear I could even smell them!

Symptoms: Until last week I was nauseous all day long. I'm starting to feel a lot better now. I'm so tired all the time though!

What I'm Loooking Forward To: We get to see Thumper again on Thursday!

I still don't quite feel like I'm pregnant yet. It's still so surreal! I'm just so thankful!

It's Official!

We made it public! Baby Smith is due March 3, 2014!

First Ultrasound

We went to our first ultrasound on Thursday. Our baby is healthy and it's heart is flickering!

The heart rate was 120 bpm. It measured right at 6 weeks and 3 days. (I'm 6 weeks and 4 days, so this was perfect!) The nurse gave us a due date of March 3, 2014. We go in for our final ultrasound at NEWLife on July 22. Then I'll transfer to my regular OB and I'll be just a regular pregnant girl! Yay!

Beta Number 2

On Friday we went in for our 2nd beta. Our number was 1,198!! That's a 124% rise! We were officially pregnant this time! Our first ultrasound was then scheduled for July 11.

Beta

Wednesday morning we went in for our beta. We were already so excited, but still wanted the reassurance. Our beta was 535! They typically like for it to be between 60-100, so we were very pregnant!! We still had to go in on Friday for our second beta. Our nurse told us they want our number to raise by 66%.

Impatient

Our beta was scheduled for Wednesday. Kirby and I agreed we weren't going to test early this time. Until we were sitting on the couch Tuesday afternoon with nothing to do. Kirby asked me if I tested and I said no. He asked me if I wanted to. I told him it was up to him. He said yes. It was 12:30 in the afternoon when I tested and I thought for sure it would be negative. I pulled out a test and this is what I saw...

I couldn't believe it!

2nd Time's a Charm?

So after an almost 7 month break, Kirby and I decided to try IVF for the second time. Our first appointment was May 30. My doctors decided that since last time I didn't produce very many eggs, we would double my stims this time. At my first ultrasound, after starting my meds, they measured 8 follicles; 4 on the left and 4 on the right. That night I began my stims. At my next ultrasound, they only measured 4 follicles. But luckily, they were growing! They went from 6mm to 15-17mm! They decided to schedule the egg retrieval for earlier than anticipated. At our last ultrasound they measured 5 follicles. The largest measured 22mm! We were scheduled to do our Hcg injection that night, to trigger ovulation, 35 hours before our retrieval. We had to do it at 1am! Kirby gave it to me and I just about passed out! I had to lay down after for a few minutes.
Sunday morning was my egg retrieval! They retrieved 4 eggs this time. (Last time was 5) We got the call the next day from our nurse. She said that of the 4 eggs, 2 were mature and they both fertilized! Our transfer was then scheduled for Friday. Then we had an unexpected bump in the road. On Wednesday my IVF nurse called and said my 2 embryos were both 6 celled, exactly where they should be, but they were fragmented. She said by Friday morning, if they were still fragmented, they wouldn't be viable and our transfer would be cancelled. That night at church we gathered all of our closest friends into a classroom and just prayed.
Friday my nurse called with the update. We had one blastocyst!!! Our transfer was still on! Friday afternoon they transferred one beautiful blast. Then I just had to go home and relax and wait.