Its still unreal that Im pregnant

Its been awhile since I've posted, I had my third pregnancy blood draw a few days ago and my levels were 6530 or something close to that. They are in the normal range :D It feels good to be past the two week wait and although its still unreal we are pregnant Im letting myself get a little more excited every day and I think about so many things that have to do with pregnancy and imagining holding my little one soon!

We have had so much fun telling our family and friends that we are expecting. We told early because most of my co-workers know due to the nature of my job. Most people we told over the phone because they live far away. When I told my 3 yr old little sister she was going to be an "ant" she ran and cried because she didn't want to be a bug!!!! Sooo cute and funny! She has named him GC if he is a boy and if its a girl she says Cienna which is her name hahaha. My mom is super excited to be a grandma and has already sent baby Romberger a gift in the mail. My dad is glowing and cant wait to take his grandchild for a weekend camping trip, that will be great for me too! ;) He says once they are out of diapers he will be more excited but I assured him he will never have to change a diaper. Telling my grandma was my favorite! She cried and squealed like a little girl on Christmas Eve. It was so cute and precious. Definitely a moment I will never forget. Even Grandpa was excited and talked about a new video camera. All of our family and friends are so excited for us and we couldn't be happier!! We still have a few people to tell. My grandparents in OK, my Gpa Giles, and Gavin's g-parents. Its so fun telling everyone!!!! Excited to keep telling more people.

So far Im craving TOMATOES!! with salt. Hot Veggies! and Fried foods, which I try to stay away from. I do crave healthy things like spinach and avocados too! I want to eat like all the time! Which doesn't help my bloated belly much. But even with all the discomforts im loving every minute of being pregnant!!!

I feel so blessed because I know it doesn't always happen on the first IVF try. I always felt really good about everything though and haven't felt too worried. I've just had comfort and know that everything will work out. That doesn't mean that I don't stress about every symptom or the lack thereof and I make sure im not doing anything im not supposed to and doing the things Im supposed to be doing. Today I felt like a got hit by a train. I was sooooo exhausted! I woke up feeling so tired and went back to sleep and all day just couldn't "wake-up". Hopefully this means my body is working hard making a baby.

Baby dust and prayers to all of you waiting for you BFP.

Love,
Gina

Beta HCG at 4 weeks 5 days pregnant post IVF

Today was an emotional roller coaster. I woke up happy but still had my cramps. Around noon I went to the restroom and to my horror there was blood!!! I thought if I was going to have implantation bleeding it would have happened 5 days ago. I text my dear husband and he immediately called me. I couldn't help it and I started crying. He offered to come home to be with me but I told him I would call the doctor to make sure everything was okay. I called a couple times and got their answering machine so I just left voicemails. Thats when I somewhat lost it. I went into my bedroom and prayed and cried. The thought of losing this baby was so scary. I want this baby so much and I want to be a mom. Gavin told me that whatever happens he loves me and everything will be okay. We can do it again. I also talked to my mom and dad and sister and a couple friends. Between all of them I was able to accept whatever would happen and realized that stressing would do more harm than good and it was out of my control anyways. I told a couple of my besties about what was going on and they told me to go see a doc. Its kinda hard when my doc is in Pleasant Grove and Im in St. George. Sooo I decided to go see the doc I will go to at nine weeks when Dr. Foulk turns me over to an OB. I called the office and told them Im a new patient and they fit me right in. Made me an appointment for 2:50. They did a beta HCG test and said they would call with the results. The nurse remembered me from when my mom went to them over 3 years ago with my baby sister!! Dr. Chalmers said I was like VIP there. It was great to feel so comfortable and welcome already!! Im excited for the future! So I just got a phone call from my IVF coordinator with the results.

My HCG levels were 343 last Thursday and today they are 1961!!! That is a good sign!!! :D Im glad I went to the doc and now I feel a lot better. Im still cramping and having sharp pains. My coordinator told me the sharp pains are my ovaries. My uterus is stretching and confused. It wants to shed the lining but the HCG levels are telling it not to so for the first few weeks of pregnancy its common to have cramps. I just can't wait to hear a heartbeat!!! I am trying to not tell too many people yet. I would really like to hear a heartbeat first. At the same time I want to shout it from the roof tops!!!

Baby dust to everyone TTC! I hope you get your BFP soon too!! I don't think reality has really set in that Im pregnant yet. Its funny the second you find out your pregnant you worry even more than before. Im sure hearing the heartbeat will help but im also thinking I will always be waiting for the next step. So my goal currently is to just ENJOY being pregnant and EVERY step. (Even the scary ones)

Looking forward to Feb 26. Thats the day we hear the heartbeat!!! :D

AHHHH!!! Its UNREAL! BFP! 10dp5dt Beta HCG test

Hey everybody!! (If you just want to see my beta HCG number scroll down to the bold red text in the next paragraph.) Today couldn't have come soon enough. I felt really good about my beta HCG test because I caved and have taken a pregnancy test everyday for the last three days :D but I knew I would feel better after getting the blood test. 3 days ago I took a strip pregnancy test where if the second line shows up you're pregnant. Well it looked like maybe a SUPER SUPER faint line might have shown up but I wasn't POSITIVE. So after taking two and dipping one in water I cried and cried because I decided there were lines there! I was very very happy and said a prayer of grattitude to my Heavenly Father for this miracle. I still wanted more definitive answer so I went to wal mart and bought the clear blue digital pregnancy tests. So it was less stressful, it says either "pregnant" or "not pregnant". I took the test when I got home and was trying to tell myself its no big deal if its negative because its still early and I could still be pregnant even if It said negative. I knew deep down however I would be a little devestated and worried if it came back negative. I honestly should have been waiting for the blood pregnancy test but I was just dying during the two week wait. And then.... PREGNANT?! I calculated the days and read on the internet to see how long HCG stays in the system after a trigger shot. Some places it said it stays in the system max of 10 days and I was 13 days past trigger shot and other places I read two weeks so I figured I could still be showing a false positive pregnancy test. Either way I WAS ECSTATIC!! In fact. As I was walking out of the bathroom holding the pregnancy test in my hands I almost passed out I was so shocked and excited. I fell and caught myself on the wall and decided to lay down for a minute. Now I understand the phrase "I have good news, are you sitting down?" haha I suggest stay sitting for a little while after you read your pregnancy test. I decided I shouldn't keep the good news from Gavin a day longer so I printed off some pictures of Gavin with brand new baby Cienna and put them up on the magnet board. I put a onsie on the table that said I <3 daddy and the positive prego test by it and a note that said he was going to be such a good daddy. When he got home from work I videoed him walking in. He was shocked but a little confused because he didn't realize we could take a pregnancy test early. I don't think he believed me that it was pretty legit. So every day after I took a test and it was always POSITIVE :D :D I loved taking these tests! A little addicted to getting a positive pregnancy test. :D

Soooo today was the big day!! I went in at 11 and got my blood drawn. I didn't want to wait for the office to call me and my friend told me I could get my results right from the lab in an hour. So of course I did!! My beta HCG was 343!!!! I WAS SO EXCITED!!! Kept asking myself, this means im pregnant right? Am I really pregnant?? I called Gavin and he didn't answer at first. When he called me back and I told him he sounded so excited!!!! he said, "THATS AWESOME!! The nurse said that anything above 25 is pregnant but they like it to be above 100 so my numbers were beautiful. I take another blood test in a week and then my first ultrasound is at seven weeks on Feb 26. I can't wait to hear the heartbeat!! I will feel so much better once I get to hear the heartbeat!

My symptoms right now:
Insane cramping!- I woke up last night at 2 am with an insane cramp. I couldn't sleep for a couple hours. It hurt so bad :( but Gavin took good care of me. Today I've been cramping on and off all day too. It feels like a charlie horse in my abdomen.
Need a bigger bra - TMI but its one of those first pregnancy symptoms and they're super sore
Naps- I can feel my body wants to focus on helping my baby grow which is awesome! Hope I can keep up with my 12-14 hour shifts at work.
BLOATED- I look 3 months prego already. This is partly because I got a little overstimulated before egg retrieval and I think some of my symptoms are coming back but I also think its a early pregnancy symptom.
Im glowing- This may or may not be because I know there is a baby being made inside me now!

The Two Week Wait after Egg Transfer

The two week wait!!! Im into day two of my two week wait. This whole time I've been going through the steps and been focused on each thing to follow. Turns out that my next step is a pregnancy test. AHH!! The scariest part of all and its so far away!

I am now DONE with my two week wait. Never finished my last post, sorry! I was on bed rest for the first few days and then on a ten pound weight restraint for two weeks. My sister stayed with me for the first week so I felt like I was pretty much on bed rest for the first week. Due to my job duties I had a lot of time off because my job requires me to lift more than ten pounds. It has been nice because I know now that I will have no regrets if I get a negative pregnancy test. I will know I did everything in my power to make it work. The second week was the hardest because my sister was gone and I got bored easily especially after being cooped up for so long already. I was relaxing a lot before my egg transfer because I got overstimulated and the five days after egg retrieval I slept in the recliner and didn't do much except moan and groan. I caved and started taking pregnancy tests 3 days earlier than my scheduled beta test. Mostly for my insanity. I am not going to disclose at this point whether or not those tests were positive or negative and what my blood pregnancy test was but stay tuned. Coming soon.

I have been eating super healthy since egg transfer because I know the vital organs are developed in early pregnancy and how important it is to eat right. With IVF I have a special opportunity to know exactly when my baby is conceived so I get to eat healthy and "ACT" pregnant early on. In fact. I had a lot of fun saying im one week pregnant when I was one week before egg retrieval. And day of egg retrieval saying im two weeks! HAHA it was fun. At work someone asked why I was wearing the pregnancy lead and if I was pregnant and I said I will be in two weeks!!! Awesome reaction. Some things with IVF are actually pretty FUN!! I also knew early on that that months eggs would be my babies so I was super careful at work and wore the pregnancy lead long before egg transfer.

Things I've been eating:
AVACODOS(supposedly increases chances of IVF success so why not?! they're delicious)
Mangos (Good source of fiber)
Spinach (Great source of Folic Acid)
Chicken (Healthy source of protein)
Yogurt (Greek yogurt has twice the protein of regular yogurt)
Cottage Cheese(Good source of protein in early pregnancy)
Citrus fruits (mostly clementines)
Baby carrots (Good to eat if you are naesous and trying to cook, also try putting a piece of apple in your mouth while trying to cook and smells are getting to you)
Cucumbers
Tomatoes(open face sandwiches on whole wheat with a little salt)
Peppers
TRYING to avoid chocolate(caffeine is NOT good during pregnancy especially EARLY pregnancy)


Im SO Glad the two week wait is OVER!!! Good luck to you if you are in your two week wait. Try to enjoy this time to relax because now that im returning to work I realize it wasn't so bad being cooped up for a few weeks. Though I am happy to return to work so I guess just tell yourself it will be over before you know. Enjoy the moment!