10dp5dt Beta HCG result! BFP!!!

I am so grateful! Today I found out my 10dp5dt beta results! We transferred two little snowflakes on Jan 15. Yesterday, Jan 25 I had my blood test. My HCG levels are 772!!!! Yay!!! I’m so happy with this number! A few months ago we transferred one embryo and my 10dp5dt blood test HcG level was 40. Three days later it was only 24. I had a chemical pregnancy. It was heartbreaking. So to hear 772 makes me feel so much better! I know it’s more about how the number grows but I know I’m off to a great start!!! They won’t do another blood test for a week. I’ll update then 😁👌🏻

Symptoms thus far:
-extremely bloated
-Gas.... lovely Gas
-mood swings.... my poor husband.
-sore boobs!
-nausea (which is weird to have so early and I didn’t have this symptom with my twin pregnancy)
-numbness in my arms and fingers

I’m so grateful for this pregnancy and thought this transfer I’ve been more aware of giving thanks and having an attitude of gratitude

Frozen Embryo Transfer Day!

Today was a special day! Transferred two little embabies that have been frozen for almost exactly four years. 

If you look closely you will notice the little snowflake embryo on the left is hatching. It is trying to find something to grab on to. Praying it grabs on to its momma! The embryos are thawed about three hours before transfer time and they watch them to make sure they are viable. These two snowflakes are day 5 AB grade embryos. They are from the same batch my twin 3 year old boys are from. 

     Unfortunately my husband had to go back home to St. George while I went up to Pleasant Grove for the transfer because he has a kidney stone! Poor guy! We used to always joke about the fact my husband doesn't even need to be there when I get pregnant. Today it became our reality. When these things happen you just have to embrace them and realize they are all part of your story and journey. Knowing my husband and I we will make many many jokes about this in the future. I definitely cried when we made this decision sitting in the Emergency Room in Fillmore but in reality he wouldn't be able to drive because of the pain meds and I cant drive because of the Valium. Luckily I have an amazing support system. So much of my family stepped up to the plate to take care of kids, take care of my hubby, and to take me to my appointment. It was special my sister was able to be there and we face timed Gavin. 

Dr. Foulk is incredible. He helped me to have my twin little boys and he is so great at making these moments special. I am so grateful I found him and his clinic. UFC (Utah Fertility Clinic) in Pleasant Grove is where we go and I highly recommend it to others going down the road of infertility. utahfertility.com

       Transfers are very special because you literally receive a little growing embryo. Or TWO in our case. We transferred one a couple months back, got pregnant and then quickly miscarried. That is how we decided to transfer two this time. Increase our odds and our doctor recommended it. We now have 8 remaining frozen embryos. I was so fortunate to have 53 embryos retrieved during my Fresh cycle 4 years ago. By day five we had 13 good embryos that had turned into blastocysts and we transferred two. Now twin boys that are 3. 

THINGS TO KNOW FOR TRANSFER DAY 

* Wear warm socks, you want to keep your body warm so you have good blood flow to your uterus and the room can be a little chilly

* Wear comfortable clothes so you can easily get dressed afterwards and relax 

* Dont forget you need a semi full bladder. I almost peed right before but luckily a nurse reminded me as I was heading for the restroom 

* At my office they have you bring your valium with you and take it 30 minutes before your transfer 

* Have some healthy snacks ready for after. I made sure to have some fresh pineapple cut up (helps for implantation). I had some to go olives for good fats. I had a 5 hour car ride home afterwards so I had some easy snacks for the car. I also had a bag of walnuts for their good fats. 

* Dont drink ice water or eat anything cold. It takes more blood supply to digest cold foods. Drink room temperature water. 

* Dont wear strong perfumes or lotions, the embryos are sensitive. 

                                                     My fuzzy socks and comfy sweats 

Remember to have positive thoughts. I kept a simple affirmation in my mind that my body was ready for these little embryos and I am ready to protect them so they can stick and grow. 

THINGS TO KNOW FOR AFTER A TRANSFER

*my doctor has you take 3 "Princess days", basically rest and just get up to use the restroom and get snacks" 

* After the three days you can resume normal daily routine with a few exceptions

-No lifting more than 20 pounds

-No exercise that makes you break a sweat or contract abdominal muscles

-Take it easy until Pregnancy test and once pregnant continue to be careful with lifting and exercise

In my case my doc wants me to take it a little easier since I miscarried last time. For me returning to my normal daily routine wont happen until after pregnancy because I am an avid outdoors girl who loves to Hike, play volleyball, and workout. It will be a big change for me to take it easy. I am going to try to maintain a healthy weight with eating clean and mild exercise like walking and some yoga. 

Now here is to surviving my two week wait. One of the longest two weeks ever! I am going to try to stay busy with homework, visits from friends and family, and some good movies and shows. 

STICKY THOUGHTS!!!! 

Biochemical Pregnancy after FET

I received a tragic phone call last night.

     My IVF coordinator called. I thought it would be to tell me my bloodwork looked good but when she said "Do you have a minute to discuss your results" I knew something was wrong. The rest was really a blur. She told me my HCG levels had dropped to 24. This meant I didn't have a viable pregnancy anymore. WHAT. I was in shock. I walked into the kitchen and poked gavin in the side while I had my bottom lip out and tears in my eyes. I put the phone on speaker. She told us it was a biochemical pregnancy. I had no idea what that meant but a few hours later I learned a few things from google. A chemical pregnancy means you lose the baby before you ever see it on an ultrasound. Once you have seen the baby on ultrasound it is then considered a "clinical" pregnancy. A chemical pregnancy does in fact mean you were pregnant.
     She told me a few other things but I don't remember all of it. She made sure I understood to stop taking my shots. Last time I had done a fresh cycle so this was my first time doing a frozen transfer. In my opinion the shots for the frozen transfer are worse but that could be because its been a few years. The shots are painful as crap. This is the first time I was depressed I wouldn't be able to wake up the next morning and give myself a shot. She told me I would continue to have bloodwork done until my HCG was 0. They would  make sure I don't have an ectopic pregnancy. This phone call happened on a Monday night. She told me I would have bloodwork done Friday and then we would schedule a follow up appointment with my Dr.
     She said she was sorry several times, I think I was frozen and not responding to anything she was saying. I finally found some words and basically just tried to make sure I understood, "so stop taking my shots and the next step is to have bloodwork done Friday?" She confirmed and then said sorry again and we ended the phone call. I walked a few steps into my living room and basically just collapsed. I started sobbing uncontrollably. It was painful. Gavin scooped me up into his arms and held me. My boys came over and held my hand and asked over and over "Mommy ok?".
    I took the next few days off work and thought I would miscarry soon. I actually didn't miscarry until one week after the phone call. I happened to be at work. I passed a blood clot the size of my palm. Within the next hour I became extremely tired. My friend pointed out I was probably anemic from the loss of blood. I went home from work and just relaxed and sat with my feelings. i had my follow up appointment with my doctor and we set a plan to do a transfer in December. It ended up that I had a very large cyst on my ovary and my hormone levels were way off. They were too high which meant I would need another period before doing another transfer. We set up a new calendar to do a transfer in January. They put me on another round of birth control and we basically just started over.
    This experience has helped me a ton to feel for others who miscarry and it has made me appreciate when things go right. Looking forward to my next transfer with a little anxiousness.

Birth story fail, after the twins were born I was too busy to write it. This is what I got

For the last month there have been multiple times I have tried to find the time to write my birth story. However something always comes up, usually a hungry baby. I am constantly feeding these sweet little boys. When they weren't eating I was trying to get in a nap. I wish I would've written this down sooner because Im sure I have already forgotten some things but I want to remember as much as possible so Im going to do my best to recount their birth.

Twins on average come at 36 weeks. My doctor said he wouldn't stop my labor once I reached 34 weeks so that was our first goal. Once I hit 34 weeks the excitement of meeting my boys became intense. Every day me and Gavin would wonder how soon we would meet them. My mom came in from North Dakota just before I was 34 weeks so she wouldn't miss their birth. A couple nights after she got here I was having contractions every four minutes and we stayed up timing them. We almost went in to Labor and Delivery but I decided to get some sleep and if I was really in labor I figured I would know. Nothing came of them but from then on I had Braxton Hicks all the time. They weren't very painful but got me excited and thinking I would have the babies any day. That last stretch was the longest! I really wanted to have them on my dad and Grandma Giles birthday, Sept 29th but I honestly did not think I would make it that far. My doctors thought I would go into labor on my own sometime before then as well. It became exhausting thinking everyday "today is the day." I loved being pregnant though and if it wasn't for the excitement of meeting my boys I wouldn't have minded too much. I had an appointment on the 29th and thought for sure they would induce me that day. I was so excited for my appointment. The doctor checked me and I was dialated to a 3 and 75% effaced. Which the week before I was a 2.5 and 75% effaced. The doctor said so anytime after Wednesday, when do you want to be induced? (this was a monday). Gavin knew how badly I wanted to be done and meet these guys. He asked if there was any way we could do it that day and he said no. So I chose Wednesday. After he stepped out I totally cried! haha I really wanted to just finally meet these boys. I still had hope that I would go into labor on my own. Silly me. Leading up to this point I tried to get the labor going on my own. I walked and walked and walked. Every night with my mom, Cienna, and Gavin. I bounced on a ball. We did pressure points and oils. Nothing worked. So the doctor told me they would call me sometime after 5pm on Wednesday. So Tuesday I just hung out with my mom and Grandma and didn't get anything ready because I knew I would need something to keep me busy Wednesday. I didn't get the hospital bag ready(it had been packed since 34 weeks but I had pulled stuff out of it and still needed to add last minute items). I actually got some sleep Tuesday night which was nice. Then the way I woke up was awesome. 

Gavin had just gotten out of the shower and comes over and shakes me, "Gina guess what?" I could tell by his voice that this was it, but I was confused since it was 9 am. It seemed like it took forever for him to spit it out. I started hitting his shoulder saying, "What?! What?!" I was still trying to wake up and make sense of everything. Then he said, "I missed a call from the hospital, they are ready for us!!!" He was sooooo excited. Me, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh oh my gosh!!" I jumped out of bed so fast. I was immediately wide awake and EXCITED!!! I was like frantically running around not really knowing what to do. I called the hospital back and asked for an hour so I could shower and get ready. We were to be there at 10. I ran in to our guest bedroom and told my mom it was time! She was just waking up too so it took a second for it to kick in. She was up so fast too! We got ready fast and loaded everything into the car. 

Gender Reveal

First off, my guesses for the babies: I guessed we would have one boy and one girl. When people would ask me what I thought they were I said, either two girls or one of each, it wont be two boys. Gavin has four sisters and mostly neices. We both did not think it would be two boys. As our gender ultrasound got closer however I started feeling boy. Whenever we would discuss baby names mostly boy names were brought up. So our final guess for the genders I would say were one boy and one girl. So without further adieu.....

TWO BABY BOYS!!!! I was extremely shocked! The one thing I said they wouldn't be. When we did the ultrasound and the first baby popped up on the screen I could tell right away it was a Boy! I said, its a boy! before the tech even did. She said yup! and then we moved to baby #2. That one was not as obvious to me and she said boy and I was like, are you sure? haha but she was sure. Me n Gavin were holding hands and were very excited about our two little boys just in shock. We said, well Dad will be excited, the Romberger name goes on! We waited to see the doc in a room and both talked about how we felt. Gavin was worried I was sad because I wasn't getting my little girl. I think I was just shocked but I am very very very excited for my two little boys! Especially now! I have people tell me all the time how fun boys are and what a special relationship boys have with their moms. I am beyond excited and hope that these two will be best buds. I am so blessed to be able to have these little boys! We are going all blue! Can't wait to meet you two little guys! Mom and Dad already love you so much!!! 

Finding out we were expecting twins

This is really Happening!!! I've had two ultrasounds and I love seeing my babies! I haven't blogged for awhile and really need to update. I want to post first off about our first ultrasound where the pregnancy was confirmed and we found out we were expecting twins!

I had been having really bad cramping and so I was a little afraid of an ectopic pregnancy. I had my blood drawn a few times but It still wasn't REAL that I was pregnant. So needless to say I was so excited for my ultrasound. Feb 27. Leading up to this point I really felt like I would be having twins. I could never just say baby. I always had to say babies. Gavin however was trying to prepare me for anything and didn't want me to be sad if it was only one. He also really did not think we would have twins. We showed up to our appointment and checked in. They got us back in five minutes. Dr. Chalmers said hello and was excited for us to find out. Gavin took a seat in a chair and I was totally expecting a vaginal ultrasound since I was only 6 weeks 6 days. The Ultrasound tech said we would try doing a belly ultrasound first and if we didn't see anything then we would try a vaginal. I was pleasantly surprised but also somewhat thought we would still have to do a vaginal ultrasound. She goobed up my belly and put the ultrasound wand on my belly and IMMEDIATELY my TWO little babies popped up on the screen. She didn't even have to look. There they were. Tears came to my eyes and I was overcome with joy. I don't even remember anything else the tech said because I was just so relieved and happy and excited. Dr. Chalmers stepped in and raised his arms and shouted a hooray. He left and the tech finished with measurements.  I looked over to Gavin and he was gripping the chair with his hands and staring at the screen saying nothing. He looked so shocked. I asked him if he was excited and he said yes just really shocked. The tech stepped out and said to come meet with Dr. Chalmers. I got up and wiped off my belly. I walked over to Gavin, who was still gripping the chair. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I feel like my heart is going to come out of my chest." haha I looked at him and said you are in shock. haha I helped him up and we met with Dr. chalmers. I cried again and then we left.

We were so excited that we just couldn't do anything. Gavin didn't want to go back to work because we were so excited. We wanted to tell everyone in a fun way but decided we just wanted to tell everyone! We began making the phone calls to my mom and dad and siblings. We went over to Gavin's moms work and showed her the picture and she started crying and gave us hugs. Then we went over to Gavins dads work and showed him. He gave me a hug first and asked me if I was okay ha and then Gavin was like give me a hug dad. We were really enjoying telling everyone the news. We went upstairs to my work and showed all my friends and coworkers my pics and that we were having two! Then Gavin decided he should go back to work so then we walked around his work telling everyone he knew! It was awesome.

Im SOOO excited for my TWINS! Gavin is also VERY excited now that he is over the shock factor :D

I wouldn't want my life any other way. Without IVF we probably wouldnt be having twins. I know that everything is happening the way it is supposed to and so grateful for these two miracles in my life!

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