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

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!

Embryo Transfer day 5

I have now reached the end of my calendar schedule! Looking back it went by fast but when I was going through it I thought this day would never come! I can't believe right now I have two cute little embryos inside of me. My egg transfer wasn't until 1:30 pm and I thought it would be in the morning. I thought the day would drag on forever but it actually turned out to go fairly quick. I was in a lot of pain from all the bloating and my chest hurt really bad(side effects from having so many eggs at retrieval(53)). I got up and showered and packed our bags for the long trip home. I had my daily whey protein shake and then Gavin's sisters made me rice bags with Lavendar and Lemon Oil in them :D Those helped a TON with my shoulder and chest pain. We went to Target and I got a ton more gatorade(the only thing the doc wants me to drink), whey protein, Fluffy socks!(thanks Becca and Haley), and a gift for my sweet sister who will be taking care of me all week. We were completely prepared for egg transfer. The car was cleaned and organized, I had a blanket and nice pillow ready and a relaxing playlist made on my ipod for after transfer. We went to Zuppas for lunch and it was my first time there. It was DELICOUS!! Im officially addicted now. We headed to the fertility center after lunch and arrived in plenty of time. We checked in and waited for a little bit. A nurse brought out some Valium for me to take. Even with the valium I was starting to get pretty nervous. I hadn't been nervous really up to this point for transfer but then I started thinking it through in my mind. I was a little worried it would hurt and I just didn't know what it was going to be like. I had so many questions for the doc about all the pain I have been in and wondered if they wouldn't do the transfer because of how I had been feeling.

A nurse called my name and I realized it was really here. We went into the procedure room and I sat in the chair on the side, the nurse smiled and said you're gonna be over here. I nervously laughed and eyed the stirrups. She left and I got ready. It seemed to be happening faster than I thought it would. I expected to talk about everything before I got dressed down. Dr. came in and showed us our first pictures of our babies :D I was excited to see those. We had 5 embryos that were ready to be transferred. A bunch that they would watch for a few days and freeze any that progressed. He then told us to choose how many we wanted to transfer. AH! I wasn't ready to make such a big decision. I thought it was already established how many were going to be transferred. We always assumed we would transfer two so it didn't take long for Gavin and I to decide. He said thats what he would do too. It maximizes our chances of getting pregnant and if we did have twins that they do really well. We definitely didn't want to transfer 3 because triplets dont do as well and we want a healthy baby. We could still have triplets if both embryos implant and one splits but its not way likely. 

It was kind of like getting a pap smear. It wasn't very comfortable but it wasn't painful either. They moved my head down a lot and so I was kind of upside down. There was a nurse that had an ultrasound on my belly to see the uterus. Gavin was sitting right next to me and we were both able to watch the ultrasound. The embryologist brought in two of our embryos and then Dr. placed them into my uterus. You could see the air bubbles around them in the uterus. They carefully scooted me to the top of the bed and leveled out the bed. I was to lay there for 20 minutes. Just Gavin and I in the room. I couldn't help myself and finally realized it was really happening. I have two little babies in my uterus. I had tears streaming down my face and I was so happy and excited. The nurse came in to give me some instructions and asked if I was okay and Gavin said yes they are happy tears. She held my hand and sat in a chair close to my face. She told me it was a great feeling to finally be to the point to where I was after the long road we have been on. She was so sweet and nice and wonderful. She went through the list of things that I need to do for the next couple of weeks. I have been so excited since the end of that procedure. Im so so so so excited. I thought I wouldn't be excited until after my pregnancy test in two weeks but Im actually very excited now! I have two fertilized embryos inside of me! Im so happy!!! Now Im just supposed to relax and take it easy. I am to be on bed rest for two days after egg transfer and then lift no more than ten pounds for a couple weeks. Also no exercise or doing anything that would make my uterus contract. I have read a lot of things on the internet and surprised when I found  alot of people say that there is no need for bed rest after embryo transfer. I say, why chance it. Do what your doctor tells you to do. My doctor has a higher statistic than the national average so Im just going to do exactly as he says. Its hard to be down and doing nothing for so long but really when I remember why im doing it then it becomes easy!!! Just relaxing and enjoying this time to think positive thoughts! :D 

I will know in 13 days if im pregnant or not :D yay!!! 

Love love! 

Gina