hopefulandhungry

I’m a very open book and if you talk to anyone that I’m close to in my real life knows that I am the last person to be able to keep a secret.  Well, I’ve been keeping a secret…..

We are expecting baby #3 in October of this year.

I’m not sure why I didn’t document the whole process on the blog like I did with all of our other attempts at getting pregnant.  I guess I just felt more private about this attempt at getting pregnant and since we went into trying for baby #3 with little to no expectations I felt more relaxed and intimate about it.

Hubby and I had been going back and forth about having another child.  I always envisioned having three children but didn’t know how long the journey would take when we started trying to create our family.  Hubby also wanted three children but I think got more apprehensive about it after I had such an involved delivery that put my health at great risk.  Plus, with having twins, we’ve been pretty busy and the thought of adding another child to the mix was feeling a little overwhelming.

However, the time came when we thought, if we’re going to add one more, we probably should start now because who knows how long it will take, if it will even work and the fact that we aren’t getting any younger.  We had previously talked to my former OB and asked if having another child was even an option given all that I had been through with my pregnancy and delivery, she gave us the green light and said much of what happened was due solely to the fact that I had twins, she didn’t think I would run into the same issues if I had a singleton.

In December of this past year we went to our fertility doctor and told her that we would like to try for baby #3, this would be IVF #6.  We told her that we only wanted to put one of our frozen embryos in this time around.  The clinic was doing some remodeling on their lab so it put us at having a transfer in February of this year.  We did the EXACT same protocol that we did when we got pregnant with Jemma & Zoe.

Here was our timeline:

December 9, 2015-Start birth control pills

December 17, 2015-Hysteroscopy

January 6, 2016-Start Lupron

January 16, 2016-Start Estrace (estrogen), Start Dexamethasone.  Estrogen level on 1/22/2016-122.  Lining on 1/29/2016-11.4 mm.  Estrogen on 1/29/2016-272

January 30, 2016-Stop Lupron, Start Progestone in Oil

February 4, 2016-Embryo Transfer (hatching blastocyst)

I tested at home every day between the transfer and my blood draw.  I got my first faint line on 7dp5dt.

February 13, 2016-HCG Blood draw.  HCG Beta 153.7

February 16, 2016-HCG Blood draw #2.  HCG Beta 520

March 11, 2016-Seven week ultrasound-Heart rate 165, gestational sac measuring 6 weeks 6 days, 1 week behind.  Dr. advised getting another ultrasound in 2 weeks.  I started to read online and of course, put myself into a world of worry for 2 weeks.

March 18, 2016-slight bleeding for a couple of hours

March 25, 2016-First OB appointment at almost 10 weeks.  Heart rate in the 150s, baby measuring at 9 weeks 6 days (spot on!), Dr. didn’t even measure gestational sac, said it wasn’t a value that they would take into account, size of baby was most important.

I took the Estrace tabs until Week 10 and did the Progesterone in Oil injections until Week 12.

April 8, 2016-12 Week Ultrasound/NT scan-everything looked great, Heart rate 154, normal NT value.  Had blood draw for Maternit21 screen.

Symptoms:

Fatigue/tired.  No nausea, no vomiting, no increased sense of smell for first 12 weeks of pregnancy.  In my 13th week I came down with a stomach bug and had diarrhea and one episode of vomiting.  I also had a 101 fever and had to work while feeling yucky.  The nausea has since stuck around, but is not nearly as bad as it was the week of the stomach bug.

I haven’t gained any weight yet.  Lost some like I did with my first pregnancy and lost another pound or so while I was sick.  Currently, I’m at my normal pre-pregnancy weight.

Definitely feeling much different than my first pregnancy, carrying two versus one baby is a lot different!  And like I said, minimal symptoms.

I will be planning for a VBAC delivery, but overall, I want to do whatever is the safest.  I would like to do a VBAC because I think the recovery will be easier especially with having two toddlers, but I wouldn’t be opposed to another C-section if my OB advises it.  We will probably have a better idea of what to expect as my due date approaches.  Due date is October 22, 2016.  Hard to believe that the new baby will be arriving before the end of the year!!!

We’ve shared the news with our family and friends.  Jemma and Zoe aren’t quite understanding the news we are sharing.  They will point to my stomach when we ask where the baby is in Mommy’s tummy, but I think they will be surprised when baby comes.

AND Baby #3 is a………………………….BOY!!!!!  I was 99.9% sure it was another girl, so I was shocked when we got our genetic screen results back.

So, that is my big secret…..more posts to come!

xoxo