Flood aftermath

What a crazy night we had Wednesday night. Tom had to go into work early so he left around 6:00 and it just started to rain then. I cleaned up from supper and made a veggie pizza for food day on Thursday then off to Chris and Kristi's I went. I told all the boys they were going to have a new baby cousin. They were all excited. It rained the whole time I was there and finally it let up a little so I headed home. It was about 8:00. I pulled into the driveway and my garage door wouldn't open, oh great I didn't think I had a key to get in the house but I did, thank God, so I ran up the stairs with my umbrella, it was pouring! It was just like the night of Lady A, crazy! So needless to say the power was out. I went down and manually opened the garage door so I could get my car in. So since it was getting dark, there wasn't much I could do so I went to bed. I woke up a few times here and there and it was still raining. Thunder and Lightening all night long. Finally about 2:30 the power came back on. I was glad because I was starting to get hot. I got up to plug my phone in because it had died then I crawled back into bed.

I woke up at my normal time of 6:00 and it was still raining! Tom called me and said there was a house on Kelly Lane that had burned down and Perkins Restaurant too. Come to find out the house that burned down was Micayla and Brandon's uncle. It's a complete loss. They live just down the block from us on Old Mill Road. After Tom told me that I went and looked out Micayla's bedroom and here a part of our retaining wall came down, you can see where the stream of water came down the hill, crazy!

I went to check the basement and it wasn't too bad. Things were wet but nothing we couldn't handle, so that's our job for the weekend, to clean up since we will not be camping. We were supposed to go canoeing but that's canceled because of the high water and I think it's a good thing as well, I don't want to jeopardize this pregnancy.

My friend, Julie, was going to pick me up from work however she couldn't get to my house because of the house fire so I told her to go back home and stay there. I had talked to my boss and we were going to put the weather emergency on so no one had to go out in this mess. Most people couldn't make it anyways. As I was waiting for Tom to get home I walked down to the neighbors, the one with the playground in the yard, well, here is what it looks like now.

 

It's a total mess and I feel so bad for them, they just put there house up on the market but after I got talking to Kathy, the owner, they didn't know if they really wanted to sell it but thought they would try, well, they are not going to anymore, they decided to add on to there house. I don't know about the yard but that will come in time. Well, come to find out she's pregnant too and due in December and there are 2 other girls in our neighbor hood all pregnant too so we'll have lots of people to play with once our baby is born. We were so excited!

I went in this morning for another HCG test and my levels on Wednesday were 143 and today they were 422! They said that was awesome and perfect. I was so happy to hear that. Now I have to schedule my first Utlrasound and the doctor's here in DBQ are waiting for the fax from Davenport. Once that's done, no more Davenport or Iowa City! Yeah...

We are heading up to mom and dad's for steaks tonight. I'm picking up Chris and Kristi so they can drink. Chris already designated me to be the driver! LOL I love it though, it doesn't bother me one bit.

And the verdict is in..

After everyone's thoughts and prayers the verdict is in, first I want to share something that my mother-in-law said to me the other night. She said they were at church the day of our transfer day, Sunday the 17th, and she said "I forgot to tell you that the sunday you were having the implant that the sermon at church was about planting the seed." Wow, how awesome is that?? And I got a text message from Steph with Leah praying. It's the most precious thing I have ever heard. She says "Thank you for Rachael, and that she's a good time at the doctor" and then she goes on praying for her baby brother growing in his mommy's tummy, and after that it's hard to understand but it sure made my night! And again my Kokepelli chimes, they keep chiming away and I knew when I started to hear them that good things were coming.

So I know you're all anxiously waiting, well TOM AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!

It's so hard to believe that I'm saying those words but I love saying it, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant. I've waited so long for this. I went in for my blood test this morning at 6:45am. I treated myself to McDonald's breakfast then headed to work. I was expecting a call around 10am but Allie, the nurse in Davenport, called me at 8:15. I was so nervous to answer the phone. When I did she didn't sound too excited so I wasn't getting my hopes up but all of a sudden she said CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'RE PREGNANT! Yeah, I almost started to cry but then he went right into what's next. So I go again for another blood test on Friday and my first ultrasound will be around the 16th of August, they will measure everything and I should get to hear the heartbeat. I will still be on the Progesterone and my thyroid pill, this will increase, but I'm not sure yet about the progesterone, I will know more once they call me back later today. They just wanted to give me the pregnancy results ASAP and I'm so happy they did!

What a great day it is and they gave me an estimate of when our baby will be due..April 4th!

Keep saying prayers that everything goes good from here on out.

One more day!

I can not believe tomorrow is the day for my pregnancy test. It seems like it's been forever ago since my procedure however I'm really nervous that it's already here. I like "thinking" I'm pregnant and now tomorrow I will know forsure, but I'm ready to know! It's driving me crazy. Last night I was telling Tom that I just want to take a pregnancy test and he said "NO" LOL So my plan for tomorrow is to get up at the crack of dawn, I'm sure I won't have a problem getting out of bed tomorrow, but I'm hoping to be up around 5:30, go give my blood, then come back home and get ready for work. At least that's the plan, but we'll see what tomorrow brings. All I know is the earlier the better, that way I get my results faster. They are doing two test, a pregnancy test and another test to check my progesterone levels, that one takes longer than the pregnancy test so they will call me as soon as they get the results.

We had a great weekend, Friday night was Lady Antebellum, what an awesome concert, however if the rain would have held off it would have been that much better. Boy, do I wish I had some pictures of the rain. We all thought our phones were shot because we were completely drenched! A big storm came though about half way through concert and after the concert another round of storms came along with 60 MPH winds and thunder and lightening.. Let me tell you it was like needles stabbing you. It didn't bother me as much as Linda and Erica probably because I've had needles poking me for the last month. LOL It was just unbelievable. Here is a picture of Lady A, it's not the best picture but at least can see where our "seats" were. We didn't have seats we were on the track standing.

and once the rain started it was a mud hole! Erica and I had flip flops on and we had to take them off to be able to walk. Anyway, it was a lot of fun! We also got to eat some good fair food. We each a Gyro, a Lemonade and I had Ribbon fries. You should have seen this, it was a boat full of potatoes! Yummy..Oh and as we were eating our yummy food, we got to see the Clydesdale horses, they are so beautiful..

Once we got back to the car we collected ourselves before driving home. I had drove and thank God my car had leather seats because we were soaked. I can still smell "wet" in my car but I'm working on airing it out since it's finally nice out and I can stand the heat. But I was planning driving up to the campgrounds but I decided to dry off and just go to bed and get up in the morning and head up. That's what I did and thank God my phone was OK. I had to air it out because it was wet and I was trying to text Tom but it wasn't working but the next day everything was fine.

Before we left for the concert on Friday I stopped to see mom and Grandma, here's a picture of mom "feet"

She broke her toe on her left foot, so she's just a mess right now, but she's at home now and is getting around good. Kristi suggested she gets on of those things where you put your bad knee up and push yourself around like you're on a skateboard or something. She's love that!

Camping was the usual, nothing too exciting happening up there, it was Christmas in July, however we didn't participate we just hung out with the other campers and went swimming. That night about 8:00 I started feeling crappy so Tom and I hung out in the camper and watch a movie - Due Date then I went to bed and Tom hung out by the fire with Brandon and Casey. The next day I still didn't feel the best, so it must have been a little bug I caught or something.

Weekend is finally here!

Wow, what a long week, that's all I can say. Today I felt like I've been eating everything in sight. I'm hoping this is a good thing because if I end up not pregnant I will have a lot of work to do to get back on track, but I'm thinking I'm so hungry is because I'm now eating for two! This morning I had a bowl of cereal, my favorite Special K Fruit and Yogurt, it's so good. Then I got to work and about 9:00 I was hungry, usually I get hungry about 10:30 not at 9:30, so I ate my banana and that just didn't cut it, so I had a bowl of ice cream, we had a little ice cream treat for a fund raiser her at work so I had a pretty big bowl of that with chocolate and caramel topping along with nuts. Then of course it was lunch time about an hour later so a friend and I went to Salsa's and split a chicken quesidilla and lots of chips and salsa. And to top lunch off I had to have my Milky Way Caramel candy bar that I found in my purse! We got these at Walmart last night, there were 2 left in the box so I said to Tom "these must be in here for us" it's our new favorite candy bar. I'm feeling very blotted and tired right now. But I feel my 2nd wind coming around, I have a big night ahead of me.

Lady Antebellum is tonight at The Great Jones County Fair. The concert starts at 8:00. We will be leaving DBQ about 5:45 or so, once Linda gets to my house we'll take off. I will have to pick up Erica early since Tom is going camping she's going to give me my shot so that's all taken care of. I'm really looking forward to it, they have some really good songs. It's too bad mom can't come, I will have to take lots of pictures for her. I feel so bad for her. I've never seen her where she can't do anything and I know it's driving her absolutely nuts!

Last night we moved Micayla into her new apartment. Well, I didn't help move, I just watched since I can't lift anything. I think I could get used to not being able to lift. Just kidding! But she's got a cute apartment and once everything is situated to there liking they will like it that much more. Here's a pic of Micayla on her bed, this is her new comforter from her mom for her graduation. She's going with the zebra print.

And of course I have lots of pictures of her apartment but I can't get them rotated, so I know from now on when I take a picture with my phone to hold my phone horizontally instead of vertically, which to me, does not make any sense, but whatever. She even blends into her bed with her zebra dress she has on. LOL

Waiting stinks!

I know it's only been 4 days since my transfer but this waiting stinks! I have to wait until Wednesday morning to go to the lab. I called the nurse today to make sure she had everything set up because I never got a lab work request form like I have in the past and plus I had to ask her about my thyroid prescription. I can't go to a local pharmacy anymore, my 3 refills are up, otherwise they charge me full price, so we have to go through Medco, a mail order pharmacy, so they are taking care of that for me. I also asked what time they want me up at the lab. They said earlier the better, I'm sure I won't be able to sleep Tuesday night anyway, so I'll be there at the crack of dawn.

I haven't felt different or anything, but I'm sure that's normal. I've been reading a blog that Stephanie found for me, it's http://mattandjuleeturner.blogspot.com/ I've been keeping up with this blog because she has gone through the same thing we have and she's now 20 weeks pregnant. Well, she posted today about God and I found it very interesting, she writes, "I know it's Satan trying to ruin this joyful time and it makes me angry that these thoughts have arrived when I know God has shown himself so clearly by giving us this precious baby."

It's so true, I have these same feelings like this process is not going to work and I have a whole week to think about it. I know I have a 60% some chance that everything is perfect but what about that 40%, it's scary and I know exactly how she's feeling. It's scary and right now I'm very emotional, maybe that's a good thing, right? Hormones??? I have no idea but all I can say is I can't wait for next Wednesday.

On to better things, my party last night was a success, I will have to pick out a lot of items and I can't wait to see what I all get.

Friday night is Lady Antebellum. I'm going with my friend Linda and my cousin Erica. Mom can't go because of her foot so Erica is going in her spot. Should be lots of fun. We will come back Friday night and I'm hoping to head up to Whitetail to have a relaxing weekend with my husband.

Micayla's Graduation Party

It was a hot one! We celebrated Micayla's graduation on Saturday up at Murphy Park overlooking the beautiful Dubuque. She had a great turn out of family and friends with good food and even an ice cream machine. We needed it since it was over 90 degrees out. Here are a few pics.

 A view from the pavilion we were at.

Brandon and Micayla's brother, Andrew eating ice cream.

 The ice cream machine! 

Brandon and Micayla's sister, Madison

 My sweetie grilling hot dogs and hamburgers.

Above is the girl Micayla is getting an apartment with. I think she is moving out on Thursday. We are a little nervous for her but it's what she wants to do.

It was a great day, mom and I went to get a pedicure and decided to get a manicure too. What a great way to start the day and have pretty toes for my procedure on Sunday. 

Our baby!

Here is our baby! Out of the 9 fertilized eggs, one was an excellent blastocyst, another words, embryo. I guess everything about this picture is perfect from what the doctors said so we are super hopeful that everything is going to happen.

Tom and I had to be there by 10:30 everything went very smoothly the staff at the U of I are unbelievable they are super nice and want the best for us. It makes everything we are going through that much easier. Tom had to get into a pair of scrubs and I got into my beautiful gown, not!

I very upset that I can't figure out how to rotate this picture, because where I have it saved on my computer it is upright but when I upload it to this blog it doesn't save it. I don't get it! Steph, help!!

But he looked so sexy in those scrubs, I was hoping we could take them home but no such luck. The procedure only took about 10 minutes once we were all set up. We got into the room and they had a CD player in the room with CD's to choose from because it was a quiet room and who doesn't like to listen to music when your feet are up in the air. One of the CD's was and IVF mix, we immediately put that in but I think we were both going to fall asleep so Tom switched it to a relaxation CD. The first song was a wedding song, it was quite funny. The nurses and doctor's came in and said ohh, it's a wedding song. We all laughed.

The doctor explained to us about all 9 fertilized eggs. Only 1 was excellent so they are not sure we will have any to freeze. I will find out today, if not, hopefully the excellent one they transferred will be the one! Again, they are very hopeful.

So I was under strict orders to go home and do nothing other then go to the bathroom, so that's exactly what I did. But first we had to stop for lunch, we chose Sonic! I was thirsty and as we were driving out of town we drove by a Sonic so we decided to stop and eat. I didn't have to get out of the car so it worked out great and it was so good!

We got home around 2:00 or so, Tom headed to bed and I relaxed and watched TV. I got all caught up on my shows and even watched a movie, Step Up 3. I know I'm a dork.

Mom decided the other day that she would make a pot roast and bring it up for us to eat since I wasn't allowed to cook or anything, so it was a great idea, or so it seemed. Mom and dad got here around 5:40 and mom came up through the front and headed down the steps to open the garage door so dad could bring the roaster up. Well, as mom was going down the steps, she didn't turn the light on, and she missed the bottom step and sprained, we think, her ankle. She kept yelling at me to stay there and don't get up. Come on, mom I'm not crippled! So I opened the garage door and dad didn't know what the heck was going on. Well, she was hurting. Tom woke up because he could hear us, but he wasn't in a sound sleep because I had to wake him up at 5 to give me my shot. I felt so bad but I had to do it.

Mom crawled up the steps and got up on the chair with some ice. Again, I can't get this picture rotated.

So instead of mom waiting on me, both dad and Tom were waiting on us, it was quite comical. Dinner was excellent and hopefully she didn't break anything. She's going to get it X-Rayed tomorrow.

Now the dreaded wait! I go for a blood test on Wednesday the 27th! The waiting is going to drive me nuts and they said not to take a pregnancy test because I'm still taking progesterone and this could alter a pregnancy test so I'll try and stay away. I just want to see that pregnant sign.

Pre egg retrieval

So I never told you the story about the day of the egg retrieval. I was in such a rush to get everything jotted down from what the doctor told me about my fertilized eggs. I did just call the patient information line to see if they had my time for the transfer but its too early for that yet. It's a recording, will a live person, who repeated everything the doctor told me. I still have 9 fertilized eggs, now called embryo's. So technically we're pregnant right now! LOL

Monday after work, I went up to see Grandma before heading out. We were going to stay with my cousin Ben and his wife, Kristin, and there little girl Inara. It was such a relief knowing we had family in the Iowa City area and since we had to be at the hospital by 8am I decided to call Ben and ask if he'd mind if we stayed at his house the night before. He and Kristin were delighted to have us.

Grandma was looking great! She's such a trooper and I'm so glad she changed her mind about the blood transfusion because I don't know what I'd do with out her right now, my hormones have been crazy and just thinking about her not being with us makes me cry. She's way to healthy to be talking the way she does, but as of today, she's HOME! Yeah...they moved her out of the ICU on Wednesday and Thursday she got to go home. Mom stayed with her last night and I'm sure someone will be with her for a while otherwise, we know Grandma, she'd be back cleaning on her hands and knees or something silly like that.

Since Grandma was looking and feeling great I had a good feeling about all the stuff I'm going through, I didn't have to worry now weather Grandma was going to be around or not. So we headed to Iowa City, Ben and Kristin actually live in North Liberty. We got there around 7:00, Kristin was just getting done feeding Inara and Ben was holding her. Kristin immediately said to Ben, "let Rachael hold her" she is one of the cutest babies I've ever seen. She's so little and I just wanted to wrap her up and take her home with me.

The 5 of us all went to a little pub by there house for dinner, it was delicious. I had a ruben, it was made out of real corn beef and Tom had a Flatbread pizza, both were delicious. We sat outside under an awning it was a perfect night. Inara was the best little girl, she didn't fuss or anything. Here's a little picture of her:

 

I don't know why it's sideways because I saved it the upright way but I don't know how to rotate it. Oh well, she's cute any way you look at her. LOL

That night after dinner we got to watch her get her bath and Kristin getting her jammies on Inara doing tummy time. She's such a good girl. I got to cuddle with her for a while before going to bed, hopefully she rubbed some baby on me. She went to bed and we stayed up for a while talking to Ben and Kristin,  it was so nice to get to hang out with them and get caught up, it seems like forever since we've seen each other. The last time I saw Kristin was at her baby shower. Oh and speaking of that, she was showing me the diapers she uses, they are not using regular diapers, they are using cloth diapers and they are really neat. I was thinking of the big cloth and you use 2 big safety pin to keep it up, but this is really neat and very cost saving, so we might look into this. Tom and I hit the sack about 10:15, Ben had to be at work at 4am so I'm sure he was tired the next day.

We got up around 6:30, showered and got ready, came upstairs and Kristin was just finishing up feeding Inara and I took her and walked her around she was all giggly and everything. We had to be at the hospital at 8:00am so we headed out about 7:15. I couldn't eat or drink after midnight and I'm usually hungry when I wake up and of course, I was hungry.

We got the office about 7:45 and they got us right in, I must have been the only one that day because there was no one else there except me, Tom and the nurses. They first call Tom in, he has to do his business, and of course he wants me to come along, so off I went with him. The nurse who called him in was a man and Tom had to answer a few questions, the first was when was your last ejaculation. LOL he looked at me and I started laughing. We won't go there, after he answered he gave Tom specific instruction on what to do after the fact. He took us into a room and OMG, I about died. It was every man's dream!

 

Here is a picture of the drawer, on the right hand side was porn magazines, in the middle was a wash cloth and on the left was lubricant. There was also a TV on the stand where he could watch a porno if he'd like. It was so funny. Let's just say it didn't take long! Sorry Linda if you're reading this.

We did as instructed and put the sample in the little door and back to the check in window. From there we walked around the corner and the nurses took us to a room for me to get prepped. They had me take everything off except my bra, I got to keep that on. The first thing the nurse said once I was lying in my bed and she looked at my hands and said "I love your hands" I have great veins in my hands so the anesthetist wsa going to love me! They went over everything that was going to happen and what I need to do after the procedure. Everything went so smoothly and everyone was so nice. I got my IV put in and they wheeled me into the operating room. From there, Tom got to leave and go eat breakfast and wait in the waiting room until the doctor comes and gets him. I don't remember much after entering the operating room, that anesthesia kicked my butt and next thing I know my tongue was numb and I was sleeping. Love that stuff.

I woke up in the room where I started and Tom was by my side. They explained they retrieved 20 eggs and 3 were mature that's all they could tell me. Read my earlier post about my eggs.

They said the first thing I said when I woke up was "I'm hungry" the nurse said "that's my kind of girl" and I was starving. They fed me saltine crackers, it was that or graham crackers. I couldn't get enough of the crackers and as I was lying there thinking of what I wanted to eat all I could think of was a chicken sandwich from Burger King. I can't remember the last time I had a chicken sandwich from BK but that's what I wanted, then. The nurses gave me a couple tylenol with codine and my meds I needed to take for the next 4 days. Once I was able to go to the bathroom, which I had to go immediately once I woke up, but the blood pressure cuff had to do 3 readings before I could stand up, then once that was done, they had to take my blood pressure sitting up and again standing up. Everything was good and I got to go pee. I got dressed, Tom when to pick up the car and the nurse wheeled me down to the parking area.

Off Tom and I went, by this time I'm not feeling very good, I've come to realize its the tylenol with codine that my stomach just doesn't like because the week before all this I took a couple and immediately my stomach started hurting so it must be the codine. I got into the car and I wasn't hungry for BK anymore, actually I wasn't hungry at all, but I know I needed to eat something so we decided on Subway. I got a cold cut and a bag of chips and some water. After 2 bites I thought I was going to throw up. I had taken my pills had a few more bites and off to the bathroom I went. I threw up! I felt a lot better after that but still couldn't eat so I wrapped up my sandwich and brought it along with me. We called the doctor to ask about the pills I threw up and he said it was fine just to take my next dosage at the time they told me to.

I slept most of the way home. I woke up when we were going through Cascade about a 1/2 hour from home. At that point, I was starving, so I had my chips that I got from Subway. We got home and on the couch I went and fell asleep for a few hours. I took a couple more Tylenol's just because I was kind of sore but again my stomach got upset so no more of those! I will have to tell the doctor so maybe they can prescribe me something else, otherwise just get over the counter Tylenol. Although it does make me sleepy, I slept again for another few hours, it felt great.

 

Oh and I'm back to doing shots, just one though, it's a progesterone shot that I take in my rear. I'm used to the shots now but I'm still sore from them but tolerable.

The rest of week I was back to normal, I was still a little sore but not too bad and they said that would be normal. Yesterday, Thursday, I golfed in a golf outing through McGraw-Hill. We had a blast. I golfed with Ellen Besler and 2 other girls from work. I had to be back by 5 to get my shot. Tom was waiting for me. LOL I did win a twosome from Bunker Hill, so Tom and I will get to get out at least once this year. 

We have Micayla's graduation party tomorrow so I'll have lots of pictures I'm sure. And on Sunday we head back to Iowa City for the transfer. I'm not sure how many yet they will transfer, they won't tell us until that day. Not sure if we have a say in this or not but if we do, I don't know what we'll do. I'd say let's go for 2 what the heck!

Say some prayers and I'll keep you all posted!

Egg retrieval outcome

So before I forget, I'm just going to blog about what the outcome is after my egg retrieval yesterday.

The doctor just called me a few minutes ago and wow, there's so much information I don't know where to begin. First of all, yesterday, they retrieved 20 eggs, of the 20 eggs 3 were mature. They were hoping for more but at least we got 3. They said more should mature overnight and we will find out tomorrow what the total count was.

There is a number I'm supposed to call after 3:00 this afternoon, however the Dr. called me just a short while ago. I panicked at first but she said everything is OK not to panic. She then proceeded to tell me that of the 20 eggs that they retrieved, 8 were mature. She said they would have liked a few more but that's OK. They fertilized these eggs by ICSI, this is where they inject the sperm right into the egg instead of having them fertilize on there own. Of the 8 they fertilized, 7 are normal and 1 was abnormal, so they had to discard that one. The other eggs that were not quite mature enough, they still tried to fertilize them and they got 2 normal embryos so that takes me to a total of 9 fertilized eggs, now called embryos! They are at one cell right now and they are hoping they keep growing into a healthy Blastocyst. This will decided how many they will transfer into me. They are still thinking only 1 but it's all up in the air right now.

I know it's all confusing huh? For me too. The Dr. said my transfer day will be on day 5, which works out great. Day 5 will be Sunday and she's thinking around 10:30 to 11:00 this will happen but I have to call on Friday to get a definite time for transfer.

Oh and she said the percentage of pregnancy is about 65% with 1 embryo transferred. That's not a bad percentage but they will know more on Sunday, that's when they determine how many they transfer.

Long weekend

All I can say is, it's been a long weekend! I think I've put more miles on my car this week then our trip out to California a week ago. Well, not really but it sure felt like I've been in my car for hours.

After all the driving on Wednesday to Davenport and Iowa City, I thought I was going to get some good news at my next ultrasound on Friday. Mom rode with me again so Tom could sleep before going camping. I took the day off since I was just exhausted. I had to be Davenport at 8:00 again and unfortunately the follicles on my ovaries were not quite big enough. I am supposed to have somewhere between 3 and 8, I think that was the highest they wanted, but anymore than that could cause problems, follicles on my ovaries and they want them 18 to 24 in size. I thought for sure they were big enough because I feel like I can feel them inside me but they were not the size they wanted, I had one that was 18 on my right side. That was the biggest, I had a few 15's but still not big enough. So since they were not big enough we had to come back Saturday morning! I was not too happy about this because I really wanted to go camping and just relax, well we did end up camping but we had to get up early Saturday morning to drive to Davenport. Our appt. was at 9:00, so we left Whitetail about 7:30. We got there and I was the only patient they had and as the tech is measuring and counting my follicles, she wasn't too confident because I still only had one follicle that was 18 in size, the others that were 15 were now 16 and 17's but still not big enough! So you know what the means... We have to come back on Sunday!

The nurse who was at the office was talking about my meds and what I have left and of course, one of the shots I had to have I did not have. They didn't think I would be going this long so she called around to a few pharmacies in Davenport to see if they had this drug I needed. Since we were there in Davenport and not back in DBQ yet, remember my previous post about last Wednesday? Well, no one in Davenport had the drug I needed so off to Iowa City Tom and I went. It was about a 45 minute drive, much better than 1 1/2 hours. The drug I need was called Antagon, its a drug I give in my outer thigh area and it prevents me from ovulating. Since my follicles are getting so big it would be easy for me to ovulate and the doctor's want to control when I ovulate and they weren't ready for me.

The prescription was waiting for me when we got there and as we are walking out to the car, I checked the bag just to be sure and sure enough there was only 1 in the bag, my nurse ordered 2. So I called her real quick just to be sure. I went back to the pharmacy and they did make a mistake. They gave me the other Antagon and off we went. I was thinking they forgot to charge me but when I got home and looked at my receipt from Wednesday and they didn't, they charged me for 2 but only have me 1. Oh well, no such luck.

So we headed home, or back to the campgrounds and it's now after 12, so we decided to go pack up the camper and head home since we had to be back in Davenport Sunday morning at 9am, again! They promised this should probably be the last time. Will see about that...

We packed up the camper and came home. Tom's Grandpa's birthday was Sunday and his family was celebrating it on Saturday night so we went down there to hang out for a while. They had maid rites and they were so good. I can't remember the last time I had one of those. It was a beautiful night. We got home fairly early, we were exhausted, again!

So here we are Sunday morning heading to Davenport again! I have filled up my car 5 times this week, that's sure taking a beating on the ole pocket book, but it will be all worth it. Again, I'm the only patient today. We had some good news, finally! I had, I think, 8 follicles that were bigger than 18. I think I even had a 24 and that's big. No wonder I'm feeling the way I am, my back and hip area are pretty sore, not sure if it's from that or the shots but it's all worth it. So I am ready to go! We had to wait for the nurse to call us with the next step so Tom and I drove around Davenport for a while because we really wanted to wait for Noodles and Company to open at 11:00 to eat lunch. We found a farmer's market stand that had sweet corn so we stopped to get some of that for dinner tonight, BLT's and sweet corn, the best summer meal ever. The nurse finally called us back and gave us all the details...

Tonight at 10:30 I have to give my HCG shot, this will produce my eggs. Tom has to go into work late because of this but it could have been worse, it could have been at 2 in the morning or something, so Tom called and said he will be about a half hour late. Thank God! He's been so good at giving me my shots, he's very gentle, well kind of, you can't be gentle, you just have to jab the needle in, if you try and be gentle it really hurts.

Tomorrow I am drug free! Yeah!!!

Tuesday is my egg retrieval day. We have to be in Iowa City by 8am and my procedure will be at 9am. I will be put out for this. I will be there for a couple of hours then come home and just rest. I should be able to work on Wednesday, hopefully because I've been off work for so long it seems, I need to get some work done.

Once the egg retrieval is done, the following day I have a number to call that will tell me when the egg transfer day will be, it will be either Friday or Sunday. Everything is working out great. I thought the transfer day would fall on Saturday which is Micayla's graduation party which would have stunk because once the embroy's are in, they don't want me doing anything! They want me to stay lying down with my hips elevated if possible and to only get up to go to the bathroom. So I'm hoping for Sunday, what a better way then to spend a Monday just doing nothing.

I'm now patiently waiting for 10:30, I'm tired and usually in bed by now, watching the news and relaxing in my bed. But I have to wait about 20 more minutes..

IVF Drugs

So my first shot for IVF was Wednesday the 29th of June while out in California. I gave myself my first shot with my Sister-in-law Stephanie, at The Galleria in Roseville, CA in a Von Maur family restroom. This is Steph's favorite place to stop if she has to use the restroom. LOL It went pretty smoothly, it was an easy shot in my lower belly area with a small, thin needle.

Each night from then on I had to give myself a shot for the next 6 nights. When I got back from CA, Tom and I had to go to Davenport for an ultrasound (u/s). This was done on Monday, July 4th. Yes, the fourth of July, they have to work around me schedule and that was the day they needed to see what was going on inside me at that time and what my next dosage should be. I was taking 300iu of Follistem. After my appt. they called me with the next dosage and my next shot. I started Repronex Monday, this is the shot that goes in my rear, actually it's not in my rear, it's actually up near my hips. So if you take your hand like you are resting your arm on your hip and where your thumb hits the crease of your back that's where the shot goes. They marked me with a marker and I thought it was really high but they said that's where the shot needs to go, in that circle. So Monday night at 5:00 Tom gave me my first Repronex shot. This shot we have to mix 1ml of liquid with 2 vials of a dry powder, you have to mix one vial at a time, Tom's really good at this, it takes me forever to draw up the liquid then put it in the vial with the dry powder stuff, then you have to draw that up and put it into another vial of powder and then it get shot into my buttocks area. I have to say it was pretty painful. We have a trick now, he has to rub it for about a minute then it doesn't seem to hurt as bad. For some reason, my left side is so much sorer then my right.

I did that for 2 days, then back down to Davenport for another u/s on Wednesday. Mom with me this time, it was very interesting for her, my appt. was at 8:00 and Tom didn't have to be there so he said he doesn't mind if mom goes, he was going to sleep, he was still exhausted from vacation. The technician said my ovaries and follicles have grown, which is a good thing but they still were not quite the size they wanted so I have to go back on Friday. The doc was going to call me with my dosage and go over how much medication I have left. Well, I got home about noon and tried to do some work, I was working from home after my appt. It was about 2:00 and the doctor's office has not called yet so I called just to check and they called me back about 3:00 and said I need to take 224iu of Follistom, 2 vials of Repronex and an Antagon shot, this shot goes in my outer thigh area. Well as I'm looking at my meds to check to see if I have enough and sure enough I don't have enough of the Follistom! The nurse's were scrambling because if they can call it in, they have to do it before 5 so I can get it the next day or they were going to check some local pharmacies here in DBQ, well, you know it, no one in DBQ has this medication I need and they said I HAVE to have, if I don't it could mess everything up, so they called me back and said I have to drive to Iowa City tonight to get these meds. It's not 3:45 and I'm supposed to give my shots at 5:00 but they said I can go an hour and a half either way so off Tom and I went to Iowa City. It was about an hour and a half drive and we got there about 5:15 or so and I got all my prescription in about 45 minutes, so by that time its 6:15 so Tom and I went into the women's restroom since we couldn't find a "family" one, he had to come in and give me my shot. There was one lady in there and I asked her if it was OK for him to come in, she didn't care all she said was all I have to do is pee, so it was cool. LOL We got all 3 shots done. The one in my rear really hurt this time, Tom said the needle didn't go in very easy and that he had to push it in, no wonder my ass hurts today. Actually it's my lower back that hurts.

So on our way home from Iowa City, we had to stop to eat something and Tom chose Red Lobster, so the trip wasn't too bad, the food was delicious. We got home about 9:15, just in time for Tom to get ready for work, make his lunch and drink a cup of coffee.

Tonight, Thursday, was another night of 3 shots! Tom shot me in the right side and again it's a much better side, my right side is pretty sore today. I got a call from mom, Grandma was up at the hospital in ICU, she had fallen twice in the last couple of days. Her first fall she was walking out her deck and tripped on the small step and landed in the grass, she said, Nikki was with her at the time, but she said she was fine. Well, on Wednesday, while mom and I were in Davenport, mom called Grandma to invite her up for supper and Grandma told mom that she tripped in the basement right before she was going to church. I don't know if she just didn't pick up her feet or what but she land on the arm of a recliner in the basement and the recliner arm is wood! So I can imagine why she's so sore. Well, she proceeded on her day, went to church, however she told mom that she wasn't going to play cards that she was going to rest. Well, I guess when she went to lay down for bed she couldn't get comfortable and went to her recliner in the living room and started sweating profusely so she called Nikki and Nikki came over and decided to call the ambulance. Her diagnostics was a broken rib and a lanced spleen. They think the rib punctured the spleen. Grandma is so stubborn she will not do surgery so she's on bed rest for a couple of days except for the bathroom, she can move with assistance to use the bathroom. When mom told me all this this afternoon I was so mad at Grandma for not wanting surgery but she said she's 88 years old and she has lived her life and is ready to go! Well, Erica was up there visiting her this morning and told Erica that she probably won't be around to go to Taylor's birthday party, which is next Saturday, and that she won't be around to see my baby. I just broke down in my car and started crying. I think with all these drugs and my day yesterday it just took a toll on myself so tomorrow, Friday, I'm taking the day off heading to Davenport for another u/s then heading to the campgrounds, unless something happens to Grandma we will stay back but from the sounds of it she's going to be ok.

We did go up to visit Grandma tonight after supper and all my shots and she was looking really good. She kept saying if my spleen would have ruptured that that would have been or would be the way to go. I told her to stop talking like that because I didn't want to start crying. She even said the priest was in giving her her last rights or anointing her as she said it. So again she said she's all ready. I know she's lived a great life its just so scary especially when she's in such great shape and gets around good for the most part. So please say some prayers, I don't think I could deal with her death right now! She's the best Grandma in the world and has done so much for me. I just can't imagine life without her.

Tomorrow should be the day that I find out the next step in all this process so I will keep you all posted!

California/Vegas Vacation part 2

So on to Wills Fargo...

Here is a picture of our motel doors, actually I think the one on the right was Tom and Linda's and we were off to the right.

OK, from here on to the end of this post, my pictures are not resizing themselves so beware of BIG pictures! LOL I can't figure it out and I spent too much time loading all these pictures. These are pictures of us at The Hendricks' in California, Tom and his family at the redwood trees and all of us at Alcatraz, it was raining if you can't tell.