Week 5

"You are now in week 5 of your pregnancy.

Your tiny baby is growing its brain right now and has exchanged limb buds for limb flippers. Your baby's also starting to develop digestive organs such as the liver and stomach while its tiny heart is already hard at work. You're still pretty much on the same symptom train you were on last week although you might begin to experience the first bouts of morning sickness."

Tick Tock...

..whattt, not even a week since the last post?!!
Feels like forever.

I think I'm gonna have to work on my patience skills the next few months.. :-)

Beta!

Just HOW pregnant can you get? Apparantly, VERY!!

Although ecstatic about the positive home pregnancy tests from this past weekend, its definitely been one LONG week. Today, finally, Sabrina went in to get her HCG levels checked. Everything over 100 is a good sign that there is a thriving little bean in there and that the pregnancy is developing as it should. Well, our number was a whopping

239.9 !!!!!!!

Which means that there is indeed a very healthy little eskimo in there! Rumours has it that the number could even qualify for twins (which would mean identicals, since we only transferred one embryo) but my guess is one happy, healthy and strong baby.

Ultrasound is December 10th. Yes, you are absolutely right, an eternity. But SO worth the wait!!!

Lets go Digital

...just in case there was any doubt!!!

PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.....breathe in......breathe out........
.....breathe in......breathe out........
.....breathe in......breathe out........

ok... So I woke up this morning to three facebook messages from Sabrina.
First one: "Call me!"
Second: "Call me NOW!"
Third: "CALL ME!!! ("#$%&!&%#)"

(Ok, the last one didnt include the desperate and edited cussing as stated above, but I have a feeling that was what she was silently thinking when she wasnt able to get in touch with me..)

So I called, of course I immediately understood something is definitely going on, and she forwarded THESE pictures:





The feeling is, of course, impossible to describe, so I will not even attempt, but yeah you get the picture!!!!!!!!!!

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

First beta is in a few days.......

2ww

The wait has begun...

The little one

Probably the most beautiful picture I have ever seen.

Transfer day pictures

Sabrina





Lynlee with one of the PFC nurses

Today is the day!

Transfer is 6:30 California time / 15:30 Norwegian time.
That's in LESS than one hour!!!

Apparantly the yellow/green outfit is ready (supposedly lucky colours for transfer) and the roomservice bedrest french fries are pre-ordered. Also, it's Fathers Day in Norway today. That has to be a good sign, right?

Thank You!

What a great way to start the day! I woke up to these beautiful orchids on my door this morning.
Sabrina, you truly are amazing! I am so happy that you are the one sharing this icredible journey with me.

Embryo update

I contacted Dr. Sahakian today for an update of the development of the eggs. Of the 10 eggs that fertilized, 8 are looking great! What a big relief! Can't wait for Sunday to come around... it's going to be one LONG weekend.

We have managed to get our friend Lynlee to fly in from Kansas to take care of Sabrina while she is on bedrest. She has had three successful transfers and I am really happy that she will be able to be there for Sabrina since I can't. Lynlee, I'm trusting you will take great care of her and keep her twitchiness to a minimum (well, at least for the first 24 hours ;-)

Fertilization report

A total of 15 eggs were retrieved yesterday, and out of those 10 fertilized!!! The embryos will be left to grow for the next few days until they reach the Blastocyst stage at day 5 in culture. I will probably know the quality of each embryo prior to the transfer on Sunday morning. With ten eggs fertilized I am crossing my fingers that there will be a decent number of high quality blasts to choose from.

I won't deny that I have been scaringly close to a nervous breakdown for the past two days (imagine me in the 2ww..), but now everyhting is just pure joy. What a happy, happy day!!!!

Egg retrieval today

Sunday's ulstrasound showed 23 follicles and the donor will be going in for her egg retrieval today at 8 am California time. Please cross your fingers, toes and other crossable body parts for a nice number of healthy eggs!!

We have a transfer date!!!

..and the big day is November 11th!

Sabrina will fly down to Los Angeles on Saturday, do the transfer Sunday at 7 am and then most likely stay on bedrest until Tuesday morning. I will of course chain myself to the nearest computer and telephone to make sure my physical absence is not forgotten! ;-)

Only SEVEN days to go, ladies and gentlemen..

22!

New egg donor ultrasound today revealed 22 follicles! She is being monitored closely and I will get an update on Sunday. The transfer will be delayed a couple of days in order to get the best egg quality possible.. new dates are Nov 11-12th. Guess I can hold my breath for another couple of days!

Sabrina also had an u/s and her lining is 11mm which is good. She also has a triple stripe (which I have no idea what means but apparantly its a good thing.. so hooray for that! :-)