21 Weeks Pregnant - Halfway There

How Far Along:  21 weeks and 1 day
Total Weight Gain/Loss: At this point I have gained about 4ish pounds. Maybe more with Christmas cookies making their way into my life.
Maternity Clothes: Absolutely. I am embracing them at this point.

Best Moment This Week: Christmas was fantastic and seeing our families love on Gray without him even being here, was wonderful. 
Movement This Week: TONS of movement once I slow down and pay attention.

Food Cravings: Recently I've been craving anything sweet.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Not really.
Have You Started to Show Yet: Definitely!
Gender: a baby boy!
Symptoms: Not really anything major.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button IN or OUT: It's so deep, I don't know if it will become an outie.
Looking Forward To: My ultrasound in a few weeks and enjoying the rest of winter vacation.

19 Weeks Along, Almost Halfway!

How Far Along:  19 weeks and 1 day
Total Weight Gain/Loss: At this point I have gained about 4 pounds.
Maternity Clothes: Leggings and Maternity Shirts or bulky sweaters

Best Moment This Week: Feeling the flutters at least once a day.
Movement This Week: TONS of movement once I slow down and pay attention.

Food Cravings: Recently I've been craving sweet potato fries.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Not really.
Have You Started to Show Yet: I definitely popped in the past week or two.
Gender: a baby boy!
Symptoms: I'm sick right now so not sure which symptom is for which cause.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button IN or OUT: It's so deep, I don't know if it will become an outie.
Looking Forward To: My ultrasound in a few days and winter vacation starting in a week!

18 Weeks :)

How Far Along:  18 and a half weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: At this point I have gained about 3 pounds.
Maternity Clothes: Thank goodness for friends who have let me borrow their maternity clothes. But so far leggings are the most comfortable!

Best Moment This Week: Feeling the flutters more often. He moves around quite a bit after I get home from work.
Movement This Week: Lots of movement at night but not as much when I'm laying in bed.

Food Cravings: Tuna fish, pickles, and sweets!
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Not really.
Have You Started to Show Yet: I definitely popped in the past week or two.
Gender: a baby boy!
Symptoms:The crampiness is still there and really annoying.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button IN or OUT: It's so deep, I don't know if it will become an outie.
Looking Forward To: My ultrasound next week :) and game night this weekend with my friends.

15 weeks

How Far Along:  15 weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Last time I weighed myself I had gained 1 pound since finding out I was pregnant.
Maternity Clothes: Leggings and bigger sweaters so far. Some maternity tops too.

Best Moment This Week: Definitely going to Trans Siberian Orchestra with Andrew, my mom and Barry.
Movement This Week: Little flutters every now and then...

Food Cravings: No cravings really.
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick: Just my sense of smell being picky. 
Have You Started to Show Yet: A little bit.
Gender: a baby boy!
Symptoms: Headaches and cramps or twinges every now and then.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button IN or OUT: It's so deep, I don't know if it will become an outie.
Looking Forward To: My appointment next week, hearing the heartbeat again, spending thanksgiving with family & spending the weekend in Vermont.

Positive!

The morning of August 30th I woke up early (at like 4 A.M.) to go to the bathroom and decided to take a pregnancy test just in case, to see if maybe... just maybe this cycle had worked. Well after waiting the dreaded three minutes, TWO LINES APPEARED! I was ecstatic and immediately started crying. I raced upstairs to wake Andrew up and fill him in that he was going to be a father! He was so happy, and sort of delirious, but he decided to go back to sleep. I couldn't stand it anymore... I could not sleep when I was so excited. So I went downstairs and watched television and texted/called Laurel, my mom, and Betsy. I was honestly beside myself and couldn't believe that our dream of becoming parents was becoming a reality. But of course, my mom wouldn't answer her phone!

A few hours later Andrew's dad came over to help finish the patio. When he arrived I could tell that he was kind of down and was having a bad day. So I decided that we would cheer him up. I told him that he had so much to be happy about especially because he was going to be a grandfather. Of course, that made him cheer up very quickly! Later on I finally reached my mom who was so incredibly happy and couldn't believe that she didn't answer her phone.

A few hours later we were picked up by Andrew's mom and dad to head to Mike and Maria's wedding. In the car I couldn't contain myself and we told Andrew's mom. She was also very excited.

We also told Sarah and Leon when we got to Andrew's parent's house and then we all headed to the hotel that we would be staying at that night.

After we got ready for the wedding we headed over to the facility that the wedding was held at. It was quite beautiful but my mind was only on the fact that I was finally pregnant!

During the reception there was a photo booth so we took a picture with a whiteboard sign that said "We're pregnant!" and then later on showed it to Andrew's family: Aunt Laura, Uncle Scott, Aunt Pam, Uncle Steve, Nana, Dorina and Liz. They were all so happy for us! I was very tired, nauseous because of the hamburger smell, and not hungry at all. So once the wedding reception was over we went back to the hotel and quickly went to sleep.

IVF... Take Two

This IVF cycle has been a bit different than the first cycle. The first cycle was picture perfect until the end when the embryos did not survive. This cycle was kind of a hot mess from the beginning. My insurance was, thankfully, a lot better during this cycle. But the medicine and my hormones were not cooperating with what the doctor wanted. It actually came down to the possibility of us not continuing through this cycle. Dr. Engmann had decided that depending on my ovaries they would do one of three things: cancel the cycle because I had OHSS, do the retrieval but postpone the transfer until the following cycle, or continue as planned. Thank goodness, we were able to continue as planned because I started drinking gatorade for the electrolytes and I took it as easy as I possibly could.

So on August 17th the doctors were able to retrieve multiple eggs and they fertilized them with ICSI (which they didn't do in the first cycle). But by day three, only three embryos had survived. So the doctor decided that they were going to push them to day five and hope that some of them made it. Unfortunately, only one of the embryos survived until day five. But we were so happy to see our little one make it to day five. We continued with the transfer and were able to put our one little embryo in and hope for the best.

Waiting the 10 days was torture...

Back in the saddle again

Back in the saddle again...

Andrew and I have decided that while we wait for a phone call from the adoption agency saying that we have been matched, we are going to try to conceive through IVF again. My plan is to keep a better record of both the good and the bad moments through this process. The plan right now is to wait for my period to begin and then on day 2 I have to get blood work done, on day 3 I begin birth control pills and July 7th is my official consult appointment to make a legit plan for my cycle. Fingers crossed it works... <3