~ Round 2.... Negative ~

Unfortunately, we received bad news last night - our pregnancy test was negative for this cycle. It was surprisingly easier to hear this time - I think I was much more prepared. Although, it still is a huge disappointment.

What next? Well, Mark really wants me to take a break for a month or two to give my body (and mind) a little rest. After arguing with him and sulking for a couple hours, I have come to terms with the rest period and agree it will probably be a good thing. My wonderful husband asks very little of me - I have to respect his position on this one. (Watch he will be right!) I have been pumping my body up with one hormone or another since last Summer. It will be good to take a break and try to get my body back into shape a bit. We have a busy couple months with our best friends getting married in June and our trip to Hawaii in early July. Plenty of things to keep me busy.

I will keep you all updated on when we will start round 3 - Third time WILL be the charm! Back on track for twins...

~ Bedrest is OVER!!! ~

Today, bedrest is officially over! I made it through this time downstairs on the couch. It was much better than being upstairs away from the hubbub of activity. My family came over in shifts - Dad, Sis, my niece Karli, and Mom all took their turn taking care of me while Mark was at work. The days went by pretty quickly this time. Needless to say, I am happy to be showered and up and around.

Back to waiting now- we have an appointment on Monday at 11am for the pregnancy test. I should know by the end of the day Monday if it worked or not. Surprisingly, I am not nearly as stressed about it as I was last time... I know that whatever is supposed to happen, will.

The roller coaster ride is approaching the top again... Holding on for the loop-the-loop.

~ Egg to Embryo ~

Ok- so I was really bummed not getting more than one egg on retrieval day. But, after a little pity party, I am positive once again. The single egg they were able to get actually fertilized. Thankfully, we can always count on Mark's baby batter. It hasn't let us down yet!

The doctor and embryologist are watching the progress of the egg-embryo very closely. I received a call this morning letting me know the egg has split into two. So it is on it's way to embryo status. We will be transfering it back in Monday morning at 10am. Mark will be home late Sunday night, so this works out perfect.

And we are slowly chugging uphill once again.....

~ Retrieval - not so many! ~

I am home from our retrieval this morning. My mom just left and I am supposed to be napping...

After making those 4 beautifully large follicles, my doctor was only able to find one lonely egg. I was so surprised and disappointed. That was the last thing I was expecting. I was prepared for only having one egg make it to the day of the transfer, but to start with one was a huge blow. So, now I wait to get a call in the morning from the embryologist to find out if our egg has fertilized. As long as it does, we are looking to transfer it back on Monday morning. My bedrest will start then and last through Thursday.

We arrived at the top of the hill in the rollercoaster- and it went straight down... The only way to go from here is up!

~ We Have a Plan ~

After my ultrasound yesterday, the doctor gave us the thumbs up to trigger ovulation tonight at 9:45pm. That means exactly 34 hours later at 7:45am on Thursday morning, we will be doing the egg retrieval. We almost made it before Mark was leaving, but not quite. Mark is going to give his baby batter Wednesday afternoon and they will keep it in the incubator until Thursday morning retrieval. They have assured us that this is ok - after all, we only need 4 of those millions of sperm to fertilize the 4 egg follicles they will retrieve.

This time around we are doing things a bit differently... instead of transfering the embryos back into me on the 3rd day after retrieval, they are going to wait until day 5. This gives them a chance to basically weed out the embryos that wouldn't have made it between days 3-5. What we will be left with on day 5 will be (hopefully) at least 2 big strong embryos ready to implant themselves into my uterine wall. So - we will not be doing the transfer until a week from today- next Tuesday. I am very hopeful and excited that this 2nd time around is going to work.

I took my last injections of the major hormones last night - today it is just 2 injections. First injection is to prevent me from ovulating today (as that would defeat the purpose if these egg follicles dropped in ovulation and we would lose all we have done thus far) and the second injection will be the HCG tonight to bring on ovulation. It is incredible - the exact timing is critical.

As usual, our family and friends are amazing support. I realize having a conversation with me right now is totally one sided - and I apologize. I am drowning in this whole process - I can't wait to resurface!

~ IVF Round 2 - Cycle Day 12 ~ Still Waiting... ~

Today is IVF cycle day 12. We are scheduled to go to the doctor at 3pm today for another ultrasound to check the size of our follicles. Last check on Saturday, we had a 16mm and 15mm in the left ovary and a 10 & 11mm in the right ovary. Hopefully this afternoon they will be big enough for the doctor to say GO so we can retrieve those suckers on Wednesday morning.

I just spoke with my mom on the phone and she had a dream it was going to be on Wednesday- so I am going with that. That way, Mark is still in town to give his baby batter. Hopefully my extremely intuitive mother is right! Will post later today after our appointment with an update.

For now- it is best that Mark is at work... yesterday he told me that I was a real treat to be around these days. His loving support and patience has it's limits. Hoping today will be the last of the injections to put us both out of our misery!