National Infertility Awareness Week

April 20-26 is National Infertility Awareness Week. The movement began in 1989  with the goal to raise awareness about infertility and encourage the public to better understand reproductive health.  The theme this year is "Resolve to know more."  Infertility is a medical condition that affects 7.3 million women and their partners in the United States- that's 12% of reproductive age population.  1 in 8 couples faces infertility. That's right, 1 in 8. Infertility in 35% of couples is a female problem and 35% a male problem.  In 20% of cases its a combined problem, while in 10% it is unexplained.

I have been pondering over this post for a few days, unsure of what I wanted to say.  I always had a gut feeling (call in women's intuition) that getting pregnant probably wouldn't be a walk in the park for us because of the extreme amount of stress my body has gone through physically in only a matter of a few years.  The extreme stress my body was under from being in a constant state of pain (often severe, especially those first few years), I knew would take a toll on me.  I never would have guessed how deep and just how hard infertility would be on us.

Reproducing is a basic human function.  It is also one of the most complicated and complex processes.  Countless factors have to be just right for you to conceive.  If just one of these factors is off but even a minuscule amount, it can make it impossible to conceive.  Reproduction is also a very taboo subject that no one really wants to talk about publicly. At very young school age, you giggle and squirm in your chair when you learn about sexual reproduction in health or science class.  It is a very personal process, but when you are dealt the hand of infertility, all privacy, intimacy, and modesty go out the window.  You are asked by your doctors very personal questions about your sex life and your reproductive organs.  You start using a language full of medical jargon and abbreviations.   You are told down to minutes and hours when to "get busy" with your partner.  It can be extremely shameful, isolating, and make you feel like less of a woman, or man.

Like being diagnosed with any medical condition or ailment, being diagnosed with infertility requires you to become an advocate for your health. You need to know when to seek professional help from a specialist and be informed about all your options.  It is vitally important to know about the medications, procedures, finances, etc.  If you are the loved one, friend, or family of someone who is struggling with infertility, it is so important to educate yourself on how to best support this person. There are definitely things that are helpful and beneficial, and things you can do or say that could very well end up hurting the person on the receiving end very much.  For example, DO NOT say, "Just stop trying, and it will happen!" or "Why don't you just adopt?" or tell someone to "take a vacation and it will happen."  Also do not explain how your co-worker's best friend's cousin twice removed tried for X amount of years, and then she started drinking apple juice while laying upside down once a day, and then magically she got pregnant.  Comments like these are hurtful and frustrating, not helpful.  Again, infertility is a medical condition that needs to be addressed by a medical doctor with medical interventions.

Do ask your loved one or friend, "How are you doing?" or offer a listening ear.  There were so many times I hoped and prayed that certain friends would just ask me heartfelt how we were doing or how were were feeling.  But again, people don't want to talk about infertility. Do also try to educate yourself a little so you can ask informed questions. For example, showing that you took the time and effort to learn a little about what all is involved in an IUI and why it is done would show your loved you care about what they are going through.

One of my main reasons I decided to document out infertility journey publicially was to try to bring awareness to the diagnosis and bring it out of the shadows and I certainly hope that those that have followed our journey have been able too see how much infertility affects a person's life.  We are extremely blessed to be on the other side now and be a success story, but infertility will always be a part of our story.

I'll update with a baby bump post in a couple days so stay tuned!

Till next time...

Weeks 12 -14: Baby gifts, bump shots, and ultrasound pics!

Ok, ok.  I am officially a bad blogger.  I think about posting often but realize I either a) don't have all that much to say, or b) would rather take a nap.

Before I get to baby updates, I first want to give a quick shout out.  When we started getting closer to the likelihood that we would be doing IVF, I of course being a medical professional, wanted all the information I could get so I threw myself into researching all the options, protocols, costs, success rates, etc.  But I also wanted to know about the emotional, psychological, and physical side of the process.  Through a friend and blogger Joy (Inner Joy Knox) who dealt with some infertility, I found several blogs of other infertiles and started reading and following their stories.  There are many downfalls of infertility, but the support in the blogging community is definitely not one of them. There are SO many amazing women out there who are open and honest about their journeys and write about them so beautifully.  I count myself blessed to know these women.  I found the blog of one girl in particular who I felt compelled to contact personally.  Elena (Baby Ridley Bump) and I have since become good friends and email several times a week.  When you with find out someone in your life becomes pregnant, it can be hard, emotional and bittersweet.  I completely and totally understand this feeling and have had to fake a congratulatory smile and happiness, while inside, I was heartbroken.  Elena has been so unbelievably sweet, supportive, and interested in my pregnancy so far and I know she is truly happy for me. I think you feel differently when a fellow infertile announces a pregnancy because it gives you hope that these crazy hormones and procedures can work.  It gives you motivation to keep poking and prodding yourself, keep dealing with the nasty side effects of all the hormones, and keep walking the tough road because you can get to the other side.   

After we got pregnant and knew everything was developing normally, I had tons of extra bottles of all the supplements Harrison and I were taking that were recommended by the IVF clinic.  I emailed Elena and offered to mail her my immense supply.  She was so appreciative and I was glad I could pass these on.  I had been given some medication and supplements as well from a girl I knew who was about to have a baby via her second IVF.  I knew how much this small gesture meant to me and I was happy I could pay it forward.  Well, late last week, I got a package in the mail from Elena.  It was the sweetest customized thank you note and these completely adorable Aden & Anais bibs.  

Thanks Elena! I LOVE them! 

I have also received a few other small gifts for the baby in the last couple weeks.  One of my oldest and dearest friends gave us this Tennessee Vol inspired spit up cloth..

Needless to say, Harrison loved it.  And a friend of my parents gave us our first book for the baby...

Now onto little baby Slatery.  I have been feeling ok the past couple weeks, although I did have a week or so where I was having a lot of sickness.  I was waking up around midnight and getting sick.  After 3 or 4 nights of this and not sleeping well at all because of the severe nausea, I threw in the towel and called the doctor for some phenergan.  Not only has that helped with the sickness but it also helps me sleep.  I'm not taking it every night, but I am still getting some nausea late at night a few times a week.  It usually starts around 8-9 pm.  Here are some bump shots of last week at 13 weeks and this week at 14 weeks.

13 weeks

14 weeks

We had our first appointment with the High risk OB a couple weeks ago and everything went well.  Baby looked really good on ultrasound and the nasal bone scan and Nuchal Translucency scan were normal.  These are things that look for signs of down syndrome.  Baby's heart rate was 158.  We actually got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, since our infertility doctor did not have his speakers to his ultrasound machine hooked up.  It was a beautiful sound and brought tears to my eyes.

Baby is about the size of a lemon now...about 3 1/2 inches.  It can now grimace, squint, frown, and suck its thumb! Kidneys are now functioning and by the end of the week, so will the liver and spleen.   Baby is very active and flexible as we saw during the ultrasound, but I haven't started feeling any movements yet.  We aren't scheduled to find out the gender until May 14 at our 19 week anatomy scan but we have an appointment this week and Harrison is hoping they can take a peak.  We aren't scheduled for an ultrasound at the appointment, just doppler to hear the heartbeat.  The office is very big and very busy so I doubt they have the ability like a small, more personal office would to just take a look if no one is using the ultrasound room. So I really doubt we will find out this week.

Till next time...

Weeks 10 & 11

Please excuse the lack of updates the last couple weeks. Honestly, I have not been feeling very good for a couple of reasons, which I'll get to in a minute, and blogging has not been high on my list of priorities.  Baby S is still growing and developing and things continue to look good.  We had our final appointment with our infertility specialist on Wednesday this past week and had an ultrasound.  Baby has grown so much and actually looks like a little human at this point instead of just a blob. It was very active during the ultrasound, moving and squirming all around.  It is fully developed with arms, legs, fingers, and toes. It was truly an amazing and beautiful site to see.

So as I mentioned, the last couple weeks have been kinda tough.  Growing a human is no joke I tell ya.  It definitely takes a major toll on your body.  The first 6 weeks or so after I found out I was in fact pregnant, I did not really have much morning sickness.  There were definitely certain foods and smells that made me think "yuck, I do not want that..." But I really only had some minor nausea a couple times and didn't ever actually get sick.  I thought I was going to be one of the fortunate women who wasn't going to suffer from morning sickness.  Well, in week nine I started getting more nauseated more often and then in week 10, I started throwing up.  People keep telling me that is gonna get better soon since I am almost to my second trimester but I'm not completely convinced.  I think there's a little more going on than just hormones causing me to be sick.  A few days after I had my gallbladder removed in December of 2012, I had to be readmitted to the hospital because my digestive system had stopped moving and digesting food properly.  After several days in the hospital and a lot of testing, and a specialized test in January, I was diagnosed with something called gastroparesis as well as reflux. Gastroparesis is a condition where your stomach is basically really slow in digesting food and moving it on to your intestines.  This causes nausea, vomiting, and a feeling of fullness almost all the time.  My gastroparesis was luckily not severe and while I did take
some medication for a few months, I was able to come off the medication and manage mine fairly well with diet changes.   Your body changes so much in pregnancy, even in early pregnancy.  Hormones slow digestion and the growing of the uterus and the baby pushes up on the stomach.
I think this explains why the past couple weeks my morning sickness has gotten worse.  I have my first appointment on Wednesday with the high-risk OB so I plan on talking to him about it and seeing if I should go back to my gastroenterologist or back on medication. Fortunately, the medication for gastroparesis is safe for me to take in pregnancy.

The other issue I've been dealing with the last few weeks is pain. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to switch my pain medication from a category C to a category B. I saw my pain doctor and she was okay with the idea of switching. I thought I could start the new medication on the equivalent dose of what I was previously on, but the clinic doesn't often prescribe the medication and when they do, they have a limit on the amounts and dosage they will give. So while the dose that I was given was the most she could prescribe for this medication, it is about 1/3 the dosage of what I am used to on my other medication.  When I have done weans before, we usually only cut my dose by about 25% each time so this was definitely the biggest wean I have ever attempted.  Well, unfortunately my body has not been responding very well and I have been having a lot of pain and I have had to take my other medication many times because the new one just didn't touch my pain.  This has been really discouraging mentally and physically.  Plus, being in a lot of pain only makes my nausea worse and getting sick makes my neck pain worse so it's kinda been a viscous cycle.  I am hoping and praying that over time my body can adjust to the new medication but I also have to be good to myself and my body and maintain my quality of life.  The good news is that really with the doses of either medication and the amount I take on average, my pain doctor feels really good about the baby having a positive outcome and the possibility that the baby could come out healthy and not need to spend much, if any, time in the NICU.

One more bit of good news...no more progesterone shots! I am so, so, SO glad to be done with these. Of course, I would go through it all over again for our little peanut but man, was my butt sore!  I got to wean off slowly last week and had my level checked when we went in on Wednesday and my level was still nice and high so that's great news. It means that the placenta has take over and is producing enough hormones to keep this pregnancy going for another 6-7 months! Again, we have our first OB appointment on Wednesday this week so we will get another beautiful picture of baby Slatery and probably do a lot of blood work and other tests so please be praying that everything goes well.  I'll try to get back in the habit of posting at least once a week.  Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a great week!

Till next time..

9 weeks and My 30th Birthday

(So I have no idea what happened to my original 9 week post.  I wrote a really long post but apparently when it published, it reverted back to my draft which only had one paragraph! I will try and summarize what I had written originally.)

We are now 9 weeks along.  The weeks seem to be going by very quickly so far.  This week was fairly uneventful.  I did have a couple bouts of pretty severe nausea where I thought I was going to get sick but was able to ward it off with ginger ale and crackers.  I feel like the fatigue has lessened slightly, except for yesterday.  This week has been really busy for me and by yesterday afternoon, I was so exhausted I literally didn't know if I could stay awake to drive home. I got home around 5, ate dinner, took a shower, and was in bed by 8 and asleep by 8:30.  That is very rare for me.  Usually, and especially since being pregnant, it has been taking a couple hours for me to fall asleep, no matter how tired I am.  I get in bed and my mind just keeps reeling thinking about all the things I need to do to get ready for a baby....crazy right?  I still have 7 more months! But in my head, I am already making to do lists It's not getting the nursery ready that I am stressing about....it is all the stuff leading up to that...clean out the garage to make more storage room, clean out the closets, organize everything, donate to Goodwill, paint both bedrooms, etc, etc, etc.  I try to tell myself it is nuts to already be stressing about this kind of stuff.  I know its going to get done and it is just going to take time.  I wish I could snap my fingers and these things would be done.

Wednesday was kinda a big day...my 30th birthday!  I am married to an amazing, sweet man who put a lot of thought into my day and planned a few surprises for me.  I woke up to a note and some beautiful flowers telling me that I needed to be ready to be picked up for lunch at noon.  He said he had a few special things planned for the afternoon and then we had dinner plans as well.  I was picked up at noon by one of my dearest, best, and oldest friends Kim who had taken the day off work to spend with me. Kim and her husband Mike are some of our closest friends who we see often, but its been ages since Kim and I have gotten to spend time just the two of us so this was really special to me.  We went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory where I probably gained 5 lbs and took home a piece of Godiva Chocolate cheesecake that took me 4 days to eat.  Then, we went to a local spa where Harrison had made appointments for both of us for a massage.  I happened to mention that I was pregnant when we got there and were signing in and apparently, this was a problem. Spas can not legally do a massage in the first trimester, which I had no idea.  They offered to let us reschedule for when I was in my second trimester (beginning of April) and gave us complimentary mini facials for the inconvenience which was nice of them.  Since we ended up having some free time that afternoon, Kim and I got to do some shopping instead and talked a lot about baby products.  Kim is already a mommy to a 2 year old, who is very special to me, so she gave me a lot of tips about baby gear and what I need (or don't need).

For dinner we went to a really nice Italian restaurant called Naples and when we walked in, I saw about 10 of our closest friends waiting for me.  It meant so much to me that all of these people took time out of their week to come celebrate with me.  I am so very blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends.  My 30th really was one of the best birthdays I've ever had. I am so excited about what God has in store for us this year.  I know my 30s are going to be a wonderful new chapter in my life!

This week in development of little baby Slatery, baby is about an inch long, about the size of a grape. Baby is looking more and more like a human every day.  Essential body parts are accounted for, and the "tail" is gone.  The heart is dividing into four chambers and valves are starting to form.  Eyes are fully formed, it has tiny earlobes, and mouth and nose are more distinct.  The placenta is developed enough now that it is starting to take over the job of producing hormones...great news for me because this means I can start weaning on the Progesterone shots!  I definitely will not be sad to see these go!

Till next week...

8 weeks

Thursday we entered into our 8th week of pregnancy.  I continue to feel mostly alright, except for exhaustion. I have had a few more bouts of random nausea, but haven't actually gotten sick yet.  Not sure if that counts as morning sickness, although my sister says it does!  I have been craving a lot of carbs, like pasta, which isn't typical for me.  I'm guessing my body is just using a lot of energy for our growing little peanut so my body is craving something it can easily convert to energy. And even though I'm always really tired, I have been having a really hard time falling asleep the past week or so.  I get in bed around 9 because I am just so tired but then I don't fall asleep till midnight.  Its rather frustrating.  My sister gave me her big pregnancy body pillow so I'm hoping that will help me be more comfortable and get some more decent rest.

I am still getting blood work done twice a week to check my progesterone levels.  I am so ready to be done with the progesterone injections.  My backside is so sore and bruised.  I mean SO SORE.  It is hard to sit because the back of chairs hit the areas where I have to do the shots.  I am having to get creative in where I am doing the shots because the areas on both sides where they are supposed to be given are black and blue and I have knots in my muscles from the injections.  So while one area heals and recovers, I have to use another area for a few nights in a row.  The first couple weeks the shots didn't hurt or bother me but now they are hurting more and more and I dread the injection every night.  I am sleeping on a heating pad under my butt most nights because even laying down flat hurts. Luckily I only have 2 or 3 more weeks of these but right now that seems like such a long time.

I was having pretty regular cramping there for awhile but for a week or 2, I was hardly having any.  Then on Thursday night, I had pretty intense cramping for about 30 minutes.  I got up a few times to make sure I didn't have any spotting, which I didn't but it still worried me of course.  I had my scheduled blood work on Friday morning and when I told the nurse, she said it would probably be a good idea to do a quick ultrasound just to check on things.  I was hoping that would be the case when I told them, so I was relieved to get one done.   Everything checked out fine, and the baby looked good.  The heart beat was strong and measured 150 beats per minute, perfectly average.

This week in development the baby is about the size of a kidney bean.  Little webbed fingers and toes extend from hands and feet, eyelids are practically covering its eyes, breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of the developing lungs, and its tail is just about gone.  It's simply amazing to think of all this going on inside me.  Truly miraculous.  

I will have a final ultrasound in my 11th week with my current doctor and I have my first appointment with the high risk OB scheduled for March 26.  Once we are at 12 weeks (March 27), we will be in the so called "safe zone" and will move into our second trimester once we hit 13 weeks.   This is typically when people announce a pregnancy, but obviously ours is already public knowledge. However it will be nice to be out of the early phases where the risk of miscarriage is higher.  Plus, my birthday is this Wednesday so March is a big month for us!  Its hard to believe I will be turning the big 3-0.  While this is a big milestone, I am obviously thrilled about how our lives will change this year and excited for what my 30s will hold.

One thing I have yet to talk about and many of you may be curious about is my pain issues.  The past couple weeks I have not been feeling all that well.  I know my body is going through a lot of changes and I have high levels of hormones surging through my body (hormones can have a significant effect on pain and inflammation...sometimes good, sometimes bad).  I have also had a lot of bad muscle spasms in my back. Again, I know my body is going through a lot right now so I'm hoping that some of this will diminish in the coming weeks.  Whenever I have pain, I try to take tylenol first to see if that will help enough to prevent me from having to take my stronger medication.  If it doesn't help or if my pain is already to a level where I know that other things like heat, ice, my TENS unit, etc., won't work, then I do take my stronger medication.  The medication I am on now and have been on for a long time is a pregnancy category C.  I have done a lot of research and have found another medication that is a category B.  Most of the prescription pain medications for moderate to severe pain are actually fairly safe in pregnancy and have not shown an increase in causing major or minor birth defects.  The risk of course is late in pregnancy leading up to delivery.  I have mentioned before that while I try to take the bare minimum in order for me to be able to function on a daily basis, it will  be most important in  my third trimester to wean down to as low of a dose or take as little as possible in order to minimize the risk to the baby.  This is something I am working very closely with my pain doctor on and will be monitored closely by the high risk OB.  I'm sure many people have opinions and beliefs about the fact that I am on medication but I do not take the issue lightly and I use many other alternative therapies to help with my pain to try minimize the amount of medication I have to take.   I will do whatever I can and whatever my doctors recommend to minimize the risks to our child while trying to take care of myself and manage my pain.  Please be praying for this issue specifically during the next few weeks and months.

Our First Ultrasound

First of all, I want to say thank you.  After the announcement last week, we were OVERWHELMED with all of your comments, messages, emails, texts, phone calls, etc.  From the bottoms for our hearts,  thank you. Thank you for your excitement for us.  Thank you for your support and encouragement. And most importantly, thank you for your prayers.  We are so grateful and are blessed to call family and friends.

Yesterday we entered our 7th week.  It's hard to believe that today it has been 3 weeks since we found out.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind.  The past few weeks I have been counting down the days until our first ultrasound.  While of course I was overjoyed to finally be pregnant after a two and a half year struggle, the initial shock of finding out quickly turned into worry and anxiety.  While I knew I was pregnant, I didn't really feel any different besides being tired.  I'm still on hormones, progesterone injections and an estrogen patch.  After a few of our IUI attempts I was on progesterone pills during the two week waiting period and learned that fatigue is definitely a side effect for me from the progesterone. So while I could attribute the fatigue to the pregnancy, I could also blame it on the progesterone.  So I knew for me it was really going to take seeing the image of the ultrasound for all of this to become real for me.  Once I knew were pregnant and knew my hormones were rising appropriately, the questions in my mind turned to what will we see on ultrasound? Will things look normal?  And most importantly, will there be a heartbeat? I have been very anxious the past few as I marked of the days on the calendar.  Finally on Tuesday afternoon, we had our first ultrasound.  

Again, our prayers were heard and answered when we saw the gestational sac and in the corner was our little peanut. Our baby. Little baby Slatery.  And within that little peanut, the flicker of a beautiful heartbeat.  The tears immediately started to fall...tears of joy and tears of relief.  There it was. Proof that I have life growing inside me.  I was overwhelmed with emotion and still am.

Hard to see but the black kidney bean shaped area is the gestational sac and the baby is the tiny dot on the right side. 

My doctor did see some cysts on my ovaries, not surprising after IVF. It also explains some pain I've been having.  Nothing to be concerned about really.  The other finding on ultrasound that is of some concern was a small pocket of bleeding next to the gestational sac (a chorionic hematoma for all you medial professionals out there).  My doctor said it's something he commonly sees.  I have not have any spotting or bleeding yet which is good.  It is just something he wants to monitor the next few weeks.  If I do start bleeding though, he said he would put me on bed rest.  He will have perform another ultrasound our tenth week but said that I can come in and have a nurse do a "reassurance" ultrasound anytime.  After our ten week ultrasound, he will transfer my care to an obstetrician.  While I had a feeling I would be referred to a high risk OB, he confirmed that I will be high risk.  This is not because of infertility or IVF but because of my chronic pain issues and one of my medications. My doctor is referring me to a wonderful doctor and is in the process of scheduling my first appointment, which will probably be sometime around my 11th week.   

In the meantime these next couple weeks I will continue my hormones and we will continue praying for healthy, normal development of our little peanut.  Currently, baby Slatery is measuring 3/4 a centimeter so about the size of a pea.  In development this week, hands and feet are starting to emerge from developing arms and legs.  Again, besides being tired, I am feeling ok.  No bad nausea or sickness yet, thank goodness.  

As always thanks for your support and for following our journey! Till next time! 

Are We or Aren't we? Without further adieu...

     I know I've kept you all waiting long enough, so it is with excitement, overwhelming joy, and incredible thanksgiving that I can officially announce that I am pregnant!

     On Friday, January 31, I went in for my blood test (Beta #1).  I went in to the clinic right before their hour and a half lunch break from 12- 1:30 (poor planning on my part), so I knew it would be around 2 pm before I would get the call.  I had decided earlier that I did not want to be alone when I got the call in the case of it being negative.  Harrison had a very busy day at work that Friday because after months of hard work, his company was handing over the keys to the owners of house they have been working on.  He had said he would try to be home around 2 so that we could hopefully get the call together, but of course could not make any guarantees.  I was actually in the car with my mom (she was driving in case I got the call) on my way home when I looked down and had missed a call from my doctors office!!  My phone was sitting in my lap and hadn't even rung.  I quickly called back but it was busy.  Then Harrison called.  I quickly told him I had missed a call from the doctor and would call him right back.  I almost hung up on him before he interrupted me and told me he was at home and the nurse had called our house phone.  He put the phone on speaker and put his cell phone up to the phone so I could hear.

"Well, congratulations! You're pregnant!"

    I couldn't believe it.  I verified that the nurse had indeed said we were pregnant...at that point my mom started screaming and broke down sobbing! (Turns out maybe I should have been driving!! She quickly pulled into a Wendy's parking lot).  I couldn't hear what the nurse was saying anymore and actually had to ask my mom to be quiet!  I asked multiple times if they were really sure.  She said my level was 158 and that we were definitely pregnant!

   My mom and I quickly but safely headed to my house so I could see Harrison.  We hugged, we cried, we thanked God and both said that we were pretty much in shock.  We called his parents and told them the news.  We had both tried to prepare ourselves for the possibility of a negative. We knew that while our chances with IVF were very good, there was a strong possibility of us not getting pregnant on our first attempt. But I tried to remain positive, hopeful and optimistic, knowing that we had so many beautiful embryos frozen and that we could do a frozen embryo transfer (or several) if it didn't work this time.

     The first couple days were very surreal and we were still very much in shock and still nervous knowing that things can change very quickly when it's this early.  To add to my anxiety, Harrison left Monday to go to Las Vegas for work for the week so I was by myself for the week.  I had to go back to the doctor on Monday for Beta #2 and Wednesday for Beta #3.  Hcg levels are supposed to double every 48-72 hours at this early stage of pregnancy so I knew that I wanted to see what these numbers were before I really let it sink in and let myself get excited.  Monday my level was 730 and Wednesday it was 2068.  Both my doctor here and Nashville Fertility Center were very happy with these numbers and said things were looking very good so far.

     So here we are now at almost 6 weeks.  I will be getting my blood drawn twice a week for the next 4-5 weeks to monitor my hormone levels.  I am on progesterone injections and an estrogen patch to support my hormone levels and make sure they stay high enough to maintain the pregnancy.  My infertility specialist here in Knoxville will monitor me till I am 10 weeks, and then I will transfer to an OB.  We will get our first ultrasound next Tuesday and hopefully hear that beautiful heart beat.  Of course it is still very early.  Is there a risk of telling people and making it public knowledge this early? Absolutely.   Do we still need your support and prayers?  Without a doubt!

     We have had SO much love, support, and prayers through this whole process that we wanted to share our joyful news and we want all those that have been walking through this journey with us to thank God for this amazing blessing and rejoice with us!   Going through infertility, especially IVF, and choosing to be open, honest, and vulnerable throughout the process definitely has its ups and downs, but one of the major ups is that we have had people around the country and around the world (that still amazes me) following our story and praying for us, so we feel like sharing this news with everyone is the very least we can do to thank you for all of the support and prayers!  I can not thank you enough for reading my blog, following our journey, supporting us, loving us, and especially praying for us.  I have felt a calm and a peace in my heart throughout this process and I know it is because we have been covered in prayers.

Please continue to pray for us in the coming weeks.  Please pray for the health and development of our beautiful embryo and for my health as my body adjusts to being pregnant.