A Year Ago

Dear Kennedy and Graham,

A year ago we were filled with hope, fear, anticipation and love.  A year ago, I gave myself a shot that hurt my skin but filled my heart, and it started the whole process that gave us you.  A year ago we put all our eggs in one basket- literally!  I walked into the doctor's office and saw the beautiful embryos that would become you.  I have loved you from that moment.  And when we left the doctor's office (me in a wheel chair and on strict bed rest, Daddy driving very carefully) I began the process of growing my two beautiful babies.  My body held you for the first time and I took very good care of you!  We called you Hope and Faith, because that is what it was all about.  We hoped for you like nobody has ever hoped before, and we put all our faith in God and our doctor.  AND THEN THERE WAS YOU!  I will never forget the day I got the news that we were pregnant, and I just KNEW there were two of you. 

Since a year ago we have lived our lives for you.  Because there is nothing better in the whole world for Daddy and me than loving you.

Love,
Mommy

Healthy Heartbeats

Tuesday we went to the doctor's office again for another ultrasound. The babies were almost twice the size as last week. And, the most amazing thing I have every experienced: we got to hear their heartbeats and see their tiny hearts pumping on the ultrasound screen!

Baby A

One baby was closer to the ultrasound, so it was a little easier to see. Baby A measured .59 cm (about 1/4 of an inch!) and had a heartbeat of 120 beats per minute. The baby is the bean-looking ball in the center of the black circle. The part to the right of the bean is the yolk sac and the placenta is starting to form. It's hard to see in this picture, but the doctor pointed out the umbilical chord forming too.

Baby B

The other baby is harder to see because it is further away from the ultrasound. We got to hear Baby B's heartbeat as well, the doctor measured it at 115 beats per minute and the baby was .58 cm.

The doctor said all looked well and we graduated to a regular OB/GYN! We feel like we've passed one milestone... with many more to go! It's an exciting experience! I feel tired daily, especially since school started again. That's okay though, because it means the babies are getting stronger every day.

Two of a Kind Makes a Full House

On Wednesday, August 5th Tim and I went in for our first ultrasound post-embryo transfer and the doctor said everything looked great. He showed us our baby that is growing, and then he said "and here's it's neighbor!" It was so amazing to see both our babies so close together and snuggled in. So, we're expecting TWINS on April 3!

the two babies together

Baby A on the right, Baby B on the left. Our "little beans"

I'm calculated at being 6 weeks right now. At 6 weeks, the babies have 3 different layers of cells. A sac is forming that will become the heart, and it's already starting to pump blood! On the ultrasound, they look like two little black beans, but they are working hard to grow strong and healthy. Next week we go in for another ultrasound, with the hopes of hearing heartbeats in our little beans :)

I have been feeling pretty good, a little tired but overall Tim and I couldn't be more happy. The last few weeks were a little uncomfortable because I was retaining so much fluid. The fluid buildup was caused by the excessive hormones from both our little embryos, and my body couldn't handle them all. My fluid retention has gone down a lot, which is a relief since I'm starting school next week! The doctor commented on the amount of fluid build-up on the ultrasound, but wasn't too concerned. I wanted to say "Buddy, this is nothing! You should have seen me last week!" It was good to hear him say that, though.

And...

It's confirmed... the dr. called today to say- WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!!! This is such a dream come true for us. This (these) baby (babies?) have been hoped for and prayed about for so long! I can't believe we're going to be parents in 9 months!

My first ultrasound will be in about 2 weeks, and we'll know more then. For now, keeping up with the shots and meds, no excersise (grrr!) and more waiting. For sure our prayers have been answered though.

Lots of love,
Heather and Tim
(aka. Mommy and Daddy)
:D

Our Lucky Number is... 13!

We waited all day Sunday for the phone call, but I had to call Monday morning to see how our eggs were doing. They told us we had 13 fertilized!

Tim thinks we should implant all 13 and have our own reality show called the Horstmann Horde- 13 and Done! Just kidding, we'll probably stick with our plans of 2.

The egg retrieval really took a lot out of me. I was down for the count on Saturday, and today is really the first day I feel like I have energy or drive to do anything. I've felt bloated and uncomfortable since Saturday, and found out today that it's a typical side-effect to the egg retrieval process. It's all worth it, but I really didn't think it would have affected me so much.

We just keep praying for our babies, and hope they decide to stick on Thursday!

Ultrasound Today

I went in for an ultrasound today, and the Dr. said everything looks great! He counted 15 follicles that will be big enough to extract and a few more that were too small. Holy crap, that's a lot! No wonder my ovariesback has been hurting so bad!!

Now, I know you must be asking yourself... "15 follicles? Will they all be babies?" No, Tim and I don't want to compete with Jon and Kate or the Duggars (for all you TLC fans). We will most likely implant 2 blastulas, and they will freeze and store the others for us.

I'm continuing to give myself the Follistim shots and Lupron shots as well as take the steriod pills orally. My next appointment is on Thursday for a follow-up to see how well the follies grew, and to set up an appointment for extraction. It's looking like it might be this Saturday!

Needless to say, I'm very excited. It feels like we're on track! I'm almost in tears right now thinking that in another few weeks I could be pregnant, and in 9 months Tim and I could be a mommy and daddy. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, but everything has been going so well lately, kind of falling into place. I just keep saying my prayers, and hope God sees the true hopes in our hearts.

Shots, Shots, Shots!

One of the first shots I took, Lupron, was to supress my pituitary glands from secreting hormones. Luetenizing hormones and follicle stimulating hormones are both produced in the pituitary gland, so in order to manipulate my ovaries to do what we need them to for the harvesting process of IVF we supressed the pituitary gland and then I'm starting shots that will provide my body with extra hormones.

Last night I started another shot, called Menopur. This one is a leutenizing hormone, which in females will stimulate the ovaries to produce mature follicles. The last shot I started (which I'm still taking) was to make my ovaries produce a lot of follicles. So these two hormones working together should make me have a lot of mature, healthy follicles, which hold the eggs.

On Tuesday I will go in for my ultrasound, where the doctor will determine when he thinks I will be ready to harvest the eggs. I feel like a chicken! Shake a tail feather :)

Oh My GOODNESS!

So today I started a new shot. Follistim is used to stimulate my follicles in my ovaries, so there are multiple follicles (eggs) at the same time. Overall, a good idea since we want to fertilize a bunch at the same time.

The needle was bigger than the other one I'm still giving myself, and I had to inject 300 cc's. That's a LOT!!! It burned the whole time going in, with Tim standing over my shoulder saying "you've got it! Almost there! Just a little more to go!" Thanks, Coach ;) By the time it was done, my whole upper leg burned like I got stung by a bee.

This will continue for another week or so... stay tuned to more interesting and important factoids about this lovely process.

Ouch!

So today was the first day of my shots and even though I was nervous, I took a deep breath and then took the plunge- literally! Luckily the needles were small and didnt' hurt too bad going in, but the meds burned!! And now there's a hard knot in my leg where I injected myself. The injection was to supress hormone production from my pituitary glands. I'm also starting a low dose steriod to reduce the inflammatory response that my body would make to foreign bodies (the embryos they will implant).

So 3 more weeks of injections before they are able to tell if my eggs are ready to harvest, then months of different shots ahead... ::sigh:: All for a good cause, right? :)

Mark It On Your Calendar

Today I had a caledar meeting at our fertilty doctor's office to discuss medicine and what to expect in the next month. Tim wanted to go with me, but we decided he should save his vacation days for real appointments and paternity leave. I was really nervous and armed with lots of questions before I went in and after the meeting I felt so much better. Here's the low-down and dirty:

I've been on birth control pills for over a month now. Isn't that ironic? We're trying to get pregnant so I'm on the Pill? They want me to be on their timeline, so we're regulating my cycle. I'm going to be on a total of 9 different Rx to help with fertility. Let's just say I'd better get used to giving myself shots every day. They are little sub-cutaneous shots, but needles are needles.

Sometime during the week of July 7th my follicles should be ready and they will harvest them before fertilizing them to make embryos.

5 days after the eggs are fertilized, they are called a blastocyst, which means a ball of cells. They wait until the embryos are a little more developed to determine which ones are the best to implant- the better blasts are the most likely to become little babies! We'll probably transfer 2 blasts, which ups our chances for twins but also increases the chances that at least one will survive.

After the transfer, I'm on bed rest for 24 hours and then have to take it easy for the next few weeks, but for the most part I'm allowed to do whatever activities I normally do. I was worried about not being able to do my normal workout, but the manager said it shouldn't be a problem- just no crunces or abs. The worst part of all of this is that Tim will have to give me intramuscular shots in my glute muscles for 8 weeks after the transfer. :(

The only hitch of the day was I had my Rx filled and it was quite pricey. Insurance was supposed to cover them, but the pharmacy said they weren't in network so I had to pay full price. After contacting the insurance company (after having paid for the meds) I was told I had to go to a special pharmacy that was mail order. Uh, that would have been good to know ahead of time, like one of the 50 times we contacted the insurance company in the past few months! Oh well, it's an investment, right? ;)

We'll keep you posted on things as they go! We're excited because we feel like we're really doing this now. Before was a lot of waiting, but now we have a plan.

Summer Plans

Tim and I are very excited about our summer plans. After trying to get pregnant for a year and seeing multiple doctors, they have helped us come to the conclusion that the best way for us to get pregnant is through In Vitro Fertilization. (IVF) So...

We are scheduled to start the July cycle, and hopefully will have good results. Tim is starting to take some shots that he has to give himself either in his thigh muscle or in his belly. I mixed the first dose for him, and he's still alive so I guess I didn't mess it up too bad! We're really excited about this, and are hopeful that it will be successful. We'll keep you posted!