McFarland Wedding

This weekend was Kevin McFarland and Jennifer Pretzkey's wedding. The ceremony was outside at the Lemp mansion, and the weather was fantastic for August. Tim was an usher, and he saved the day when a group of kids started throwing walnuts at a tree about 10 feet from the guests. Luckily, he stopped them before an errant walnut hit someone in the head. : )

The reception was held at the Lemp Grand Hall, just around the block. The party was great, and even Fredbird was there to join in on the fun!

Tim and Heather during dinner

The groom (Kevin) with Heather and Jen.

Hanging outside

Fredbird joins the party

Fredbird leads the congo line.


Cardinals Rule!

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

What's going on?

The waiting this week has been so intense! I'm really glad we did this process over summer break because it hasn't been my finest week. Lots of side effects from the progesterone shots and probably still from the embryo transfer.

So, while we're waiting I thought I'd post what should be happening with the embrios now...

this is what happens in a 5 day transfer (which is what we did. It means 5 days after the egg retrieval):
-1 day before transfer- embryo is growing and developing in petri dish
-0 days before transfer (i.e. day of transfer!)-embryo is now a blastocyst
-1 day past transfer- blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
-2 days past transfer- blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
-3 days past transfer- implantation begins as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
-4 days past transfer- implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
-5 days past transfer- morula is completely implanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells
-6 days past transfer- placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
-7 days past transfer- more HCG is produced as fetus develops
-8 days past transfer- more HCG is produced as fetus develops


Hopefully those little embies- Faith and Hope- are growing strong. Grow babies, grow!

Couch Potato!

I have been on bedrest since Thursday morning because... we got the embyro's transferred!



Here are the pictures of the blastulas that were transferred. Isn't it amazing how perfectly round and similar they are? They are beautiful! I've been doing my best to keep as flat as possible to give them a chance to attach, so they can grow.

Apparently we already have so much to be thankful for. I've been on a forum for other women who have been on the same cycle as I have with the clinic we chose, and we have been very lucky, to say the least. We had 22 eggs retrieved and 13-14 fertilized, but a lot of women don't have many eggs or they don't have a good number fertilze. One woman had 2 fertilized but neither of them made it to blastula stage. My heart was broken for her, but still trying to stay positive and upbeat for us. The blastulas we didn't use are going to be frozen for the future.

In the meantime, it's been hard to stay so still! It's funny that there are some days we just wish for time to sit and relax and don't get it. When we have to, it's not as much fun! Oh well, we got lots of good movies and books and I have my laptop :)

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!