Ultrasound, ER, and the Doppler

Let me start this post by saying that the second part of our last post (about our new puppy, Stella) was not written by me...that was written by my dear husband. In no way have I ever thought of putting the twins in a crate!



Steve and I had another ultrasound on Monday (8/24) and it was very quick. She confirmed the heart beats and did a crown to rump measurement on both babies. The crown to rump measurement put both babies at 9 weeks, 1 day...so right on track. Boy, were they bigger than our last ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was not very friendly and I had to request pictures...needless to say, they are a little blurry, but they will do. I was just glad to hear that everything looked, "great!"

Well that was Monday....the rest of the week I began a decline to severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. By Friday, I was unable to keep any food or Gatorade down. I told myself if I woke up on Saturday and didn't feel any better, I would call the doctor. On Saturday morning I woke up after being up most of the night in bathroom, I was still very weak and dizzy, but I was starving. I had Steve take me to get breakfast, which I proceeded to eat, but it didn't stay in me for more than about 5 minutes. I broke down and called the doctor and he said to head to the ER. My mom volunteered to go to the ER with me as Steve had worked all night Friday and had not been able to go to sleep yet. The ER staff were wonderful. They did explain that I should never let dehydration get that out of control again. Right before I was discharged, this wonderful nurse asked if I had heard the heartbeats yet (with a Doppler), which I hadn't. She said she used to be an OB RN and said that at 10 weeks you can "sometimes" hear the heart beat with a Doppler and if I wanted, she would try. I of course said "YES" - I was exactly 10 weeks yesterday (Saturday). It took a few minutes but eventually, we heard the galloping of the babies heart beat. It was very difficult to distinguish between Baby A and Baby B, but we definitely heard hearts beating in different part of my uterus...whoo hoo!! Let me tell you...two bags of IV Fluids and IV nausea medicine, I felt like a new woman last night!

Our next appointment is for our Nuchal Translucency Scan (the ultrasound for Down Syndrome and the Trisomies) on September 14th. Steve and I will pass the time until our next appointment, preparing for our trip to San Francisco with Bob, Erica, and my mom and dad - we leave this Friday! We are all quite excited because while we are down there, we have great seats for the Hall and Oates concert on Saturday. Looks like the twins are going to their first concert...they better learn to like Hall and Oates because their grandpa will surely make them Hall and Oates aficionado's.

Announcing.....Buschbach Twins!!

Sorry for the delay in posting....it seems these days I barely have enough energy to get through an entire work day! Steve and I ended up having a few ultrasounds since our last post, but I was hesitant to announce we were pregnant with twins until we made it through a few weeks with no "problems." I am happy to say we have been "problem free" (knock on wood) for the last 2-3 weeks. So, we are officially 8 weeks pregnant with twins and we still are having a hard time wrapping our heads around that...

We also got a new puppy her name is Stella, I figured I needed some practice with something that wakes up early and pees and poops all the time. I think I still need practice. Steve has been working graveyards and I can't handle her in the morning because she has so much energy and I have none, so I leave her in the crate until Steve comes to deal with her. I figured I may have to do this with the twins when they come. I have also noticed that this pregnancy has enhanced my senses and I can smell things from miles away. Puppy's have funny smells... and bad smells.... and their food smells. Long story short, I guess Steve got a new dog as I have yet to claim her due to those smells and her energy. Steve likes her though so I guess we can keep her.

Cautiously Optimistic.......

After much thought about whether or not to announce the outcome of our IVF Cycle, we have decided to share our news - we are PREGNANT!! As the titled says, we are "cautiously optimistic" because Steve and I have already had a few bumps in the road, but we are hoping and praying that everthing will turn out just fine in the end and we are leaving the situation in God's hands.

On Saturday (7/18), I went in for our first blood test and it was positive, my hcg was 306. The next thing they look for is for the number to double over the next 48 hours. On Monday (7/20), we went back in and the blood test came back at 607. As you would expect, I was nervous that the number didn't quite double, but the clinic reassured me that the number was just fine. I must mention that my nervousness and anxiety was compounded by the fact that I have been spotting for the past 4 or 5 days.......ugh! We have scheduled our first early-ultrasound for 8/14, we will be 7 weeks, 6 days pregnant. Our hope and prayer is that we see a baby and a heartbeat!

Steve and I are holding onto hope and our faith in God that this will turn out the way God intends. We appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. It truly means so much to us!

The Waiting Game..... by Steve

Its been 4 days since the embryo transfer and we are waiting impatiently until the day when the blood test can be done to see if we are still progressing along as scheduled. We will update after pregnancy is confirmed by ultrasound in about 3 weeks. Lexie is a little anxious but is coping well. Steve has been cleaning the house constantly because the wind storm we have been having blows sand into the house. If anyone wants to bring over some dirt bikes we can go jump the sand dunes on our back patio. The bathrooms needed to be freshened up so he took care of that as well. What a wonderful husband. He is the greatest ever.

Transfer Scheduled

Steve and I received a call from the clinic this afternoon with an update on our embryo's. We still have 7 embies growing in the lab...yeah!! Then the nurse gave me my instructions for the embryo transfer. Here are the highlights:

We are to arrive at the clinic at 10am and I should promptly empty my bladder. I will then need to drink 32 oz of water between 10 and 10:30am (no chugging). For those who are wondering - the water intake is necessary because they do an abdominal ultrasound prior to the transfer and when your bladder is full, they get a better view of your uterus. I also decided to do acupuncture before and after the transfer (offered by the clinic) - not sure how I am supposed to drink my 32 oz of water and get acupuncture at the same time, I guess we will see. After the acupuncture session, we will meet with the Doctor and the Embryologist and they will make their recommendations about which embryo(s) to implant. After we are implanted, I will have another short acupuncture session and then we are sent home to rest and hope it works!!

Tomorrow is Steve's birthday, how exciting that its the day before our transfer! At least I will have something to look forward to and help pass my time tomorrow, as I'm sure I'll be a ball of nerves!!

Fertilization Report

I must say....god bless my husband and family, because I was a MESS today!

Yesterday at our egg retrieval, both the doctor and the nurse told Steve and I that the office would call us the very next morning to give us a fertilization report (ie, how many of the 13 eggs retrieved were mature, and how many they were able to fertilize). Steve reassured me when I woke up at 7am that most likely they wouldn't call until mid-morning (he thought around 10:30), when mid-morning came and passed, I started to get more and more anxious. By 12pm, it was no longer morning, so I called the office myself, my call was put through to the answering service and they assured me that they would get the on-call physician my message and someone would call us back shortly. By 2:30pm, I was in a full on panic, crying, the whole nine yards. When just about all hope was gone, my phone rang at 2:54pm and it was the clinic!

The fertilization report is in.....of the 13 eggs retrieved, 11 were mature, of those 11 mature eggs, 7 were able to be fertilized. So, Steve and I OFFICIALLY have 7 embryo's growing in the lab - please, oh please grow little embies!! Per the doctor who called today, the clinic will be calling us tomorrow morning to let us know if we are going to do a 3 day transfer (Tuesday) or a 5 day transfer (Thursday) - I must mention....Steve's birthday is on Wednesday, what an amazing birthday gift this would be!!

Retrieval Day - The 4th of July 2009

This is going to be a short post, as I am still a little groggy from the anesthesia. Steve and I arrived at the fertility clinic at 7:30am this morning. By 8:00am I was in the operating room and fast asleep. I woke up around 8:45am and Steve was right there next to me in the recovery room. The doctor came in around 9:00am and shared the good news...13 eggs were retrieved!! Today they will fertilize all of the eggs with a procedure called ICSI. Tomorrow morning they will call us to tell us how many fertilized eggs made it to the embryo stage. By Monday morning, we should know if we are going to do a 3-day transfer or a 5-day transfer. Please pray that our embryo's grow and fertilize normally. Thanks to all of you for you love, support, and encouragement. Now, it's time to catch up on some recorded TV!