My Levels Were What?

So when you do IVF and get a positive pregnancy test, they draw your blood every 2-3 days to make sure that your HCG levels are rising appropriately. By this point in the process, I am so used to being poked and prodded by needles and invasive ultra sounds(Sorry if I'm the one to break this news for those who are going though this process now) so it really was no big deal to go in for them to take what felt like gallons of blood to make sure my pregnancy was viable.

I went in for my blood test on February 6, 2015 for the doctors to find out that I'm pregnant- I already knew at this point that I was, if you want that story, go to my previous post. I was anxious to find out if my HCG levels were high enough to stay pregnant. They drew my blood that morning and I was supposed to get the results around 1pm that day. I was working again that day and wasn't able to answer the phone when the office called. After my meeting, I checked my voicemail and the nurse who called told me my levels were above 500 (She told me the exact number but I can't remember where I wrote it down- blaming the pregnancy brain on that one.) I didn't know what this meant so I did some research and in order to have a positive pregnancy your HCG level needs to be above 50. That means I was 10x what I needed to be to be pregnant. I was almost in shock that my levels were this high and I hadn't had any pregnancy symptoms.

I then started thinking about how and when we were going to tell our family we were pregnant, as no one knew we had even done the embryo transfer, at least that I can remember :) My brain is hardly working these days. While I was on bed rest after they transferred the embryos I made a little valentine that we were going to send out if we were pregnant. I am a planner, I can't help it. After that phone call, I had Costco print out the Valentine's so I could make it a scratch off valentine. I put gold paint over the heart and my plan was to send them to my family in the mail. and we would give them to his family when they came to visit the next week. Well, McKell had a different idea as he wanted to see their reaction in person so he convinced me, after taking the time to make them scratch off, that we would get them on FaceTime and send the Valentine to them in a text message so we could see their reaction. We did this the Sunday after we found out. We aren't very good at keep secrets for very long. I do admit that this way was much more fun, but also filled with many tears, of happiness of course.

I went in 4 days after my first blood draw for another blood draw and you want your levels to double every 2 - 3 days. Well, my HCG levels were now at 2,513, almost tripling every 2-3 days. I then started to do some more research, thank goodness for the internet, and found that high HCG levels is a sign of a multiple pregnancy, not with every case but about 50%.

I have always wanted twins, or my first 2 really close to each other, so I had a feeling that both embryos implanted but I was also hesitant to think this and get my hopes up for twins when the only way to confirm is to see it on the ultrasound.

I had to wait another week for my next blood draw as my levels were growing as they should. My next levels were 25,000. Who knew you could have soooo much of a hormone in your blood but still no pregnancy symptoms? The next step was to have an ultrasound to hear the heart beat. We went in another week later, Tuesday, February 24 for the ultrasound. Right as she put the monitor on me, this is what we saw:

I knew right away that there were twins in me! See the 2 little peanuts? The doctor wasn't too surprised as my levels were sooooo high and come to found out the other nurses had a bet going if there were twins in me. We were able to hear and see 2 healthy heartbeats at only 6 weeks along. It really is soooooo miraculous seeing those two little babies inside of me. When I reached 8 weeks, my fertility doctor would longer see me, she had done her job and I needed to find another specialist who would help with this pregnancy and deliver my babies. I found a fantastic doctor who specializes in twin pregnancies and high risk situations.

I can't say enough how blessed we really are for having 2 babies. We are also so blessed that we have had no complications so far- I am now 26 weeks along as I am typing this. I also get to see these babies in an ultrasound every month as there is no other way to measure and make sure they are doing alright. It's also been so crazy at how quickly my body has changed, once the babies decided to get out of back and pop out in my stomach.

Baby "Bump" at 6 weeks- More like booty bump :) My booty grew way faster than my belly.

Baby Bump at 7 weeks

Babies at 9 Weeks

Bump at 9 Weeks

Babies at 14 weeks

Baby Bump at 14 Weeks

Babies at 17 Weeks

Bump at 17 Weeks

Babies at 20 Weeks

Bump at 21 weeks

Baby A at 23 Weeks

Baby B at 24 Weeks

Bump at 24 Weeks

It is now getting harder to get both of the babies to cooperate and see both of their faces in an ultrasound. They are growing about a week ahead of schedule which is great. My due date is October 16, my doctor hasn't told me how far along he will let me go as he is anticipating an early delivery anyways but our goal is still October 16 so that these babies can come out as healthy as possible and we don't have to leave them at the hospital.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me have this experience. Pregnancy isn't always fun but I am so happy that I have been able to experience it and can't complain one bit about this pregnancy. I haven't even thrown up! All I do is sleep, which isn't a bad thing because sleep is fantastic. I also have to eat all the time! Like every 2 hours or else I am starving. I am also always thirsty and drink about 2 gallons of water a day. But other than that, pregnancy has been a cinch. I have passed my gestational diabetes and anemia test. The only "problem" we have come upon is that my Rh factor is negative and I just have to get a shot at 28 weeks.

I was so afraid of the complications that come with carrying twins as I have seen so many of my friends have to be put on bed rest or deliver way too early and I know that my Father in Heaven has taken care of me and calmed all of those fears so I can enjoy this journey.

Are We Out of the Woods Yet?

Have you heard that Taylor Swift song? Out of the Woods? Well, I first heard it back in October as we were starting the IVF process and even though the song is about a crazy relationship, I felt like it summed up the past 3 years of our life and the IVF process. Full of anxiety, hope, frustration, and joy. Wanting to give up but knowing that there was a brighter side that I would never see if I did, all I had to do was get out of the woods. It was one of those songs that just speaks to you, you know? You need to go listen to it if you never have. It has been my anthem since October, in fact I may be listening to it right now.

Since our first round of IVF didn't take, I was very hesitant to get started right away, like I was ready to wait another 3-6 months before trying again. Luckily, we went out of town in December for Christmas and we weren't able to do another round right after. My doctor told me to call on Day 1 of the cycle when I wanted to do another transfer. She also told me that she thought we should transfer 2 embryos the next time. I told her I would let them know when I wanted to try again and left for Utah for 2 weeks.

While I was out of town I decided to see an Iridologist, a doctor who can look at your eyes and from the patterns they see can help determine what isn't working right in your body. I have heard of several people going to one of these natural doctors and heard great results. I thought
, why not, I have nothing more to lose, my body is pretty messed up from all the hormones I have been taking, it needs a good cleanse. I show up and the doctor shined a light in my eyes and then started coloring in different things on a paper version of my eye. The doctor then told me that my thyroid wasn't working, my digestive system wasn't working, which was the cause of my endometriosis, my progesterone and estrogen levels were off, and my left ovary wasn't functioning right. Most of these things I already knew so it was no surprise to me, but what was different from other doctors that have told me this, she had a solution to help my body fix them, not just put a bandaid on the problem to cover up the symptoms. She put me on several, and by several I mean about 40 pills a day, different herbs and a 30 day cleanse, like before, I thought what can it hurt. I started taking all of the herbs and started waiting for any results.

We came back to Texas and I went right to work the next day. (I had a lot of work to catch up on from being gone for 2 weeks.) I was working out in Frisco and as I was driving past my doctors office I had this sudden feeling of excitement about my frozen cycle. Then I had a battle conversation with my inner self.

Me: "Wait, I am not even going to think about this yet. I am not ready to think about doing this again."

Inner Self: "What are you talking about? You are excited. This is the time to try again!"

Me: "No. This wasn't the plan. I still have 2 more months to figure it out."

Inner Self: "Well I think I just figured it out for you. Now is the time."

Me: "It doesn't matter if this is the month, it is too late to start. I am on Day 2 of my cycle. They won't let me do it this month."

Inner Self: "You don't know that for sure. Just call them and talk to the nurses to see if it is possible."

Me: "Ok, I will call them, but that's it. I already know what the answer is going to be anyways and then I can put this crazy idea to rest."

So I called them and, to my surprise, it wasn't too late. They told me that I could get my body ready for the transfer and I could change my mind up until the day of the transfer. They also told me in order for me to start I needed to have an ultrasound by day 3, then start taking some medicine. I thought, well if I can change my mind whenever, then why not. (I was totally anticipating changing my mind somewhere in the process and waiting another cycle and we weren't going to tell anyone we were doing it because of this.) They got me in the next day for an ultrasound and then I started the medicine, which was 2 tiny pills. Much less invasive than the millions of shots that I had to take last round. Seriously, frozen embryo cycles are sooooo much better. I also only went in one other time to make sure my uterus was ready to accept the embryo and then we scheduled the transfer. I started Progesterone shots on January 22 and had the transfer scheduled for January 28. We really did the transfer of 2 embryos on the 28th (I didn't chicken out) and now all we had to do was wait until February 6, (1.5 weeks later) for the pregnancy blood draw.

Side note- I ended my 30 herbal cleanse on January 21. I know this had something to do with the outcome of this transfer. So crazy or not, the iridologist made me feel so much better! My doctor wanted me to stop taking the herbs after the transfer because there are not many published studies on herbs and IVF.

After 1 long week, Feb. 4, I was talking to one of my friends at mutual and she made me realize that if it was a traditional cycle, I would've been able to know if I was pregnant that day. I had one pregnancy test left from last cycle and I decided right then when I got home I was going to take it, you know, to prepare myself for the negative I was going to get this round because I felt that I still wasn't out of the woods yet.

I cam home around 9pm and took the test, without telling McKell, because I knew he would talk me out of it, or at least try. I have a little bit of a stubborn personality. I went into the living room to wait because I knew I wouldn't be patient enough and look too soon. I went back into the bathroom and looked at the test, totally expecting a negative, but no, it was positive. I was in complete shock. I was not prepared for this. I was not ready, yet so ready, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So what did I do? I set the positive test on the bathroom counter and started getting ready for bed. Mckell and I never talked about how I wanted to tell him that I was pregnant and I am not always the smartest thinker when I am in shock. I decided I would wait for him to come start getting ready for bed with me and he would see the test sitting there and we would have a happy little moment together. Flash forward an HOUR AND A HALF later. Me: Still trying to "get ready for bed" without seeming annoyed that McKell is still out snacking and watching TV. McKell: Sari takes sooooo long to get ready for bed.

Finally, after I am so ticked that my "brilliant" plan wasn't working, Mckell finally walks in the bathroom and sees the test after a few minutes, picks it up, and asks, "What is this?" "What do you think it is?" I say. "I can't tell, it is kind of faded. I can't tell what it says." (No duh! I took it almost 2 hours ago, I am thinking.) "That's because it's been sitting here for a bit. Can you see the second line?!" I ask. "Barely. Does that mean that your pregnant?" "YES!" I exclaim. "Well, we better wait until the doctor confirms on Friday. Don't get too excited." "But you it is very rare to get a false positive at this time of the cycle. I am pregnant, honey." He then gets over his skeptical-ness and I get over my anrgy-ness and can't believe we are having this discussion because after 4 long, frustrating, growing years we finally can see the path out of the woods.

But do you know what is funny about getting "out of the woods," is there is another forest always waiting for you. I'm not saying this to be a dream crusher. I've realized this is life. Since I've found out I was pregnant, I have started on a whole different path through a different set of woods, full of stresses and anxiety about how many embryos implanted, carrying the babies full term,  ALL of the complications that can come with the pregnancy, miscarrying the babies, who will deliver my babies if I get to that point, what can and can't I eat, will we be able to afford children, what is my relationship with Mckell going to be like when the babies come, etc?

I have learned from this experience that I don't think we will ever be "in the clear" with the troubles and challenges life throws at us. It seems as though life isn't necessarily about getting out of the woods, but finding a beautiful path to take while we are in them to appreciate being in that particular forest at that time of life. Who knows what life has in store for us and what challenges we will face in the future? Why not hang on and enjoy the journey.