Merry Christmas!

It's been an emotional day, not just because this is our first Christmas as a family of three, but because this is the 2 year anniversary of starting those IVF drugs for round one. The snowstorm, the no power trying to keep $6K of drugs cold, the sleeping by the fire, the injections in the dark....everything that followed.......much saddness, much happiness. I look at our little guy and still have a hard time believing sometimes he's here. I still think of our twins who aren't. He's so amazing. So happy, so smart, so healthy....he's crawling, almost walking, jabbering. How did we get so lucky? We're hoping you'll all get lucky too, our hearts are still with you this Christmas season. 

He's here

Our little guy arrived on March 5th, weighing in at 6lbs 4oz and perfectly healthy. We'd ended up being induced on his due date, March 4th, for low amniotic fluid. After a 30hr+ labor he finally made his entrance into the world (no c-section required!), and into our hearts. It's hard to believe it has now been nearly 2 weeks since we became a family.

So this is the end of our story, at least for now. We're unsure if we'll do IVF again (if we do, we'll be back to update this page). We'd love to give D a little brother or sister, but with so many issues and heartache along the line, and so much uncertainty of outcome, we're just not sure if we'll ever be ready to start down the path again. For now, we're just going to enjoy every moment with this little man, our mini miracle of science.

To all those out there still trying through IVF, our hearts are with you.

Impatiently Waiting

Well, here we are at 38+5, as they say in the pregnancy forums, meaning 38 weeks plus 5 days. Here we are, waiting. Impatiently. Sort of desperate, really, to meet our baby and hold our baby in our arms.

We ended up at the hospital last Sunday, because R was having fairly regular contractions, and we don't know what we're doing since she's never been pregnant before. Turns out that was just a test run, and since her cervix hadn't dilated at all, we were sent home. More waiting.

Today, we had an OB appointment. Her blood pressure was high (sort of - certainly high for her), and she mentioned that she had been seeing flashy stars recently, which we didn't think much of because they didn't seem that bad. Well, that got our OB talking about pre-eclampsia, so he scooted us off to Labor & Delivery to have the vitals checked. Baby turned out to have a heartbeat like a champ, and though R's blood pressure was once again high for her, the OB in L&D said it was fine and sent us home. Again. To wait.

The funny thing is, of course, that if you had told us around week 8 that we would make it all the way to 38+5 and have a healthy baby gestating in R's belly, we would have been ecstatic. I try to remind myself of that when I get impatient, or I get worried about whether the baby really will come out OK. R worries a lot, too, since she knows folks who lost babies after stillbirths past their due dates. I try to remind myself that the baby is doing great, and has demonstrated a certain flair for ignoring problems so far, but still, when all you have to do is wait... you worry.

So I work, and we watch movies, and we entertain ourselves by chasing baby's feet around R's belly. We even talk to the baby, trying to encourage an exit. Any time, there, baby. We're ready.

Full Term!

Wow. Words we didn't think we'd hear, but today our little baby is full term, 37 weeks, kicking away and even catching up in size. We'd spend so much time being told baby would be early, and preparing for that, that we didn't even consider we'd be here one day. I guess all that bed rest and restricted activity really does work.......even if it just makes me sore and unable to walk properly! Our last ultrasound showed he's head down and catching up in size (50th percentile!), so no early extraction for this little one, it's wait for labor to begin!

We were still warned that we're at higher risk for an emergency C-section, so to be prepared for that. Because of all the hematoma issues, if his heart rate drops at all during labor (which they'd normally watch for a while and see if it went in cycles) they would opt for a fast c-section. Reading up, I guess it's a sign that the clot could be interfering with the placenta, so better to be safe than sorry.

So pleased and so happy to be here. So concerned and excited for what birth will bring us. Any day now little one, any day.

34 Weeks.....

Baby has turned back around, head down! We're getting pretty excited now, baby is still measuring good, 43rd percentile, i'm starting to feel pretty weighed down with all the extra weight (but wouldn't put this anywhere on par with the discomfort of the first half of the pregnancy) and B and I are reading up and watching programs on birth. Soon little one, just three more weeks until "full term", hard to believe we've made it this far....:)