February 2012 due date buddies!

[Sarah O]

Good news! We did see the hb today!!!! It was flickering away. Re's us machine didn't automatically measure the bpm yet, but RE timed with his watch a second and thought it was 120ish and looked good. I go back next week for another us and to check bw to see if placenta is starting to take over anything yet and we can back down on meds. It is amazing how much I pick all of these small signs apart though and still worry. Why didn't RE's us mesaure hb and other girls on FT did at 6 and 7 weeks? Little bean only measured 6w4d even though I am 7 weeks? It is bad SHE (I am hoping) is 3 days behind? What is up with all the bleeding? Sigh..... Now I will start worrying about nuchal fold test and whether or not to do a CVS. The worrying never ends.

What if any testing are all of you doing? I did the nuchal fold (NT) test last time. I failed and had a 1 in 10 chance of my DS being downs. We elected to do CVS bc I couldn't wait 9 long months to find out, but everything was fine. My donor's eggs are 27 so I may be more conservative on testing.

Jenn- I am doing prog 3xday- the max the FDA will let you start. RE said we will check levels next week though to see if we can start reducing any levels if the placenta is taking over yet. Hope you are keeping your worrying small so far.

Wright- A bar???? How fun? Pre-kids we definitely like to go out some. Now we drink wine at home.... or at least I did...... What is it like owning a bar?

Mamacrab- How was your us? we are getting worried.

[jenn1975]

Sarah congrats!! I hope you are feeling a tiny bit more relaxed now. Maybe your REs machine isn't advanced enough to measure the hb this early automatically. Don't read to much into it!

We will be doing the CVS test. We did an amnio with our DD and then failed the NT test horribly (off the charts bad) with our second and had the CVS test as a result. CVS was normal but clearly our baby was very sick but we didn't know why. It took until 16 weeks to get a diagnosis of a very rare and life threatening birth defect and we decided to terminate the pregnancy. It was a horrible experience but I'm thankful technology allowed us to make the best decision for us that we could.

I am feeling extremely exhausted yesterday and today. A bit nauseous too. I'm supposed to eat a ton with 3 and I'm just not very interested in food forcing myself to eat though.

[mommy2bry]

I am due 2/10 and am also feeling a bit crazy. I have had a bit of light brown spotting in the am the last 2 days. I think it is just the progesterone leaking out but it is brownish. I have little to no cramping and some nausea. My beats were 1277 @ 11dp6dt and 2608 @ 13dp6dt and my 1st u/s is on Monday 6/20. We transferred 2 hatching blasts and I am a bit nervous about twins.

[alwyne]

Mommy- Monday can't get here soon enough!

Sarah - They say the worrying never goes away. :wink

Jenn - What was involved in doing those tests? I'm not familiar with how they're performed.

Mamacrab - How'd things go? :hug

[WrightStepher]

Sarah Congrats on seeing your little girl's heartbeat yesterday. This is the first time that I am hearing of the Nuchal Fold Test, is it pretty common? Recommened?
As for owning a bar, aside from this forum, I have not had a conversation with a sober person in a year and a half, and there are two things that I know for sure:
1. Booze + Testosterone = Bad News
2. Girls & Brown Liquor DO NOT MIX

Mommy Those look like twin betas to me! But, mine are low.

Jenn While I am not eating for 3, I have no desire to eat at all, so I understand where you’re coming from. This past Christmas we won a Jack LeLanne’s Power Juicer in a white elephant gift exchange. It has been a life saver.
So, every day I am juicing myself (at least):
1 Sweet Potato
6 Carrots
¼ Pineapple
2 Apples
Fresh Ginger
3 cups of Spinach
2 Kiwis
2 Oranges
So, even though nothing sounds good, and I don’t really want to eat, I can drink a vitamin loaded juice, that’s actually quite filling. I don’t know, thought it may help.


AFM RE said that we're good to schedule u/s anytime after 06/26, but DH is out of town for business until 07/02, so we're not going to get in for u/s until July 5th. Though it's 8 days later than what we could go in, our 4 year anniversary is on the 4th of July, so it will be a nice gift.

[jenn1975]

Wow a juicer sounds like a great idea!! Dumb question... Do you put the entire fruit in (like the kiwi skin?). They have a juicer at Costco but it's like $350!! Funny that we spent thousands on fertility treatment and I think a juicer at $350 is ridiculous.

The NT test is actually a "screening" which means it gives you the chances the baby might have downs or another trisomy so that you can decide if you want to do a CVS or amnio. The NT screen is easy, just an ultrasound at about 11 weeks where they measure the thickness of the neck. A thick neck can be a marker for downs and other issues. Most pregnancy books have a section on testing towards the back that would give you more info. The NT screen results are usually combined with the "combined screen" blood test that measures some proteins that can also be an indicator for issues (again only giving you an idea of your chances of an issue, it's not definitive).

CVS and amnio are the only definitive tests and they take a sample from the placenta. They are slightly diff with the primary diff IMO being that CVS can be done earlier at 10 or 11 weeks and amnio is later at 16 weeks. Both carry a 1% risk of m/c after the procedure and you want to interview the doc ahead of time to find someone that has done thousands of these. There is a direct correlation btwn m/c risk and experience. If you have to drive 4 hours to a specialist, do it.

Both tests hurt a bit but totally manageable. Kind of like a bee sting and it lasts about 1-2 min. I did deep breathing to stay calm. I had cramping after for a day and did bedrest for 24 hrs to stay on the safe side.

I will say that if you wouldn't terminate the pregnancy no matter what, and you don't feel the need to KNOW if your baby has an issue, there's no reason to do CVS or an amnio.

[WrightStepher]

The 'Jack LeLanne's' juicer that we have retails for $100, and most fruits & veggies you just stick in whole. The only fruits that I peel are pineapples (of course) & mangos. I guess anything with a really thick skin. Hmm, expect melons, you stick those in rind and all. I can't think of anything else that I peel, deseed, or even trim for that matter. Sweet potatos, kiwi, lemons, apples, cantelope and ginger, they all go in whole. Oh and btw, you can't juice a banana (but I really wish you could).

Here are a couple of juicing websites. I'm addicted.

Pregnancy Nutrition Guide

FREEDOMYOU Fasting ~ Juice Recipes

[taraboudreaux]

Jenn -- Wow! I think my husband would have fainted had he seen that ultrasound! I'm very interested to hear how your pregnancy progresses with that many babies!

Sarah -- I always thought the 2ww was going to be the hardest waiting game of the entire pregnancy.. Little did I know how much waiting was in front of us! Here's to a happy Wednesday for you!

AFM: On my last u/s we saw the fetal pole, and a nice yolk sac measuring at 5w2d. My next appointment isn't until June 20th!! Hopefully by then we'll see the heartbeat. I'm a little nervous because almost all of my pregnancy symptoms have been coming and going. One day I'll feel some minor cramping, and the next I'll feel totally fine!

hey you saw a fetal pole at 5 weeks and 2 days? thats real early ..did they measure it or the yolk sac

good luck hun!

[MrsBrooke]

Hi Ladies!

It's looking like a Feb. 20, 2012 due date for me (hopefully...waiting on the US!)... This is my first time being pregnant. I'm 32, and have been married for 7.5 years. After several years of "seeing what happened" we were dx with male factor infertility. My DH had cancer and chemo as a teenager, and the little swimmers were few and far between. My original RE had him taking L-carnitine supplements and restricting exercise for 6 months (he's a competitive cyclist, so that was ROUGH!) with the hopes of improving his count and being able to do IVF with ICSI, but after all that, it was actually worse. I didn't love that first RE, so we switched, and together decided that we'd actually try IUI with donor sperm. I took Clomid due to some wonky cycles myself, and our 3rd attempt seemed to work! I had spotting from 5-7dpIUI, so I thought I was out, but then it stopped. I POAS on 9dpo and saw a faint pink line!

Betas have been:
10dpIUI-25
12dpoIUI-66
15dpIUI-408
19dpIUI- 3423!!!

I go for my US on 6/27 at 6wks exactly. Nervous of course about seeing a heartbeat at all, then with the secondary worry of seeing more than one! Good luck to you all, and hoping for a fun year ahead for us all!

[mommy2bry]

SO had our U/S today and saw a sac and a heartbeat then..... saw another sac with a yolk sac, go back ina week for a better look see!!! I guess our little family is expanding by 4 little feet instead of 2!!!