The Cat's Out of the Bag...So to Speak

So, nothing big at our March appointment, but since we went to Oklahoma and shared with family the baby's gender, I thought I would officially post it here as well. We are having a little boy! Breck Dylan Boydstun will no doubt be the spitting image of his father and his athletic ability (as long as my influence for 6 months of the year when he's busy with football doesn't override that)!

What a Laid-Back Little Kid!

You have to love it when the sonographer says that your child is quite photogenic - and at 12 + weeks, what does that mean for the future? Guess we have quite the little ham on our hands. Everything looked great at today's appointment - YAY!! Our child was even kicking back, waving to the crowd (see the video below - it's pretty funny) and sucking its thumb. At one point we asked if she thought she could determine the sex, just wanting some confirmation on our fertility specialist's hunch, and when she rotated the view, you could see our kid laying there with legs in the air, ankles crossed just showing everything to the world. Sorry - but we cut that part out from the video until we announce it to family later. So, not a bad week after all - we got to see our baby three times in eight days! And I got the all-clear for stopping my meds! Woo-Hoo!! Brian thinks it has acted as some sort of miracle grow for Baby B since it everything is developing faster, bigger, clearer than it should for my gestation. I am hopeful that this means I can go longer than 24 hours without hating food. I have shared with some the fact that McDonald's cheeseburger happy meals are the only thing I've been successfully eating for a week and a half now. I tried to branch out to nachos from Taco Bell and On The Border, but that didn't go so well after only a day and a half, so I'm sticking with McD's! It was pretty funny too, because we saw the baby maybe 30 minutes after I ate the happy meal last Friday, and the kid was doing summersaults! Unfortunately, now I return to a normal schedule - no more pampering - so March 11th is the next appointment and the rest will follow every four weeks. We won't have another sonogram until 18 weeks - Boo! I do love seeing our baby! So I guess I'll just have to stare at these pics and video for quite a while. What a tough chore :)

Such a Better Day!

Thank God for great doctors! I have been so stressed out since our appointment yesterday. I mean, you can't hear the words bleed and think "no big deal." I called our fertility specialist today and told him what my new OB said yesterday. And do you know what he did? He told me to come right in! Seriously, today was a crazy day because of snow so he was already short-staffed but said he would stay late and see me so that I wouldn't spend one more minute worrying. He told me I should never ever have to be scared or worried and that I could come see him anytime to ease my fears. When we got there, he looked all over only to find absolutely nothing to be worried about. He said there was not a bleed at all and that our baby looked perfect. And Baby B was crazy active. I mean it, the baby was moving all around and spreading its legs so we asked the doc if the baby was trying to show off anything. He said he had a pretty good idea what the sex is (not 100%) but a good idea sounds great to me! He wrote it on a slip of paper so Brian could read it later and surprise me for Valentine's Day. We have decided this baby is all about the holidays - found out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve, basically know the sex for Valentine's and the baby will be born Labor Day (or there abouts!). Now, because he wasn't 100%, I think we'll keep the news to ourselves for a while, until it is definite. Thanks to all the prayer warriors I have out there that have been sure to pray since we heard about a possible concern yesterday. God has blessed us so greatly with wonderful, praying friends and family! Check out these pics and video. His ultrasound machine is SOOOO much better!

Ok, I turned this one upside down because you can really make out some facial features! Brian thinks the baby has my nose but we think that is definitely Brian's bottom lip sticking out!

Baby is a Growin!

Even despite the snow (6 inches and counting), we were able to go to the doctor today. We really like our new OB/GYN. She is around our age and just took such good care of us. She understands how long of an ordeal this has been and reassured us that any time we are concerned, just call her office and we could come in for an ultrasound to make sure the baby is ok. That is so comforting just to hear! She said that the baby looks great - she even said the baby is measuring bigger so she adjusted my due date to August 29th. Brian is thrilled since insurance starts over September 1st, and he would love to have all of this going toward thedeductible. What this means is that instead of being 10 weeks 6 days pregnant today, I have graduated to 11 weeks, 4 days. Works for me! Especially since 12 weeks is the magic number as far as major concerns go. I even get to stop the extra progesterone at 12 weeks since my labs came back so positive. The baby's heartbeat measures 164 bpm, and you can hear it on the attached video! She also does 3D imaging so the video Brian shot of the appointment shows some cool images as well (it's a little early to make out much on the 3D images but

eventually that will be the coolest part of our visits).

I do have a "concern" as the doctor put it. She said there are issues (things you can do nothing about but have questions about or will keep an eye on such as the whole genetic

"thumb" issue), concerns (these are things that may cause worry and are worth keeping an eye on but are not serious) and problems (these are serious in nature and require steps). A subchorionic bleed showed on the ultrasound today. She said she was surprised that I hadn't noticed any spotting as a result of this. I don't know about you but that just sounds like a big deal to me. And you can see it clear as day on the ultrasound. Essentially, you can see the heart beating and then to the right it appears that there is also movement that mirrors the heart's beating - this is the blood between the placenta and uterus. It can get serious but she assured me she is not too worried about this. This again is where 12 weeks becomes the magic number. There's something about 12 weeks that changes the placenta - I think she said it becomes completely separate from the uterus and then this bleed is not as big of a deal. From what I've read about it online, it is very common for IVF patients. It is usually something that shrinks and becomes a non-issue altogether. So, I think the worried look on my face prompted her to set up another appointment next Friday to monitor the situation - and by their measures I'll be 12 weeks, 5 days then. So, please join us in praying about this. We totally trust this child to God, but I have to admit it made my heart skip a beat to hear there's anything at all not 100% perfect.

And no such luck on finding out the sex. Honestly after saying bleed, I no longer was thinking about gender. She said we could have a gender determination appointment at 18 weeks - BOO! which is the week of March 28th. Oh well...

Oh my pregnant mind...

Ok, so I have been obsessing over the idea of getting to go to the doctor yesterday. Seriously, it has been all I could think about since four weeks ago when I last saw our baby and heard that precious heartbeat. So, two weeks ago when the receptionist told me, "We'll see you Tuesday, February 9th at 3 p.m.," I didn't even write it down since it was ingrained in my brain! I even remember going straight home and asking Brian if Tuesday would work out with his soccer schedule because I knew he wanted to be there for the sonogram. So, when I took off half a day yesterday to make this appointment, you can imagine my frustration when we walked up to the doctor's office only to see it locked up tight. The sign on the door says that they close early on Tuesday afternoons (which changing to a new doc, I didn't know they were closed on Tuesdays!). I was hopping mad! Why in the world would the receptionist tell me February 9th?? It made no sense. I told Brian that we needed to go home and find the paperwork from my last appointment where she printed out the reminder card, so that I could be justified in my anger and annoyance. Do you know what the stupid appointment card said? Thursday, February 11th at 3 p.m.!!! And what's worse is that Brian just gives me that look - you know the one that says, "I won't say you're crazy out loud because I know I would get in trouble" look??!! And I know him well enough to know that's exactly what is going through his head so I prompt him to speak his mind on the matter. And he replies, "Well, you know you have been forgetting a lot of things lately." RIGHT!! Like that comment was going to be taken well! So, I remain steadfast in my indignation that the receptionist told me one day but scheduled another. Of course, the fact that I didn't receive a confirmation call or look at the stupid appointment card just to double-check, makes me annoyed at myself too! But the worst part?!!? It was all I could do to make it to yesterday waiting!! Now I have to wait another two days!!?? Arghhh!!!! Oh, and of course they won't move my appointment to the morning so Brian can actually come (it barely worked out for him to miss soccer yesterday), but if I move my appointment, she said it would be weeks!!! So, we are praying for snow!! This way, it will be too cold to practice and Brian can come to the appointment too.

Oh the Waiting...

Now, I am not superstitious or anything, but it almost makes me nervous to report I have finally taken a turn for the better in how I feel. Seriously, it has been a rough 9 weeks! It got to the point that I told my students because I was missing so much and the days I was there, I looked so bad that people kept coming by to check on me. And of course, teenagers tend to make up the worst version of what must be wrong when you are sick or absent a lot. BUT last week I reached a milestone - I actually worked ALL the days school was open!! That hasn't happened since December 1st! Now, I am certainly not symptom-free; I just seem able to cope a bit better. I am still on invitro-meds for another four weeks, and they have their own constant side effects, but the anti-nausea meds my doc gave me have helped me to find some balance, thank goodness! I have even had several mention that it is good to see me smile again, and believe me, I am most grateful to feel more like myself again!

So, today I am 9 weeks, 3 days. We have our next appointment Tuesday, Feb. 9th in the afternoon (I wisened up after the last debacle early in th

e a.m.). Let's just say no food, low blood pressure and giving blood was a horrific combination. I had to be taken out of school in a wheelchair (most mortifying) and driven home by another teacher in the middle of the day. The school nurse even called my friend that lives around the corner to come and babysit me since Brian had to be at soccer and couldn't stay home. I later had someone tell me they had never seen someone so sick. So, it is definitely my plan never to repeat that recipe for disaster! Anyway, we have a sonogram next week (YAY!! I miss seeing my baby!!!). I am just anxious to know everything is going ok. Now the tricky part is this - the sex organs are fully developed at 11 weeks and our sono is at 10 weeks, 4 days. I am praying that our (up to this point) overachiever child will be very active and willing to "show off," if you know what I mean! Otherwise, I don't have another ultrasound scheduled until 18 weeks - that's April 2nd!! I want so badly to know if our future involves Brooklyn or Breck so that we don't have to refer to our child ambiguously anymore! Now the finding out if it's a girl or

boy will be fun. We plan to have the doctor write it down and seal it in an envelope for Brian to read on his own. Then, he gets to surprise me his own way with the news. And if we find out next week, that would be a fun Valentine's surprise!!

Look for an update then...

A Good, Strong Heartbeat!

Though we have been back to the doctor several times since Christmas Eve (for blood tests), today was the first exciting appointment because we got to see our baby for the first time!! The tests we have had to take have turned out really high, along with a crazy amount of sickness on my part, led the doctor to suspect we could be having twins. We were a bit nervous as that determination was being made. I am happy (though I would have been thrilled with whatever God chose to bless us with) to announce that Baby B (singular!!) is right on schedule and has a mighty strong heartbeat! Typical for weeks 6-7 is between 90-110 bpm and our baby (the over-achiever it continues to be) is at 117 bpm! The doctor expected to see it today but said it was unclear whether we would be able to hear it - let me tell you, that baby's heart was beating away (perhaps those few swigs of Coke I stole from Brian helped out!). A friend mentioned recording it with our phones but when the doctor said he was giving us a DVD, we figured we were covered. Unfortunately, we got home to find the DVD is without sound - sad! I wanted to spend the rest of the evening listening to my little one (and many more evenings to come!). Oh, well. I thought I would upload some pics and video anyway.Oh and did I mention that I NEVER HAVE TO TAKE ANOTHER SHOT?? I know, it's hard to tell that I'm excited about that, but after 70 of them, I am ready to never see another shot for as long as I live!! Oh...okay, I'll happily accept the epidural!! With any luck, the change in my meds will also help me reclaim a place in the land of the living - my students have already started making comments that I'm lazy and sick all the time (lovely how observant 13-year-olds are!). I have seen more of my bedroom and the backs of my eyelids than my house, my husband, anything really. And this little one is a picky eater already. Did I mention that I am obsessed with chocolate - I admit I have a really unhealthy obsession forit - but during in-vitro, I couldn't eat sugar or caffeine, so I was thrilled when I could introduce

chocolate back into my life. But no - Baby B HATES it! I'm not kidding, the smallest

chocolate chip gives me heartburn and indigestion for hours. So Wrong!! Not that I've been fortunate to eat much of anything these days. Oh well, as long as Baby B is doing well, I will happily take whatever. I can't tell you how exciting today was for us. It just made everything real, you know?