It's been a long time...

Hello fellow bloggers ( who ever is still following me ha) ,

It has been FOREVER since my last blog post!! April 2012 to be exact. The past year and a half has been very tumultuous. If you can remember my husband deployed to Afghanistan in March 2012. He made it back home safely in November 2012. But this deployment was very draining. I'm so glad he's home and it's over. He's been home for a year now :-) ( this is us at the army ball in February 13)

                    

 Honestly, the main reason I stopped blogging was because I had started more invasive fertility treatments in April 2012. I had been in the care of a fertility clinic since 2010, but April 2012 was the beginning of our first IVF (yep FIRST because even something as invasive and expensive as IVF does not guarantee success)  This journey was an emotional roller coaster. Not only was I dealing with my husband being deployed but IVF was taking a toll on my mind and body. Surprisingly, I had no problem poking myself with needles and giving myself the daily dose of fertility meds. If you don't know how IVF works. Here is a short summary: after your doctor evaluates your needs, you're put on fertility medication. Hundred kinds of pills, multiple different injections a day ( belly, butt and thighs lol) and some other fun stuff. The first round of meds tells your ovaries to produce multiple follicles instead of just one. I ended up with 20 I think. The doctor monitors you daily via ultrasounds and blood work to determine when these little eggies are mature enough to be retrieved from your body. July 4th was the date of my egg retrieval surgery. I was nervous because I've never had surgery. But it was no big deal. I was in a twilight sleep while my doctor retrieved my follicles. Out of 20, 11 were mature. The doctor was happy. I was back at work the next day. Now the more stressful part comes. Immediately after retrieval the eggs are artificially inseminated in a Petri dish.  Now you have to hope that they make it and grow into embryos. By day 3 we had 5 little healthy embryos. 2 of them were put back into my uterus. Easy peasy, resume life and pretend you don't have 2 potential babies in your belly. My pregnancy test was 10 days later and my nurses advised against testing at home. I listened but I was a mess. A few days before my pregnancy test I somehow knew in my heart I wasn't pregnant. July 14th came (my 27th birthday), the nurse took my blood and I went back to work. I had to wait about 5 hours for their call with my results. I hated getting that call at work, She said she was sorry and I was not pregnant. Our IVF didn't work. I was numb and locked myself in our employee bathroom and cried for a while. Couldn't even call my husband because he was in Afghanistan. I was alone....

I was young, in perfect health, we made great embryos and our success rate was 65%. Yet it didn't work. 

Fast forward to November 2012. When my husband came back we decided to try again with our 3 remaining embryos ( out of 5 we used 2 for Our first IVF and the remaining 3 were frozen). 

This was a far easier and less invasive process. Plus my husband was here to help me with my shots! Turns out he's a pro and my injections didn't hurt at all. Once my body was ready my clinic thawed out those frozen embryos. Only 2 survived the process unfortunately. But they looked strong and healthy, were transferred back into my uterus and I was to come back 10 days later for a pregnancy test. I did not last 10 days this time. I bought pregnancy tests despite my husband being against it! I tested on day 5: negative! But it was still early. Tested on day 6 and there was the faintest second line! OMG something was happening. Day 7 line got a bit darker. Day 8 was the last time I tested because the line was still faint. I was worried. Day 10 came and I went to my clinic with a heavy heart. She took my blood and they called me rather quick this time. I was at work again. The blood test picked up a pregnancy but it looks like it will not make it. So I was a little pregnant?!? Chemical pregnancy is a very early miscarriage. She told me to continue my meds and we will retest in 2 days. 2 days later my blood levels were even lower, my body just didn't want to keep this pregnancy! I was crushed!! My husband and I took 2 vacations. We decided that 2013 was our year, no stress, just us and whatever happens happens!! 

We had a long talk and decided we would try for one more IVF in May 2013. I was still stressed out and started acupuncture in January 2013. I've heard good things about acupuncture and fertility so why not :-D it felt great!! I looked forward to every appointment. I ordered and paid for all my fertility meds and we were waiting to start around April. The end of March came and no sign of my period. So odd, but I assumed it was another trick my body played with me. My period was over a week late. What the heck, On April 1st my husband and I went to the dollar store to buy a cheapie pregnancy test ( no way I'd pay a fortune for a pregnancy test just to be disappointed). My theory was, testing will trigger my period. I tested that afternoon, no expectations AT ALL. I didn't even have time to walk out of the bathroom when 2 clearly visible lines popped out within a few seconds. I've never been this shocked in my life. I didn't even find words to say to my husband. I just cried and said: "holy shit it says I'm pregnant!!" I was shaking and gasping for air. It was so surreal! A day later my clinic confirmed that I was indeed super pregnant. I was 5 weeks along :-) 

Fast forward to today. I'm 38 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. He could be here any day, we couldn't be more excited. My collage below is missing my 9 months photo :-) but you get the idea!

                               

My little nugget at 37 weeks :-) he's a cutie already. I'm so anxious. I feel great and have NO clue when I will go into labor. I wish I knew!!!

I hope my story gives other people hope. When I least expected it it happened for us. After all that heartache we will finally bring home our baby any day now.

Promise I'll continue blogging.

Oh yeah, this guy is still around too:

                                

Xoxo, Carla!