HCG Levels looking good :)

I received my call today.. Felt like it took forever. I was told that everything is good and that my HCG levels went from 322 to 565. Your HCG levels should rise by 60% every 48 hrs, which means my levels rose 75%. Pretty amazing!
I'm not sure what the next steps will be, I should find out Monday. Hopefully no more blood work and then we can do an ultrasound.

God is amazing, I feel Him answering our prayers every day. Can I say "This is really happening?" I still hold my breath and still feel every ache and cramp wondering if this is bad or what does that mean. I'm hoping I can let go and let God do His work.

Please pray that I can let go and let God, pray that these babies will grow and that my body will accept them.
More to come...

The waiting game

Why is it so hard to wait and why am I not blessed with patience? I hate this part. I want to receive the call from my doctor now letting me know that my HCG levels have doubled :)
Patience.. patience. I will not ask for it, God does have a sense of humor. Haaa!
He has blessed us both with Peace, so I will take that.

I've been craving spicy foods.. like salsa. Russ stopped by Publix and bought me some Yummy salsa and chips. MMMM. What an awesome husband to think of his wife like that. Sure hope I don't get heartburn tonight.
I've also been getting really tired, not good when it's during the day at work. I work in front of a computer, so today I rigged it where it looked like I was looking at a spread sheet and shut my eyes for a minute. I guess as long as I don't hit my head on my desk it will be ok :)

I will post tomorrow once I hear something from my doctor.
Please keep praying that these babies will keep growing and that my body will accept them

More to come...

God Is So Good!

I will start off by saying "God is so Good". He really has blessed us and gave us peace during this process. We stepped out in Faith and had no idea what we were doing, but God was there the whole time.

July 28 - I couldn't sleep and was feeling very anxious and ready to get this test over. I was told it was okay to take an at home test on the 28th! I woke up at 5:30 am, had to use the bathroom (it was the 3rd time that night.. haa) I waited patiently to see the results and then I started freaking. The test the doctors gave me was not a fast results test. I thought it was negative!! I cried and cried and asked God to wake me up from this nightmare. There was no way! God you brought us this far.. please tell me this isn't true. I felt a little nudge to take another test, so I did.. and WHAM.. bright pink and double lines. I felt so silly and I was upset with myself for second guessing God. I woke Russ up crying and well.. needless to say we couldn't go back to sleep. We laid there laughing about what happened and how silly I was :)
I went to the doctor that afternoon to get blood work done to confirm the pregnancy and to see what my HCG levels are. I wouldn't know the results until the next day. I've been waking up every morning at 4:30 am starved to death. It's not a good feeling. I'm excited to start feeling the pregnancy symptoms. I will probably get sick of it later :) haaa

July 29 - Waiting.. waiting.. waiting.. Please call me doctor, I can't stand the wait. Received the call on the way home confirming that we are pregnant and that my HCG levels are at 322!! I repeated that back and said.. really? She asked me how far along I was, I told her I will be 4 wks tomorrow. She said the results are excellent, but I still want you to go back tomorrow to do more blood work. The past pregnancies have never been this high. It's alway been around 50! I was praising God all the way home. So, tomorrow I will do this again and the HCG levels should double. I will not know anything until Friday. I hate the waiting game, but this is so well worth it.

We are still taking it one day at a time. I will keep taking all my medication/injections up until 12 wks of the pregnancy. Dr Mac (In Czech) wants us to have an ultra sound 12 days after our first blood work. He is still keeping in touch with us and wants to know everything. The ultra sound will confirm that the baby or babies are implanted in the right area and they will also tell me if we are having more than one.

Please keep praying that my body will accept these babies.
More to come....

We are Home - Part II

Going back to work has been hard after having 13 days off work. Everyone has been so very supportive at work, helping me get caught up and making sure I’m not doing too much. I’m still not able to get back in the swing of things. Russ and I are tired and I’m hoping we will adjust back to our time.

I’m still taking my medications as prescribed. I look like I’ve been beaten on my legs; I am so bruised from the injections. My body has gotten use to the 2 a day prednisone; well at least I think it has : ) No complaints here, I will need to get use to it because I will have to keep taking all the medications for 12 wks. You do what you have to do.

God has given us both peace and faith during this journey. It has been a long & tiring journey these past 6 yrs. “If He brings me to it, He will bring me through it.” I have to repeat this several times a day, it helps.
I have an amazing husband. He will not let me lift or do anything. He’s done all the cleaning and not once complained. He also asks me every day if I've taken all my medications. I am so thankful for such an awesome and Godly man.

We are still waiting to find out if everything worked. We should know by the end of this month. Please keep praying that my body will accept these babies and they will keep growing.

More to come…

We are home!

We had an amazing journey and a lot of support these past couple of weeks.

The train ride to Prague was great and the driver who met up with us was awesome. Russ nor the driver would let me lift anything heavy :)

Train ride back to Prague

The driver took us to Prague Castle for a bit and let us do a little sight seeing. It was beautiful! The Czech Government lives in the castle. The castle was over 1,000 yrs old. Here are a few pictures

We flew stand-by, first class(thank you Lord) That is the only way to fly overseas.. haa :)

Russ' parents met us at the airport and took us home where my parents and nephew were waiting at our house. Thank you to our neighbors, Burch & Janice Wright for thinking of us and our family and brought us over a lot of BBQ.. YUM! :) It felt good to come home and see family and our girls. I'm not really sure Annie and Lucy missed us too much. They didn't greet us, I guess we were replaced. My parents left to go back home today :(

I have to take it easy for awhile, Russ has been amazing. He unpacked everything last night.

We both go back to work on Tuesday.

Will keep everyone posted on the "waiting" process.

More to come....

2 Healthy Babies.. God is so good!

Our transfer is done and it was very painless. We even got to see our 2 babies, how amazing is that? Not everyone gets to see their babies at 6 days old :) Here are pictures of Baby A & Baby B

Our 2 healthy babies :)

Dr Mac did the transfer, he was amazing and had a lot of kind words to say about our babies. He thought they wouldn't keep growing after the PGD testing, but he said he was amazed that they are both excellent. I wanted to say, that's all God, but I didn't :) He gave us a 60% chance that everything will be good. Here is a picture of Dr Mac and Dr Marek (Marek was with another patient, so I didn't get a real picture of him

Me & Dr Mac (did the transfer)

Dr Marek (did the retrieval)

I can not do anything today. Russ is picking up all my medications needed and doing a little shopping of his own. He is such a wonderful husband :) He's been a trooper through this whole process. Dr Mac upped the prednisone (to shut my immune system down) I will take 1 pill in the am and 1 pill in the evening.

Eva booked our seats on the train for tomorrow. We leave for Prague tomorrow (Friday) and will fly back home Saturday. We are both ready to come home.

This has been an amazing experience and one we will never forget :)

more to come...

Thank you Lord

We received a call this morning at 8:30 am (2:30 am your time - ha) I thought I did it again and was running late. Ha-Ha. It was Eva, our coordinator & nurse at the Reprofit. She said she had great news about our 2 babies. They are both very healthy and passed the PGD testing. Thank you Lord!! You are amazing - "You are Lord, God of all mankind, NOTHING is too hard for you" Thank you everyone for your prayers. We are so overwhelmed right now and feel God working big time. It's started to become real. God has given Russ and I faith and peace during this process and it's amazing. :)

My appointment is still scheduled for 12:00 pm to transfer both babies in their incubator for 9 months. I am no longer nervous, I know God has his hand on this.

I will update later on today after the transfer. :)

More to come...

Day 5 Embryo Status

We are still scheduled tomorrow for our embryo transfer. We will transfer all 2 and thankful that we have those 2 to transfer. They are still being tested for the PGD and we do not know the status on them. Please keep praying that they pass the PGD testing and they keep growing.

The medications that I'm taking makes me feel so bloated and irritable (poor Russ) Progesterone (6 pill a day), Estrogen (3 pills a day), Fragmin (1 injection a day), prednisone (1 pill a day), metformin (2 pills a day), and the ususal pre-natal and baby aspirin daily. It's hard keeping up with all these meds, but we will do what we need to do. :)

Our Day in Vienna, Austria... to help bypass the anxious waiting period.

We decided to do a tour of the Schoenbrunn Palace yesterday. It took about an 1.5 hours by train to get there. It was beautiful! Marie Anntoinette was born there and Mozart played there when he was 6 yrs old. 13 century old palace, pictures do not do it justice. We did a package where we can tour the castle (40 rooms), gardens, do the maze/labryrinth, and Panorama Terrace. A lot of walking and it was hot, no shade. I'm glad we went there, we rested on the train there and back. Here are a few pictures.

We started the dreadful packing. Plan to fly back Saturday on stand-by and the seats are looking great. Thank you Lord. We will take the train to Prague on Friday where we will have a driver waiting for us to take us to our hotel near the airport. Saturday our flight will leave around 11:00 am. I don't want to leave, but am getting anxious to get back to the real word. Ready to see our family, friends and our baby pug girls. My mom and dad are watching them now and my mom said Annie Sue is doing a lot of pacing and whining. She's a smart pug for sure. :)

More to come...

Day 4 Embryo Status

The 3rd embryo did not make it. Dr Marek said there are 2 very good embryos that they sent off for PGD testing today. I will not get any updates until Thursday, which is the actual day of our transfer. We have to be there at 12:00 pm (6:00 am your time) I think they scheduled us later in the day because they knew we had a hard time getting there early in the morning the other day :) Haaa.. Please pray that our 2 babies will make it through the testing and everything will be okay for Thursday. I'm getting nervous, but God has also given us both Faith during this procedure.. what an adventure for sure.

We went to Vienna, Austria today... ran out of batteries(our charger does not work here.. argh), so I can not upload any pictures until tomorrow (hopefully)

I am so sleepy, just got in about 11:00 pm and it's storming here. I will write more about our trip to Vienna tomorrow.

More to come :)

Day 3 Embryo Testing

Happy couple at Spilberk Castle, what a way to celebrate 10 yrs and our baby making time :)
Russ and I want to Thank you for all your prayers and support our family/friends have given us. It means a lot to open up the blog and see so many comments. It helps us get through the day. Everyone in Brno has been very nice to us and makes us feel at home.

I spoke with Dr Marek today. He said that 2 embryos are doing great and growing like they should and the 3rd embryo is growing slowly. They post-poned the PGD testing until tomorrow (Tuesday), he wanted to give the 3rd embryo a chance. I have to call tomorrow after noon to get status on how many will be tested. Hoping for all 3, but we know God has a plan for us.

I'm still having a hard time getting around, still sore and ache, but we aren't letting that stop us. We try to get our day started after lunch. Today we wanted to get a massage, but the massage therapist was not there. We met another American couple(from Jersey), they are staying in the apartment next to us. This is their second time here. She told me they did the PGD testing on their 3 embryos and discovered that they are both carriers of Cystic Fibrosis. It broke my heart to hear that. But yet, they were here again and not giving up hoping. They want to atleast get 1 good egg. She gave me a card this morning for a massage specialist, who specializes in IVF massages. I will be contacting them to get an appointment. :)

We searched for the Tex Mex place and found it! Woo Hoo. It's called Rodeo Drive (American Grill) I guess steaks, ribs, fried fish, etc.. is Tex Mex to them :) It reminded me of a Texas Roadhouse. It was perfect.
Rodeo Drive (American Grill/Tex Mex)
Russ ready to eat. He ordered the Colorado Chicken, Corn on the cobb and mashed potatoes. I ordered Fish & Chips with coleslaw. They even had Tartar Sauce (Tar-Tar)

Ordered "still" water.. so not good.. Yuck :( By the way Holly, No Music Trivia here.. what a bummer.. BUT they do have swings as your seat :)

Did a lot of walking and looking at different stores. We haven't been able to find many stores with souvernirs that say Brno on them. To my Dixie Chix (at work) not able to find magnets either. Hoping when we get to Prague or to Vienna we might find something. I'm still trying :)

The weather is different here. One day its in the 60's and the next high 80's. You have to stick your head out the window to see how the weather is and what to wear :) Haa, but it's been beautiful and very peaceful. Things shut down so early here, I guess they get a head start when the sun comes up at 4:30 am :)

Thanks again for reading our blog and I will keep you posted...

More to come...

Day 2 Embryo Status

Today we talked to Dr Marek on the phone. He said that we have 3 fertilized eggs (out of 5)! We are praising God right now! 1 egg didn't mature and 1 egg didn't fertilize. We are looking at it as God will allow what we need, nothing more and nothing less. They start the PGD testing tomorrow and we should know more information tomorrow afternoon. Here is the website just incase you wanted to know more about the testing. www.pgdtesting.com
We are taking it one day at a time :)

Today we went to the mall and to IKEA. The Czech people love their IKEA store. You even get a free bus ride over there.. haa :) Pretty neat. On the way back we stopped at KFC and got a couple sandwiches for dinner. You do a lot of walking and are so tired the next morning. We still aren't use to the time difference, but we should come back in better shape.

Tomorrow we may go get a couples massage to relax (after we hear from Dr Marek about our 3 little embryo's) and may go to a movie. There is a Tex Mex restaurant that we can't seem to find and Russ is determined to find it. :)

More to Come....

Egg Retrieval process - Done!

The Painful process is over, but first let me tell you how my morning went.

I had the alarm set for 6:00 am, that way I can take a shower and relax before my 7:45 am appointment. We were provided with a cell phone and the phone started ringing. Trying to wake up to figure out what that noise was, I looked at the clock and noticed the time was 7:35 am.

Eva was calling to let me know she was down stairs waiting on us. Oh no!! I was still in my pj's and still half a sleep. I had to get Russ up, we got dressed, washed our face, I ran a razor over my legs and we grabbed our stuff and ran out the door. No time to think and no time to get nervous. We were laughing all the way to the car :) God sure has a sense of humor. He knows that I stress over the silliest things. Ha-Ha.

Anyway, back to the Egg Retrieval process. We arrived and Reprofit at 7:50 am (remember, we were supposed to be there at 7:45 am.. not too bad) They took us both to the recovery room and I changed into my gown and socks.

Me in my gown :)

The nurse took Russ back to get blood drawn and to get a sample of his army men :)

and I was taken to the surgery room. Anesthesia here I come. Dr Marek Koudelka was the one doing the procedure, I saw him giving me 2 thumbs up and I was out. The process took 15 minutes. I was taken back to the recovery room where I had some juice and a chocolate candy bar.

me out of it

Russ was in there waiting for me. Dr Marek came in there several times to check on me and make sure I was ok. He told me out of the 10 follicles, there were 5 eggs retrieved. The other 5 follicles were empty. He said that was very good, considering my history and that I was a PCOS patient. He said that sometimes PCOS patients will produce a small amount or a large amount and the eggs could be bad. He said they looked healthy. I will be given status on our little embryos daily. I have to keep telling myself that nothing is 100% and that God is in control. We are praying that all 5 embryos grow and remain healthy. We were told that some could die off, not fertilize or all could be just fine. * Fingers crossed *

We will be meeting with the PGD specialist soon to go over what we want tested and looked at.

Dr Marek said the Egg Transfer (if everything goes well) should be Wednesday, July 15.

I'm sore and very tired. I start my progesterone pills (2 pills - 3 times daily), Estrogen pills

(1 pill - 3 times daily), Fragmin (1 shot daily) today. I will keep taking the prednisone and my other medications. Very hard to remember. :)

Our day yesterday:

Salt Caves

We went to the Salt Caves. It's said that it is suppose to relax and heal your body (good for the auto immune diseases). It was an awesome experience. 45 minute session for only $10.00. Not too bad. We ate Czech style pizza, which was ok(Russ said it was good) and had Gelato ice cream.

Cookie flavored Gelato Ice cream

I'm going back to bed and try to get feeling better.

More to come...

Doctor Visit #2

Outside the Reprofit Fertility Clinic
The Waiting Room

Ultra Sound Room

Just got done with doctor visit #2. Ultra sound nurse said everything looks great. There are about 10 follicles on my right side that look good. Egg retrival is scheduled for 7:45 am (1:45 am your time) Saturday, July 11. Today, I will take 150 units of Gonal F and also cetrotide (to slow the ovulation down) and at 9:00 pm I will take the ovidrel (which makes your eggs ready for retrival) Tomorrow, July 10, I am medication FREE!! Woo hoo.. a day to relax and not have to worry about did I take that injection or did I take that pill :) I can not eat or drink anything after mid night before the egg retrival. We have to fill out forms for the anesthesia doctor. So not looking forward to the anesthesia, I get sick when I wake up. I'm hoping they will give me something to calm my stomach down. They gave me 2 prescriptions to fill here, it's so much cheaper here than in the states.

Pills/shots to take after egg retrival:
*Fragmin (same as Lovenox or Heparin:blood thinner injections) I will take 1 injection daily up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. In the states:$560.oo Czech: $150.00

*Progesterone - I will take 2 pills 3 times a day up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

In the states: $250.00 Czech: $64.00

Thank you Lord, you are so good and I praise you! I was so happy to hear that I can get the medication cheaper here and can get it mailed to me monthly :)

On our way home last night: "Old Brno Monastery and Cathedral of the Assumption of our Lady" Very beautiful at night

Russ.. he is so handsome :)

The movie Theater

Me, Walking to the Movie Theater

Brno's Brewery (Starobrno beer) They say it's the best beer in Europe. But we wouldn't know that :) ha-ha

We are still getting us to the time difference. Yesterday was the hardest. We slept until 1:00pm. Relaxed around the apartment and then went to Mendel Square, about 10 minutes walking from our apartment. We ate at McDonald's. There were a lot of different items on the menu. Of course we ordered what we were use to. Big Mac and Qtr Pounder w/cheese. It was the best hamburger ever.. :) haa. You do a lot of walking, so you are so hungry. I think we will lose weight here. :) We went to a movie, saw The Hangover (In English w/ Czech sub titles)

Today, we plan on going to the Spilberk Castle. It's an amazing place and has a lot of history.
Royal castle built in the 13th century and was converted to a "jail of nations" and was the most feard prison in Habsburg monarchy.

http://www.spilberk.cz/ (click on the English Flag)

Going sight seeing..More to come...

Our Day In Brno

Brno is such an amazing town, it is old and un-touched. Castles, Cathedrals, Statues, etc.. you name it.

We met up with our coordinator, Eva. She showed us how to use the tram, bus and the train station. We went to St Peter & Paul Church and it was amazing! I wanted to take pictures in the church, but it said (NO CAMERA's) hmmm.. I think we might go back and "sneak" a few.

Here is our coordinator and her husband

(Eva & Palva)

Her husband, Palva (Paul in English) met up with us for dinner. They took us to an authentic restaurant. What to choose.. what to choose. Lamb, Duck, Duck liver, Pork, Chicken.. (ah Chicken) I chose the Chicken with cream sauce and walnuts, roasted potatos with sour cream, ham and chives, small salad and corn. Drank Coca-Cola and water (with out 'Gas' - meaning not bubbly) Russ chose the lamb, roasted potatos with sour cream, ham and chives, small salad and corn. Drank a Czech beer, which was pretty good. For dessert we shared a crepe. That was the best part of the meal. This is what we ate

(My meal: Chicken w/ Cream sauce)

(Russ' meal: Lamb w/ spicy red beans)

(Crepes.. mmmm)

After dinner Eva pointed us in the direction to our apartment (about a 5 min walk). We are listening to it rain and it is very peaceful.

Tomorrow I think we might try the Brno Zoo and walk around the gardens. The zoo cost $4.oo per adult.. cheap :)

Thursday, July 9 is my next ultra sound appointment. Our coordinator will pick us up at the apartment at 8:45 am for our 9:00 am appointment.

More to come....

First Ultrasound Done

We woke up this morning with day light coming through our window at... 4:00 in the morning.. Yes.. 4:00 am. I thought I missed my appointment and we slept through the alarm clock. Very strange to see the sunrise this early.

My first ultrasound was done at 9:00 am (3:00 am your time..why aren't you awake? ha-ha) 15 minutes in and out! The fertility clinics in the USA took for ever.. they like to keep you there making you anxious. The Ultrasound nurse said everything was looking good. My lining of my uterus looked very good and she said that I had 5 follicles on my left and 11 on my right!!! No wonder I've been crampy :) Thats a good thing. I take 150 units of Gonal F today and tomorrow and my next ultrasound appointment is Thursday, July 9 at 9:00 am. I wanted to take a picture of the clinic, but they are doing a lot of remodling. The buildings here are so old and beautiful. The details are amazing.

We are back in our apartment relaxing and will wait on our coordinator (Eva, who is also a nurse at the clinic) to pick us up around 4:00. She will take us around and take us to our first authentic Czech dinner.. wish us luck :)

Here is a picture of our apartment and the view from our back window.

Our Apartment

There is an Indian Restaurant = Indicke Restaurace (Czech) right down stairs, they speak great english, we might try the food

View from back window

We may walk to the Mendel Square, not too far from us, maybe 5 minutes and do a little sight seeing.
More to come...

We made it!!

We are finally here after a long night of flying

The flight was great, we flew First Class... and it was awesome. I felt like royalty :) We had a full coarse meal, watched as many movies as we wanted, and the seats lounged back in to a bed. We still couldn't sleep, but was able to get a little shut eye. We arrived in Prague at 9:20 am and we had a driver waiting for us (holding a sign up with our names) haaa.. I use to laugh at people when I saw that, but not anymore. It was helpful. He took us to the airport, quiet fast I might add. I was holding on for dear life. They do drive on the same side of the road as we do, but way faster :) Arrived at the train station just in time for the 11:15 train to Brno.
(Russ on the train)

We were not the only American's traveling, we met this nice older couple from California who helped us out a little. I knew they were a God send. The train was 2.5 hours long and arrived in Brno at 2:14. (remember, Czech is 6 hours ahead) Our coordinator picked us up at the train station and took us grocery shopping. I wish I had my camera, it was very strange. I did find some food that we knew, like Pringles, Coke, Mayo.. and by the way, Coke tastes the same as it does in the US. The water is a bit different, but we bought several big bottles and will do Crystal Light, hoping it will change the taste a little.

We will be un packing and settling in to our apartment. My first appointment is tomorrow @ 9:00 am (3:00 am your time) then our coordinator (Eva) will take us around the town showing us different places to go and eat and take us sight seeing to different castles. Will also show us how to use the trams and buses. It's a little strange to look up and see wires everywhere, just for the trams.

We've been up almost 24 hrs.. so trying to get some shut eye

More to come...

Count Down.. 1 More Day

Happy 4th of July everyone! :)

I think I'm about to pull my hair out. We've been at this packing/cleaning thing for 10 hrs!!
Packing.. Packing.. Packing!! Cleaning.. Cleaning.. Cleaning. Not sure why I bother to clean, its my family coming in. If you know me, I'm very OCD and I have to make sure things are just right. Oh well!

We are both taking 2 suitcases, not too bad. Not sure how to pack for 15 days, but we will figure that out. We will be up late tonight getting everything we can done. My sister arrives tomorrow morning, can't wait to see her. Our flight still looks great to fly stand-by.. Thank you Lord.

I still can't believe it's here, God has given us both peace about this trip.

More to come.... :) :)

2 Days.. Count Down

For some reason we aren't feeling like we are about to go over seas for 2 weeks. Feels like God has given us complete peace about this trip. My cycle started when it needed to, thank you Lord. I started my 150 units of Gonal F July 1 and my prednisone. The prednisone gives me headaches and makes me very anxious for about 4 hours and then I start getting tired and cranky. Hopefully my body will get use to it. I had to come up with a time that I can take the injections here and it will be the same time over there. 6 hour difference... 4:00 pm here means doing the injections around 10:00 pm.

Russ and I got our hair cut today and I also got my hair colored (thanks to Jennifer). We finished up all the extra odd's and end's today. Walmart trip took about an hour. Ohh.. we need this and I might need some extra of this. Not sure what we are thinking, but they have several grocery stores over there. I guess we feel like we are going to the "Land of the Lost" haa :)
We are cleaning and doing laundry. Will start packing tonight and making sure we have all we need. I hate this part, anyone interested in helping???

Annie Sue knows something is up, she follows us every where we go whining and stuck to us like glue. Very smart girl. But they both will be in great hands.
My sister comes in Sunday and my parents are coming in later next week. So I think they will be good :)

The flights still look great, banking on flying 1st class. Our flight leaves July 5 @ 5:50 pm and the flight is 9.5 hours long. Wish us luck, not sure we will be able to sleep.
Mag sent us the picture of our coordinator, the one who will pick us up and take us to all our appointments, etc...
Writing about it is making me excited. It's really here...!

I want to Thank all our family and friends for the support and prayer and for following our blog. We will be taking the computer and I will post pictures and what we do daily. (try)
More to come....