The Chronicles of a Pregnant Vera - Part 3

I am 23 weeks pregnant today!!! How awesome is that?! ONLY 17 more weeks and we'll get to meet the love of our lives, Jacob. Now onto some of my musings:

• It's true what the books and other women who have given birth say, 2nd trimester is awesome! Although I still sometimes feel sick, I generally feel awesome nowadays. My eating habits are slowly going back to normal. Hopefully I gain weight soon.
• Jacob is kicking up a storm. Gone are the flutters and soft nudges. Now even his Daddy can feel him move. More exciting for my husband is the fact that he can now see my tummy move when Jacob moves. Precious! I am loving all of Jacob's 'kicks and punches'. :D
• We've been shopping for Jacob for a few weeks now, mostly clothes. We've shopped for different sizes though especially for when he is about 6 months old and it'll be Winter here. We've also bought a few toys for him. His nappy stash is not yet complete. I still need to buy a few lots.
• I have booked for our babymoon on the 2nd week of October. I'm excited to go and explore a new place but I'm more excited to be with my husband and do nothing! :)
• My Aqua Natal classes are due to start next month. I am so looking forward to it. I haven't had much exercise at all since falling pregnant (well actually since forever! haha!). But I think the classes will help me heaps with these aches and pains I'm feeling as my tummy and Jacob grows. I already have a couple of maternity board shorts. I'm still waiting for the delivery of the maternity halter tops that I ordered online.
• My husband and I want to 'see' Jacob again, soon. So we will be scheduling a 3D/4D ultrasound for when I am 29 weeks. That's what the ultrasound place recommends so all of bub's features are already defined. We can't wait! :)
• In a few days my husband and I will be celebrating our 12th anniversary. Of those 12 years, we've been married for 6. Twelve years of togetherness -- lovely. I love my husband. I AM IN LOVE WITH HIM! Love, love, love! <3

That's it for now folks. Be back soon! :)

Maternity Clothes Shopping

I have been having difficulties shopping for maternity clothes here in Sydney. There are no (actual) shops specializing in maternity wear that I know of. Some shops like Target, Big W and Kmart carry maternity clothes but the choices are very, very limited. I don't like the styles they have and the sizing is too big for my petite frame -- I'm tiny, as one sales associate told me over the weekend while my husband and I were looking for maternity swimwear. :D

As such, I've resorted to online shopping. My favourite site is Asos. Their prices are pretty reasonable (especially the clearance items) compared to the prices of clothes here, plus they offer free shipping to Australia. How awesome is that?! So far I have bought from them a couple of pairs of jeans, a pair of cropped trousers, a dress, a shirt and two halter bikini tops for my Aqua Natal classes which will start next month. Speaking of Aqua Natal classes, I also had to order my maternity board shorts online from Angel Maternity. They were delivered this morning and it's a good thing they have accurate sizing charts because the extra small ones fit me just right.

There's this one shop that I always go to whenever we're out, Pumpkin Patch. They carry babies', children's and maternity clothes. Admittedly, their prices are more expensive but the quality is really good. I was able to buy one pair of cargo pants from them (on sale, mind you).

Oh, my sister just texted me that they have sent me a care package from Manila mostly containing maternity clothes. They have bought some clothes from Gingersnaps, some from good old SM department store and of course some from the ever reliable palengke (market). I.AM.SO.EXCITED!!! I can't wait to receive the package and open it and be surprised. It should be here in 4-5 days. :)

GLOW, where art thou???

People say that when a woman is pregnant she has this certain 'glow'. I seem to have missed out on that said glow. Not fair! Haha. I say, I can live with not having the glow as long as Jacob is growing healthy. :)

I just came home from my first doctor visit at the hospital. He measured my fundal height and we listened to Jacob's heart beat for a bit. He said everything looked fine with bub's morphology scan and that my next visit would be with the midwives at 24 weeks. And then that was it. All done! My husband said we waited more than an hour for a 5-minute consultation with the doctor! :D

Bee is a BOY!!!

Our bub is a BOY!!! :) Now we can call him by his name, Jacob Lucas. My husband is over the moon because his wish for a boy came true. I am happy because at our morphology/gender scan Jacob was so playful. He kept on moving 'round and 'round! The sonographer said everything looked fine. I'm looking forward to my first doctor visit in two days so I can get the actual results of Jacob's scan. I am 19+2 today. Yay!!! :)

Meanwhile, here is a picture from the scan:

The Chronicles of a Pregnant Vera - Part 2

Today I am 18+3. That means 18 weeks, 3 days, folks! Almost halfway through. Yay! Here are some of the things that happened and some things I've been pondering about since my last chronicle entry.

• I've started feeling 'ok' this past week. I'm not as tired as before anymore and I very rarely throw up now. Hopefully this continues til I give birth. I know, wishful thinking. :D 
• I have decided to give cloth nappies a go. They're not the same nappies that my mum used on me ages ago, though. Thank God for that. They're now generally known as MCNs or modern cloth nappies. To kick-start my stash, I ordered some multi fit nappies from Baby Beehinds. They're the ones I can use from when bub is 5kg til about 16kg. I've yet to receive my order but I can't wait to get the nappies and 'practice'. Hehe. I know some people might think cloth nappies might be too much work compared to sposies (disposable nappies) but I'm willing to try if it would work for Bee and I (and Dad, for that matter!). *fingers crossed* 
• I have also decided to give baby wearing a go. My sister in Manila is in the process of securing a Saya baby carrier for me. Hope the color that I like is still available in my size -- purple, of course. :) 
• We have our morphology/gender scan in three days. My husband and I have been counting the days and finally it's just a few more sleeps away! So exciting. Watch this space for the big reveal! 
• I've started feeling 'flutters' since 17 weeks. I have a feeling it's Bee wanting to 'play' with me. Hehe. It's more prevalent at night or when I happen to drink or eat anything cold. They say bubs in the womb don't like anything cold that's why they tend to 'move'. In any case, I can't wait to feel 'real kicks' from Bee. Hopefully soon. :) 
• I am now 'obviously pregnant'. Not like before when I just looked like a kid who ate plenty. Haha! My husband noticed that my tummy looked way bigger this week than the last. Well I guess I could say that I already popped!!! :) [Remember the Pringles ad -- once you pop, you can't stop!] I really should start taking weekly photos of my belly. I promise to start doing so this Sunday. It would be nice to be able to show Bee later how he/she grew up in Mum's tummy.

Well, that's all for now. I'm hungry! :)

Nuchal Translucency Screening

We had our Nuchal Translucency Screening on July 15th. The screening is composed of two parts, the scan and the blood test. It's to test whether bub is likely to have Down's syndrome, as well as Edward's syndrome and Patau's syndrome.

I went into the scan thinking I was 12 weeks 1 day. Turns out our bub was already measuring 13 weeks. Yay! So again, my due date was changed to 20 January. I'm not complaining. :D

We got the results about 5 days after because we had to wait for the blood test results and they had to combine those with the scan results. We're thankful that Bee is low risk. Thank you, God!

Here are some 'pictures' of Bee:

We were amazed at how Bee really looks like a bub now. Haha.

close up of Bee waving :)

The Chronicles of a Pregnant Vera - Part 1

So I'm pregnant. Now what?! Haha. As my pregnancy progresses, I'm learning things about myself, my body and being pregnant in general. Here are some of the things that's been happening to me.

• After my embryo transfer I refused to pee for a couple of hours (even when I was dying to!) for fear that the embryo would 'fall out'! How silly was I?! :D
• My all-day sickness started at 5 weeks. I refuse to call it morning sickness because I am sick morning, noon and night, sometimes even when I'm already in bed sleeping. It was worst from 9 to 10 weeks. I still get sick nowadays but not as severe as before. Thank God! Hopefully my good luck continues.
• I don't like the smell of food, especially meat and chicken being cooked. I get really, really nauseated. It's a good thing my husband does all the cooking. I'm so lucky, I know! :)
• I lost my appetite at the same time my all-day sickness started. It hasn't come back yet but I'm so waiting for it to. Nothing tastes good. Even water tastes awful. There was a couple of weeks I was so dehydrated because I was having difficulty drinking water. And I think I've already lost weight since being pregnant.
• I can't wait to get to the 'craving stage' so I could eat anything I want. Hopefully by then I already have my appetite back.
• We bought a fetal home doppler off eBay just so my husband and I can hear our bub's heart beat anytime we want to. Since it arrived from China we've only used it once though. It was so exciting to hear it! A bub's heart beat is almost double that of an adult's. Our bub's was 175-180 bpm. Cool!
• My husband is hoping that our bub is a boy. I honestly don't have any preference. All I'm praying for is a healthy and normal bub. :) 

That's all I can think of right now. I'll add to the list as I discover new things. :)

7-week Scan

We had our 7-week scan on 9 June. It was our first scan, also called the dating scan. My husband and I were a bit nervous going into the clinic. We didn't know what to expect (hey, we're first time parents! :D) but of course we prayed that our bub's healthy and growing nicely.

Bee @ 7w1d

Our FS (fertility specialist) did an internal ultrasound since it was too early to see our bub with a pelvic one. After a few minutes of looking, he then said our "jellybean" is alive and kicking. I didn't know I was holding my breath until after he said those words and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Although for the life of me I couldn't fathom how our bub was kicking. Haha. I guess he meant bub has a strong heartbeat. :D

We were originally given a due date of 24 January, 2012 but our FS changed it to 26 January. Just a couple of days off, no biggie. :)

Next up, our 12-week scan/Nuchal Translucency Screening. Thank you, Lord! :)

P.S. For now, we've decided to call our bub Bee since the first movie he/she "saw" is Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. In 3D, no less! :) 

HPT Gallery

Note: This entry was written on 18 May but I've only just decided to publish it today. :)

Hello! It's been a while since I last made an entry about what happened to our IVF/ICSI journey. Well, it's been an emotional roller coaster all right. My husband and I felt a whole gamut of emotions, especially me since I was the one injecting myself with all those drugs. BUT overall, I feel that it has really been a great cycle. Yes, I had some minor side effects like headache and cramps but they were manageable even without taking any medicine. And we also have two great frozen embryos (for later :)). For all of these, WE PRAISE AND WE THANK THE LORD!

First Response, Early Result / 14 May

 This was the first HPT (home pregnancy test) that I took. As you can see, I labelled it 7dp5dt. It means 7 days post 5-day transfer which basically is a week after a 5-day embryo or blastocyst was transferred to me. I used a FRER (First Response, Early Result) pregnancy test. This HPT is very sensitive that it can detect the pregnancy hormone, hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) 6 days before the missed period. I actually wasn't supposed to test that early but the night before I dreamt that I tested and that I got a BFP (big fat positive!!!). That dream felt so real. The emotions I felt were so real. So when I woke up that morning at around 5:30, i took the test. And I couldn't believe my eyes! It said I was pregnant! To make sure that I wasn't just imagining things, I woke my husband up. It was too early for his liking and it was Saturday but he had no choice. We were over the moon with the results. This was the FIRST TIME EVER that I have gotten a positive result in a HPT.

Confirm / 15 May

 I again tested the following day, but using a different HPT -- Confirm. This HPT is not sensitive like FRER. Infact it said on the leaflet that it can detect pregnancy 14 days from conception of the first day of missed period. Had it said something like that in the box, I wouldn't have bought it. I thought it was also like FRER but only found out that it's not after I have opened the boxes (we bought 2 boxes = 4 tests). I thought the test wouldn't even be able to detect the hCG in me because it was only 13 days since my egg collection. But it did, albeit the faintest line. 

Confirm / 16 May

 I tested everyday until my blood test on the 18th of May. I was afraid the result will change. LOL. I was also sending daily emails to my sister back home just so they are up-to-date with what's happening with me. The result line on the 9dp5dt test was noticeably darker than that of the the day before. :)

Confirm / 17 May

As at 17 May, I have done 4 HPTs. As you can see, the result line is getting darker everyday. 

Confirm / 18 May

This was the last one I took before I had my beta hCG and progesterone blood test that same morning (18 May). And so, as the results of my blood test say, I AM PREGNANT!!! My husband and I are so thankful for this blessing. A huge THANK YOU to all the people who prayed for us and for the success of this cycle. Please continue to do so, that my remaining 8 months of pregnancy be healthy and happy. I can't believe it, I'm going to be a mum! :))

Updates

Just a few updates before I actually forget to write about them. :)

~ I had surgery (laparoscopy & hysteroscopy) last 8th October at the North Shore Specialist Day Surgery. I was scheduled for 7:15am but my husband and I went there early just to be on the safe side. I filled out some forms for admission. We didn't pay for the hospital expenses because it was covered by my health insurance. We were told that the doctors' fee (specialist and anaesthetist) will just be mailed to us. By about half past 7 I was prepped and ready to go into the theatre. Everything happened so fast. It took less than 10 seconds after I was asked to inhale the anaesthesia for me to be knocked out. I guess it was a good thing. :)

When I woke up, the first two questions I asked the nurse were 'Is it over?' and 'Where's my husband?'. When asked how I was feeling, I answered 'hungry'. Hehe. I can't help it. I was famished because I was asked to fast from the night before. Not even water. Not long after I woke up I was transferred to a recovery pod where I was deposited in a very comfortable la-z-boy. Soon my husband joined me in the pod. I was so happy to see him. I guess we were both relieved that it's over. I was given some snacks, which I asked my husband to finish. Hehe. My specialist came over and told me that his suspicions of me having endometriosis were confirmed and that it has been taken care of. He said he will ring me because I probably wouldn't remember anything he said. Bear in mind that I was still under general anaesthesia at that time. :)

By midday, I was discharged and we were on our way 'home'.

~ My specialist rang me on the 14th of October, explaining that the surgery should have increased my chances of getting pregnant by 100%! I don't know if he's just saying that or what but I believe him. I have faith that in God's time I will fall pregnant. He asked if I already had my stitches taken out. I said no because I was waiting for his instructions. My husband and I thought we needed to go back to Sydney for the specialist to take them out and at the same time have the follow up check up. Apparently we didn't need to see him and that I could have the stitches taken out already. So I rang my husband from work and asked him t take me to Tamworth Base Hospital. Good thing they were not busy at that time and I was immediately attended to. The specialist said to give it 3-4 months for me to fall pregnant. If not, we need to go back to him. I'm hoping and praying that it doesn't come to that. :)

~ There are only 38 days left before our holiday. Yay!!! I'm so excited. I can hardly wait to see my family. My homecoming is extra special because for the first time in I don't know how long, the family is complete. My brother who is a seafarer is also home. I will not miss the opportunity to have a family picture taken! :)

~ We are going back to Sydney on the 30th of October. We need to send a box full of goodies to Manila. We were originally planning on putting everything in our luggage but it was too heavy. Too much Cadbury chocolates if you ask me. Hehe. We don't want to risk having excess luggage because it's too expensive so we decided to just send a box ahead of us. We're also attending the baby shower/birthday party of a friend. Can't wait!

Too many things to look forward to. Thank you, Lord for all the blessings you continually bestow upon us.