Happy New Year!

I really don't have any New Year's resolutions to make but WOW! 2009 is definitely going to be a year full of new adventures! Brian and I are going to learn so much in the coming months! I think the ticker seems to be moving very quickly these days... 78 days!!! I really can't believe how fast this is all going. We have 11 weeks to go as of tomorrow (to the due date anyway). Brian has started working in the baby's room and this weekend, hopefully, he will have it ready for a crib and decorations. He has ripped up carpet and taken down closet doors and shelves and is painting... it was a mess. After it's all done, I will post the before and after pictures.

As for the baby... he's doing great! I'm feeling him move more and more each day and he is definitely getting stronger and stronger=). We have another appointment on the 8th and we will start childbirth classes on the 13th or the 20th.

Brian and I are doing well also. Brian is still working hard everyday and spends most of the day outside... I really don't know how he does it! He was outside all day yesterday and it was only 3 degrees (not including wind chill). BURRRR!!! Praise the Lord he is getting another four day weekend this weekend!

For unto you

is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

It's a....

BOY!!!

We had another appointment yesterday and thanks to a cancellation in the dr's schedule we were able to do the ultrasound last night. I apologize for not posting pictures but my placenta is in front of the baby and the face pictures didn't come out very clear. Everything looked great with the baby! It was such a blessing to hear the dr say, "that looks good, that looks normal..." Since I don't have any ultrasound pictures for you I will just post a couple pictures from Thanksgiving Day. The first picture is everyone that was at the ultrasound last night, except Brian's mom (because she is in Kentucky).

Dr Appt.

We had our OB appointment yesterday and everything is going well. They said we have to wait until there is a medical reason to do the ultrasound and that makes me really impatient but it's okay - it doesn't change the sex of the baby if I find out today or have to wait 4 more weeks. I would like to think that the dr could come up with some medical reason (or excuse) to do the u/s but that's okay... I'll be patient. The dr did find the heartbeat really fast and that was (as always) fun to hear. Not much else to report...which I guess is good.

I know I haven't posted pictures from vacation yet but I will really try to do that soon.

We're Home!

Vacation was great! The weather was SO WONDERFUL!!! I didn't take many pictures but my parents both took a lot so I will get some from them to post. My sister had a baby shower for me and it was really nice. I will post some pictures from that too. We have another dr appointment on Thursday and then we will schedule our ultrasound (the big one!). I'm hoping we'll be able to have it next Monday afternoon, but we'll see.

In case you want to know...

I, unfortunately, ended up going back to the clinic yesterday. Thankfully, though, everything is okay with the baby and we got to hear a strong heartbeat. I'm really hoping that was my last visit to the clinic for about a month. Brian and I are very thankful for all the prayers for us and our little one!!!

Movin' on up....

I had another ultrasound today... I'm hoping this problem will go away and not come back!!!! It was really neat to see the baby again, moving and wiggling all over. My mom and my grandma were able to come with me and neither of them had ever seen and ultrasound before, so that was pretty fun to watch. I think they were both pretty excited about it. Also, they recorded the entire ultrasound on a video so Brian will be able to watch it when he gets home!

Well, for those of you who have been keeping up with my ticker at the top of the page (I know I'm a bit obsessive), you'll see that it has changed! As of today, the baby is measuring at 14 weeks, which makes my due date March 19th!!!!! That is much closer to where I originally thought I should have been according to my cycle dates. I would have left it the same if it were only off by a day or two but this is a whole 9 days! I will try to post the picture from the ultrasound later.

Under 200

I've been waiting for this day for about 45-50 days. I am so excited to see that little ticker at the top of my page change from 200+ days to 199 days to go. I know lots of you are praying for us and our little one and we appreciate more than you know!

Another Ultrasound

We went in for another ultrasound today after a little scare. Everything is fine and the dr wasn't too concerned. It was nice to get to see our "little jumping bean." It moved around so much. I don't know if it was more fun to watch the baby move or to watch Brian watch the baby move. He was pretty excited!!! I will try to post another picture later after I get it scanned but here is one that she gave me on a cd.

Update

We went for our first real OB check up yesterday and it went well. There isn't too much to report... the dr said everything seemed to be fine. She tried to find the heartbeat with the doppler but she couldn't - I was a little worried at first but she said its still a little early (we're only at 11 weeks today) to hear it with the doppler. I think I would be more worried if we haven't already heard the heartbeat at the last ultrasound.

In other news, Brian leaves to go moose hunting on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. He hasn't decided yet but hopefully this year will be as successful as the last few years. Here is a picture of the moose he shot last year


It really doesn't matter who gets to actually shoot the moose, we just need the meat for the freezer. I LOVE to process moose meat, well, I enjoy the wrapping part. I'm really hoping I'll still enjoy it this year with my ultra sensitive senses... I guess it's a good thing they don't hunt chickens :)

6 weeks 6 days

PRAISE THE LORD!!! We had another ultrasound this morning and it was GREAT!!!! We got to see the little heart beating like crazy and we even got to listen to that precious sound for a few minutes. What an amazing blessing from God!! I will get the u/s picture scanned in tonight or tomorrow so you can all see our baby!!!!


The thing that you might think is the head, isn't - it's the yolk sac. You can barely see a tiny little arm bud on the bottom if you look very closely!

Camping and Fishing

Here a few pictures from our camping/fishing trip a week ago. We had a great time! I wish the weather would have been better but we still had fun! Sorry about the sideways pictures... I'll get it all figured out some day :)

The first Ultrasound

We went to our ultrasound on Thursday and this is what we saw...


PRAISE THE LORD!!! That is the gestational sac in my uterus!!!! We are so excited. I thought I was around 6 weeks before we went in but at the appointment the baby was measuring at 4 weeks 5 days. We go for another ultrasound in about two weeks so we can hear the heartbeat. I'm not really sure, but I think Brian might be even more excited than I am.

Results

The lab FINALLY called... my levels we way up where they're supposed to be. YAY! Praise the Lord!!! Now I just have to for the ultrasound on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to that.

Just FYI... I won't be posting an update until at least Sunday. We are camping out Wednesday night after church two hours from here and then we're driving to Anchorage for my appointment early Thursday morning and then driving back to our camp site Thursday night where we'll stay until Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to getting away for a couple days. Normally we only get to go for one night but this time we're going for three nights!!!! I love camping and fishing and LOVE LOVE LOVE to be away from work!!! Hopefully, I'll remember to take my camera and I can post pictures when we get back.

Another Blood Test

I have a blood test scheduled for this afternoon. My dr wants to check my hcg levels again before we go for the ultrasound on Thursday. I'll post the results when I get back.

Unbelievable Update and Title Change

First of all, Brian and I want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for all the prayers!!! They must have worked because, you'll never guess what we found out... WE'RE PREGNANT!!! Praise the Lord! Our God is an AMAZING God! I took a home test on Thursday morning and then another on Friday morning. They both had faint lines so I called my doctor. She sent me for a blood test right away. It came back positive and so we did another one on Monday. The HCG (pregnancy hormone) level had over doubled over the weekend which is exactly what we wanted. When I talked to my dr again this morning she set up an ultrasound for next Thursday (July 24th) and then a short dr appointment to discuss the u/s. She also said she wanted me to go in for one more blood test on Monday. The dr is still pretty leery about all of this so that's why we're having an ultrasound done a little early. Since I have problems with my tubes, she wants to make sure there is a gestational sac in my uterus before she releases me to an OB. It is kind of nerve racking but I know that God's will is perfect!

Please pray for us this week especially as it is so hard to play the waiting game. Thanks again for all the prayers, we really appreciate it!!!

Phone Consultation

I just scheduled our phone consultation for Wednesday, July 16th at 3:30 Alaska time. Please pray as we prepare for this phone call.

Good News!

I called my dr in Anchorage yesterday afternoon to see if she had heard of any of the clinics/doctors we were looking at. She hadn't heard of the one in Houston (I wasn't completely sold on that clinic anyway) and she had previously worked with the dr in Seattle and said he was a good dr. Then when I told her about the clinic in California she said she hadn't ever heard of it before, but then she asked who the dr was at the clinic. When I told her his name, she about flipped out. She was so excited!!! She said he is definitely one of the best drs in the field. This made me feel a LOT better about picking this clinic. Brian and I have been praying over which clinic to use for a while now and I feel like God has really given us a peace with this one. So, today I will set up our consultation appointment and we'll have the ball rolling. I can't believe we're actually getting starting with our IVF.

Well here we are...

I finally did it! I joined the blogging word. I guess it's about time. I think I need an outlet for all the infertility stuff we're going through. I figure this might be a lot easier to keep people updated than trying to call everyone each time something changes or we get more news.

Here's the scoop!
For those of you who don't know, Brian and I have been trying to have a baby for almost 2 and half years. Last October (2007) we decided it was time to head to the dr and try to figure out what the problem was. About a month ago all the test had come to an end and we found out that we can not have children naturally. Even with fertility drugs it would "be a miracle" (quoting my dr) if we were to get pregnant. I was devastated!!! She told us the only real option for us was in vitro fertilization (IVF). The problem is that there are problems with my fallopian tubes so the egg (fertilized or not) can not travel to my uterus. I also have PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome) with insulin resistance. There are no problems on Brian's end so that is a definite praise!

We are currently researching our IVF options and are planning to have the procedure done in October/November. There is not a Reproductive Endocrinologist in the state of Alaska so we are going to have to travel somewhere and we figured we might as well go where they have the highest success rates. After looking into many many clinics. I think the clinic we are planning to use is in Southern California. I am working on setting up a phone consultant for the beginning of next week.