Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Our 2nd journey is officially underway!

Ross and I have made our 1st trip of our second journey to New York!  This was for my Hysteroscopy that pretty much kicks this cycle off.  This was an eventful yet relaxing trip, and I can honestly say that it is my favorite trip there ever.  The hardest part was leaving Avery for a few days, but I know she was in excellent care and we called to check up on her every few hours.

We dropped Avery off Saturday evening and we hit the road early Sunday morning. It started out rainy but about 2 hours in, the sunrise was absolutely beautiful.  Not only was it beautiful, but it was almost calming.


The drive there seemed to fly by.  We arrived in Newark, NJ around 3:15 which was about the exact time we had planned on getting there.  We checked into our hotel, freshened up a little bit, and then head into the city.  We had made the decision to stay overnight because I was due at the clinic at 7am on Monday, and the thought of another driving through the night trip REALLY didn't sound appetizing.  

We had decided to go to Times Square.  We had been there before but not for very long and we thought there would be a little more to see there.  It was amazing (as if it could be anything else)!  We went to Toys R Us, The Disney Store, American Eagle, ate at the Shake Shack, and finished up by going to Dylan's Candy Bar..or so we thought!  Right near Dylan's Candy Bar was this beautiful park set up with little shops, an ice skating rink, and a carousel.  It ended up being Bryant Park, which isn't a park I had ever heard of.  It was too cool!  Let me also mention that the weather was in the 60's and absolutely gorgeous!  Anyhow, we walked through the park and peeked into a few of the shops.  Ross insisted that I get a head wrap type thing that I had been really wanting so I did get one of those.  We didn't buy anything else except for a Mickey Mouse from the Disney Store with an I <3 NY shirt on.  I hope one day that little girl knows how special NYC will be to our family.  



We decided to try to make it back to the hotel rather early since we had to be up at 5am the next morning.  We knew it would take awhile to catch the train and Subways to the clinic.  We got back and were in bed by 10pm..which I thought was great! Right?! Well, it WAS great until I was woken up at 1am by an alarm going off in the hallway of the hotel and flashing lights outside!  We had to be evacuated from the hotel..in the middle of the night..in our pajamas.  This was lovely!  We were outside for about a half hour and we never really found out what the problem was.  It wasn't a fire or anything, but we were told something about a wedding party and some of the guests got into a room they weren't supposed to be in..who knows.  For the rest of the night, Ross and I were never really able to go back to bed.  5am came awfully fast!

We were quick at getting ready, we had JUST gotten to the shuttle right before it took off, and we caught the train into the city..all in great timing!  We navigated on the Subway like it was just yesterday that we were there for our first journey and ended up to the clinic about 15 minutes early.  I got signed in and was given a paper that I needed to be seen by billing before any services were provided.  I crossed my fingers that it wasn't something serious.  It just ended up being that I had to pay for the Frozen Embryo Transfer and the months since June for the storage fee.  I was then told that I WAS AT THE WRONG CLINIC!!!  The girl was like "you didn't know to go to the Columbus Circle office?", I was like "no, I didn't even know anything about the other office" and she proceeded to say that the person who scheduled it may have just assumed I was a regular patient there and just would have known.  Luckily she just called over and told them we were on the way and told us to get a taxi.  It didn't take long to get there and it was our FIRST NYC cab ride!  It was pretty uneventful (thankfully)!


We got to the clinic for my Hysteroscopy and I must say, it was beautiful! Much different than the other one we had always been to.  Not that the other one isn't nice, this one is just much newer and more modern.  I was called back, I changed into my gown, booties, and hair net and waited to be taken back.  The anesthesiologist then called me and walked me back.  I got on the table, and while she was putting my IV in the doctor was just talking to me.  Next thing I know, she told me to enjoy the Bahamas and I was OUT!  After that, I slightly remember getting shaken and then walked to the recovery area.  I was feeling pretty crampy.  She came back in to check on me and said I didn't look so hot so she gave me a shot of some sort of pain medicine in my IV and then I felt wonderful!  I was in recovery for probably 45 mins to an hour.  I got my paperwork and had my FMLA forms filled out and we were on our way!  We made it back to the hotel around 11:45 and checkout was at noon so we made perfect time.


The ride home felt like forever even though I slept for most of it.  Ross was a true champ driving all of the way home..granted I couldn't have even if I wanted to.  I was SO tired I could barely keep my eyes open.  The last time I had it, I was the same way.  The BEST part was picking up our Aves :)  She LOVED her Mickey!  


I am feeling okay now.  I have been bleeding pretty heavily which they said can last for 7-10 days.  I'm not cramping too bad but I have had a few dizzy spells, and earlier at work I felt absolutely horrid and sick to my stomach for about 45 minutes.  I'm not really sure what that was about but I'm thinking it could possibly be from the antibiotic I am on.


Our next step?  Monitoring this coming Monday.  We have decided to do the monitoring here so please pray that everything works out smoothly.  Also, they will especially be checking my endometrial lining to see if it is thick enough to proceed with the transfer this cycle or if we will have to wait for next..so keep your fingers crossed that it works out! I will keep you posted!




Friday, November 25, 2011

Oh, to NYC we will go!

It's true!  Ross and I will be beginning another journey to NYC!  We are proceeding with doing a frozen embryo transfer this month (provided all goes well)!  We decided to do this officially a couple of weeks ago.  It has been a little stressful coordinating things from a different state but I know that if we did it before, we can do it again!!

Thankfully, this time around there won't be as many trips necessary and we are even able to do some of the monitoring here in Ohio if we choose.  We are trying to decide what to do because it will cost us more money to do it here in Ohio, but of course it will be a lot harder to travel back and forth.  

We decided to do this because we have one frozen embryo left and felt it was the right time.  I am a giant ball of emotions right now about it all.  I am excited for the journey, I am nervous, scared, hopeful, etc.  This could potentially be our last shot at having another child. I want this so badly for Avery, I feel like she deserves a sibling.  Words can't express how much I love her!  

I will go into more depth at another time, but we will be traveling to NYC on Sunday for a Hysteroscopy on Monday.  I had one of these while doing the clinical trial for our IVF.  They pretty much clean out my uterus and give it the best possible environment for an embryo to attach.  They are doing this because I have endometriosis and also since I had a c-section, they want to make sure they remove any scar tissue that may be present.  I am praying I have an easier time this time around as I had a lot of pain and bleeding a few days after the procedure that caused me to go to the emergency room.  

We decided to make a little (very little) getaway out of this trip.  We thought since I had to be there so early on Monday it would be best to stay overnight rather than drive over night like we did in the past.  We are hoping to go into the city for the evening and see a little more than we did before.  What better time to be traveling to NYC than around the Holidays?!

We are both excited for this journey, and we ask for all of the prayers we can get.  They worked last time and I pray they work this time!  Stay tuned..our next month will be busy!!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Avery Hope is 20 months!

Hi everyone!

I figured since it has been awhile I should update on my miracle, Avery Hope.  I always vow to stay up to date and to post consistently but I am REALLY going to make an effort.  

Avery amazes me every single day.  She is talking like crazy, sweet, adorable, smart, fun, etc.  I could go on and on for days!  I know of course I am bias but she seriously amazes me at how smart she is.  There isn't one day that goes by that I don't look at her and think about how lucky I am to have her in my life.  It makes every bit of our journey worth it and words can't express how much I love her!!  

On Friday we put up our Christmas trees. Yes, plural.  We have our own tree and Avery has one.  Last year she didn't really care about it, but this year? OMG.  She LOVES it.  When I mention going downstairs, she said "Tree".  When we pull into the driveway, she says "Tree".  She LOVES it!  On Friday all we had on it were the lights and every time the lights weren't on, she made us plug them in..LOL!  Today we bought a few more ornaments for her tree.  I handed her a clip on butterfly that we bought and she went straight over to the tree and tried to set it on a branch!  I just sat and was amazed that she had any idea on what to do!  Her tree is decorated with pink and white LED's with mostly pink ornaments with some other colors like orange and blue.  

Life isn't ALWAYS beautiful.  She throws her occasional temper tantrum, but that is certainly to be expected :)  I just try to enjoy every single bit of parenthood that I can, good AND bad.  I'm just thankful I get to experience it.  

This week is Thanksgiving and I am SO excited!!  Last year Avery was just beginning to eat table food so I am really excited for her to enjoy it this year.  We went to Sams Club today and they had a ton of samples and one she REALLY liked was pumpkin cheesecake!

We have really enjoyed Christmas shopping for Avery too.  I have a feeling she is going to be spoiled, just as she was last year :)  I seriously can't help it though, we waited SO long for this and she is just so special.  I'm anxious to watch Christmas shows with her.  She already loves Christmas music..we play it in the car.  The other day she got mad when I turned the channel! LOL!  It's amazing to see her personality come out and see what things she really loves. 

Avery still loves Mickey Mouse and has started watching a new show called Bubble Guppies.  It could quite possibly be the cutest TV on, LOL.  She loves to do puzzles, "read" books, color, etc.  She REALLY loves dogs.  Any dog she sees she wants to pet.  Actually, she really loves all animals.  We have now acquired 3 fish and a tank due to her, LOL.  We went grocery shopping and she wasn't feeling that great so she wasn't too happy so daddy took her to go look at the "fishies".  She didn't want to leave them, so we decided to get her some.  They still haven't gotten old to her! She loves to feed them each day and watch them :)  

We also have been doing a Mommy and Me gymnastics class every Saturday morning.  She has done SO well there!  She is able to now do a somersault on her own now and can walk across the beam without slipping off.  All in a matter of 6 weeks!  SO cute!

Well, I know that I missing a ton but I have to run.  I'll keep posting :)  Here are a few updated pics of our little miracle.