Week 5

I can't believe a week has all ready gone by since my BFP. It seems crazy how fast this week went by.

Today I am 5 weeks along and the baby is the size of:


Your embryo (looking kind of like a tadpole) is starting to form major organs (heart, kidney, liver, stomach) and systems (nervous, circulatory, digestive). Baby's presence in your uterus triggers production of hCG (the hormone detected by pregnancy tests)... which triggers production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone... which trigger all those great symptoms you've probably been noticing! Deep in your uterus your embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point, he/she's about the size of a sesame seed, and he/she looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He/she's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.

Symptoms
I have had a few symptoms, extreme sore boobs, fatigue, frequent urination, and I just begun having heartburn today. I also feel like the nausea might be right around the corner. I use to go all night without a bathroom break, well not anymore. I have to wake up at least once during the night to go to the bathroom. I'm starting to feel tired but lunch and dinner seem to give me a burst of energy. I feel extremely bloated after dinner. My boobs are really sore. I hope all these symptoms is a sign that things are going well inside.

Last night John and I announced to my family that we are expecting. They were all very happy and excited. I kept reminding them that I have had two m/cs and it's really early and they are all very optimistic about my pregnancy this time.

I also passed another milestone today. With my 2nd BFP, I lost all my symptoms at exactly 5 weeks. Well today I have all my symptoms and just added a new one, heartburn. I have also made my first appointment with my Ob/Gyn Dr. P. I will see him in less than 2 weeks on Jan 13 at 3:00 p.m. I can't wait for that day to arrive. I'm pretty sure I will be having an u/s done so it will be really nice to see the baby and make sure everything is growing.

Tonight my family and I are going out to ring in the New Year. It will be fun.

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope 2009 will be a good year for everyone.

Beta Results

All my beta results are in!!!!

14 DPO = 109
16 DPO = 268
18 DPO = 744

I can't believe that since 16 to 18 DPO they have almost tripled!!!! I'm SO excited but yet I still have the scared nervous feeling inside of me as well. I have so many milestones to accomplish this week and next.

Milestones
1.) I went to NY for Christmas and had no spotting!!! With both of my BFPs, I always started spotting in NY and eventually miscarried with both. This time I went and had no spotting at all.

2.) No spotting. I know I'm still early and yes I inspect my toilet paper every time I go to the bathroom, and thank God there has been no spotting.

3.) I think my betas in itself is a milestone for me. It's an indication that things are going really well, so far.

4.) Today I'm 4 weeks and 5 days, and it happens to be when I miscarried the first time. My miscarriage begun in the morning on this day. I continue to have my symptoms so I think I'll pass today's milestone.

5.) With my second BFP, I lost all my symptoms at 5 weeks. I will be 5 weeks on Wednesday and I'm praying to God I will continue to have my symptoms.

6.) At 5 weeks and 5 days is when my 2nd miscarriage begun. That will be my biggest milestone of all because every day after that is a day further than I have ever been. That day is next Monday.

I keep praying to God that this pregnancy will be okay.

John and I decided that we will announce to my family before they leave to Portugal. He thinks it will be nice to tell them in person, so we will announce it before they leave next week. I'm hoping to get an u/s in before there departure day and surprise them with an u/s picture. I'm waiting on my Ob/Gyn's nurse to call me back and let me know.

Thank you EVERYONE for all your well wishes!!!!

A VERY special Christmas Gift

Merry Christmas!!! As you can see from the pictures above I received the BEST gift this morning, a B.F.P!!!!. It's all I wanted for Christmas and I thank GOD my wish was granted. I'm SO excited you have no idea but at the same time I'm scared and nervous. This is my 3rd BFP so I'm a little nervous. I believe and have faith in God and it's going to be whatever he decides. I all ready spoke to my Ob/Gyn Dr. P this morning and I also all ready went in to his office to have my betas drawn. I'm going in Friday and Sunday mornings for additional betas. Friday afternoon I will have my results from this morning and Friday's morning betas. I'm praying to God that they are doubling. I'm continuing my daily dosage of baby aspirin, 4 mg of Folic Acid, and my PNV. I am 14 DPO today and I basically have had no symptoms at all. I have had this achy, pulling, tightening sensation around my uterus, and yesterday my breasts started to feel fuller. I was going to wait until Friday, 16 DPO to test but decided to test this morning on Christmas Eve. Thank you so much for all your support girls. I'm truly blessed today that I have found so many good friends on-line!!!

I'm so excited it's Christmas Eve. I love Christmas Eve, more than Christmas Day. Tonight is a big night at my parents house, it's the night we open all of our gifts. My 5yr old nephew is so excited for Santa to come to see if he brought him a tarzan toy. That's all he wanted this year. I can't wait to see the kids faces as they open their gifts. I am so excited to be spending Christmas Eve surrounded by my whole family who I love very much. If you're wondering if I will tell them about my BFP tonight, the answer is NO. John and I are not telling anyone until we have confirmation that this is a healthy pregnancy and one that will go to full term. It's definitely going to be so hard to hide it from them today, but I don't want to break their hearts again if something bad is to happen.

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

So Excited and I've been Tagged!!!

I'm so excited right now, not only because tomorrow is Christmas Eve, but because my sister, bil, and nephews arrived last night. I LOVE having them here. I wish they lived here in the US with us so I could see them all the time. My oldest nephew who is 5 years old is so cute. He loves to watch tv with me and play games. I love him so much!!! I plan to enjoy every minute I can with them because I know our time is limited.


I've been tagged once again!!!


Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about you.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end, and include links to their blog, if anyone has not been tagged and would like to do so, please do.

1.) As a child I use to hate to read books, probably because I only read the books I was assigned to in school. Now as an adult, I absolutely love to read. It's definitely one of my hobbies.

2.) Before meeting John, I had never travelled in the US. The only states I had visited were obviously Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and once to New York. Today, I have visited the whole entire East Coast with John. We have also been to Las Vegas, Utah, and California. He has showed me so much of the US that I have never seen.

3.) Every vacation spot that John and I visit, we always buy a coffee mug and a shot glass. The coffee mugs are our daily mugs. When you visit our house and drink coffee, you will drink from one of our vacation spots. So you can see where in the world we have travelled to.

4.) I learned how to drive shift by myself. When I was 17 years old, my sister's car was shift and I promised myself I would learn how to drive that car. Well one day I had a dream of how to shift the gears and the next day I went outside to try it. It worked. Of course I would let the car stall a few times, but I finally got the hang of it. After that all my cars have been shift except our SUV that we now have.

5.) I love to drink coffee, it's definitely one of my favorite beverages. I love to try different flavors and different kinds of roast. John and I love it so much we visited a coffee plantation in Costa Rica. I consider myself such a true coffee drinker that I drink it black with no sugar, coffee straight up.

6.) I feel that I'm closer to my Dad than my mom. My Dad is the person who I go to whenever I have a problem or something is bothering me. I actually open up to my Dad quite a bit and that's why I consider my Dad one of my best friends.

7.) I believe that everything in life happens for a reason and what is meant to be is meant to be.

Snow Storm

Friday afternoon snow began falling which turned out to be our first big snow storm of the season. Friday afternoon I left work early and did some grocery shopping to prepare for a few inches of snow. The snow started falling around 2 p.m. and it really hasn't stopped ever since. By Friday night we had 9 inches of snow on the ground. I love snow!!! I love to watch it fall and see how the trees become so beautiful. I love to go outside and bring my ruler with me to see how many inches has fallen so far. Yesterday the snow fell all day but it was very light. Today it was snowing this morning, but it's suppose to turn into rain later on. Here are a few pics of the snow storm.

Snow on my deck


You can see how much snow is on top of my patio table


My backyard


A view of my street


So Friday night I baked Chocolate Chip cookies and Oatmeal nut cookies from scratch. John loves homemade cookies with milk, so I treated him to that. What a better night than to have them on a snowy night. Yesterday and today we have just hung around the house. So it's been a very relaxing weekend.


TTC
Friday, 9 DPO, I started having some aches, not cramps, but more like a pulling tightening feeling all day. Yesterday I have had the same type of feeling, and this morning I'm starting to feel some very mild cramps. Friday morning I did have a very high temp spike, but that's because I have a cold and was feeling a little warm that day. Saturday morning, the temp dropped, but still remains higher than the previous days. This morning again another high temp. I have had all high temps since I started temping a week from today and each day they get higher and higher. FF now says that my chart is triphasic. Besides the aches, I still have no other symptoms, not even "phantom." I'm starting to get the urge to test, which is so unlike me. I normally like to test when I'm late because I hate to see a BFN, but this cycle it's different. There are times which I think I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant, and than there are others I feel like I'm not. My plan is to test Friday morning although I don't know if I'll be able to hold out that long.

8 DPO

I'm 8 DPO today and have absolutely no symptoms at all. None whatsoever. I'm starting to think that perhaps this cycle is over for me although it is too early to tell. Of course I have gone through my two previous BFP charts and saw that I started getting symptoms as early as 2 DPO. Than again, I did miscarry so I don't know how bad I want to experience the same symptoms. I have been temping and have been adding them to my chart if anyone wants to see. My temps are high, but than again I always seem to have pretty high post O temps. I guess I'll just have to wait and see day by day.

Tomorrow we are suppose to get a snow storm, yay!!! They are saying a minimum of 5 inches of snow, although I have heard that by the coast we can get a mix. I live right on the coast of Massachusetts so many times we get rain or sleet instead of snow. I'm really hoping we do get a good amount tomorrow.

I can't believe my sister and nephews are arriving Monday night. I can't wait to see them at the airport. My mother and I will drive up to Boston to pick them up. 4 more days!!!

Than it's Christmas Eve and Christmas. I'm almost done with all my shopping although I have not wrapped one gift. I'll probably do that this weekend.

I hope everyone is enjoying their week!!!

Home Sweet Home

It feels so good to be back home! Our vacation was great. We couldn't of asked for better weather. We still managed to go to the beach twice and even swam in the water. Of course we were the only two in the water. The local Floridians think that 67 degree water is cold, but when you grow up in the Northeast that is your typical water temperature in the summer. It did feel cold when you stepped in, but after 5 minutes or so your body adjusted to it. Most of the days were always in the high 70s or low 80s. Some nights it got down to low 60s and my SIL thought that was very cold. I told her she has no idea what cold really is. I have to say that the week flew right by but I'm happy to be back home.

Last night when we landed it was 24 degrees. What a shock! Of course we were prepared with our thick winter coats and hats. It actually felt like a nice crisp feeling. I slept so good in my bed that I missed and it just feels so good to be back home. Today I'll be unpacking and just taking it easy. Enjoying cups of coffee and watching football by my fireplace, what more could I ask for on a lazy Sunday.

TTC
I of course took my temperature this morning as I was eager to see and was quite disappointed when I saw a pre O temp. I'm not sure what to think now. I definitely had the cm and those horrible O pains which made me 100% sure that I O'ed, but I don't understand why my temp was not in the post O range. Now I'm confused, did I O or did I not O? I don't know if I should judge this by only one temp? I'm seriously confused now. I'll just have to temp tomorrow and see what happens.

In the 2 WW

I'm so excited to be in the 2ww after my 2nd miscarriage. It seems like it's been forever since I've been in the 2ww, and in reality it has, since July. I didn't bring my thermometer down to Florida with me, but sometimes I wish I did. I technically don't temp anymore, but I still like to take my temperature around O just to have that confirmation. I am confirming O by my cm and by my horrible O pains yesterday. So today I am 1 dpo!!! So lovely AF is due right on Christmas Day or I could receive a wonderful BFP right on Christmas Day. I really hope it's a BFP and not AF on Christmas morning.

Every since my HSG last month, I have experienced new O pains I have never felt before. I feel like I can feel everything in my ovaries. In the past, I would get typically O pain and O the following day. Now, I get any achy feeling around my ovaries for about 3 days. Yesterday I had the worse O pains I have ever felt. They were so strong that I felt like I had cramps as well. For those of you who have had a HSG, have you experienced this?

In another note, I can't believe my vacation is basically over. As much as I love vacation, I'm always excited to go back home, especially this time of the year as the holidays are approaching. Tomorrow is my last full day here in Florida. I really better enjoy this 80 degree weather.

Is she pregnant?

That's the question my father-in-law asked John yesterday. It's very interesting how people observe women and their habits. I knew that my father-in-law would be very suspicious of me. I was the type of person who would never say no to a nice refreshing beer, especially Sam Adams, my favorite. But the minute I arrived in Florida Saturday afternoon, he started noticing that for the first time, I said no to my favorite beer. He offered me beer several times that day and I continued to say no. Sunday morning, another observation, I ordered a decaf coffee. So yesterday, the first opportunity he had with John alone, he asked John the famous question, is she pregnant?

John told him no, but told his dad everything that has been happening to us during the year. He now knows about my miscarriages and my homozygous mutation of MTHFR, and that we are TTC this month. It's kind of weird to know that my father-in-law knows we are TTC.

Sunny Warm Florida

We arrived this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. down in Tampa, Florida. I can't believe how warm it is down here, it was 72 degrees. This morning when I left my house in Massachusetts it was 20 degrees. As soon as we stepped outside of the airport it felt so nice. I feel like I'm in a different world with this weather. When we got to my father-in-law's house, John and I immediately switch out of our winter sweaters into t-shirts and sandals. This will be nice to have this kind of weather for a week. It's nice to escape the cold in the winter. It will definitely be a shock when we arrive a week from today, but for now I'll enjoy the warm sunshine state of Florida.

Vacation - Again

John and I are leaving on vacation tomorrow afternoon. You must be thinking that we go on vacation a lot, and your right we do. I guess that's what happens when your husband gets 5 weeks of vacation a year and family members in Florida and New York. We also always go somewhere on vacation. Tomorrow we are leaving to Florida again to spend a week with my father-in-law and sister-in-law. We normally make this trip once a year, but this year will be twice. My father-in-law's birthday is on Monday and John wants to spend it with him and while we are down there we will have a fake Christmas. I feel very fortunate that John and I are able to always go on vacation. In the 8.5 years that we have been together we have definitely done our good share of traveling to which we have so many memories of. This vacation is a very relaxing one. We don't do much except go to the beach and relax. It will be nice to know I can sleep in for a whole week!!! I have to finish packing tonight and than we are ready to leave. It will be nice to escape the cold here in Massachusetts and spend a week in warm sunny Florida.

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Yes it is here at the "D" house. Friday night after John got out of work we went and bought our Christmas tree. Ever since John and I got married we have started a few of our own traditions. One of them is that we always buy our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. I love having a decorated Christmas tree at my house, so I try to have it for as long as I can. We normally buy a Fraser fir, but this year we tried a different kind, electric silver blue balsam fir. I have no idea why they would name a tree that. So our Friday night was spent decorating our tree, listening to Christmas music, and watching the fireplace. We also decorated our banisters, the fireplace, and the kitchen. The whole house definitely feels like Christmas.

Here is a picture of the Christmas Tree

Fireplace with stockings


Our Thanksgiving weekend was fun. We had a wonderful time at his step-sister's house. It was nice to see the whole family.

This morning I went to the doctor to have a holter monitor hook up to me. I have always had a fast heart rate. I have a family history of heart disease so my doctor wants to make sure that the fast heart rate is not caused by any irregularities. The holtor machine is not the most comfortable thing to wear, but at least I will know the results in 2 weeks when I meet with the cardiologist. Hopefully everything is normal and regular.

John's uncle passed away Sunday morning, so we are heading back to New York tomorrow for the funeral. It's always sad to say goodbye to a loved one. He had been very ill for a long time, so we all know that he is in a better place right now.