Miscarriage and Infant Loss Awareness Month 2022

We are back to October. October normally represents fall and halloween, but for many of us it is a month dedicated to remembering the babies we lost too soon. The ones that we never got to meet or that weren't with us for long. For us, this year brought our second loss. In January when we did our frozen embryo transfer, we found out we were pregnant, but not many days later we weren't anymore. A loss in 2020, a loss in 2022, but now pregnant with our rainbow baby in 2022 that will arrive in 2023. 

National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is on Saturday, October 15, 2022. 

Click here to read more: National Today - National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

I normally have people share their testimonies, and my hope is to do so for the next two weeks after talking and seeing if these ladies are willing to share their story. Just pray they open their hearts and will view this as a way to help others in their grief and struggle! 

Results

 08/01 -- 4 days past transfer

Well, I decided to take an at home test, and I could not believe my eyes. On the test was a super faded line. I was so excited, and hoped and prayed that I wasn't just seeing things! 

08/02 -- 5 days past transfer 

I took the same brand I took yesterday, and it was positive again. It didn't look any darker. It was still pretty light. Then I decided to take the same brand that showed up for us last time. This brand showed a much clearer pregnant line! We are still 3 days out from our blood test. However, this gives me hope knowing that it is already positive now. I just pray the lines continue to get darker each and every day. 

I also decided that I couldn't keep this from Brandon. I just did something simple this time. 

I used a party of three sign that I had actually bought a few weeks prior. This is the only time I have ever purchased something previous to knowing if we would be pregnant or not. 

08/03 -- 6 days past transfer

Well another cheapie test, another positive. It got a little bit darker. I didn't have to squint as hard to realize that it was positive this time! Today was also the first day back to school. We had our institute in Montgomery, and the speaker was actually really good! He was engaging and everything! I also had to get up in the middle of his speech to go take my progesterone shot. I am so thankful for some great coworkers that are willing to do this for me! 

08/04 -- 7 days past transfer 

So I decided to take a first response today. Now, the last time, when we our HCG beta was low, we never saw a positive on the first response test. Well today, we did! It was so exciting to know that my HCG would be higher than last time, but the question remained how much higher? 

08/05-- 8 days past transfer (HCG beta #1) 

7:00 AM I get my blood drawn. 

12:00 PM Nurse calls! I guess my tone of voice was excited, and she asked me if I had already taken a test. I told her yes, I just wasn't sure where the level would be close too. My HCG was level was at 55! She tells me I am pregnant! There was no borderline or we are worried about this, etc! This is the highest my HCG has ever started at! She says I can wait until next Friday to go back or I can come back earlier. I told her I'd rather get it checked again sooner than later. My next HCG check in on Tuesday 08/09. 

08/09 -- 12 days past transfer (HCG beta #2) 

7:00 AM I get my blood drawn. 

I had continued to take test to watch the lines get darker, and they had been getting darker over the next few days. 

1:00 PM Nurse calls! Your HCG is at 312! It had doubled just as it was supposed to over those 4 days! We are just so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to make it to this point! Until today, we had never made it past a 2nd HCG. It has always dropped, until now! She asks again when I want to come back, and I said how about Friday! Appointment is set for Friday 08/12. 

08/12 -- 15 days past transfer (HCG Beta #3) 

7:15 AM blood work

Now previous to getting my bloodwork done, I decided to take test at home. These were some dark lines and I was over the moon about it! 

Here are the test from that Friday! 

11:45 Nurse calls, HCG is 1,140. Again, it has risen as it was supposed to! We are just so thankful. And continue to thank God in our prayers for making it to this point. 

So as of 08/12  I am 4 weeks, 6 days with an approximate due day of April 15th. 

My progesterone has also gone down some at this point. So we swap to taking the shot at night to see if it helps. I am so thankful that I will not have to take them at school anymore! 

Now, my next appointment is set up for Wednesday 08/17. They will do bloodwork and an ultrasound. I did ask what to expect to see on this ultrasound because I know it is still super early. So, they said just to see the sac. They want to make sure it implanted in the correct place. Now we wait until Wednesday! 

08/17 -- 20 days past transfer (beta #3, ultrasound #1) 

I am unsure of my bloodwork results because I had an afternoon appointment. However, we did get to have an ultrasound. On this ultrasound they said to expect to see the sac (aka Baby's home). That's exactly what we saw on it too! Getting to this point, even thought I am only 5 weeks 4 days is such a miracle in itself! We are praying that the bloodwork comes back normal tomorrow. 

08/18 -- 21 days past transfer 

Our bloodwork was good. My HCG was almost at 5,000 which is in the normal range. My progesterone had gone back to 20, which was an answer to our prayers! 

08/21 -- 24 days past transfer

Today has been scary. I have been crying on and off for the past 2 hours. I started cramping. I have had a little cramping throughout the past few weeks, but not like this. Today's felt like period cramping. Go to the bathroom, and bleeding. I call the on call nurse.. she asks be to give her all the details (which I won't give y'all). She gave me directions of what to do, and if it got to a specific level of pain, etc to go to the emergency room. Luckily we haven't gone to the emergency room. However, I am so scared. We approximately turned 6 weeks today. And it is the furthest we've made it. We have just been praying this afternoon that God allows us to keep this blessing. That he or she will continue to grow, and that my body can do this! We are just so scared. I want to share this so much just so we can have more people praying for us! At this point, I am so thankful for the few people that do know and that I know they have already prayed over us. All I can do right now, is sit and listen to worship music. 

08/22 -- 6w2d 

It took a while for someone to get with us today, but luckily we were able to get into the doctor's office! Everything is ok. We did have a sub chorionic hematoma and learned that it is common with the medication that I am on. Good news today is that I also graduated from having my HCG level checked. Now I only have to get my progesterone checked when I go! I am so thankful that everything was good, and that God continues to be for us in this process! We go back next Monday! 

08/30 7w2d

Over the weekend, we got some incredible news. So I always thought because Brandon and I were later having kids that our kid wouldn't have any kids growing up right beside them. However, that is not true! Some good friends just told us they are also expecting. And they are 3 weeks ahead of us! I'm so excited to have a friend to go through this with! 

09/04 8w 

Well we have officially made it to 8 weeks! We are so thankful, and are just continuing to thank God daily for this opportunity. We are hoping to hear a heartbeat on Tuesday at the doctor's office! 

Do you know what I am counting down though? Taking these progesterone shots and estrogen pills! Only two more weeks! Thank Goodness! I have been taking these shots since July 23, and they are just so painful when you don't have many spots left to inject them. However, I am very grateful for all the people who have helped me do them through the past month and a half! 

I am also preparing to start my own Blessed Womb small group. I am very excited for the opportunity and can't wait to see what God does through it. My only thing is, I haven't had anyone sign up yet. So I am praying that women will be open to it just as I was at the beginning of the year. 

09/08 8w4d 

I am so ready to let this news out. Holding it in is so hard! Our plan is around 10 weeks to announce, but I wish it would come faster! 

9/19 10w2d

Today was our first appointment with our regular OBGYN! We were released from the fertility doctor last week, and it was so crazy! We are so thankful to have made it to this point! We are counting down until Saturday to announce! 

Here We Go: Transfer time! Updated

07/01/2022

Cycle starts, and because it is the last field trip of Summer Reading Camp there is no way I can get into the doctor. Monday is holiday. So, my appointment is set for Tuesday, July 5th. Now, this would be cycle day 5. Normally, you are seen between days 1-4, but because of the holiday I will be seen on day 5. According to the nurse on the phone, it is a possibility that we will be able to do it. I wasn't sure since it is a little bit later than normal! We are praying for the best at the appointment and then we will go from there! 

07/05/2022

I had my appointment today! My ultrasound looked great and my bloodwork levels were right where they are supposed to be as well. I spoke with the nurse and received my calendar for the cycle! Our transfer is approximately on the 28th! For right now, I take estrace (estrogen) and the blood thinner shots, and then I go back to the doctor on the 21st to check my levels and lining! 

07/06/2022

Well, I thought we were going to have to cancel our cycle. We are so thankful that we did not have too! We are able to continue even after the past 24 hours that we have had. I will tell you all about it at a later date. 

As always, thank you for the prayers! We are excited about moving forward and we are trying our best to let God continue to guide us through it. Love y'all! 

***This specific post will continue to be updated throughout our transfer cycle. There will not be a new post made. ***

07/21/2022

I had my lining check appointment. Everything looked great including my bloodwork. Transfer is set for the 28th. Also while I was there, I asked if my thyroid has gotten check while I was there last time. It had gotten check and had gone down a lot with the upping of my medicine over the last few months. Now I start progesterone shots on the 23rd! 

07/24/2022

Well Today is my birthday! 31 came so fast! I had a great time with my Church family at One Big Day yesterday morning and with my family Saturday evening! Today we are going to play Top Golf and will probably make a fool of ourselves. It should be fun! 

07/25/2022

Today I had my check-up at the hematologist. The hematologist checks bloodwork for my blood disorder, but also checks my iron levels. Unfortunately my iron levels have gone back down again. Not to where I have to have another infusion, but it was pretty close. So I have to visit them in two months. 

07/27/2022

Today is the day before transfer! So far I only have one knot from the progesterone shots, so thats not too bad. Please just keep us in your prayers that everything for the transfer goes well tomorrow and that we will find out in a couple of weeks that we are pregnant. That's it for now! Thank y'all as always for the prayers! 

 

Faith Over Fear

 The past four weeks in my Journaling Small Group, we've been going through a series called Faith over Fear. Faith has been an essential part of our journey and I do not think we could go on without it. Fear has crept in many times too. However, God brings us back with a stronger faith and ready for what He has next. 

This weeks lesson, that we will be doing tomorrow, is about a fear of not hearing God. He stills speaks to us today through scripture, the Holy Spirit, others, and our circumstances. In the lesson it asked this question, " When is a time that you have clearly heard from God?" I had a few instances comes to mind, but the first one was when I heard him tell me to share our story. I go back and think about when this all happened (during Covid). I knew that writing wasn't necessarily my strong suit. I could have used that as an excuse. I knew that there would be weeks where probably no one would read my post. I could have used that as an excuse.  I am so thankful that I listened and started this blogging journey along side our fertility journey. I can't imagine where we would be without the support we've gained and the connections that I have made with some pretty incredible women facing something hard in their lives. 

Don't only take time to pray and talk to God, but take the time to listen. Take the time to ask Him to show you what he has for you. Do we always get the answer we want? No. Do we always get an answer in the way we thought we would? No. But our faith comes into play because we believe ALL things are possible with God. 

Another time that I can remember God clearly speaking to me is when we went to Haiti. And I had the opportunity to go twice. God used the first trip to prepare me for the second where we go to do one of my favorite things: VBS! 

There are times in this journey that we are in now that I wonder if I heard God wrong? Or if I listened to myself and not Him? Or we just jumped in because that's what the doctor's recommended? I will say these past couple months I have been inconsistent with my quiet times and prayers. That is a personal thing that I am trying to get through right now, and I hope that I can get it together. 

John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me. 

Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. 

Let your faith be bigger than your fear! God's got this! You got this! 

Three

Well I've really had a hard time knowing what to write again, which is why I haven't. 

We ended up with three embryos. Now, the first couple people that I told my words were "we only got 3." And it only took one person for me to realize that "only 3" was the wrong mentality. I was so disappointed when I got the call and immediately took our news as a negative. 

Not long after a few conversations, next was "We got three embryos!" We could have easily gotten two, one, or none. I think one reason I was so upset was not necessarily because we got only three, but we also lost 16. Now we were prepared for some not to make it, but our hearts were just broken.  

I am so thankful to the ones who helped me see the positive of the situation. Now we wait until our Frozen transfer cycle. Will we transfer one or two? We don't know yet, but we are looking forward to starting the process. So we wait for now! 

Dear God, We are so thankful for the three embryos. Thank you for the friends and family that helped us realize the good that was done! I pray that we continue to follow where we believe you are leading us. Amen 

IVF Update Round 2 Part II

On Thursday, May 12th, I had my egg retrieval in Birmingham and everything went well! They retrieved 28 eggs, 25 were mature, and 19 began to fertilize that first day. We will know the final embryo count later on today! Please be in prayer as we await that news! 

This weekend though, I have felt absolutely terrible. The overstimulation of my ovaries had me sick most of the weekend, with a big scare Saturday afternoon where I had to call the on call nurse at AFS. I ended up taking Monday off of work just to make sure I was good before heading back to work. 

We are so hopeful, and as always cannot express how thankful we are for each one of you and your prayers! It has been a long journey, but God's got it! 

Love, Katey

I will probably create a new post with the final count! And isn't this verse of the day perfect for today! 

IVF Round 2 Update

 We have been rolling right along with our IVF cycle. I honestly just haven't had much time to update on the blog. Last week I started my monitoring appointments. I came out of the first one really bummed. It was not what I expected especially after my medicine dosage went up from the first round. However, God showed out and the second monitoring (Thursday 5/5) appointment was so good that I didn't even have to go over the weekend as they had planned. My next monitoring appointment is Monday (5/9). 

As of right now, the plan is for the egg retrieval to be on Wednesday (5/11) in Birmingham! I will probably be back next week to update on how it went! We won't know until next week anyway how many made it to be frozen. Just continue to keep us in your prayers! We are so excited, but nervous at the same time! We have to continue to trust that God has us during this process! 

Update 05/09

Well you know plans can change in an instant. So I went for my monitoring appointment this morning, and I have to go back tomorrow. So egg retrieval will probably be on Thursday (5/12) now! 

Update 5/10

Retrieval is set for Thursday morning at 8:45! We have to be there at 8 in Birmingham!