And the gender is.....

Tuesday November 27, 2012   After weeks of anticipation we are finally 16 weeks and the day has arrived to find out whether we will be welcoming a little boy or girl Connell to our life. I cant believe its finally here! Its still so surreal after the journey we've had that we have gotten to this point. We packed in family to the ultrasound room including Sara's mom, brother and sister in-law on speaker phone. The little one was a difficult in the beginning, crossing the legs and shying itself from us. We had to poke around a little but we got our answer. A definite boy!!! After that he was not shy at all. Showing his legs, face and bum as many times as we wanted. Our ultrasound tech, Barbara, was amazed at how active he was. I guess we'll be feeling some kicks here soon!

Baby Update :)

We just wanted to finally update all our family and friends on our baby journey so far. Its been an emotional rollercoaster but we feel so blessed to have experienced everything we have.

    Around 8 weeks we had another ultrasound scheduled with our doctor. We found during that ultrasound that we unfortunetly had lost one of the twin babies. It was a bitter sweet because right after that we saw the remaining baby jumping around on the ultrasound screen with a strong heatbeat, as healthy as can be. We felt blessed to still have our one lil bean still surviving stong.
    At 10 weeks we had another ultrasound to have one more look at our baby. It was such an amazing experience to see feet, hands, and several other body parts developing beautifully. We still had a strong heart beat and to our surprise we were able to hear it for the first time! It was such a sureal feeling. At this point we had officially completed our journey with our IVF doctor, Dr. Shapiro. A simple "Thank You" couldn't express the feelings we have for this doctor and staff. They made it possible for us to have our little miracle and we are forever grateful.
    At 14 weeks we returned to our regular OBGYN for a routine visit. Everything was great! We once again were able to hear our little ones heart beat which the doctor said it beating strong. We were also told that in two weeks we will be able to find out whether we will be having a boy or a girl! Its an amazing thought that in less than six months we will be holding out little baby in our arms. Our official due date is May 12, 2013. We will continue with some updates as we go along. Thank you all for your love and support. We love you.

13 weeks

Two Heart Beats!

Thump....Thump....times two! We are pleased to announce we have two healthy heart beats. Baby A and Baby B at this point are about seven weeks and growing healthy. We have another ultrasound in two weeks.We'll continue to keep everyone updated. Thank you all for your support and love.

Our baby Journey update

August 3, 2012  We wanted to update those who aren't already aware that round one of are embryo placement unfortunetly didnt work. It was difficult news to recieve but we got through it and have been preparing for round two. Dr. Shapiro is recommending that we transfer two of our frozen embryos this round and is very optimistic that this round will have a  higher success. We are so excited for another chance at becoming the parents. We are so thankful for everyones support and love. It has continued to encourage us through the ups and downs of this process. Thank you all and we love you.

First Ultrasound

May 16, 2012 Sara had her HCG levels checked to see whether or not her level was over 1600 in order to complete the first ultrasound. Dr. Shapiros office called confirming the levels were perfect and we were ready to schedule the ultrasound. We arrived at Dr. Shapiros office on Saturday May 19 to have our first look at our miracle. The nurse confirmed one healthy sac had implanted perfectly and is growing nicely. Seeing that little dark circle, the beginning of life, on that screen was amazing.

The doctor would like to see us back in ten days to follow up with our next ultrasound to see the heart beat. We are both so excited to see our new little baby grow. We will have more pictures to show as we go along. Thank you all for your support and love.

                                                     "Our first family photo"
                                                  

Embryo Transfer....successful

April 29th, 2012 we arrived at Dr Shapiros office for our fresh transfer of our embryo. Dr. Shapiro was very happy with the development of all the eggs fertilized. At this time he recommended we transfer one. Considering that twins would be more of a stress on the mother and the babies. We took Dr. Shapiros recommendation and decided to place one. The transfer was quick and fairly comfortable. Clint was able to stay with and watch on the ultrasound monitor as the embryo was placed through the catheter into the uterus.

It was difficult to see, the Dr. said at this time the embryo, to the naked eye, is about the size of a grain of sand. Sara was instructed to rest in bed for the next three days. We would be able to return for a pregnancy blood test in ten days.We returned to our hotel for one night, then headed home.

May 5th, 2012 after a couple of blood tests taken here in town, we received a call from Dr. Shapiro with some surprising early news....WE WERE PREGNANT!!! The doctor said that Sara's HCG level was high enough that he could officially relay the news. We were ecstatic! Everything was falling into place. We couldn't wait to tell everyone who was hoping and praying for us. We return now for one more blood test Wednesday May 9, 2012 then again for our first ultrasound of the embryo in 12 days.

    We wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers through this journey. Its been so comforting to always know how many of you all we had behind us always. We are going to continue to update you all with all the news of now the pregnancy. Thank you, we love you all.

The Retrieval and Aspiration

April 23, 2012 we arrived at Dr Shapiros office for a pre-op appointment to make sure everything was good and ready to go. Sara's blood work came back normal and the measurement taken of the lining of the uterus was exactly what the doctor had hoped. Dr Shapiro plans on collecting 22 eggs that had developed over the last twelve days. We are ready to move forward with the egg retrieval and Clint's aspiration tomorrow with Dr Sussman!

April 24, 2012 bright and early at 5:30 am we arrived at Dr. Shapiros office for Sara's egg retrieval.She was placed under anesthesia for her procedure. The procedure only took about 20 mins to complete but about an hour of wakeup time. The procedure went great! 22 healthy eggs were retrieved from the ovaries. Sara went back to the hotel room to rest while Clint returned to the office for his procedure. Clint's procedure was completed with a local anesthetic so that he would be comfortable but awake. Two tissue samples were taken from Clint  to fertilize all 22 eggs collected. Dr. Sussman returned to give Clint the good news, everything went well and they had collected enough healthy sperm to fertilize all the eggs collected . Clint returned back to the room with good news and to rest up with Sara. We had the much needed helpful hands of Clints mom Jeanne to help nurse us back to health. Both doctors advised us to take it easy for the next couple days while we heal.

April 25, 2012 we returned home both still a bit sore and tired. We eagerly waited for Dr. Shapiros call with the news of how the first 24 hours went in the fertilization of the embryos.About 1:00 the doctor called with our news. 13 of the eggs were fertilized and are growing healthy. He was very happy with how everything went. We are instructed to have Sara completed blood work at our local hospital for an update with how everything is looking. Sara will start a new set of injections to prep her uterus for the placement of our healthy embryos this Sunday, April 29.We couldn't of asked for a better outcome. We are so thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers. Its been an amazing road and we are almost to the end of our IVF Journey.