I'M PREGNANT!!! IN-VITRO WORKED!!!

I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM ACTUALLY SAYING I AM PREGNANT! THOSE 3 WORDS MAY SEEM SIMPLE TO MOST...BUT TO ME...IT'S WHAT I FEEL GOD HAS PUT ME ON THIS EARTH TO DO...BE A MOTHER.

Monday, March 23rd, is declared a new holiday in the Key household. :)

Ryan & I went in Monday morning at 8:30 for me to get my Beta HCG & Progesterone checked. Before we left, my wonderful nurse Lee Ann stopped us to let me know they would call me around lunch with my results! She asked me how I had been feeling (the past 11 days since embryo transfer). I told her I had been feeling icky after eating & cramping...but, that I knew the medicine was "telling" my body it was pregnant (even if it wasn't)...so I didn't think it meant I was really pregnant. She then told me that the medicine doesn't make you feel sick....yes it prepares my body internally for pregnancy but that's all. So...Ryan & I just looked at each other like Oh! My! we might really be pregnant! My nurse said well we will just wait & see. Then Ryan & I walked out of the office & Ryan says, "Can we sit down for a minute?" So we sat back down in the lobby & didn't say a word..until Ryan finally asked me.."what are you thinking about?" I said, "how many times I have been nauseous this past week!" He then decided he was ready to go now..BUT as we are riding up the escalator he starts dry heaving! :) If you know my husband a little bit at all..you will find it very funny that he dry heaves a lot... and not because he's sick! This time it was because he was nervous!!! :) I just started laughing...causing him to laugh too!

Once we left the Dr's office we immediately decided we needed to find something to occupy our time for the next 3-4 hours. And work was not an option! :-) So...Ryan being the "eater" that he is decided we would go through the Hardees drive thru so he could get gravy biscuits. All I wanted was an orange juice for some random reason...b/c I never drink it even though I DO like it. Well.. who would of thought Hardees would be out of orange juice at 9:30 in the morning! I just had to mention that...how funny! So..nothing for me. Then we stopped by the house so Ryan could take some work stuff along with him in case a client called. While we were there I measured our T.V. den so we could go look at sectionals to pass the time. From there we went to Mazer to look for that couch w/ no luck! Then, Ryan decided we should go use his giftcard to S&K..so we went & bought him 2 suits! Next he took me to Starbucks for a half caff(half the caffeine) tall, latte. :) At this point we STILL had a couple hours. We decided to go to Ashley furniture. After staying there for a good long while...we bought a sectional!!!! (who would of thought we should of been buying a crib!) :) While doing all this shopping our mind was free of pregnant thoughts...but as soon as we would get in the car...ryan would say, " Man! I get all nervous when we stop shopping! I can't help but think about it!" At this point, it's lunch time! We decide to go to Zoe's! On our way over there I said, "oh I hope we find out I am pregnant before we finish eating b/c then I can go next door to Sew Precious (an adorable baby store) & buy something for MY KID instead of someone else's!!!! :) We order & sit outside so I could be sure to hear my phone ring. Ryan goes to the bathroom as we wait on our food & I set my phone on the table. Just as I did that... it rang!!!! I saw the 334 area code knowing it was my Dr. b/c the nurse told me he was in Montgomery that day. I answered the phone in the most unexcited, monotoned voice...which I know you can't imagine coming from my mouth! Dr. Bates said, "how are you today Kelly?" I said I am am good & he said, "Well, you should be..because you're pregnant!!!" I immediately started balling my eyes out & through my tears said, "are you serious?" He said, "I would not joke about something like that." At this point..I have my hands over my face, holding my phone, crying my eyes out & Ryan comes walking out! You can only imagine what he is thinking..oh crap! She's NOT pregnant! (again!) As soon as he walked thru that door outside & I saw that concerned look, I immediately said, "We're Pregnant!" and shoved the phone to him & said talk to Dr. Bates I can't quit crying!!! Ryan steps away from all the people sitting outside around us to talk to Dr. Bates. I just sit there by myself...smiling my head off...but balling at the same time!!! People probably thought I was bipolar or something?! :) I finally got up & walked over to Ryan & asked to talk to Dr. Bates again. I said, "Dr. Bates if you were here right now...I would hug you!" He said, "well you're going to see me on Wednesday so you can hug me then." :) We got off the phone & Ryan & I just hugged. Then he said a prayer thanking God for answering EVERYONES prayers! And I mean everyone! From Utah to FL to GA..I could keep going! Amazing! It was to say the least... a moment I will NEVER forget & honestly didn't have much hope of ever thinking I would experience! Our food finally came & we chowed down while I called my Dad in Pensacola, Grandparents, Brother & his wife in Georgia & My sister & hubby in Utah. Ryan called his middle brother Chad & his grandparents. After that you can guess where we went next? Sew Precious!!! It was a completely different experience looking around knowing I could buy that stuff for Our Child. We did buy a picture frame for Ryan's mom that said "My Heart Belongs to Grandma." :) Of course I wanted to buy more..but we don't really know the sex of the baby(s) yet. :-) After leaving there we continued calling family & friends then made our way to tell Ashley Seng Williams & little Jakey in person..but she wasn't at home. :-( So...Ryan called Rick to tell him over the phone & that way we could also find out were Brooke was. :) She was headed home from school so that's where we went next. She didn't hear or see us pull up. I rang the doorbell & stood as close to the door as possible. She looked out & barely saw me..but instantly knew what I was there for! I yelled I AM PREGNANT...and we just hugged & cried forever!!!! (she is just one of my many friends who has dealt with my emotional roller coasters through this whole 4 year battle.) We had a lot to cry about! I had struggled this whole time when having to hear someone is pregnant, to be around someone pregnant, to go to a baby shower! And everyone(who is so considerate) around you, who would avoid talking about babies...IT IS ALL OVER!!!! That can definitely bring tears to the eyes of many who have been by our side. Once we left Brooke we headed out to Trussville to tell Ryan's parents. Yes they knew we were finding out on this day but since they had heard nothing & it was 4:00..they assumed that meant bad news. Luckily with the help of Ryan's brother, Chad, we were able to still suprise them. When they've waited this long for this news...it was bound to be a surprise. Chad arrived before us so he could occupy them in the living room. Meanwhile we do a little mission impossible & park alongside the house, go under the deck, crawl around the sunroom & military crawl into the garage! Once in there we took deep breaths..that got us a little winded...and we walked in quietly. They didn't even realize we were there until Mama Key turned towards us. As soon as she did I yelled, "We're Pregnant!!!!" She immediately took this deeeeeeep breath ran & hugged Ryan as Butchly hugged me, & we just cried, yelled & smiled!!! Jared & Chad were both there so it was a family occasion...we were just missing Christi (Chad's wifey). After it all settled in & we told the story of our day...then while the guys grilled out dinner Mama Key took me to Kolhs to find a shirt that would let people know I was pregnant. We ended up finding one that said, "Baby, Love, Happiness" on it(that's the white shirt I have on in the pic below)...but she didn't stop there! :-) We also got a maternity shirt that is so cute & a few of the things you see below! We are prepared whether it's a boy or girl or twins! :)

"Cute but messy just like daddy" that's what the bib says in case you can't read it! :-) That is very appropriate! Believe me! :) Ryan cannot eat a meal without spilling something on himself!

I had no idea Ryan was making these faces! I dunno what I was laughing at?! Probably my father-in-law, Butchley!

After we left the In-Laws we headed to church for the 2nd night of our gospel meeting. It was announced that we were pregnant...& I promise you people starting clapping...just slightly enough to barely hear... :) but then I guess they realized the quiet setting of church that they were in! :-) When they announced it I was overjoyed to finally be that girl at church who is pregnant! Luckily no one else at our congregation has struggled with infertility...so we have lot's of babies & still more to come. It was surreal to hear our names as the ones pregnant..as silly as that may sound! What was weird was when they did announce it & a little pit formed in my stomach as I thought, " oh I hope no one here is currently struggling to get pregnant!" I know how hard it has been for me to hear the next person that's pregnant besides me. To cry during church because you can't get it out of your mind. To avoid social gatherings because you would rather be secluded...I say all this not to get pity...but I know infertile women read my blog & I want them to know I have been there..and they are not crazy for feeling the same way! No people can't put their life on hold b/c I can't handle their news...so you just learn to cope!

Once we left church, I immediately got back on the phone to continue my "I'm Pregnant" calls! This kept on until 11:30pm by the way! We pulled up in the driveway & saw our mailbox as you see below!

Then our front porch as you see below!

And this bouquet of Tulips (my favorite flower) on our porch railing.

And in my mailbox came a special delivery all the way from Washington, D.C. from my childhood (& current) best friend, Lori Beth Presley-Walker! These adorable stackable blocks that spell out pray. I told her I will always look at those blocks & remember the prayers that were lifted up on our behalf to have a baby. And you better believe this baby will know what prayer is early on! :-) What timing for the pray blocks!!! I just love them!

So Ryans reaction when we pulled up was, "WOW!" And I started balling my eyes out AGAIN...saying, "I have the bestest friends in the whole world Ryan!!!" When I went to the mailbox there was card outside of it from my co-worker, Katie & her 3 week new husband :-) Cali Calhan. WE JUST COULD NOT BELIEVE THEY SNUCK OVER & DID ALL THAT DECORATION! I had talked to Katie on our way out to the In-Laws & once she got off the phone she told her hubby & said, "I wanna' do something for them!" Cali suggested going & decorating our house! (what a sweet couple!) You better believe we left those decorations up until Wednesday when it rained! The beautiful bouquet of my favorites, Tulips, came all the way from Winston-Salem, NC!!! From my college roommate, Kiera Todd-Keen, her hubby David & 6 month old Tyler! Those flowers are still on my dining room table! :) Later the next day, I came home from work & found this cute little message on our front door! We honestly still don't know who did it? We think it might have been one of our sweet neighbors. How cute though!

Well that ends Our In-Vitro Journey!!! We are so blessed to have each of you in our lives, whether we see you often or only through the computer...thank you for your prayers!!!

God is good!

~Kel & Ryan

The Embryos are with their Mama now!!!

Today was the day I got my little embryos put inside me!!! Yay! I couldn't sleep lastnight so I probably got about 4 hours sleep before we had to be up at 5:45 AM!!! I had to take an antibiotic, 4 ibuprofen, 1 Xanax & the other 5 pills they have make taking day to day...along with 64 ounces of water before 7:30 AM. What a morning! We arrived at 7 & were taken back for me to get in my gown & Ryan to get into his scrubs, hat & mask. We were a purty pair to say the least. :-) They rolled me back to the operating room & this time I was completely aware of what was happening. Ryan sat at my head watching everything as I laid there with 4 Male doctors & 1 female nurse attending to this embryo transfer! That was a little awkward. :-) I was so anxious to see my little embryo babies!! But they informed me they stay next door in the lab until they are absolutely ready to insert them. So they had a ultrasound going on my tummy to find my cervix (which was a pain today for some reason...it was being stubborn the Dr. said). But luckily I had no physical pain! Yay! And one Dr. was pushing on my bladder which was excellent after 64oz. of water! :-) Once they were ready to send the embryos into my birth canal they called the embryologist to go get my lil' ones. And Wa La! I didn't even feel them going in...& that was it! They rolled me back to my recovery room where I was instructed to lay there, still for 30 minutes & I could not go to the bathroom YET! So Ryan & I took that opportunity to pray for our 2 little ones to attach to my uterus therefore making me pregnant. We have had faith in God throughout this whole process. Lot's & Lot's of prayers have been lifted up in our name from many of you & we appreciate that so so much. We know God has His hand in this & it may not be what we want but He know's what is best...and either way...pregnant or not...we will have to live with that.

Well...a few more details of our experience today! Dr. Bates said all my 7 embryos were still alive. So they picked the strongest two that would go into me. The other 5 will stay in the lab in their petry dish for 5-6 more days. Some will not make it that long & those will go on to Heaven to see their Heavenly Grandma "Barbie" Hinote. Any that do make it will then be frozen. We may have none in the freezer or we may have 5! We'll have to wait & see.

The two embryos that are in my uterus right now are pictured below!!! :-) Dr. Bates was so pleased with the these 2. He upped my chances of pregnancy from 50%-60% to 55%-60% !!! Yay..every little bit gives hope. This is the grading process for embryos: they get a letter & a number based on cells etc etc. The letter 'A' is perfect. But he said he hasn't seen an 'A' in 1 1/2 years. So it's not very common. Therefore in there book a 'B' is excellent!!! I do not remember the number grades but that was excellent too! The embryo on the right is a B!!! And the embryo on the left is a B minus!!! I was excited to hear they were so great! Because that betters your chances of becoming pregnant that's why he upped my success percentage! Yay!!!!

The form you see below is listing all my eggs that were retrieved..the embryos that formed etc.

They also were so cool to give me the home of two of my embryos!!!! It's just a plastic tray with 4 circles that hold them & a lid on top! Then that stays in the lab on a warming shelf. It's the craziest thing to Ryan & I to think they took part of me out...hung it out in a lab...formed human beings...and placed them back into my body! Thank you God for blessing those Dr.'s with the smarts to help us have a child!

So after we left the procedure this morning I went to accupuncture for the last time. Then Dr's orders were to go home & relax! No stress for those little one's. I watched 2 episodes of American Idol that I had DVR'd & finished a book I had been reading & started another book! :-) Oh! And I took a nap for like 1 1/2 hours!!! I would say that was a relaxing day! But it didn't end there! Our sweet best friends Brooke & Rick Williams insisted on bringing us dinner (b/c I didn't need to be up cooking...were Brooke's words!) :-) They brought the most excellent dinner of baked chicken, spinach cream cheese in squash, broccoli & cheese casserole, rice, bread, & fresh fruit for dessert!!! It was "scrum diddally umptious!"

I know you are all wondering when I'll know if I'm pregnant. I get that question all the time! :-) Just b/c they put two embryos in me does not make me automatically pregnant. Today & tomorrow if I am going to get pregnant that's when it will be. The embryos were placed directly in my uterus so all they need to do is attach to that uterin wall..therefore making me pregnant!!! The analogy the Dr. gave me was this...my embryos are two basketballs & my uterus is a football field...those embryos have a huge space to attach too! Let's pray they get comfy somewhere in there! :-) I will not do the traditional pregnancy test bought at the store (thank goodness..b/c never has one of those things told me I was pregnant...so I don't like those!) :-) I will go in for lab work in 15 days to determine if I am!

Let me speak for all infertile women...If I am not pregnant & you have a child or are pregnant I will probably go into hiding & not want to be around you. Please do not take offense to that...as a counselor said at my infertility support group, "to not be able to conceive is like grieving the loss of a child." It's the equivalent to me having a child who passed away. So...if that helps it make sense at all....try to understand that I am not trying to be mean.

Thanks for following our In-Vitro Journey...You have no idea the encouragement Ryan & I get from your comments on this blog, through facebook, email, texting, phone calls..etc.

We hope to share good news soon!

~KK & Rino

10 EGGS!!! Now it's the Survival of The Fittest!!!

I had my surgery Monday morning to retrieve my eggs. My sweet, dependable dad came up to Birmingham (from Pensacola) on Sunday night about 11pm. So he was in the waiting room with Ryan, along with Ryan's parents. I am grateful to them b/c I was concerned about Ryan waiting out there by himself. I was under what they call "conscious sedation". This basically means I am out of it but if they were to say, "Kelly move your right leg" I would be able to do so myself. They also gave me Phenergan which is the stuff that keeps you from throwing up. They gave me that first & I was knocked about before the Dr. could even see me prior to surgery! It doesn't take much! Another thing they give you is some Amnesia medicine that helps you to forget. I am glad I had this...let me explain why. What I remember from it all is getting rolled back there and them asking me to move on to the operating table and all the lights everywhere...then they were putting my legs in the biggest stirups of all time!!! :-) Then the only other thing I remember is crying saying, "it hurts, it hurts!" and the nurse & Dr. telling me they're almost done. Afterwards I did have crusty tears along the edges of my eyes that I began wiping off when I woke up. I told Ryan that was what I remembered saying & he then told me the nurse said the anesthesia was wearing off towards the end so I felt a little... but she immediately gave me more so I wouldn't feel it! Luckily, I cannot remember what the pain felt like. Thanks to the amnesia med's!!! I remember saying that & crying but not the actual pain I felt. I did not have any bleeding issues!!!! Yay for answered prayers! So..all in all it went fine but I really don't want to have to do that again! Once we left I was starved so Ryan & my Dad took me through the KFC drive thru for some yummy mashed potatoes! Somehow I kept my eyes opened to eat them then I slept the rest of the day..woke up long enough to eat some supper & watch 24 & then knocked back out again! They did retrieve 10 eggs.

Dr. Bates called to check on me this morning & to give me a status update on our eggs! Out of the 10..3 did not make it thru the night. :-( But 7 of the 10 did fertilize to form embryos!!! YAAAAYY!! But...Dr. Bates does not think all 7 will make it until Thursday when they do the Embryo Transfer (putting the babies in me!). He thinks 4 will survive. He bases that on the fact that he has seen many embryos in his lifetime & he can tell when they won't survive. So...that's actually great news! They'll implant 2 in me & we will freeze the other 2. We WILL NOT just leave those in the freezer the rest of our lives as some would do. We feel these are human beings at this point therefore they deserve a chance to live too. So...being "cautiously optimistic" if this go around isn't successful then I will not have to go through surgery to get eggs..we will already have 2 embryos in the freezer we can use. If I do get pregnant this 1st go around... when we are ready for more children we will go through the process again using our frozen embryos!

In the meantime I started more med's yesterday & today!!! You thought I was done with all those shots huh?! Yesterday I began taking Estrogen tablets twice a day & Medrol ( I don't really know what that is for? I just take it for the next 5 days). Tonight I got my 1st Progesterone SHOT FROM MY HUSBAND! It was a first for both us! Me having someone else give me a shot & him giving the shot! It was quite funny I must say! Progesterone oil is thick & yellow. It's to be injected in the muscle versus subquetaneous (meaning in the fat). It has a wonderful long needle to get into that muscle. Ryan & I watched a video we found on You Tube on how to inject it. We were BOTH NERVOUS. I was nervous b/c he was nervous & since he was the one sticking that thing in my rear/hip I was REAL nervous. He was so afraid he was going to hurt me. I told him at this point...I am a human pin cushion... I can handle it! He drew a target mark on me & nailed it! We probably stood there 5 minutes before he actually stuck me! My hands were sweating b/c I was nervous which is crazy! I wasn't even nervous until he was! This was his first time to EVER give a shot..but I give him an A+ . To my surprise it didn't even hurt! We're ready for tomorrow to do it all over again! (I believe he has to do this for like 2 weeks!) He'll be a pro before it's over with.

YES! THAT IS THE NEEDLE THAT WENT IN ME!!! I really thought it would hurt?But I am grateful it didn't! It must have been that great "shot giver" I have! ;-)

Egg Retrieval on Monday!!!!

So this week I have been doing my 5 shots a day! And I went to the Infertility clinic twice. On Tuesday (3/3) they did lab work to check my estrogen level & it was 194. They also did an ultrasound (no...not on the outside of your body :-( ) to see how my follicles were developing. The follicles are fluid filled sacs that hold your eggs. The previous week I had 17 follicles, 12 just on my right ovary & 5 on my left. On this visit they only checked the follicles that are 1 centimeter or bigger. I had a few on my right ovary & 1 or 2 on my left. So I was progressing nicely they said & my uterine lining was a 7!!! Which apparently is fantastic! I bet ya'll are jealous ;-) !!! So...I continued on my fertility shots & come Wednesday afternoon I was hurting! I called the nurse to see if I could take Lortab or something else strong...but they said NO all I could take was Tylenol. They also decided they wanted me to come in the next day so they can be sure everything is okay. I went in Thursday & again they checked my Estrogen level & it was 694!!!! Remember just two days prior it was 194!!! Crazy how those drugs start to kick in! Next they did an ultrasound again & apparently my ovaries just started taking off with eggs! I had a lot more 1 centimer of larger follicles on my right & like 4 or 5 on my left..just in two days time! That was the cause of the pain...which is normal. They were thrilled & said everything is just perfect!!! At this point they decided my eggs would be ready for retrieval this Monday, March 9th at 10:30 am.

Here's an updated picture after a few days of 5 shots per day!! "I ain't scurred of no needles!" :-)



I did my last set of 5 shots a day lastnight!!! Yay for progress!!! Today I only have to do 3 shots! 2 blood thinner shots & a HCG Trigger shot at 9:30 tonight! Isn't that funny that I have a set time to do it?! I thought so! Then tomorrow on Sunday, I only do 2 shots!!! My blood thinner shot in the morning & the last one at 7pm. They don't want me to do it any later b/c they don't want me to bleed internally with the egg retrieval. So come Monday morning I will not do my typical blood thinner shot, I will wait until after surgery. Well that's the update for now! Please pray that the surgery to remove the eggs will be successful with no internal bleeding & lot's of eggs! They will tell us afterwards how many eggs they get! Yay!!!

Side note: My dad has been in town this whole past week remodeling our master bathroom. :-) We've started calling him "Senor Andy" .
:-) We took him & Ryan's dad out to dinner to Fire & Ice one night.

My Dad (Andy), Me, Ryan & Ryan's Dad (Butch or as I call him, Butchley).


Check back on Monday or Tuesday for an update on how many eggs we got!
~Kel