For starters... sometime after that post Tom and I started working with a new infertility clinic called Seattle Reproductive Medicine. I was still working part time and in school, Tom was still working at REI, but we decided that we had the money saved up and this was worth it... for my sanity and to attain our goal of starting a family. After another failed round of Clomid with IUI and some more testing it was brought to our attention that our most likely solution was IVF. Tom and I decided to go for it!
Around this same time we also decided that Tom really needed to get a job - a job that he loved that wasn't hourly - so we opened up the search outside of Seattle. Right after we did that Tom was interviewing with companies in California and Wisconsin. Tom had numerous phone interviews with Pacific Cycles in Madison, WI and ended up flying out for an interview for a Senior Product Manager position for Scwhinn IBD. The position was a perfect fit for Tom and a great opportunity for him. The money was much better... we could sell both our properties in Seattle and afford to pay outright for the IVF, pay off our HELOC and still have enough money for a sizeable downpayment and some extra cash. This would put us in a position where I could stay home and raise the little baby we were trying to hard to conceive!
Tom took the job in Madison and we were moving... now we had to decide whether or not I would stay back and complete the IVF with SRM or if we would move to Madison and figure it out there. I really like SRM and they have state of the art technology and excellent pregnancy rates in my age group. After many back and forths we decided it would be best for me to quit work and stay for a month in Seattle to complete the IVF. Tom returned for the retrieval (where they take the eggs out and fertilize them) then returned to Madison while I waited for the transfer.
I received and started my injections in September while we were finishing up the houses - selling and buying - then by the time I got to the real deal - the stims - I was unemployed and staying with my mother in law. I was very relaxed and felt good about the procedure. I went in every other day for ultrasounds to track the progress of my eggs... and WOW did I make eggs. In the end they came out with 41 eggs... 30 fertilized... THIRTY!!! That was an amazing number!
Tom and I talked about what I should do when I went for the transfer. I really wanted to transfer two because I was nervous that if it didn't work I would always wonder if it would have worked if we put two back. I knew it increased our chances of twins, but I really wanted to put two back for my piece of mind... and twins was fine with me! Tom told me I should do whatever the doctor recommended and I said, "okay"
I ended up making it to a 5 day transfer (the best case scenario). I was sure they doc would recommend transferring one because my doc had told me that putting two back at 5 day transfer would only increase my chances of twins. I was upset, but excited at the same time. Well, to my surprise - when I got there the doc recommended two. I didn't even hesitate... YES YES YES!! :) Lynda (my MIL) went with me and you could see them do the transfer on the screens that they had up. I got to see my two little blastocysts and got a picture of them. I cried to myself a bit as they did the transfer and felt really positive. I went home and layed around for a couple of days watching movies.
I had to wait ten days for my beta. We decided to have the nurse call Tom with the results because I wanted to share the news with him first. I vowed not to take a pregnancy test because I didn't want to get a false negative and stress myself out. I just waited. I tried to stay busy spending time with my friends before I left for Madison. Time went by reasonably well and the fateful day came.
On October 28th, 2005 I dropped off blood for my beta and later that day I was shopping with Lynda at Fred Meyer and the phone rang - it was Tom, but it seemed too soon to actually get the results. I froze then decided to answer. He asked me when they were going to call. I said, "hey, you can't do that I was so nervous to answer the phone." I told him I didn't expect to hear anything for another couple of hours. He called again about 5 or 10 mins later and I thought... what? what does he want now??... they had called... He said, "they need you to come back in two days for another blood draw." Now, I knew that if it was positive I would have to go back for another beta to make sure the numbers were doubling.... I said, "does that mean it worked?" He said, "yes, you are pregnant and your number was 548" I was so excited and gave Lynda the thumbs up. She started crying and hugging me and I was crying.. Yes, in Fred Meyer! :)
After I got off the phone I started thinking about it. I was only 15dpo.. only one day late for my period and I know a lot of women have a hard time getting a positive on a pregnancy test..which are pretty sensitive... wow, my number is HIGH... twins?? We would have to wait until we got to around 7 weeks to find that out!
I was shocked and didn't really believe it. I think I spent the next two hours on the phone calling all of the people that were waiting to hear!
Fast forward to 8.5 weeks pregnant.. now in Madison, WI and still disbelieving.. though I was feeling like crap and really tired. I originally had thought it was probably twins.. why would one work if the other hadn't?? As time had gone by I didn't think it was twins because I thought I would be more sick.
But here is what we saw at the ultrasound:
We are having twins. My 40 week due date is July 7th, but I was told twins are term at 37 weeks so my due date is more like June 15th.
PS... by the way. I was right ... Tammy's second IVF worked and she is pregnant with twins... she is currently 36 weeks and just waiting to deliver!
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