One year ago today

One year ago today, our little miracles were conceived. If you would have asked me then if I would share this information with anyone who wants to read my blog, I would have said you’re crazy. But after so many months, I have poured out my deepest thoughts and ramblings so why not tell it all now? This time one year ago, my eggs were retrieved and by now, growing into little embryos. It was 12:15pm when I was scheduled for surgery and my bursting ovaries couldn’t wait to get all of the eggs out! By 2pm, I was on my way home to rest and pray a lot. And a bit less bloated to say the least. Our primary fertility doctor did my retrieval, which was HUGE for us. Dr. Mottla is no stranger to many of you! You never know who you’re going to get when you get into surgery so seeing him that day was such a bonus. I think I might have cried when I found out he was doing my surgery. He’s the best of the bunch and we were so grateful that he was on call in the OR that day. Apparently he was our good luck charm.

Five days later, we were back for transfer and they put two top quality embies back in. After 4 previous failed cycles, we were guarded, yet optimistic. I had 19 eggs retrieved; and over half of them grew into top quality embryos. We have photos of our embryos. Little did we know, that both embryos that we put back would grow into our THREE little miracles. We were so hopeful. Just a few short days later, I began to get so bloated that I couldn’t even sit up straight. I was in terrible pain but knew then that ovarian hyperstimulation (hyper-stim) was a GOOD sign because it usually meant that you were pregnant. By Sunday of the weekend following transfer, we went in emergency up to the Shady Grove Rockville clinic for a sonogram because the pain and sickness were so bad and getting worse. They found over 2 liters of fluid in my abdomen; and also ran a pregnancy test that we found out was positive. Early hyperstim usually means multiples – we didn’t ever consider THREE though (we didn’t even find out about the trips for a few weeks after this). Twins were definitely on our radar so the news was so exciting that I almost forgot how terrible I was feeling. For a few minutes anyway…

It was the following Monday that I was back in surgery again, having the 2+ liters of fluid removed. It was immediate relief – but it came back within a few days. I was out of work for several days and could not function very well. This condition is not risky at all to the pregnancy, it’s just a nightmare for the Mom. Eventually the fluid retention went down a bit, but never really went away completely – and believe me, I was not complaining – I WAS PREGNANT! I remember I had a baby shower brunch the following weekend for my best friend and I had nothing to wear because I looked 6 months pregnant. I was sure that everyone would notice. Nobody did.

I’ve had a funny feeling for the last few days and it wasn’t until this morning that I realized why. For whatever reason, I think my body sensed this anniversary date and reminded me of how precious these little miracles are. For one year ago today, their lives began as just a few little cells. Quite amazing.

Even more of a coincidence is that tomorrow is the boys 6 month birthday. Funny how these milestone dates fell just one day apart. It’s been an emotional day in a strange way – for thinking of all that we’ve been through over the last year is really mind boggling. When I reminded C. about what we were doing a year ago, he just smiled and said “it feels like that was FIVE years ago!”. But as I have said before and I’ll say again, it was worth every single second. As I hugged my boys today and wished them a happy “conception” day, I’ve never felt so thankful.

I’ll have another post on Thursday with updates on their 6 month appointment – where has the time gone?