Introducing...

one beautiful baby girl at 7 weeks, 1day gestation (lovingly referred to as Miss Thang #2). <3

My awesome IM flew in to Charlotte on Sunday.  We had a wonderful time catching up with each other.  Gosh, I wish we lived closer.  She is so cool and I swear that I could chat with her forever.  I am a very lucky gal to be matched with someone that I like so much. :)

We woke up bright and early yesterday to get ready for the ultrasound.  We made a quick pit stop at Starbucks and then headed over to the OB.  Our first appointment was for the ultrasound and that is where we learned that there is a perfect little gal growing inside me.  She has a heart rate of 145 and her measurements were exactly where they should be.  Yay!!  There was a second sac but it was empty.  I have to go back for a repeat ultrasound on 8/2 (my birthday) so that the OB can check on the empty sac.  They want to make sure that it doesn't affect the baby's development.  Hopefully, the sac will simply absorb and everything will be right on track.  Isn't she the cutest blob you have every seen? lol

BTW, we have an awesome OB practice.  They are so great about being thorough with everything that they do.  Their genuine interest in us and the way that they try to get to know us on a personal level is comforting. I know that they will provide the best care for us.  It's so amazing to find doctors/nurses that will spend a lot of time answering questions and not rush us through appointments.  Our sonographer spent a good amount of time doing the ultrasound and explaining everything on the screen.  She used to work in a high risk clinic and she is extremely versed on interpreting ultrasounds.  We saw a nice CNM for our first prenatal appointment and she spent 45 minutes chatting with us and checking me out.  I feel really good about this practice and I can't wait to meet all of the OBs.  They do not allow anyone to claim a particular doctor so we will eventually see and meet everyone there.  I expect that they will all be knowledgeable and nice to work with. 

Upcoming Ultrasound

I have been crazy busy over the past few weeks so I haven't had much time to update.  I tend to post on Facebook more than my blog, especially when I am away from my laptop.  Anyway, the ultrasound is set for Monday at 8am.  After that, I have my first OB appointment.  My wonderful IM is going to fly into Charlotte tomorrow and stay the night with us so that she can go to the appointments with me.  I can't wait!!  I will update you all as soon as I get back to my computer.  Hopefully, I will have a photo to post too.  What do you guess that we will see, one girl or two girlies??  My guess is one healthy baby girl.  I personally think that the overachiever embryo ate her sister for lunch, lol.

Here's a recap of the beta (hcg) tests:

296------10dp6dt (or 16dpo)

684------12dp6dt (or 18dpo)

5967-----19dp6dt (or 25dpo)

28,871---26dp6dt (or 32dpo)

Abbreviations:

dp=days past

dt=day transfer

dpo=days past ovulation (I did not ovulate since this was IVF and the babies were not created using my own eggs, but a dpo equivalent can be determined as if this were a natural pregnancy by adding the number of days past transfer to the age of the embryos)

Baseball Boys (6/9/12)

Emerson and Hayden with their CCYA trophies

Hayden's team won the championship for the 9-10 league

Hayden holding the championship trophy :)

The boys both made it to the championships.  Emerson's team lost.  He did great though and he didn't seem to care if he won or not.  He learned so much this past season and I can't wait to see him play again in fall.  Hayden's team won and the last game was exciting.  The other team put up a decent fight so it wasn't an easy win.  I am proud of Hayden for playing so well during the game.  He has improved so much over the season.    Both boys are excited to play again in fall and I can't wait to cheer them on again.  Bring on the ball games!

4th of July

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July this year. We sure did! We had a yummy lunch at home with grilled steaks, Maui scalloped potatoes, fresh corn on the cob, and a patriotic summer berry cake (recipe can be found here). The cake turned out to be really good, but the icing took forever to get onto the cake using the method shown.  It is really easy to do, just time consuming.  After lunch, Clayton went golfing and then we all headed out to a Kannapolis Intimidators baseball game that night.  The home team won against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (whoo hoo!) and then fireworks immediately followed after the game.