Creation of Brenden October Slay (part two - the long 39 weeks)

After the third IVF and during the 'two week wait' Dave and I decided to take Noble with us up to the Hill Country and cool off in the water. This was Labor Day weekend 2007 and we both needed to get our minds off of whether or not we would be successful with the 3 embryos transferred. During that time, the clinic tells you not to take a home pregnancy test because of false negatives, etc.. easier said than done ~ let me say! After a nice weekend, we started the drive home but I wanted to stop at the drugstore and buy a test anyway.. I couldn't wait until the blood test. Never been one to follow directions anyhow. We got home and I casually went into the bathroom just knowing that disappointment was near. Lo and behold a POSITIVE! WHAT?? NO WAY! I showed Dave with a look of shock on my face and I he calmly said.. "see I told you it would work." Well of course I had to go out and buy another test and another and another and I think another. Dave said to me.. "how many tests is it going to take for you to believe that it worked?" I didn't know the answer to that question because I just simply couldn't believe that it was positive!

Then... we thought "how many took?" One, two or three?? OMG! We had to wait until the 7 week heartbeat viability ultrasound to see how many were in there. Much to our surprise there was just one ~ BUT what a wonderful one it was! The image to the left is a pic of that day. Simply unbelievable! I was like I was watching the ultrasound from outside my body. It was surreal!

Since the pregnancy was IVF, I had to continue with the progesterone shots for the first 12 weeks.. that was rough. The needle is 1-1/2" long and pow!! right in the hip every night. I went to Mexico for my friend Beth's 40th birthday celebration so I had to get good at giving myself the shots. For someone who was (and still is) so adverse to needles, I was quite proud of myself! I had to put on these estrogen patches on my stomach which I had a bad reaction to - again something that had to be done for 12 weeks. Of course it was all worth it and then some! The joys of IVF ~ ~~~~

We needed to have ultrasounds every two weeks until the first trimester was over and I got to be transferred to the care of my OB/GYN which enabled us to see baby many times in those first weeks. Not that one can see much. Below is the 12 week look at him. Pretty cool in my book! The white long 'stripe' is his spine.

Because of my age we wanted to have some genetic counseling to see what our options were. We decided to have the first trimester blood test screening and NT measurement. The NT measurement can detect Down's Syndrome possibilities along with the blood test. It can indicate that you have a higher or lower than likely chance to have a baby with Down's. It was confusing for us because the blood test came back with me having a greater than 1 in 250 chance of having a baby with Down's. Anything above that 250 number indicates a higher risk. I think my test came back at 1 in 190. What the first Doctor didn't tell me because I am sure he didn't know was that women who have IVF pregnancies have a higher blood test result than normal pregnancies. It doesn't make any sense I know but that is what I later learned. It was scary because from what I read, that test only has a false positive rate of 5%. We decided that we would talk to another Doctor about it and when we went to see him, he wanted us to come back at week 16 for a look on the ultrasound and at that time we could have an amniocentesis done which would indicate for sure what if any chromosomal abnormalities existed. That was an agonizing thought! What would we do if the baby had Down's? I did find that it is a whole lot easier to think you know what you would do if it were to happen to you but you really DON'T know what you would do until you are put into that situation. After the amnio, we had to wait for 10 days and that was an excruciating wait for us. Results were normal and found out for sure we were having a baby boy! So many ups and downs and the baby wasn't even born yet.

I never had morning sickness and for that I am thankful for. I did however have a huge sweet tooth throughout my pregnancy. Dave would have to get me Sonic Blast shakes many times a week. He was great about that! It seemed like the cravings ramped up after I felt the baby move at 17 weeks. I had a long way to go for having such high calorie cravings. In the end I gained 33 pounds and lost it all within 3 weeks of giving birth. I was lucky that way! There was a mysterious nausea I would get once a week usually on Wednesday mornings. I would get the BAD stomach pain right where my navel is and would break out into cold sweats then throw up. They thought it might be early contractions so I was told not to walk or excercise. The problem still happened so I got an ultrasound on my gall bladder and kidneys. Results were negative. We never did find out what it was and I did get it one time after I had the baby but fortuantely not since. It was strange.

At 29 weeks, we had a 3D ultrasound done which was amazing! Technology of today allows some great imaging. The baby was being 'shy' so we were told to come back in a week to get better images. The image to the right shows of the great shape of his mouth - one that continues to amaze me each day.

During week 30, I quit my job at WKMC Architects and flew to San Diego for my baby shower. It was awesome to see my friends and family and I had a great time. Shirley hosted the party and my friends Debbie and Jen organized it. It was a very special time for me! While I was there, Jen took this picture of me at Coronado.

We decided to induce labor at 39 weeks to the date. May 8, 2008 would be the date! We couldn't wait.......