And a new baby makes 5

So they told us it would never happen, they said you couldn't ever get pregnant on your own. After taking clomid with my first daughter and having to go through IVF with my son in 2010 how could you think you would get pregnant on your own unless there was a miracle! Well that miracle has happened and we are now expecting baby #3 in August! Just six short months away we will be bringing a miracle into this world to join the rest of our family. We couldn't be happier, of course after the initial shock of how, what, when we are super excited to be growing our family and even more excited to be given a gift truly from GOD! It is crazy and amazing all in the same. We are truly blessed and thankful. So now we must upgrade our vehicle and change a room around to adjust but with all of this it brings us excitement to have a new little one in the house again.
On another note, I have been extreme couponing to save our family some money and amazed at all of the freebies that I have found and got. I bought 19 boxes of wipes at 85 cents a piece! These wipes were originally $4.99 a box each so there are deals, you have to have time, patience and be willing to drive around to find these deals and get these freebies!

It has been tooooooo long...

Where to even start, so my little man is finally 10 months old and he is officially walking! Yes, walking and that means mommy chases him every where he goes. He is into everything and his new facination is opening drawers and pulling everything out of them and throwing it onto the floor-so much fun for mommy to clean up let me tell you!

My little princess is 6 and is such a big helper. She is my little gem (um most of the time). She has recently been accepted onto her dance studio competition dance team so that keeps us busy between gymnastics, swimming and girl scouts! Where or where does the time go.... LOL

Mom and dad, we have been busy! Hubby has been working lots to close out the year and we are getting ready to go to Hawaii in January. YES a much needed vacation for the whole family and it will be nice to visit such a tropical place in the middle of WINTER. Well WINTER in California consists of, 60 degrees and sunshine so I guess we don't have much to upgrade too :) Wishing everyone a happy holidays and I hope to get back into doing this blog sooner than later!!!!

Trying to find the BALANCE

How do you find the balance?

2 Children, a husband, a dog and a part time business on the side! Where does one find balance for all of these things. As I sit on the computer with my 7 week old laying in my lap while I type I can hear my 5-1/2 year old in the background playing school. Both t.v.'s in the living room are going and I can literally hear my husband in the garage yelling at Michigan playing basketball while talking on his cell phone. Oh and the dog is at my feet asleep and my hair accessories are being made. Where is the balance? I laugh!!!!

I spend most days alone with Bronx while Jaden and Gary are at school and work. Our time together is rushed, he sleeps, eats; we nap (if I am lucky) and I shower (if I am lucky)! Dinner is at 5 and then it is homework time, bath time, reading and before I know it my husband is sound asleep on the couch and the clock hasn't even hit 8. There I stand in the kitchen, with Bronx in my arms; pacing no less because he and I are the only two awake in the house and I want to make sure he is quiet for the other 2 sleeping angels.

Our days and nights mesh together and before I know it April is here and my daughter is about to graduate from Kindergarten! I feel like a great wife, wonderful mother and yet I still try and perfect myself to make sure I haven't left anyone out and everyone is getting equal attention. However, my perfect demise doesn't seem to become my reality! Each evening as I sit flipping through the channels trying to find something to occupy Bronx and I while it is 2 a.m. I wonder if I spent enough time with my 5 year old and if I said good night to my husband and sealed it with a kiss.

Even if it is five minutes with my daughter while she plays school and I am her assistant, I have done my job as a mother to balance my time. Even if I said, "hi" to my husband as he walked in the door and gave him a kiss I have done my job as a wife to balance my time. While most of my time and energy is directed towards Bronx because he is so little taking some time out to put him down when he is sleeping and have a conversation with my husband or play with my daughter I have found the balance. I can't believe I don't even have time to be cranky either :)

HE IS HERE!!!!

Bronx Gerald-Michael Bates finally made his debut and while mommy is busy with two kids now I thought while he was asleep finally I would post his picture and share him with everyone. Delivery went well and we couldn't be more blessed with our beautiful baby boy!!!

Born January 28th @ 8:44 p.m.

7lbs 6oz

He is an amazing addition to our family and we are all over the moon with him. Big sister is just so happy to finally have her brother here and is such a big help. 

I don't even know where to start....

Should I start where I was in September or should I start by saying I am 7 days away from delivering baby boy Bronx!

I have been on bed-rest since September 8th, in the hospital with contractions September 25th, taking medication up the ying yang to prevent this boy from coming and now the time is getting closer. I can't believe how far we have come!!!

This is the long journey....took the 3 part test only to NOT have the ultrasound to measure the neck fluid for down syndrome (DO NOT GET THIS TEST-FALSE POSITIVE) my results after having an amino were that the blood tests were a false positive. After 8 long agonizing days of worry and the emotional roller-coaster just when we thought all was well, contractions started around 18 weeks nothing serious but serious enough to be put taken off of work; the real problem came around 20 weeks when I actually went into the hospital for 3 days. I was given mag to stop the contractions until I almost couldn't breathe, it was the worst stuff I have ever experienced! After 3 days of being in there with shot after shot, nurses coming in every 3 hours for pills they discovered a cyst which had grown 5" in diameter and leaking. The cyst which is a direct result of IVF did not absorb on its own like it should have instead it grew and was slowly leaking and continues to leak. I have had to take medication since 18 weeks of pregnancy to avoid going into full term labor, stay off of my feet and sit around! The cyst is still there and my OBGYN is hopeful it will rupture during labor and if it doesn't I have to go in after 6 weeks and have a laparoscopy done to have it punctured and destroyed.

Despite all this long journey we are forever blessed for this little man who is about to enter into our lives and know that baby Bronx is definitely a fighter! We look forward to the new challenges in this journey we have embarked on and can't wait to share our little guy here soon!

P.S. On a special note I got to be dolled up and treated like royalty for a maternity shoot the other day. The pictures turned out amazing, you can view them www.icecreamandcakephotography.blogspot.com

14 Weeks, 5 days - 3-1/2 Months

Summer is slowly coming to it's end and the growing seems to have to just taken off! Here my belly @ 14 weeks; all is well and we are anxiously awaiting the September 8th visit when we find out the babies sex.

14 weeks

Last weekend we drove to our friends house in Lake Arrowhead, it was such a relaxing night with them and such an amazing time on Saturday at the lake! Here are a few pictures from our weekend, Jaden sure had fun with her new friend Sara she met!

Rounding out summer!

I can't believe that we are already into August! I mean where has the last few months literally gone to. My baby girl is going into Kindergarten in a month and I can't believe she is going to be 5! They grow so fast, I literally blinked and she is 5 and I swear the next 13 years will go by just as fast. We took Jaden to Disneyland over 4th of July to surprise her and now we are getting ready to stay at Paradise Point Resort and take her to SeaWorld and surprise her! I love treating her to fun adventures, it is something I always got to do as a kid so we enjoy sharing with her. So I hope this is one summer she never forgets!!!

Mommy is growing too, I took this photo at 11 weeks pregnant; I am trying to keep up on the baby book and have lots of photos since I really didn't do that the first time around.

A lime and growing

11 weeks, 3 days and counting! I had an ultrasound last Monday and the baby was moving, I couldn't believe that so early they move around. It was waving it's arms like it was trying to say hello and the heartbeat looked really good and strong too. It was my favorite moment so far, my 4-1/2 year old got to see the baby as well and it was nice to be able to share that experience with her. She was in awe, it was a very nice experience all together. Other than that latest update, we are still plugging along only about 6 or 7 weeks to go and we will get to find out the SEX of the baby! We are beyond excited for that although everyone has their own predictions it is interesting for sure. Until another update.....

Now we have a peanut

We officially have a peanut! So cute; the heartbeat which we heard again today was 180 bpm. It was so exciting to actually see the baby take form from just the little circle that we saw a couple of weeks ago. It is just so exciting and we feel so blessed that this new tiny miracle has taken place. We "GRADUATED" today which means we no longer see the Fertility Specialist we see our regular OBGYN. It is a very important day in this process you know things are good and they feel confident enough in having them take over. It is a bittersweet goodbye between you and them they have done something so AMAZING and you feel like you don't even know how to repay them and then you are just so happy to continue on this journey with some sort of normalcy to your pregnancy which is what you have wanted from the beginning but you also feel a sense of security with them. So it was hard to leave, I love my doctor at the Fertility office and I would recommend HRC, Dr. Bradford Kolb in Pasadena to anyone who was struggling like we have without any doubt!!!!!!

Morning Sickness has officially made it's way...

So why do they call it morning sickness when it can last all day or start in the afternoon or night time? Any way you look at it, it is nasty and it makes you feel super yucky. Only thing I can say and count my blessings is honestly I have only been super nauseated in the mornings and I usually have to just eat something bland like a bagel which thank goodness it is not those ridiculous saltine crackers because I am SO over those! So super nice and I can only hope it just stays like this :) Only about 4-1/2 more weeks to find out!!! LOL

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY (sorry it is a day late)
Hope everyone had a nice Father's Day weekend!!!!

6w5d - Healthy Blueberry Sized Baby

It is hard to believe all of the bad things are over and we are on to the more exciting things of this journey! We are overjoyed with the news of ONE HEALTHY SIZED BLUEBERRY BABY IN MY BELLY. The baby looked so tiny on the screen but the flicker of the heart was truly amazing to see and hear for the first time. 125 beats per minute which the doctor said was good, next ultrasound appointment is not until July 1st when I will be 8 weeks 6 days. We continue to thank god every day for this additional miracle for our family!

Possibly another fluid tap

Not that I want to have it done but I am getting big again since the last tap was done last Friday. I enjoy being drained but certainly NOT THE PROCESS!

On a good note, I will be 6 weeks tomorrow and my due date is February 4th! I can't even believe this is all happening and I just thank GOD every day for this 2nd miracle he is blessed us with. My HCG level went in one week from 410 to 3,962! I read somewhere that your HCG level doubles every 30.5 hours isn't that so crazy. I still have to take my estrodial, baby aspirin and progesterone which is fine probably until week 12. Those are really easy to take than the shots I had, one of the shots my hubby gave me left a serious bruise on my stomach it STILL is visible because of the baby aspirin. I can't wait for that to go AWAY! Other than that, I am tired and I get up about once or twice to pee every night. No morning sickness yet, which I know with my daughter started around week 6 or 7 so it is right around the corner.

Well...

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will start with Friday, May 28th; I woke up as if it were any other day and during the week I had noticed that my stomach was increasingly growing larger but I never thought anything of it, I just thought it was normal part of the process. However, it came with some of the most severe pain ever and what it was was fluid around the abdominal wall and was building up from hyper stimulation. So on that Memorial Friday I had to have what they call a "fluid tap" where they take a 14" needle and drain the fluid, the first time this happened there was 2600 cc's of fluid, then came Saturday another horrific day of pain, nausea and hot/cold flashes + more fluid filling up so I had to go back in on Sunday and have another tap done, this time 2400 cc's of fluid was removed. Mind you I am sick, not feeling well, my back ached and I was throwing up while they were removing the fluid which the whole process takes about 1 hour and 1/2 from start to finish. I have been pricked, poked and violated! So by Monday (Memorial Day) I develop a cold, a sinus infection with cough which is really pretty let me tell you and all I have eaten by this point is Chicken Noodle soup and Saltine Crackers! Tuesday, June 1st my third tap and this time 2000 cc's; the amount is obliviously getting less and less and thank goodness because my parts have just about had it. The problem with these fluid taps is that they drain so much fluid that you have to drink so much to replenish it and they make you very tired. So thank goodness by last Friday, I had my fourth fluid tap and only 1500 cc's was removed. I haven't had to go back yet but I am seriously taking it one day at a time and I will ONLY go in if I have too, I am tired of the poking and sticking of needles so I am trying to survive it! I finally left the house for the first time yesterday and today is the first time I have put makeup on since Thursday, May 27th!!!! I have done nothing but sleep on the couch and the bed and I missed 5 days of work because of the back and forth and sickness.

I CAN HONESTLY SAY THE ONLY AMAZING MIRACLE THROUGH THIS ALL IS WE ARE EXPECTING :) YES, THAT IS RIGHT WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!

It was one of the most painful experiences I have had to go through and I am so glad it is behind me and we are just so happy to have moved on from it. And everything seems to be good with the baby, we will see if there is one or multiples on our first ultrasound next Wednesday.

I just have to THANK GOD for this amazing miracle and that we are finally getting the chance to expand our family, and THANK MY AMAZING HUSBAND who took care of me, waited on me hand and foot, cleaned the house, did the laundry, took care of our 4-1/2 year old and was most of all there for me through this entire process! I am truly BLESSED!!!!!

2WW

No one ever really tells you what you will go through and what part is the hardest part and what to expect, hence the blog! I must say this is by far the hardest part here, the WAIT.

When I was on bed rest for three days it was horrible, your mind plays tricks on you and you think negative thoughts and then you cry and then you call everyone in your phone book only to realize they are all working and then everyone wants to call you and text you to see how your doing and nothing has changed other than the fact you are baking your babies :)

Then when you finally can get up and move around and go about your "normal" life with slight accommodations people are so fragile to you and have to say things to mess up your good vibes or the fact that you have completely forgotten about it all together is a blessing until people want to ask you questions! So MISTAKE #1 - Sharing Iinformation, while this for us has been a blessing and such an amazing adventure don't tell TOO many people too much or they will bug you. Not that friends and family are those people but you know what I mean! MISTAKE #2 - Listening to Others, while this is fine and dandy our bodies are different! Just because you have a best friend's cousin who went through this process and is the same age as me and it didn't work for them DOESN'T MEAN it won't work for us! We have a child and gave birth to a healthy baby girl 4-1/2 years ago, we are not even in the SAME GROUP!!! Our problem is getting pregnant and as of now nothing more. MISTAKE #3 - Advice, now I appreciate me some good advice but if you have NEVER ever gone through this process LIPS MUST BE SEALED, PLEASE. This has been again a great experience we have been lucky enough to experience good positive things but don't tell me how to feel or what to think when you are not in the same position as me.

Now having said all of this, you must understand that NOT everyone is this way. In fact most of my friends and family are the complete opposite! They all have been very understanding and AWESOME with the whole process just a few people I have run into and this is all I could do to help those going through it. NOW MORE WAITING!!!!

Embryo Transfer

OK, so from the retrieval they froze 4 and left 5 eggs out to grow for a day 5 transfer. When we arrived last Wednesday we met with the embryologist (did you ever know you could be an embryologist when you were in school; my husband and I honestly didn't even know the job existed) so he came in and said the eggs were not as good and left. OK, my husband and I stared at each other in ahhh like what just happened luckily the doctor came in right after and could tell we were confused and a little taken back. He explained that out of the 5 remaining 2 of them were still growing just A LOT slower then he was anticipating and then 1 more  was growing slower than other 2. So out of the 5 embryo's they decided it would be best to transfer the best 3 embryo's in hopes of at least 1 of them attaching to the endometrial lining. The lining must be at least a 10 and mine was a 14; so the fact that the eggs were not as fast growing shouldn't and hopefully won't be a problem! YEAH some better news right.
So you have to lay on the table and I mean it is a table with a thin pad about 1/2" that makes it look comfy (but it is not really that comfy) and your legs are in stirrups and not the kind you put your heels in the kind you have to put your legs in (so sexy)! We could see on the ultrasound monitor the eggs as they put them in, it was the coolest thing ever watching the eggs one by one fall into your uterus. So the way they fall also I guess somewhat dictates how well they will do and if they fall forward that is a really GREAT sign that the eggs are still good and just needed their natural home (ME) They took a picture of them once they were all put in and gave it to us, it is cool to see the specs on our photo! NOW WE WAIT!!!!!

Egg Retrieval

Well it wasn't as bad as I really thought it would be! I mean I had light to moderate cramping and for the most part I was just really tired. It was really a very easy thing to do and I owe it to my HUBBY and my dearest friend for helping take care of me. They both were SO awesome and just made it very nice for me while I was home resting.

They were able to retrieve 14 eggs which they fertilized 13 and 9 took! YAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOO!!! I am just in awe some many worked it is just a true blessing everything that is happening to us. My husband has been super supportive and just so amazing. Yesterday he took our daughter to work with him so I could have some quiet time and relax and then I went to get a massage while they were gone. He cleaned the house before I got out of bed and made me dinner it was just an amazing weekend and I felt super pampered. He is my ROCK and I am so blessed he is in my life!!!!!

Yucky Tummy

I would have to say that today is the VERY FIRST day I have not felt myself, other than the few minor crying episodes! I couldn't really breathe and I am just so bloated it is uncomfortable to sit all day. Called my dr and he said DRINK LOTS OF GATORADE, COCONUT WATER OR VITAMIN WATER; any thing with electrolytes in it to help with the over stimulation. I am just so excited tomorrow I will be feeling a bit better from all of this when they take all of the eggs out, I mean not 100% but hopefully not as bloated as I am now. Plus I am looking forward to sleeping on the couch all day watching my dvr shows curled in a ball relaxing! Oh I can't wait to do NOTHING, it is too bad it takes something like this to get to do NOTHING all day :) better late than never! hahahaha

Doctor Appt #4 & counting down

Another wonderful check today with some blood work. We are so darn CLOSE and feeling like the Philsbury Dough boy, only difference is I won't laugh when you poke me in the belly! Mid section is VERY bloated and we are now counting down the days to the end can you believe the end is almost here? It is crazy to think that.

So today the DR wants a few more follicles that are SUPER close to being ready more mature than the are right now so tonight is our last round of the medication and then we are down to one more shot on Wednesday and after that the other medication is oral, YIPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Retrieval will be on Friday morning and on Saturday they will call me to tell me how many eggs have fertilized/watching to place back in. The implantation will take place either on Monday or Wednesday of next week! WOW that is just so awesome, I can't hardly put into words how far we have come to this point.

My husband and I had an in depth conversation about how much stronger we have grown together through this. Where we started at last year, where we were as a couple and how much we bumped heads about this whole process, how we lost each other. When I say in-depth it was deep and it really brought tears to my eyes to see the joy, love and compassion that we once knew and had for each other was back. We are more in LOVE than we have ever been and it took this to get us back to that point. We are now ready to share that love with another life and it is so close we can't hardly stand it. A lesson learned for us both, we know marriage is hard work but when you throw infertility into the mix it is even harder and we now know that we need the support of each other to get through something as big as this! I couldn't have done this without him and vise versus, now a blessing is in the works. We now know GOD is going to grant us another blessing or blessings and we are more than ready!!!!

Doctor Appt #3, Second Dose of Cetrotide

OK so I wish someone could have informed me that the Cetrotide medication HURTS LIKE HECK when you inject it!!!!! I have two bruises on my abdomen to prove it and I cried like a baby last night after the second dose. Let me tell you the needle is about 4 or 5" long and almost 1/4" thicker than the needle they have so kindly provided us from the doctor's office for the Follistim and Menapur. I am SO glad that you only have to have 3 doses, 1 per night of the Cetrotide and thank the good man upstairs for giving me a WONDERFUL HUSBAND WHO IS QUICK AND FAST AT INJECTIONS!

I have numbed the area before each injection since Saturday and it really doesn't help that much with the pain of this injection. It is a brutal one for sure...

Anyhow, we had our third doctor's appt on Sunday, yes Mother's Day! Everything looks GREAT, everything is doing what it is supposed to do. We have another doctor's appt tomorrow and then it looks like the egg retrieval will be on Thursday, May 13th! The doctor can't really believe how fast my body is working on this; they said it usually doesn't move as quickly as this so you can imagine we are SO EXCITED!

I did break down and cry yesterday, I was a little emotional all day to say the least, the nurse told me as it gets closer to the egg retrieval I will become more and more emotional. I can hardly wait for that to happen and hopefully it will be something I can turn off when it gets faucet is started.

Doctor Appt #2

Today was our second doctor's appt and it went really amazing! We didn't see the actual doctor today it was the P.A. super nice girl and very easy going to carry conversation with because let me tell you in this type of a situation you want someone who can crack a joke or just be an ear to listen.

It is always so nice to go into the exam room and have to drop your drawers! I love that they give you a napkin to cover up with as you sit and wait for them to come in and do the checking it is usually my favorite part. Can you sense my sarcasm? Well today we got some really GREAT news, my body is responding VERY WELL to the medication and it is only day 5! I have 8 eggs that are size 12-13 cm and 5 that are 8-11 cm; the PA told us that there were so many eggs she was only going to try and measure the bigger ones! It is crazy, but explains the whole bloated look and feeling I am having going on. The PA was completely taken back that there were so many and how big they all were only in such a short period of time. At this rate the egg retrieval should be sometime early next week. We start a third medication tomorrow and unfortunately we can not mix the three together so that means I have to have 2 shots in the belly at a time. Oh boy, that will be so much fun. At least the third medication is only 3 days worth of taking it. This medication will send information to my brain to tell it NOT to ovulate on it's own so they can take them out themselves when they are ready. Isn't it just so fascinating how this whole process works, I think it is one of the most amazing things by far.

As we were leaving we ran into a girl in the elevator who told us she switched to this clinic from Fresno, (just imagine at least a 2 hour drive one way-far away) and has been doing IVF for 4 years; over 22 cycles and she finally today found out she was pregnant! Truly amazing acts of GOD right there, it was such a great start to our weekend. Our next appt is on Mother's Day, at 8:15 a.m. nothing like getting up early :) It will be a GREAT start to our week, I can feel it.