5WEEKS-MOMENTS OF PRENGANT'NESS'

I can tell you now, the blog is going to get funny and funnier from now on.
After having a yummy chicken, bacon, mushroom fettucine dinner I decided one would retire to bed.
So as usual Angus is lying on couch snoring away *Poke* *Poke*
Me - "common undrew time for bed!"
Angus - "mmm yep"
*Snore* *snore*
Me - *poke* *poke*
Angus - "yep im coming" *snore* *snore*

9.00 pm- Ok i give up im off to bed.
9.01pm- better go to the toilet as i will be getting up about 4 times to go again tonight and i dont want to make it 5 times!
me- *snore* *snore*
11.30pm - shufle shuffle fluff fluff goes the duvet - (light goes on)

Dragon woman - "WHY ARE YOU WAKING ME UP ON PURPOSE!!!!! I WAS ASSSSLEEEEEEEPP!!!!"
poor husband - "um i dont have a pillow and am looking for one"
Dragon woman slowly transforming into witch - " WELL I DONT BLOODY HAVE IT
(i only had about 4, 2 under head, 1 under gut, 1 on side of bed to rest witchey hand)
"YOU ARE JUST SAYING THAT TOO WAKE ME UP ON PURPOSE!!!!! " GRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
poor husband with no pillow - rolls over and goes to sleep
Dragon woman/witch/hogger of pillows - (thinks about how selfish husband is then goes to sleep for a couple of hours before wee stops begin)

So anyway i wake up this morning and Angus finally gets me back for calling him grumbles all those times.
"Someone was a little grumbly last night Mrs Grumbles!!!"
oops i say sorry.About 1000 times!!!After finding his pillow on my side :)
Husband has now decided that 11pm at night is not a good time for his babymaking wife to be bothered.

thar she/he blows!!!

YES YES I HAD TO DO IT , ON SATURDAY I GOT UP NICE AND EARLY AND DID A PEE ON A STICK PREG TEST.

Because i can.!

Oh and i felt like a normal pregnant person he he.

Tried knitting the rest of my blanket on the weekend but someone wanted to help too, our first fluff child boss





oh and then came the other fluff child who wanted to help as well

The beginning of the rest of our lives !!

Well good monday morning !
Feeling still a bit bewildered at the moment, bought a book called "up the Duff" on the weekend its a hilarious look at conception and pregnancy and birth so quite good to know somethings im feeling a NORMAL (whats that?)
I had to have a blood test today to check if my progesterone levels are normal ( i think) and after speaking to the clinic have been told i have to keep taking my lovely pessaries (suppositories) to keep my uterus happy (small price to pay)3 times a day.
My first scan will be on Week 8 so that will make things seem a bit real.
Only pregnancy symptoms i have so far are a sore lower back, realy dizzy all the time (no smart comments :) and tired alot. Oh and titchy he he
But as far as that goes im all ok.
My knitting has picked up pace and im nearly finished knitting a throw (dont ask why) it just seemed like a good way to keep me glued to the couch and to relax.
Off to read my book now.... im only reading it week by week as i dont want to get too far ahead of myself.

im Back

ok im back and have composed myself!!
Andrew flew straight to the fridge with the phone in his hand (while i was still trying to breath) to get a beer out of fridge. The nurse had a chuckle to herself as she heard the clang clang of beer bottles because clever Daddy P took phone to broadcast his beer retrieval from garage haha.
We kept saying thankyou thankyou thankyou to here and she said we were such a nice couple and made there jobs that much rewarding cause we got a good result.

So I had to ring everyone and tell them, oh and i know i know im only 4 weeks pregnant (dont ask me how that works out but i just am) so we are waiting with baited breath till week 7or8 when we get our first scan at the IVF clinic i think (to hear a heartbeat) and then the home straight to week 12.

Back at work today with heaps of work to do. Bosses were really happy, i even bought in home made cookies (andrew wasnt impressed i was stealing them from him) for every one to eat.
But now i think the bosses have realised i may be leaving in around 7-8 months they are acting a bit weird. oh well you get that in the tough jobs, such a cool place to work but work is not life.
No morning sickness by the way just lots of pimples and lowtolerance to the old people that come into work ha ha

D Day

Sitting on the couch feeling like i want to puke waiting for andrew to get home so we can call the clinic for our results.

Everything has lead up to this, so much worry, stress, heartache (that sounds dramatic but im serious)

I had to get to the clinic this morning to do my blood test at the mount and results were available after 2pm.

At this point im thinking should i have bought myself that fat bottle of red wine to drink just in case its a negative or is that being too pessimistic?

I just want the results so i can get on with being either happy than the happiest i have felt or pretty sad and pick myself up and carry on carrying on.

Im so scared.

Andrew gets home and we ring the clnic together he doesnt want to listen on the other end but he does ha ha hes as nervous as me argggghhhh i cant take this anymore !

So we ring. Get the nurse on the phone. Hi tanya here!
Tanya Pullen!!


Yes hold please..................





Arr yes tanya from Taranaki??


No????

Hold please..............................




Uh oh!!!!!



Oh yes here you are Papamoa??

Yes.








Soooooooooooooo???




Well your levels are 99



Andrew gives me this confused look i am giving straight back to him???


SO that means?????



Oh yes you are pregnant!!!!!


HOLY SHIT!!!!

ok so got to go cry now but fill ya in tomorrow

Ahhhhhh Fooey

I thinnk im getting a cold feel that yukky breath taste in my mouth, sore throat and massive headache dam dam.

Well i wish i had news but i dont!! We are still waiting waiting,
Weekend was a nice relaxing one managed to fit in 5 dvd's !!!
I know I know thats like 9 hours of doing nothing (except knitting...badly)but hey that was the plan to TAKE IT EASY.
Off to mates house tonight to watch the netball and have dinner so that will be nice, will take my grapetise yum yum. (no seriously i love it)

dont you love when youre grasping for hope for something you start looking at anything as A SIGN!! as our embryo is a number 4. We thought that was quite a good sign as my bday is 22 Jan 2+2=4 ha ha ok wait how bout add my whole bday up
22-1-1979 so 2+2+1+1+9+7+9=31 3+1=4
oh and
Andrews mum miscarried 3 times before having her '4th pregnancy' and giving birth to her beautiful baby ANDREW
oh we live at 34 Summerland cres??? Been trying for a baby for 4 years. ok ok im just grasping now.

trying to find things to keep mind occupied

waiting game

Ok its Thursday and what can I say im feeling a bit better than I did yesterday after hearing the news of numbers 1,2 &3 embryos not surviving or not being good enough.

Had dinner at Hubbys mums with uncle and aunty was a lovely dinner forgot to buy my grapetise (which im getting increasingly getting addicted too) but located something non-alcoholic to drink anyway. Was still a little down but the show must go on. I must say this is the most frustrating part of IVF up to date as it’s the waiting game. And every day is a step closer to finding out if we are or are not pregnant.

My uterus cramping has died down a bit oh wait now that I say that “hello” said uterus decides to cramp a little. So hopefully freckle’s is in there and burrowing in nicely and liking his/hers new home.

My boobs have been so tender since about Sunday and I figure its obviously another side affect from these lovely suppositories that I have to use constantly as they are another form of some hormone. My skin is a mess but im over it , that’s nothing really in the grand scheme of things.

So we continue to wait.

OH ive started knitting again, another thing to keep the overactive mind busy.
Cats are very happy

Bad Day

Me and freckles ( thats number 4's nickname as it is the size of one)are having a bad day today.
Apart from counting down the days too judgement day to see if im pregnant, and if freckle has hung around.
I rang the clinic and spoke to JP my embryologist. and he said all my other 3 embryos didnt make it to a good enough quality to freeze so have been sent to petrie dish heaven (as one of my IVF friends calls it)
No no second chances with this lot, so if freckles doesnt hang around we will have to go through the WHOLE 2 month long process again.
So i had a cry (at work very classy) and now i have a massive headache and am trying to be positive and not swear to much as freckle could still be hanging around and listening( hopefully!!)
Its my sis's bday when i find out the result so there is a good sign.
Im keeping the day pretty quiet only a few know just so i dont get bombarded with "are you pregnant?" texts or phone calls on the day cause if im not i can no doubt tell you now i will be a mess! after this mornings performance at work.

Tahi, Rua, Toru, WHA!!!!!

Embryo transfer was today, it was scheduled for 10.30 and I had to have a full bladder for the transfer, Got there at 10.15, oh wait a minute the Doc had been called out to Hamilton Hospital for a emergency in theatre so i had to wait a hour and a half with a full bladder !!!!WOOH!
Dont EVER!!! try and have a full bladder wth bruised swollen ovaries !!MY GOODNESS! iT hurts bad. So i squirmed and read a mag squirmed some more tried to read mag then that was it i couldnt hold on any longer we didnt know when my doc was coming back so nurse said i could let a little bit out, WHAT!! a 'little' bit? how on earth do you expect me to stop once i start powerpissing everywere? but i did! You dont get this far and ruin it not being able to hold onto you wee wees!!! Any way one hour and a half later and three mini pees my doc turned up.We cant remember her name as it was a indian name but we decided to rename her shanti!And she had a new protege learner doc with her another indian man we named him Scotty! (anyone who watches shorty st will understand and see our humour)
But in the end the transfer went well & number 4 embryo went in, pretty much like a smear test but they put a ultrasound scan on your tummy so they can watch the embryo get squirted in and VOILA!! andrew saw it go in (on the tv monitor)he reckons it looked like a shooting star he he, so we will leave it up to the universe now, just got to wait the 2 weeks until our blood test to see if it has worked.
Ahhhhhhhh we drive home get the usual decaf from cambridge oh & another pee stop. Oh and no speeding tickets this time yay!! So this is were the pain should stop, ISNT IT???
oohhhhhhhh noooooooo
Get home, find my position on the couch and BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cramps start!
No one warned me about this!
I think my body is just over being injected poked prodded lately and is telling me to LAY OFF WOULD YOU!!! ok ok i promise no more we are just going to kick back and take it easy on number 4. Andrew has his late dads gold ring on and we seem to have luck when he wears it so he will not be taking it off!

here is a break down of what happened to our embryos as of today. as we had 4.

Number 1-Only at 4 cells today
Number 2- Only a 6 cells today
Number 3- 8 cells but a bit of fragments in it
Number 4- 8 cells looking great !!! SO that was the one that went in.

We want to have at least one embryo frozen (just in case this cycle doesnt work out)so we are going to hear from the clinic next week as to if our babies have been put in the freezer or didnt make it :(
Hopefully over the next few days the other embryos show promise and they will get frozen.

The nurse told me to continue as normal and to not overheat my body so no netball and hot pools but retail shopping is a GIVEN!! so i shall splurge and buy myself a new jacket tomoro as i dont have a winter jacket.

SO thats it for now folks continue to read as i will no doubt be updating every day or two with my latest misadventure, off to watch the rugby now and toast to baby4 with some grapetise BOTTOMS UP!

EIEIO part 2

well afer crying all morning we have found out that all our 4 eggs and fertilised over night so we have 4 babies growing at the moment and one lucky embryo gets put back into me on Sat morning!! yippeeee.(the rest will be frozen. And then the waiting game begins to see if it all worked !

E I E I O

And on the pullens farm there was 4 eggs! EIEIO !

Had our egg collection yesterday,wow was a experience , took biccies for the scientists and doc, to hopefully butter them up he he, seemed to go down a treat they all were very surprised.
Had my first (chill out) pill which sent me into hysterical laughter. then more drugs while in the op room, had three lovely ladies who cracked jokes the whole way throuh my procedure so was very relaxing (well as i could be with a rather large needle threw my insides)One doc mentioned how long my legs were and that she couldnt see where they ended as they went past her shoulders (while she was getting my eggs) and i butted in and said "yeah my husband says that alot too " oops TMI Mrs Pullen ha ha that cracked them all up.

So 4 healthy eggs retreived so thats 4 more chances then any other month for s yay!!

Angus got award of the day for doing his business the fastest then anyone he he, he said the pornos that were in the 'special room' were from the 70's or 80's haha.

So find out Thursday morning if we have babies growing hopefully we hae 4 embryos today that fertilised last night.

Stay Tuned

IVF Update

GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOORRRRNING!! THE SUN WILL SHINE AT BREAKFAST TIME GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well im feeling quite the chirpy we sparrow this morning we had our first scan on saturday morning ! 15 follicles growing nicely! the doc was telling the nurse 4x12's 3x10's on the left side and 3x12's 2x10's 3x 8's this, i think is the size of each follicle and he informed me he wants them about 15mm to take out so we would be looking at Egg collection on thursday !! YAY!!!!clever clever little ovaries !

I asked for a lolly since i was such a good girl, he said he doesnt treat kids for IVF so no lollies he he but i told him i already scoped out the biscuit cupboard when i was waiting in the recovery room he he.

So off home we tot, stop in at Cambridge for my decaf coffee and caramel slice (treats!) and then back on road to see a cop about a speeding ticket! yes we got pulled up and given a nice $170 ticket for going 93km in a 70km zone. Dumb since the 70km zone in TePoi is about 500metres long and thats it!! so very cunning spot for cops to sit to get there daily quota i think! oh and then there was the $400 ticket whopped on top as angus's license expired in Feb and he hadnt realised ! Oh well thems the breaks. Nothing was dampening my day i tell ya!

Monday morning I had my 2nd scan to check growth is going well etc and to confirm egg collection day. 10 good sized follys on my right side and about the same on my left !!! WOOH! and averaging around 17mm each so nice and juicy ha ha! So doc (a different one) says looks like these are coming out on Wednesday ! YAY!!!! i screamed (whilst the scan was still going) so that means only 2 sleeps now til EC(egg collection) day and you know what that means? Angus? Its your turn to do your thing on Wednesday too he he.
So i will do a "trigger injection" monday night this is a one off injection that will mature my eggs for collection(i think?) at 10pm tonight as instructed by nurses. Ready for EC on weds morning at 9.30am yippeeee

To be cont'd......................................

ON TRACK!

My darling LITTLE bro took his egg growing sis out for tea last night which was sooooo nice i owe him a thousand fettucines for it. And he bought his workmate with him Richie (who i must say talks just like Heath ledger with the same accent oh my god !!!) (sorry hormones talking again)and after about 1/2 hour of me talking leisurely about drugs, eggs, headaches & ovaries and how i CANT have caffeine chocolate and alcohol, he looked soo confused, i think he thought as i wasnt drinking alcohol, i was already pregnant !!! Poor boy so then Angus flew into a full blown story about IVF and me going threw the psycho menopause stage then the massive headaches stage then injecting i could see the poor chap squirming in his seat to go have a cigie. and thinking to himself (if i knew i was coming to dinner with my workmate to talk to his sister and hubby about her ovaries etc I WOULDNT HAVE COME!!"
Poor guy ha ha.

Well had my blood test done yesterday morning for my E2 levels (egg growing hormones)
and they are at 491??? Yes i had that confused look on my face too!! So too keep injecting the Buserilin (to stop my natural hormones) and Gonal F (to grow eggs) drugs til saturday morning which is when i have my first internal scan! too look at how many follicles i have growing and at what stage they are at.
This is where they will decide to either keep me on drugs or up or lower my levels and should be scheduled for my Egg collection next week sometime (providing everything is all good)
From what the girls (fellow IVF mates) i talk to online say prob be about a week,
so could have EC next thursday friday or saturday, .
IM SOOOOOOOOOOO FRICKEN EXCITED MAN !!!!!!!!!! CANT WAIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know i shouldnt be excited about a penis shaped wand that is my ultrasound scan device (yuk!) and getting my eggs sucked out of me throw a large needle that goes through my uterus walls (whilst im awake) but HEY!! I am!