(In)Fertility Friday

Since I'll be taking Friday off for Christmas I thought now would be a good time to post about infertility life lately.

Friends help friends give shots in the butt.

After I had my eggs retrieved on the 10th I was anxious about getting ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. I never got any bloating so I assumed I escaped that dreaded condition. Wrong. After the embryos were transferred into my uterus and when my bed rest was done, the bloating began. Guys...this is not your typical la tee da bloating. We're talking maternity pants wearing, looking five months pregnant bloating. I'm HUGE. I would describe my current status as a walrus.

Honestly, pictures don't do it justice!

OHSS is basically from my ovaries being crazy stimulated by all the meds they gave me to grow eggs. My ovaries are enlarged and full of fluid. There's so much fluid, in fact, that it has filled my whole abdomen...hence the buddah belly. In some cases it can get so extreme that the fluid pushes up against your lungs making it difficult to breathe and ending you up in the hospital. I'm not there yet! Praying I can keep that at bay by drinking Gatorade (electrolytes help), no water, protein, and lots of sodium rich foods. Sounds super healthy right?

IVF jammies and pineapple fro-yo

Apparently if there is a baby (or two!) growing in there it doesn't seem to affect them. If I do end up being pregnant my belly will just stay huge and if not then it takes like 2 to 10 weeks to go away. Basically I'm destined to be huge for quite some time. Good times. If I'm huge because there is a baby growing inside clearly I'm good with that. But being huge for huge's sake? No thanks.

Last few hours of bed rest in my new whip at Blair's preschool performance.

I do have pregnancy symptoms such as swollen and tender breasts and obviously bloating but those are also side effects of the medication I am taking so nothing to get excited about. I have to friends near by who have both done IVF and been successful and neither stated that they had obvious symptoms so that makes me feel better. If I had to guess I would say I'm not pregnant this round. But that's just me protecting my heart like always. Even if we do get good news from the blood test I take on Monday it's just another step in the right direction. I've had that happen to me twice before so it would be silly for me to get super excited. We have to ensure that the numbers are going up with consecutive blood work every two days. So keep praying! It will take us a long time to get out of the woods but I know God is able.

Chic Fil A is always fun with Grandma..especially when you run into one of your favorite friends!

For now I'm still on soft bed rest. No picking up Blair, and just a general notion of taking it easy. I've been taking a nap every day and making Blair pick up everything I drop on the floor. :) I forgot I couldn't lift her and I ran to the store the other day and had to have two different strangers lift her into the cart and out of the cart when I was done. Ooops! Blair kept pointing the gentleman out in the store who helped her. Ha ha.

I still can't get over how selfless and helpful our friends and family have been. We've been blessed with so many meals, people who watch Blair, friends who bought me cute bed rest PJs, and so many encouraging comments and emails. God has been so gracious and I'm so thankful! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas...you are loved and I appreciate your support immensely!