Week 6

I just finished up Week 6 and as I said in my last post - this post will kick-off weekly posts about the progress of my pregnancy.  Let's hope we get WELL into the 35+ weeks, yes?!  It's so hard to envision that this early in the game...but I'm envisioning it with all my might!

I've seen a few of these weekly updates on other pregnancy blogs and will probably go ahead and copy them, but I'll also be throwing in my own information and updates that will (no surprise) probably contain a lot of practical information too.

How far along: 6 weeks tomorrow
What did baby do this week: Baby is the size of a sweet pea, lentil or black eyed pea.  It's about 1/4 inch long from crown to rump and the legs and arms are tiny protruding buds.  The nose, mouth, eyes and ears are beginning to take shape.  The lining of the placenta begins developing but the placenta will take over production of the hormones in week 12.  Baby's heart started beating last week and is beating about twice as fast as mine: 100-160 bpm!
Total weight gain: .2 pounds
Symptoms: Overall I feel great and nothing is really holding me back other than wanting to go to bed earlier.  But to summarize: extra tired, thirsty, frequent urination (though it’s also likely because I’m so thirsty, I’m drinking water all the time), extremely light cramping just on occasion, slight dizziness/light-headedness and perhaps a little more gas than usual.  No spotting at all this week.  It’s weird, I am ever-so-slightly nervous each time I wipe because I think I’d FREAK out if I saw red!  Early in the week I felt some very faint shooting pains in my breasts, but nothing since.  They look and feel exactly the same.  The weird itchy/numbness I felt in my upper thigh/butt (side effect from the progesterone injections) is still consistently annoying.  I think I just need to put up with it until we're done with the shots.
Queasy or sick: No, though I oddly almost want to feel a tiny bit so that I "feel more pregnant”.  I am continuing acupuncture and they have already started the foundation of treatment for morning sickness so this could be helping too.
Sleep: No trouble falling asleep but I wake up to pee at least 2-3 times, and sometimes have trouble falling back asleep after that.  My head is full of thoughts!

Best moment this week: Told one of my best friends over dinner early in the week (just showed her a pic I took of myself with the positive digital test saying “Pregnant” and told her that’s why I really wanted to see her for dinner.) Then yesterday told 2 other close friends - over dinner and dessert (met one for dinner and the other for dessert).  All these friends knew about our IVF so they weren't shocked, but it's still fun sharing the news!
Hardest part of the week: Waiting for our first ultrasound!  I was so paranoid, I emailed Dr. A and she suggested I come in for a 5 week (and a few days) ultrasound to help me feel better.  We wouldn’t be able to see the heartbeat, but might be able to see the sac and fetal pole.  I scheduled the ultrasound and then ultimately canceled it after reading some Babycenter.com boards and talking to a couple friends: EVERYONE feels this way as they wait for their first ultrasound.  And ladies who get pregnant naturally usually wait even longer (8-10 weeks!)  I can be patient for our 6 week ultrasound instead of rushing in and maybe not even feeling comforted by what little info I could get this early… Le Sigh.  Speaking of what you can see in your ultrasounds early in pregnancy: This page was great in explaining.
Looking forward to: Telling my parents!!  As soon as we get that first ultrasound under our belt!
Miss anything: um, sex (we've been abstaining since the transfer, until after the first ultrasound...)  And I miss just being able to pick whatever I want to eat off a menu.  Since I'm obviously new at being pregnant - I have to think/ponder/concentrate whenever I have to order something to see if I'm breaking any rules!!
Movement: Does gas count?
Food cravings: No, not really.
Happy or moody: Feel happy - but maybe a little emotional.  Like crying more than usual at touching things on TV.  At least it’s not over lame things!
Labor signs: Newp
Maternity clothes: Newp - can even still wear my skinny jeans.  Not much bloating.
Belly button in or out: In
Wedding rings on or off: On
Stretch marks: Newp

Waiting...is the hardest part

Learnings from the week:  I’ve decided that the hardest things to wait for when doing IVF and a frozen-embryo-transfer go in this order:

1. After transfer, waiting for pregnancy test - ok I can confirm that this is the hardest wait because you don’t know whether you’re pregnant or not and it’s just MADDENING.
2. Waiting for your first ultrasound appointment - especially if you don't have a lot of pregnancy symptoms.  You expect the worst since you barely feel pregnant!
3. Waiting for the daily emails after an egg retrieval - did our eggs fertilize? Are they expanding properly?  Will we get any high quality blastocysts?  Will they be chromosomally normal?!

Additional learnings - I had an appointment with my optometrist this week and disclosed my “situation”.  I was glad I did, because she said she would not be dilating my eyes.  In isolated cases they have found it to be an issue and she would also not dilate me if I was breastfeeding.  She also mentioned that the increased hormone levels can slightly impact your vision.  So while my eyes showed perhaps a slight change in prescription, she opted not to change anything.
Final Thoughts:  Happy and nervous and worrying all the time.  I guess this is an early introduction to parenthood, huh?