It's a Girl!!!

Well,

We went to go see Melissa today (could not wait until our next appointment in January). Melissa had a blast scanning and determined that Baby Casto is a she! That's right, we are having a GIRL!! I am so excited to finally call the baby something other then IT =o).

Here are some pictures of the baby:









I had to go back to work after the scan, which was tough because I could not concentrate at all, but got a kick out of Adam who promptly went online and ordered a bunch of cute Cardinals gear for her! I cannot wait for it all to get here and to start registering and getting everything together for her.

Hopefully we will decide on a name soon, but that is all I have for now!

Stubborn Already =o)

Well,

We made it to 18 weeks and had our anatomy scan today. Everything looked great! Baby is measuring good, but he/she would not expose him/herself to us, so we still were unable to find out if it was a he or a she. He/she was being shy and hiding from us, so I guess I have to put off my shopping spree for the time being, boo.

My belly is really starting to grow now. I can really notice a difference. Here is my 18 week picture:



We did not get many good pictures from the ultrasound today, but here is one of the pictures:



Guess we will updated y'all once this little he/she is willing to let us know what he/she is!!

Love y'all!

Second Trimester is Upon Us!

Well, I know it has been forever since I posted, sorry about that. We have a lot of ground to cover. I have been feeling pretty sick lately. My body FINALLY started to produce the hormones that normal women produce from day one, so the docs took me off my supplements, but it feels like I am now going through round 2 of 'Morning' sickness because of it. I am nauseous all the time . . . Talk about fun!!! Ha! I am finally starting to show, yippie! Here are a few pictures of the last few weeks:







I also went to go see Melissa at 13 weeks so she could get a sneak peak at her new little neice/nephew. It was so much fun. She scanned me and measured all kinds of things on the baby. It was so neat to see the difference from only a few weeks.





My favorite thing over the last couple weeks was a little prediction Adam made. As some may know, Adam decided to go to St. Louis for Game 7 of the world series. He can't get enough of his Cardinals =o). While he was gone, before game 7 started, I got the following text message from him:



Needles to say, he was correct!!! I was so excited that he got to do something so exciting and that his predicition came true.

When I first found out I was pregnant this time, I knew I would be a huge ball of worry as stress the whole time given my history, so I copied my best friend and bought a fetal doppler online. This allows me to hear the babies heart beat at home any time I want! It was hard to pick it up prior to 12 weeks because the baby was super low, but now it super easy to find and I LOVE it. Adam and I play with it all the time. Here is a video I took of one of the times we were playing with it (If the video works?):



For those who are anxious, like me, we will find out officially on 12-12-11 if it is a Boy or a Girl!!!!! We may go see Melissa at 16 weeks and see if she can tell yet or not, but the official date is 12-12-11 (18 Weeks). I cannot wait!!!!

Well, I think that is it for now. I will touch back with y'all again in a few weeks!

Love you all!

11 Weeks!

Hello,

I know I have not updated in a while, but here I go =). We went in yesterday for an ultrasound and I cant even tell you how excited we were. The difference between this week and 2 weeks ago is nuts! The little baby is now about about 1.6 inches long and about .25 ounces. To give you an idea, that is about the size of a small lime. It may seem really small still, but this time we were able to see almost everything. We saw arms, legs, head, body, even the nose was visible. It was so neat. The doctor said the baby was measuring right on, eventhough 2 of the pictures say I am 12w 4d instead of 11w 2d, but that was because she had my due date entered into the computer incorrectly.

I think the best part of the visit was that the baby had hiccups while we we there so the doctor would hold still for a minute and you could see the rythmic hiccups, it was so cute. It made me giggle =0).

We will go back on 11-11-11, but I do not think the doctor will do an ultrasound again until I am 18 weeks =0(. Maybe I will have to go visit Melissa (my sister) at her school one of these upcoming weeks and have her sneak a peak with their equipment!

Here are some pictures:

9 Weeks!

Well, I am not going to lie, these last 2 weeks were quite stressful. I have been really anxious about going to the doctor again, and have not been feeling completely up to par. So far my morning sickness has been pretty on and off, but I feel like it stepped up a little these past two weeks. I can't tell you how many nights I came home from work, went straight to the couch and never moved. . . . Poor Adam is probably ridiculously tired of taking care of me all the time =o).

Well, we got to relieve a little bit of those nerves today. We had another appointment and got to see our little baby again. It was great! The doctor had quite a bit of trouble getting a measurement and a decent picture because the little he/she refused to be still for even a second =o). I am considered 9 weeks today and the baby was measuring 8 weeks 6 Days (close enough) and the heart was beating at 181bpm, which is great. Here are a few pictures:




I was a little sad because I now have to leave my fertility doctor and schedule an appointment with a regular OBGYN, but hopefully the new doctor (once I decide who), will be just as great. I hope to get in with a new doctor within the next 2 weeks. My fertility doctor will still be doing blood tests on me and monitoring my hormone levels until I am completely off of my hormone supplements, but no more ultrasounds with him =o(.

I am starting to notice slight body changes, but nothing that I believe would be too visible to others yet. I can tell that my clothes are getting a little snug and I am quite uncomfortable when I button most of my pants, but to be honest, I am loving it because it means that the little baby is growing!!! :) Here is my 9 Week picture:


Well, I think that is about it for now. I will check back with you all soon. Love you!

Seeing Is Believing!!!

Today was the day we have been waiting for for quite some time. We had our first actual appointment since the transfer a few weeks back.

I have to be honest, I was not doing too great before the appointment. I was completely freaking out and hardly slept last night. Adam must of thought I was crazy. I was tearing up and shaking pretty bad. I was so nervous that they would not be able to find a heartbeat, and I do not want to go through something like that ever again. Adam was a sweetheart thought and worked his magic to calm me down. I definitely would not be able to do this without him.

LUCKILY, things went so much better than we could have imagined. It was by far out best appointment ever! We not only got to see our little baby (which is about the size of a blueberry right now), but we also got to hear the heart beat, which was beating at about 143bpm! The little blueberry measured in at 7 weeks and 1 day and the doctor says everything is looking great.

I can't even begin to explain to you how exciting it was that this appointment went well. This has been a very long road and we have been needing some good news for quite some time. I know that I am still not out of the danger zone, but being a donor egg we are a lot more confident that things will progress nicely and go as planned this time.

We are so excited and cannot wait until next May when we get to meet our little bundle of joy.

Here are some pictures of Baby Casto for your enjoyment:







We will keep you updated!

Thanks!

Let The Good Times Begin . . . .

I know it has been a while since I posted, but things have been crazy busy lately in life and work . . . whew.

Well, as you already know, my first round of blood work confirmed that I am pregnant, yippie! They re-ran the blood again on 9/7/11 and 9/14/11 and the results were as follows:

9/5/11
HCG = 151
Progesterone =9.1
Estrodial = 105
9/7/11
HCG = 428
Progesterone = 7.1
Estrodial = 124
9/14/11
HCG = 5,939
Progesterone = 6.9
Estrodial = 118

My HCG is supposed to double every 2-3 days, so it is definitely doing what it is supposed to! My Progesterone and Estrodial levels are still showing on the low side, but this is normal for patients who do IVF with a donor because my body is not producing those hormones yet so I have to supplement them.

To make a long story short, I am still pregnant and everything is going as planned so far. They will continue to do weekly blood work for a while, and then bring me in sometime in the next few weeks for an ultrasound! We can’t wait!

To add to our excitement, my best friend also took a pregnancy test on the same day as I did (No we did not plan it, I guess great minds just think alike) and got a positive as well! It was so funny because I messaged her that morning to share the news and show her the test, and she replied with her test and news! It was a super exciting discovery and day! We did the math and seem to only be a few days apart, how exciting is that? So now, not only does Adam (and Chance, Valerie’s husband for that matter) have the pleasure of dealing with his ‘crazy’ pregnant wife, he gets to deal with both of us now and we can team up on them =o) He He. I am crazy excited that they get to add onto their already wonderful family and that we get to go through this together! I could not have asked for a better scenario. If you want to check out her blog and read about her story, here is the web address is http://motherwifefriend.tumblr.com/.

Also, I have to send a shout out to my friends Angie Halverson and Hunter Halverson who just welcomed their first child into the world yesterday. Ganon Criag Halverson was born on 9/14/11 at 3:33am weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 9oz and measuring 22 inches long. He is definitely a big boy, but so precious and so cute. I went to visit him last night and just sat there holding him forever and could have stayed longer if I was not so tired and hungry. Here are a few pictures:

Well, that seems to be all the happenings in the Casto household right now. I will check back in soon with updates and what is happening. Thanks for reading and I love you all!

The Results are In . . . .

Hello All,

I hope everyone is doing well.

Well, not so much has been going on since the last post. I have basically just been a nervous wreck waiting for today so I could do my blood work and get the results. I am sure Adam is having a blast dealing with me =o), ha ha! Well, we got the blood work back today, my HcG was at 151 and my Progesterone was at 9.1. All within the normal range to confirm a 'Positive' for being pregnant! They are going to re-run the blood work on Wednesday to double check things, since my HcG should be about doubling every 2-3 days right now. I am not going to lie, I kind of got impatient and cheated on Saturday and took a home test.



It was driving me crazy and I needed to know =o), good thing I did it because it put me at ease a little and let me enjoy the weekend a little more. Adam and I were both super excited on Saturday and today once they confirmed that me levels were good.



The doctor said that I would be considered about 4 weeks today. We have been here before and still have a long road till we start to feel too comfortable and secure this time, but we are much more hopeful. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. You all have truly been a fantastic support system for us so far and I could not imagine going through all of this without you. We truly love you all!

As I said before, I love that I get to share this information with you all, but we are still airing on the cautious side and would love to keep this off of Facebook or out of the knowledge of the 'general public' till at least after our 12 week appointment. It is easier this way in case something does go wrong.

We will touch back with you all soon to let you know how things are proceeding =o).

Transfer Complete!!!

Well, today was the day! The transfer was supposed to occur on Thursday, but ended up finally happening on this morning, thanks goodness!!! It was quite an experience, let me tell you! The technology that goes into IVF is just amazing.

We got there and the nurses and doctor explained to us that only two of the eleven fertilized embryos were currently big enough for transfer/freezing. This kind of threw me off because I thought with the amount that fertilized we would have more left over to freeze, but I guess that is not the case. We talked about it and decided that we were only going to implant one since the chance of success did not increase with more than one, and because we wanted to have a possible backup in case this one does not take. The doctors will continue to let the embryos grow thru tomorrow, then will let us know next week if any additional embryos grew enough to be frozen as well.

The whole process was very interesting. It was done in an operating room with an ultra sound machine as well as a TV to allow us to watch everything. They even gave us a picture of the embryo they implanted.



We also got to wear some seriously adorable outfits during the process:







They sent me home today with the instructions that I need to relax today and tomorrow, darn =o). Unfortunately my post op instructions specified 'No Housework', sorry Adam! No working out for the next 2 weeks or so, but I can return to work on Monday. We basically get to play the waiting game now. They will have me do a pregnancy test in about a week and a half or two to determine if it took or not. Wish us luck and check back here in a couple of weeks.

Love you all!

The Time Has Come

Hello all, sorry I have not updated this in a while but things have been a little crazy and uncertain.

Well, the donor had appointments throughout the last 2 weeks. She was supposed to retrieve on Thursday of last week, but it got pushed back a couple days because she was not ready. We found out finally this Saturday that she is doing the Retrieval today, YIPPIE!!! This bumps my transfer out to Thursday of this week (8/25/11) pending everything grows as it should. If they have any issues they may bump it out to Saturday, but we are hoping that is not the case. Either way I will be taking Thursday and Friday of this week off of work. It is for the best since I most likely will not be able to focus at all.

These past two weeks have been really tough on me. Okay to be honest, this whole process has. I have been trying to put on my tough girl face, but it has honestly been really rough not being involved in the whole process. It has been really frustrating waiting on the nurses to call me after each of the donors appointments. I seriously think they have been intentionally waiting to the last possible minute to call me specifically for the intention of stressing me out . . . ugh . . . I know that is not the case, but it has been feeling like that for sure =o). Just ask Adam, I am sure he has had a blast dealing with me the last two weeks, I have been an emotional mess, Ha!

On a side note, I finally got my prescription filled for my Lovenox which is the shot I will be giving myself every day for the entire pregnancy and a little while after. I am not going to lie, the needle looks intense, it kind of scares me, see below:


I will not be able to open them until the day after the transfer, but hopefully they are not as painful as they look =o). Guess I will know soon enough.

We should be getting results over the next couple days so wish us luck, we need it right now and excuse me if you call me and I seen distracted or emotional. . . It seems to be a trend lately for me to be unable to focus or to cry for no reason, He He.

Also, I don’t think I can say this enough, but thank you all so much for all your kind words and support throughout this whole process. I can’t even begin to explain to you all how much it means to both of us. I honestly do not think I would have made it this far (while keeping my sanity) without all of your love and support. You all are the best.

I will touch back with you soon, probably after the transfer.

Love you!

Happy Birthday!!

Also . . . I have to send a shout out to my favorite God Baby/Nephew Colt Cantwell! Colt is turning 2 years old today! 2 years ago today I had spent literally all night sleeping in the waiting room of the hospital on two chairs pushed together waiting on him to arrive. I think it is safe to say he is most likely the main cause of my baby fever =o) He He.

This little man and his parents (Valerie & Chance Cantwell) have been such a blessing for me. Whenever I am feeling down and out all I have to do is pay them a visit, or call them up, and I am smiling in no time =o)

Happy Bithday Little Man! I love you and best wishes for many more. I cannot wait to celebrate this weekend!

It's Getting Close!

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing well. Things have been pretty crazy over here at the Casto House lately. I feel like we have been going non-stop for weeks now and believe it or not, everything seems to be coming down to the wire with the next round of IVF. I have been waking up every morning at 6:45am (Yes, even on the weekends - No sleeping in for me anymore!) to give myself my daily shot and following my crazy pill schedule like it is my life, pills for breakfast, lunch and dinner. . . Ha! You would not believe the amount of pills and medicine that are involved in this process, it is insane. Here is a picture of what I currently have, it does not even include the Lovenox that I will get later!




I forgot to mention it before, but a month or so back the docs ran a new round of blood work to double check a bunch of medical stuff I do not understand. When they got the results they discovered an elevated AntiCardioLipin level (My LgM was elevated). I still do not fully understand all this, but from what I understand, this puts me at risk of clotting, which could cut off the oxygen supply to the baby and result in miscarriage. The level is still in the indeterminate level, not quite positive (you want it to be negative), but because it is elevated Dr. Vaughn and the Hematologist I have been seeing talked and decided that they want to take the ‘Better Safe than Sorry’ route, so they are going to put me on blood thinners for the entire pregnancy plus some, which means I now get to give myself a shot everyday for pretty much the next year, yippie!!!!! I am going to be a pro at this kind of stuff by the time I have a child, so if anyone needs any shots, just see me :o). The good thing about taking this ‘Better Safe than Sorry’ route is that the medicine they are putting me on does not cross the placenta, so it should not cause any known harm to the baby . . . whew . . . =o)

I am getting really excited yet nervous all at the same time. This round is so much more hopeful, so it is hard not to get excited, but I still need to approach with caution and expect the unexpected. As of right now, our donor is set to ‘Retrieve’ on the 18th of this month, and the ‘Transfer’ would happen 3 days later, which would be the 21st. But, as I learned from my first IVF cycle, these dates have a tendency to change (mine got bumped back a day). It will on depend on whether or not the donor’s eggs are ready. We will not know these dates for certain until probably around the 16th or 17th. I will try to keep you all updated on any changes if they happen.

On a side note, the family is doing great! Jaxon and Sundae made their first trip out to the lakehouse this weekend and they LOVED it. Jaxon really enjoyed playing in the lake as well as the big field next to the house. They were both in heaven =o). I am sure the cats enjoyed the house without the dogs for a few days as well. They were actually able to lay in the middle of the floor without a dog torturing them, He He!

Well, thanks for tuning in to our life yet again. If you talk to me in the next couple weeks and I sound a little out of it, scatter brained or stressed, it might have something to do with my nerves =o). I am doing everything I can to think positive, but sometimes I fall victim to my brain, ha! I will let you all know how the transfer goes and hope that you all have a great day!

Welcome!

Hello All! Welcome to The Casto Family blog. We created this blog to keep family and friends updated on what is going on currently. I will try my best to update this every few weeks or so, but make no promises =o).

As a few (or most of you) may already know, Adam and I decided about 2 years ago that we wanted to start growing our family, but not with animals, we have enough of those =o). We decided we wanted to add some little ones of the human variety =o). We thought that starting a family was going to be a breeze, not much to it, right? But it turned out to be such a crazy emotional rollercoaster that is still has not ended, but we are hopeful it will soon.

Things started really rough. We had 3 miscarriages before finding out that I have a genetic disorder called a ‘Balanced Translocation’. We did a bunch of research and talked with a specialist to try to get a grasp of what this was and what it meant for us. Basically two pieces of my 1^st and 3^rd chromosomes broke off and switched places. This typically results in loss of the pregnancy, births with issues or defects, or Down Syndrome, etc., depending on the break points. The genetic specialist explained that my breakpoints seem to be in places that affect development and that since the pieces that broke off and switched places were large, rather than small, that my pregnancies would most likely result in miscarriage due to the baby being unable to develop rather than live births with issues or defects. There are not tons of statistics out there in relation to your odds of having a baby when you have a Balanced Translocation because there are so many different chromosomes and so many different break points, that it is hard to find two alike in order to get much statistics. She thought that we would have around a 24% chance of getting a balanced viable egg and suggested we do In-Vitro Fertilization in order to maximize our odds and hopefully get a few good eggs rather than continuing to try and having miscarriage after miscarriage until we managed to find a viable egg.

We took her advice and went to go see Dr. Vaughn at Texas Fertility Center. Dr. Vaughn was so sweet and knowledgeable. He guided us through the whole IVF process and took great care of us. At the end of the whole IVF cycle, we ended up getting about 14 or 16 fertilized eggs, which is a great number, so we were excited thinking that we may get a few ‘Balanced’ eggs and be 2 happy campers and maybe not even have to go thru IVF again. But when it came down to it we got the dreaded call from Dr. Vaughn telling me that all of my eggs retrieved were unbalanced =o(. No matter how much I tried to prepare myself for this possibility, it still felt like I got hit by a brick wall, the news was devastating. I never imagined that something we were so passionate about and put so much time and effort into would end so quickly and dramatically =o(.

Once we got over the shock of the situation, we went back to TFC to talk about our options and where we could go from here. Dr. Vaughn explained to us that we could try IVF again if that is what we wanted, but he explained that medically speaking, our chances were pretty high that we would have the same results. We talked about it and decided that our best route to go from here was to use an anonymous egg donor. This would provide us much more hope of getting a good viable egg through this next round of IVF since none of my eggs are balanced. We went back and forth for a while debating about how and if we wanted to tell everyone about our situation. As you can tell, we decided that full disclosure would be the best for not only us, but for our future children. We will love our children to death regardless of how they were created, and do not want them to ever feel like we are keeping something from them or feel any shame about how they were created. I will be our babies’ Mother either way, whether they like it or not! =o) He He. We plan to undergo our next IVF cycle within the next month or so, and are very hopeful and excited to take what we hope to be the first step toward the end of our long, long journey to start our family. We are ready for a new journey =o), a baby one!

These past 2 years have been stressful in so many ways, but it truly feels good to talk about it and fill our friends and family in on what is going on. I do not know what we would do without your love and support through the good times and the bad. We will keep you updated as the process continues . . . .