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!