And The Blood Test Says...

Yes, we are pregnant! My HCG level was very good at 188. I will go back on Monday morning for the second blood test out of three to make sure the level continues to increase. A week or two after that, they will perform an ultrasound to determine how many sacs are in there and to confirm that the sac(s) have a fetal pole inside. Once an audible fetal heartbeat is detected I will transfer to my own OB...Dr. Silvia Bicalho.

So, please, remember that while this is wonderful news, it is still VERY early days and we will remain cautiously optimistic. Not quite the time yet for congratulatory cards and baby talk and fuss! However, I will say that right now, in this moment? I am pregnant and I am overjoyed and no matter what happens in the weeks ahead, I/we will always have this day. Leap Year 2008!

We will surely keep you posted every step of the way! Thank you for your prayers, kind thoughts and words of encouragement!

When you are doing IVF they strongly recommend that you NOT do home pregnancy tests because it can really mess with your mind. Clearly, I did not listen! I started testing on Sunday night and all twelve, yes TWELVE, were positive! So I was fairly confident all week that I was indeed pregnant but obviously needed the blood test for real confirmation!

American Foundation For Suicide Prevention

***I have copy & pasted a MySpace blog entry from my friend & sorority sister, Janette. She will be participating in this event. Please donate if you are able...or even participate yourself and/or send Janette your well wishes! As most of you are aware, a dear friend of mine took his own life in 1993 and the pain for all of us who were left behind was indescribable. Sadly, suicide prevention programs don't receive the attention and funding that they deserve. Thanks all! ~Rebecca


American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Dear MySpace Family and Friends,
I am preparing for something very important in my life, and I am asking for your moral, financial, and emotional support.
My brother James took his own life 24 years ago. It's not something that I have talked about often, but it is something that I have carried around in my heart for a long time.
I want to commemorate Jamie's life by participating in Out of the Darkness Overnight, an event that raises money for suicide prevention research, education, survivor and awareness programs. I will be among thousands of people walking 20 miles from sunset to sunrise to send a message of hope to the world.
No one talked to me about my brothers suicide. That's why I'm walking in Out of the Darkness Overnight, to raise awareness and let people know it is okay to talk about suicide and mental illness. I want to do my part to prevent this tragedy from happening in other families.
Your contribution, along with contributions from thousands of others, will have a serious impact on this cause. To help make a difference, you can click the link below to visit my personal fundraising web page and donate online. I encourage you to share this letter with other people who may want to lend their support as well.
https://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=walk.supportwalker&walkerid=10010707
Thank You So Much for taking the time to read this. Live Well and Shine on!Janette.

New Things

Happy Friday! (Too bad it's my weekend to work.) My digital camera took a poo this week and so I bought myself the amazing little Canon PowerShot SD1000. This is a practice shot on Buddy. Awww. The other new thing is my haircut. I got kind of crazy and told Suzy to take it shorter and shorter. I'm not sure I love it, but it's DIFFERENT...I was so bored! My hair growth averages about an inch per month so I never feel all that scared to whack a little bit off! Patrick is napping before heading back to the gym for round #2 tonite...he SWEARS he is doing a triathlon this year, his 40th year. He is already looking a lot more fit, so good for him! Well, that's all I've got, kind of a wasted post, huh?

Lounging By The Fire

(Best fertility center around & best REI physician ever...Dr. Aaron Lifchez.)

I am going to make a long, ongoing story very short. P. & I have fertility problems. What kind? We don't know! We both test normal. So our official diagnosis is "Unexplained Infertility". It would almost have been better to have had a real, affirmative diagnosis! After saying that I would NEVER do IVF...we just finished a round of IVF! Turns out you do a lot of things that you don't think you ever would when you feel you are backed in a corner. So today was the final step in the process...embryo transfer. We chose to have two transferred, not because we are necessarily thrilled with the idea of twins, but because it maximizes your chance for achieving pregnancy. Now I just kind of relax for two days and wait a period of time to find out if it worked!

As an adopted child I have always wanted to adopt, well before we found that we had fertility issues. Fortunately, Patrick feels the same way. We assume that there is a child in our future via that route as well, God willing!

So say a prayer, send good vibes, wish on a star...whatever it is you do, that those little tiny grain-of-sand-sized embryos cling on for dear life...literally! ;-)

Wonderful Visits

My parents and my brother, Charlie, came to visit us February 8-14. We really enjoyed having them here...we enjoyed cozy fires in the evenings, enjoyed good food including a delicious meal at Wildfire, I went shopping with my mom and Charlie and my dad were VERY handy & helpful around our house! By the time they had gone we had knobs installed on our kitchen cabinets, new trim in our basement to replace what was damaged, a new light fixture in the kitchen and some window treatments were hung! We were sad to see my family go home. While we love living here in Chicago, the distance between us and our family & friends can be very difficult!

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The day after my family went home, one of my best friends, Heather, came to visit for the weekend. Heather lives in Kingsley, MI with her husband and little daughter Maggie, so again, the roadtrip is rather lengthy! (She is due for a baby boy in June!) Bex, another of my best galpals who now lives locally, also came over to my house to spend the weekend. We had a great time as always chatting and going out for a fabulous dinner, shopping and we also went over to Lara's house to visit & snack! (Are you seeing a trend here? Maybe distance is a good thing between us to save us from being rotund!!!) We were kind of laughing at ourselves on Saturday night as we stayed in and played Triominos. Sober. If our party girl selves from a few years ago could have looked into the future and witnessed such a thing? We'd have laughed ourselves off our bar stools! Oh well, we know we're still cool! ;-)

d'abord

Hello! We decided to start this blog page so that our family & friends from near and especially FAR can keep up with our ever-so-exciting daily lives! (HaHa.) Hopefully we will keep things updated and add plenty of pictures along the way. Thanks for stopping by!
Love,
Rebecca & Patrick.


***If you are so inclined, become a MySpace Friend with Rebecca @ www.myspace.com/rebeccabp***