8 weeks 3 days

Big news today. We were officially released from the fertility clinic, and I can stop all meds on Halloween (10 days from now). PHEW! I have been having some bleeding off and on, so I was a bit worried, but everything looks great. Bleeding is VERY common with frozen embryo transfers, as they plump up your uterine lining far beyond what it would naturally achieve on its own. The embryo has to burrow in deeper to reach the uterine wall resulting in some extra implantation bleeding. Also, the progesterone suppositories can cause bleeding as they have a tendency to aggravate the cervix. ANYWAY... I'll be having my intake appointment at Kaiser on Friday, and then we'll be touring the (Kaiser unaffiliated) birth center on November 5. Kaiser will do all of the lab work and ultrasounds, but the plan is to deliver at the birth center.

As far as symptoms go, I feel so incredibly fortunate that I have very few. I was having a bit of morning sickness several weeks back, but I began using Ancient Mineral's Magnesium Oil on my feet each morning, and it has literally vanished. I may have a brief wave of nausea every other day or so, but I am still in shock at how good I feel most days. It actually almost makes me nervous sometimes. I feel like perhaps I'm feeling TOO good. When I was pregnant with my son, I was completely naive, and I just assumed that once I was pregnant, I would naturally end up with a healthy baby in hand at the end of 40 weeks. This time around, I seem to worry constantly. I would imagine this is partly due to the high number of miscarriages that have happened to friends and family in my life since the birth of my son. It's magnified by the fact that this is not my baby, and so many financial resources have already  been put towards the development and growth of this embryo! That being said, seeing the sweet little gummy bear in the ultrasound was incredibly reassuring.

I'm also noticing a lot more body image issues this pregnancy. With my son, I loved every pound I gained. This time around, I was already up almost 10 lbs from the few cycles of fertility drugs leading up to the successful transfer. It's harder to accept the mushy delEstrogen-filled belly that looks like it should be 14 weeks instead of 8 weeks. I am VERY excited to have a legitimate bump and looking forward to the day when I no longer look chubby, just undeniably pregnant!