Maternity wear- PinkBlush Maternity

As my bump continues to grow I really understand the importance of comfort. My belly is growing much faster as this is considered my fourth pregnancy. It's hard to find comfy clothes especially when you are pregnant. I've found that maxi dresses are usually the most comfortable. I just received my maternity dress from PinkBlush maternity in the mail and fell in love! It is both comfortable and cute for my growing bump. If you haven't checked out PinkBlush Maternity yet I recommend doing so!

If you'd like the chance to win $75 to PinkBlush Maternity check out my Instagram page @blessedwithbrielleann for the details.

Happy Monday!

15 week update..giveaway coming soon!

I had another check up with my little angel girl this past few weeks. Brielle Ann and I got to listen to her heartbeat with the doppler for the first time. It was such a beautiful sound and the doctor was able to find my sweet girl's heart immediately! Everything seemed to be going on track and I had the second part of my genetic screening lab drawn. I can't wait for the moment when I began to feel this little girl move. I started feeling Brielle Ann around 17 weeks so I know it could be any day now. I'm still so overjoyed that our family is growing. I couldn't have asked for any bigger of a blessing. She will make our family feel complete. God continues to answer our prayers and without my faith I would have never gotten this far.

We were anxiously waiting a much needed mini vacay with our friends over the weekend!

Stay tuned for a giveaway with PinkBlush Maternity in the coming weeks! And below is my growing bump :)

xoxo

Gender reveal!

The big day finally arrived when we would share the news with our family and friend... the baby's gender! We waited a few weeks before Charles' family was up from Texas to share the news. We had a small reveal with just our immediate family at my parents' house. I purchased a HUGE confetti balloon from Etsy that had either blue or pink inside. I also had a beautiful cake made with our baby's name to share his/her name. Our family cast their votes and then it was time to share our BIG news!

We are excited to announce we will be welcoming a girl in December! Her name is Haven Rose and we couldn't be more excited to give Brielle Ann a little sister. She will be the best gift this coming Christmas!

Keep following along for more pregnancy updates and family fun this Summer!

Boy or Girl? And genetic screening

Before my 11 week ultrasound I received a call with my recent blood work results. All of the genetic screening came back normal which was wonderful! They also had the results of the baby's gender. :) It's amazing that we could find out the gender so early in the pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Brielle we had to wait till 19 weeks. Now they can tell the gender with the baby's blood that crosses over the placenta. I had the nurse write down the gender on a card that I could pick up at my appointment that day.

Charles was able to make it with me to my ultrasound appointment and I was beyond excited to see our baby again! Our little one was quite stubborn at first but with a little help from the ultrasound tech the little one began squirming all around. Our baby appeared to look healthy and we received a call later from my OB that the ultrasound results showed no concerns.

The envelope with our baby's gender sat on the dinner table for a few hours. It took some major willpower not to open the envelope! Once Charles got home he went straight for the envelope. It wasn't exactly the plan but I figured we could find out together before our reveal. It was so funny to watch him try to sneak a peak through the envelope before opening it. We opened the envelope and..... stay tuned for the gender!

Our little bun!

We had our initial OB appointment on May 16, 2016. All I remember was it felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. The nurse took my blood pressure which was extremely high due to my nerves. I waited patiently to have my ultrasound. After a few minutes the doctor came in. He could see how stressed I was and immediately started the ultrasound. Within seconds that sweet little heartbeat was up on the screen. I had never felt so relieved. Our little baby was a fighter and had made it to almost 8 weeks. The doctor told me the heartbeat looked very strong and not to be concerned. He suggested I come back in two weeks for a follow up ultrasound.

I had my next appointment a little over two weeks later and I was 10 weeks. The doctor made sure I was doing alright since my last appointment I was a little bit of a nervous wreck. I had my ultrasound and the baby was moving all over the place. It was such a joy to watch and I could look at the screen forever.

After making it to this point we felt it was time to share with the world our wonderful news! Our little bundle of joy is due in December. Brielle is getting the best gift for Christmas this year! Thanks for all the love,support, and prayers throughout our journey. God is good!

Our fourth embryo journey begins..

Our next embryo transfer was scheduled for April 12,2016. Still feeling a little defeated we decided to proceed and started shots and patches. Things seemed to be going well for the most part. At one of my ultrasound appointments I received the news that my lining was not thickening. My heart sank because this was the exact news were received before we lost our last baby. I was given an increase of  hormones to help my uterus lining thicken. The days that approached our embryo transfer were long and I tried to focus on other things. To be perfectly honest I did not feel like this round would work but still held onto that small glimmer of hope. I returned to Seattle for another ultrasound which showed the lining thickened but not much. This was just more bad news. The doctor felt confident in proceeding with the transfer despite the small increase. We really didn't have much of a choice but to put our faith in the doctors and in God. Our transfer day came and everything went according to plan.

Now came the long two week wait before my blood pregnancy test. These two weeks seemed to drag on forever. After about 5 days I had decided to take a home pregnancy test. I had taken them in the past because let's be honest I was so impatient. The test came back negative and I had convinced myself I was not pregnant. Since I had taken the test early there was still a chance it was too early to detect HCG. The day of my blood test rolled around and I prayed to God for a miracle. My nurse called with my results and by the sound of her voice I couldn't tell if I would get bad or good news. She then gave me my number it was in the 160's and I was pregnant! I took a minute for it all to sink in. I was actually pregnant and this baby would be our other miracle. All I could do was thank God and I couldn't wait to tell Charles the good news.

After three weeks we were able to go to Seattle for our first ultrasound. As soon as I saw that tiny heartbeat tears streamed down my face. We were going to be parents again and Brielle would get to be a big sister. As wonderful as it was to see that little heartbeat I knew we weren't completely out of the water. But we made it this far and I was so grateful to God. I couldn't wait to watch our family grow.

Our IVF Journey continues...

                 I thought I would update the blog with our recent embryo transfer.

We started to prepare for our second embryo transfer the beginning of January. I was hopeful for our next embryo transfer. We started shots, patches, and progesterone. Everything seemed to be according to plan. However, after one of my ultrasounds they found that my uterus lining was not getting as thick as they would have liked to see. I returned in a little less than a week for another ultrasound. I was told that my lining was probably the thickest it would get. We had the option to continue with the transfer or start all over again preparing my lining to thicken. I was told "this is just your body", the doctor referring to my uterine lining. That was hard for me to hear especially since its my body that is holding us back from having babies. My lining in the past had been thick both times with both Brielle and the baby we lost. So knowing that I had some concern. We drove down to Seattle for our transfer on February 5th. We met with the embryologist who told us that an embryo was lost in the thawing process. This was very disappointing news to hear that we had only one embryo left after this transfer. We went ahead with the transfer and everything went smoothly. We went on with our usual life after I rested all weekend. That following week we would have family in from Texas. I tried to keep myself distracted as much as possible. I ended up taking a pregnancy test at home a few days before our blood test which was a faint possible. I tried not to get my hopes up but I'll admit I was a bit excited. A few days later my blood test came back positive but just a little lower than where they liked to see it. It made us feel a little doubtful and I tried not to think about it. I had another test scheduled three days later to make sure my levels were increasing. I waited what felt like all day for my test results. I had a pit in my stomach all day and just had a bad feeling about it all. The moment my nurse called and I picked up the phone I just knew something was wrong. I was told this was a biochemical pregnancy and I should be expecting a period soon. Again, I was crushed. I felt my heart shatter again in a million pieces and I couldn't keep it together. I felt the need to share my story and though my husband was hesitant, I knew we needed the prayers and support. It's been difficult dreaming of our large family and then never watching that come true. I've always wanted to be a mom more than anything in this world and feel like I have so much love to give. I know we'll get there eventually and it will all be worth it.

Today, we're starting shots for our last embryo transfer taking place next month. As hard as it is I've been trying to stay hopeful. Its out of my hands and in Gods. Thank you for following along and all the support.