6 weeks 2 days!!!

Ladies & Gentlemen, presenting the 2 newest parents to be- Octavio & Elizabeth Rodriguez! Yaaaa, Woooo!

Hard to believe but we did it! God has blessed us tremendously & we are now expecting our little bundle of joy on November 29, 2010!!!

This journey hasn't been the easiest (especially through all the wicked clomid cycles), but we're glad that we tried everything we could before pulling out the big guns, better known as ivf.

In case you were not aware, we were lucky enough to get pregnant with the help of fertility acupuncture. I found an amazing woman by the name of Rose Glavin who became my beacon of hope. Every visit with her was positive & reassuring that I too would have my own little bean someday SOON :) I discovered last April (at a fertility clinic) that my fertility "problem" was annovulatory cycles (meaning I don't ovulate, therefore I don't get a period, making it practically impossible for me to get pregnant without hormonal therapy), with that information, Rose was able to prescribe me various Chinese Herbs and slowly but surely she brought on my womanly flow naturally (before, I had to take provera to bring it on, not fun at all, especially with the exaggerated PMS I would unintentionally direct towards my husband, & don't even get me started on the other drugs I was taking to make me ovulate... grr). After 2 successful "natural" menstrual flows, Rose decided that I was ready to use an OPK. Mind you that I had used various OPK's for 5 consecutive months (while on clomid therapy) with no positive results, ever!

Okay, so let me break down how this went down... ahem

Monday, February 15th, Day 1 of my last cycle.
Wednesday, February 17th, I met with Rose on & she told me to start checking for a surge a week later.
After reading tons of reviews on Amazon, I decided to buy 100 OPK sticks from: http://www.amazon.com/Early-Pregnancy-Tests-Ovulation-Pack/dp/B000GHYAVW/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1
After almost 2 weeks of daily testing I was beginning to get discouraged. Luckily on Monday, March 8th, I had an appt with my ob/gyn,/ She had suspected that I had or was about to ovulate because of various symptoms I was having, so she scheduled a progesterone test on Friday, March 12th.
Later that day I decided to check my OPK, & to my disbelief it was +!!!!!!!! Unsure if the test was a fluke, my husband wanted me to take another & that one was - :( But, I was aware that I needed to test at the same time everyday (which for me was around 10a) & the second test I took that day was at 3p, so needless to say I was still hopeful.
Friday, March 12th, I get my blood drawn. I'm anxiously waiting to hear the results.... Luckily, my sister-in-law Lissette was in town that week, so my baby worries were overshadowed by all the fun we had experiencing the city.
Sunday, March 14th, I had pre-menstrual symptoms :( Oh well, I thought, there's always next month.
Monday, March 15th, my Dr calls "Elizabeth, this is Dr Curran, I wanted to let you know that you indeed ovulated, your progesterone level is 9.8." Thank you, thank you, thank you! Then a million thoughts ran through my head, did we hit the window? Should I take progesterone suppositories in case we did? Why am I cramping? etc. etc. etc.
Wednesday, March 17th, I met with Rose, & although I was a little distraught about all my PMS symptoms, I felt that this could finally be it! Rose's words that week were "relax, & whatever happens, know that we're moving in a positive direction & if it's not this month, it will be a month soon from now." ahhh, ok. Then she told me the kicker... you have to wait a week to test. eek! A whole entire week?! OK, I thought, I can do this.
Saturday, March 20th, I awake after having a strange dream... and after a whole week of cramping something feels strange about the fullness I feel in my belly. I then busted out a pregnancy test that I had on hand. I take the test & at first it appears - to which I make out as "I should have waited, why didn't I listen to Rose... wait, the + line, it's becoming clear, OH MY... OCTAVIO, OCTAVIO, BABY, BABY, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Octavio jumps out of bed (this was all going down at 5:30am mind you), makes me take another test and that one's + too!!! Still unsatisfied I took a 3rd test later that day!



Then came the unbearable part, waiting to see if the baby would "stick," Rose had told me that a lot of women miscarry, but since I had all of the symptoms mine would probably stick, either way I thought, it's a step in the right direction :)

Fast forward to my first prenatal ultrasound which was yesterday, April 6th 2010, Octavio & I were unaware of what we were going to see, I prayed & prayed to God to let me keep this baby, I prayed that we would see a heartbeat, & then we seen it, the most beautiful thing in the world, the tiniest flashing light coming out of the screen, our baby's heartbeat, a healthy 120bpm!!!
Everything else was normal too, what a relief, phew!


After sobbing uncontrollably & oogling the ultrasound film for what felt like hours, Octavio & I finally snapped back into reality & realized that God has given us the biggest blessing HE could ever give anyone- Life!

Please join us in praying for our baby, we're halfway to the "safe" point!

:)