my first pregnancy

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yeah, for four years. the specialists and embryologists were very involved with the planning as well :-)

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Pure Elation

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? I'm not even going to bother answering. What a ridiculous question!

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 224

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? 7-10 days after embryo transfer I went into FCofLV for the official blood test that morning. The Doctor called my cell phone at work around 10 am to tell me the results (how they tell all IVF patients). I actually didn't believe him and I made him tell me several times just so I could make sure he wasn't lying.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Well, some of the ladies at work knew the phone call was coming -- and I tried to hide my reaction so Darik would be the first to know . . . but I think they could tell just by looking at me. I ran out into the hallway to immediately call Darik's cell -- he was on a sales call at the Marriott in Summerlin. As soon as he got back to work he picked me up and we went and ate lunch at Gordon Biersch.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes.

9. DUE DATE? June 22, 2005. We knew 100% for sure, since we knew the day the embryologist made her!

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? I suffered from nausea pretty much 24/7 for the whole first tri. But I didn't throw up except when I brushed my teeth. The moment my second tri started the nausea eased off and I had killer heartburn the whole rest of the time.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? I only had two moments when I had cravings. Once for a Jr. Bacon Cheese from Wendy's and once for cheese sauce from Taco Bell. The rest of the time I just had food aversions. I could hardly stomach anything. The smell of everything made me sick! Except there was that one time at work I went into the kitchen pantry, looked around, and decided that eating beef jerky with one bite and the next bite was Funyuns dipped in strawberry yogurt. You have no idea how good that was!

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? You know I enjoyed it so much I really don't remember.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? girl

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? we seriously didn't care. we had a baby!!!!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 40+. I quit counting when I weighed more than Darik. I retained a lot of water out in Iowa's humid summer.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Not with my family or friends that I knew. I moved to Iowa 7 months along. The RS ladies threw me one there but I really didn't know them until I'd lived there a while. Then I realized those were all the friends I would have wanted there.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? other than retaining water? no. I was considered high risk at the start so I went in for an ultrasound every week of the first tri. Also all the medications I took during IVF I had to take for the first 7 weeks until my body started making all of its own hormones.


19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa! I loved Mercy!

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? Dr. broke my water at 7 am -- labor started immediately. Ellie was born at 10:30 pm (that includes over 2 hours of pushing!).

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Darik. My doctor thought it was in my and the baby's best interest to induce on the due date. So we had it planned - I'm not really one for elective inductions . . . but if it's needed, it's needed.

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Darik, the doctor, my two nurses -- and all the other nurses on shift that night because I was the last one of the night.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Oh yes. The epidural was at 4 pm (so I labored 8 hours without it). But the epidural wore off by the time she came. The anesthesiologist only gave me one shot -- it was her opinion that it should wear off a bit by "pushing time" so pushing goes faster. Great theory, didn't work out so well with me.

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8 lbs 1 oz

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? June 21, 2005 at 10:27 pm

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Eliza Beth Anderson. We call her Ellie.

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 35 months and 1 week (almost 3)