We're HAVING a...

My wonderful sister, Jenny, set up a great gender reveal for us today!! We received great news from the perinatologist's office that my Panorama tests came back and the baby tested low risk for everything and that they had the gender for us!!

So, we are excited to announce that Kaleb will be a great big brother to our new lil...

BOY!!!

as of right now, this baby's moniker will be "Mega Tran" ha ha ha, right?

my husband loves it... just hope that we will agree to a name by the time this baby comes out or I will be stuck calling out "Mega, come here!!" for the rest of his life haha

Wow... SURPRISE!

So... obviously our last IUI that I posted about did NOT take. We were very disappointed and I admit that I was selfish and did not care to update my blog for awhile. Just because I felt like a failure again. I felt like I was doing something wrong again and I just felt like I needed to... just breathe.

Well, after that IUI didn't take, we had to skip a month and then try again. So, three IUIs later and guess what? Still no baby. But we were not going to give up. I just told hubby that we had to at least try a couple more times. I just did not want to give up hope. But in all honesty, I felt like our hope was almost gone. It was definitely dwindling down and faith was all we had left to believe that it could happen again. That we would be able to be pregnant again.

Then comes March. Time to attempt another month of injections and another month of waiting to see if we were pregnant or not. But after a week of injections, I had to call and cancel my IUI cycle. My pain from my previous surgery was becoming unbearable and I just could not fathom having to go through the IUI process while in so much pain. We set out to see my OB and she recommended to continue physical therapy. So, as we cancel the cycle and start physical therapy, we went back to living our normal lives. We didn't think anything about my ovulation date or anything. I just focused on getting better and physical therapy seemed to help here and there.

Well, fast forward five and a half weeks from the first day of my menstrual cycle for that month and yes, this is the month with the cancelled IUI cycle. I have an awesome girl's night out with my girlfriends and I just happened to have a couple of beers. Make that three beers. I was feeling pretty drunk. That is not me at all. I can handle my liquor. But any way, I didn't think anything of it until the next day. I noticed that I was still feeling hungover. Come on, three beers? No way! Still I didn't think anything of it until that night. I started to yell at my husband for some stupid reason and he turned to me and was like, "Are you pregnant or something? Are you on your cycle? Cause the last time you were like this to me was when we found out we were pregnant with K.J." I ignored him and said he was being a jerk. LOL oh my poor husband.

Any way, I woke up the next morning and I figured that we had more than enough HCG tests, why not test? I was a week and a half late (but i'm always late. always) So, I took the test. Put it on the counter and just happened to glance at it after I laid it down and OH MY GOD, I saw two pink lines! I woke up the hubby and told him to go look in the bathroom. I had him freaking out and he ran in and said, "What? What happened?" Well, I showed him the test and said, "What the heck do you see?" and he said, "OMG, you're pregnant?" I said, "OMG, We're PREGNANT!!" It was a Saturday morning, so I decided to just show up at my fertility clinic and ask them if they could do a blood test. They drew my blood and said they would call me back later that day... well, they forgot to. LOL I waited until Monday morning and called them as soon as they opened and they gave me my results and confirmed that YES! I was very much pregnant and the numbers so far looked good, but I would need to go in for another draw because they always look and see if the numbers are increasing or not. Well, those numbers came back great and we couldn't be more thrilled. They set up our first appt for an ultrasound scan and from them on... everything has looked great!!

We have graduated from our Reproductive Endocrinologist and are at a regular OB/GYN and Perinatologist as well. I can happily say that I am 15 weeks and 1 day pregnant right now and so far things are going great! We go in on Thursday for our next appt with the High Risk doctor and next week for our regular OB! Praying that everything goes smoothly and this baby is healthy!! We can't wait to add another baby to our mini family! K.J. will be an awesome big brother!!

Thank you for following me through this process and I hope that in the end, we will be welcoming a baby by the end of the year!!!

 Baby Tran Due 12/11/16

these were taken at 12 weeks and 3 days

IUI #3... .:July 2015/August 2015:.

Here we go again!! We received the green light by the doctor to start a new round of IUI. They upped my medications to 225 IU of Bravelle in the morning and 225 IU of Menopur at night. EVERY DAY. lol How am I doing with this? I'm in pain but it feels like it's a good thing. It feels like the follicles are seriously trying to grow haha I will update you below on what's been going on so far in this cycle. So far... so good :) I am so happy with how things are going now, so hopefully things will stay on this path and we can actually move on to IUI and we are wishing for nothing but great things! Let's pray that this is the cycle!

Okay, so here's what has been happening so far...

July 27th - Started Cycle Day 1. Called the doctor's office and scheduled my upcoming appointments for this cycle.

July 28th - First appt for the cycle. Estradiol levels taken and ultrasound done to check the lining of the uterus. Everything looks good. Got the okay to start my medications on CD3

July 29th - Started injections in the morning of 225 IU Bravelle and at night 225 IU Menopur. So far so good. No change except light cramping. Slept really good.

August 1st - CD6 appt. Checked estradiol levels and U/S. Follicles are growing!! Yay!! Biggest one was 10 mm. We are getting somewhere! We didn't even get this far last time. *fingers crossed. Estradiol levels: 133... not bad... not bad (I was much lower the past few cycles by this day.)

August 3rd - CD8 appt. Estradiol levels and U/S. YAYYYY!!! Follicles are still growing! Biggest one at 14-1/2 mm and the other two are at 13 mm each. YES YES YES! Trying not to get excited, but we havent gotten this far since we had Kaleb.
Estradiol levels: 378... YESSSSSSSSS!!! IT IS LOOKING GOOD SO FAR! I know I shouldn't get my hopes up so high, but just to have the chance to actually attempt IUI is a big thing since we've had two failed cycles already. I was told to keep on with my medications and hopefully they keep growing!

I have another appt in two days. We are crossing our fingers and hoping that this is the cycle. THE cycle. As long as we can get at least one of the follies to get past 16 mm and my estradiol levels are good, then we are on our way to IUI!!

I know that I shouldn't be too excited so fast. but right now I am just happy that we are as far as we are. We will be praying and I hope that you will be praying with us. I will be sure to update you guys after Wednesday and hopefully I have great news for you guys!

Have a great day! I will update you soon!

FYI:*Labtestsonline.org defines "Estradiol levels" as Estrogen tests are used to detect a deficiency or excess in a woman and to help diagnose a variety of conditions associated with this imbalance. They may also be used to help determine the timing of a woman's ovulation and may be ordered to monitor the health status of the developing baby and placenta during pregnancy.

Fitness Update!

Proud to say that my hubby lost a total of 21 pounds in six weeks!! Thanks to the gym program that he entered, they gave him the motivation and strength that he needed to get fit again!! He did an awesome job! I couldn't be more proud of him!

I, on the other hand, have only lost 11 pounds in the past eight weeks. I've tried hard, but it's really hard to maintain the weight loss. I tried Hubby's diet with the nutrition advice that they gave him, but because of my meds that I have to take, my body just could not handle it. I had to start re-introducing the foods back into my diet. Going cold turkey was quite difficult. After I did re-introduce the foods, I did notice that I am more mindful of my portions of certain things on my plate now. I love, love, love rice, pastas, and breads. I have noticed that since we started on the get fit journey, I am noticing that I am more aware of how much of those bad carbs that I am putting in. It does help! We will keep continuing in this journey and I do hope that I can lose even more and catch up with Hubby!

Sorry that it has been awhile since I've written in here, but life has been crazy and great! I've just been living life and trying to lose a few more pounds before we start our next journey. We are about to start the process again, so stay tuned! There is a change in my medications and dosages, so I will keep you all posted! Wish us luck! Baby dust to all!

Love y'all :)

Trying to stay healthy!

So, Hubby and I are starting on a new fitness journey/health adventure. We have decided to try to get healthier not only for us, but for our son and for hopefully a better chance in conceiving!

It's been extremely rough trying to lose weight for me with all the crap I have medically wrong with me. If I work out, I'll lose at most 10 pounds, then when I stop working out for a few days, I gain it all back. It's so hard to lose weight but it's so darn easy to gain the weight.

With PCOS, it's ridiculously annoying to try and lose weight. It makes you feel like a failure. You try and try to push yourself to lose weight and when you do, you get so excited and happy. Then after just a couple of days of rest, you could start to gain it back slowly but surely. Losing five pounds and keeping the weight off is a chore within itself, but I'm willing to do anything to stay healthy.

Okay, so we are now going to be cutting out a lot of foods in our diet and hopefully that will help with the jumpstart on a more rapid weight loss. I have to give up rice. I love, love, love rice. I'm Asian. Of course I do. But we will be giving up a lot of carbs and cutting out sugars. Wish us luck!!

I have found so many great recipes in one of my cookbooks, so I figured that after I make the dish I will go ahead and share a picture of it and my review on how it tastes to you guys! You are more than welcome to try the recipe as well. Of course, I will credit the chef to whomever the recipe belongs to.

This next week will be hard since Hubby will be gone for a week on a business trip, but as soon as he gets back... IT'S ON! lol I'll be able to cook some dishes that look delicious and we'll be getting healthy as we do it! Hubby will also be exercising once every day. I am limited on what I can do because I gained the weight so fast that the doctors have advised me to just do resistance training for now. Nothing with my knees yet because they are afraid that my rapid weight gain will affect my knees. Hopefully I can lose some of this weight so that I can start being able to jog or run eventually :) As of right now, I can bike sometimes and I love to walk. I'm loving that the weather is finally getting nicer so that I can take K out for walks more and more.

Well, I hope you guys will follow me on this journey as well and let me know if you have any recipes we could try as well!!

IUI #2 continued... FAIL ;(

So, I got the news from the doctor's office yesterday that we will have to cancel the cycle. For some reason my estradiol levels started dropping. Here's what happened...

Day 6: Went in for my regular bloodwork and u/s check. Had numerous follies at 7 mm. Estradiol level was at 55. Looks okay. A lil smaller and lower than what they were expecting, but we could work with it. Was told to continue with 225 IU and come back in on Day 8.

Day 7: Same symptoms as before, except my skin on my face has become extremely dry. My face was looking a dry and blotchy. Gained another two pounds. *sigh

Day 8: Early morning dr's appt. Bloodwork and U/S done. Estradiol levels upped to over 100, so they doubled! (which is a good thing, but it should've been higher than this) But my follies barely grew. They were only at 8mm. Should've been at least 9-11 mm. Boo! Same symptoms. But since the estradiol level upped, they said to continue the 225 IU and come back on Day 10.

Day 9: Tired and still gained weight again. Nothing else of significance to report though.

Day 10: *Sigh early morning B/W and U/S. U/S showed that the follicles didn't even increase in size. They were remaining at around 8 mm. It should have been way higher by now. They said they will call me when the estradiol levels come back and we will go from there.

...the phone call. Estradiol levels actually dropped to 60+. It's not supposed to do that. It's supposed to keep doubling in numbers. Something is wrong. Cycle is cancelled. This is becoming depressing. I've never had issues with the follies not growing. I've always had follicles growing right on track. Heck, sometimes I would have 6 or 7 growing on track. What do we do? They said to stop all meds and we will re-group when my next cycle starts. We will go on from there on what steps to take and what meds to take.

I'm so lost and confused as to what is wrong this time. It could be the adenoma messing with my hormones, but it could be something else or it just could be that my son was seriously the biggest miracle that will happen to us. He could very well be our only child. What I do know is that I will not give up without a fight. I will keep trying and trying unitl they tell me that I can't or should not try anymore. I was given a miracle once. Maybe we will be granted another miracle.

We can only hope, right? Baby Dust to all of you whom are trying. I'm still here for you, whenever you need me.

Food. (Egg rolls posted in this one) :)

Food is awesome and I love love love love love to cook it!! I love to cook Laos, Thai, Korean, American, and basically any dishes that just taste good to me! I love to try new foods and try new recipes. I love to also just make up my recipes as I go. If I don't know how to get a recipe, then I will just taste the ones that I order from the restaurants and try to get the recipe off of the flavors that I am tasting in my mouth. Cooking is sometimes calming for me. I LOVE to cook for my family and friends. Feeding their bellies and seeing them satisfied is a great feeling for me. :) And so, as you are now reading my blogs, I figured I might as well show you pictures of what I love to cook and what I love to eat. I will either post pictures of what I have cooked or what I have ordered somewhere or I will just post a review of the foods from a certain establishment. I am no way in any means a food critic but I am a foodie by my standards! HAHA

So, these pictures that I post could be what I am making now or what I have made before and I just wanted to showcase them on here. Please let me know if there are any recipes you would like for me to try out :) I will maybe post a recipe here or there, BUT most of them I will probably just list ingredients but I can't say how much of what I put. I hardly measure. That's how I was taught LOL just a lil bit of this and a lil bit of that. I do apologize! But at least you can enjoy the pics!

My first foodie that I would like to post are "Egg Rolls" Love them, love them, love them. So much cheaper and better to make it homemade than purchase at a restaurant. My recipe is based off of my mom's recipe but I just tweaked it a bit to my tastes. In one of the pics, I also have a picture of my Crab Rangoons. These are just a tad better than most restaurants. Who am I kidding? These are WAY better than most restaurants. Just saying... haha

EGG ROLLS

(left side: Vietnamese style wraps & right side: Laos style wraps)

Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoons

My Egg Rolls are very easy and simple to make but full of flavors! I can't say how much of what I put, but I can tell you what goes in it!

Ingredients:
Ground Pork
Carrots
Onions
Clear Rice Vermicelli Noodles (aka Glass Noodles aka Long Rice (known as such in Hawaii)
Salt
Sugar
Msg
Black Pepper
Milk
Eggs

That's it! After the noodles are soaked and cut, carrots are grated, onions are chopped, then you mix everything together and you roll, roll, roll! Then just deep fry it to a golden brown. :)

The Vietnamese style is still used with the same filling but I just use Spring Roll Wraps instead and deep-fry them. For the Laos style wraps I like to use the regular egg roll wraps in the blue and clear packaging. Note: These wraps are not the same as the chinese-style wraps. Those are a lil more doughy. I prefer the ones we've always used. Light and crispy. (You can kind of notice the packaging of the wraps in the laos-style wraps picture) I will try to post a pic of the packaging next time.