Bentley’s Big Boy Room

Man oh man does time go by too fast!!! I feel like it wasn’t long ago that we put together his nursery and now I just completed his big boy room. Our little all star is just about 2.5 years old now and I can't believe it!

As most all know we moved since doing his nursery so all the furniture stayed the same but the room is now different. Well lets just say that the people that lived in our house before had a unique paint color and style preference. I mean there was some serious talent put into the art work on the walls but not going to work with Bentley’s room theme. Here’s a look at what his room looked like before.

 

 I loved the wood shelf that was put in his nursery, but just did not have the wall space in his new room to do it again, so we bought a few floating shelves to display all the nick-nacks he has instead.

His crib was a convertible one so we started him in the toddler size first to let him get used to not being confined for a bit. After a few months of that we just had to buy a frame for the headboard and foot board to attach to.

We changed out his light to a ceiling fan, got some more wall art, a little step stool, and a storage bin that all match his sports theme. 

I found this adorable bed set from K'hols and it matched perfectly!!

Last little detail I found was this super cute Rug off of Amazon. 

I can’t believe my baby is such a big boy now! 

I love the outcome of his room and now on to the next projects— The playroom & Sissy’s Room!

Remainder of my pregnancy and my labor story

They always say pregnancy goes so fast and I can say I don't think that was the case for me LOL. At times I felt it was flying by and on the other hand I felt like it was always dragging. I know that I blew up so fast this go around so maybe that is why I felt like I was pregnant forever!!

BUT Lets be honest here, this pregnancy was so so so much harder than my first one. I really am not one to complain because of the struggles we went through to even get pregnant. But man oh man this boy really took a toll on me. I had constant back pain that I was never able to get relief. I tried going to the chiro and that didn't help, I tried pre natal massage with no luck, and I was having to take Tylenol PM every night (Yes my doctor knew, yes it was okay) just to get a little relief to be able to sleep. So as August approached I was so so excited to be at the end!

It was a hot summer but I still made it to do outdoor activities even though at times I literally thought I was going to pass out. 

So each time I had gone to the doctor I kept questioning if I was going to make it to my scheduled C Section date. As the weeks and days got closer and I began to have more and more light contractions I'd tell my doctor that I wasn't sure if I'd make it or not. I really did not want to go into labor on my own and then have to go through a C Section that way. So as much as I wanted to move up my date, I had my fingers crossed he'd stay in there. Since we did decide to do a scheduled C Section we got to pick the date. Of course since Bentley was born on the 23rd I decided that we would choose the 23rd for the new baby also. :) Weird to some but I think that it is perfect. Both Johnny and Nevaeh were born on the 13th and now both boys on the 23rd. 

So we arrived to the hospital at 5:30 am to get all checked in on 8/23. The nurses got us all settled into our room, they got me hooked up to the IV's, brought Johnny his outfit and then we waited. My doctor and the anesthesiologist came in talked about how it would all go down. Then at 7:35 am, it was  time to get up and walk back to the OR. So much different then with Bentley. Once in the OR I got up on the table, they gave me the spinal, told me that my legs would start to go numb and then moved me over to lay down on the table. They pulled up the curtain and began cutting into my tummy. I felt some pressure and just kept telling myself "please don't get sick, please don't get sick". Johnny then came in and things started to kick into high gear. I felt some more pressure and then it turned into A LOT of pressure, then I got some pain in my shoulders because the assistant doctor was on top of me pushing as hard as she could while my doctor was trying to get him out. I heard all of the struggles and then my doctor told me "I think this one is bigger than the last, Jessica". Then the vacuum came out, more pushing and pulling on my stomach which felt like went on forever. Then finally I heard that sweet cry. My sweet boy was born at 8:01 am. 

Drayce Carter Cashmore wasn't quiet as big as Bentley  but he wasn't far off. Clearly I make big healthy babies who are also beyond stubborn and not wanting out of Mommy,  LOL 

8 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long! 

Some people ask... where did you come up with the name Drayce? Well to be honest, I found it on Pinterest. As Johnny and I went through all of the names we liked we couldn't really come to any agreements on a name. We had a list of leftover boys names from when I was pregnant with Bentley. But none of them were "the one". I knew one thing was for sure, I wanted his name to have a Y in it. I started looking for boy names on the internet  back in late December early January, and came across Drayce on pinterest. I thought that it was unique, different and it sparked my interest.. Johnny liked it also but we still were not set in stone just yet. We continued to look for other names but just kept going back to Drayce. So that is when we knew that it was the one!!! 

What's even cooler, 2018 is the year of the dragon so it fits even more. 

Our Little Bears Nursery

Picture from the listing agent

So crazy to be prepping for another little boy. Well I am not sure why but I have a serious obsession with the buffalo plaid and lumberjack theme. We decided to do that theme for Bentley's second birthday party but soon after that I knew that was the same thing I wanted to do for the nursery. Obviously we do not live in the same house that we did when Bentley was born so the first thing that we had to do was paint all of the walls.

Room Before

 The previous owners were in love with some seriously ugly colors. The room was like a yellowish color and it just looked gross to me. So we painted the whole room grey first. Then we did a wood plank feature wall. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on it but also knew that if I waited around for someone to get rid of fence pieces our luck we would never find any. So I noticed that Lowe's was having a huge sale on the boxes of wood so we stocked up. They do not stick to the wall as good as they say so Johnny decided to nail them to the wall. I love love love it!!!

Wood plank wall

First thing we did was buy a new glider off of a local site. I decided to recover it to a solid black so that it matched the room a little better. Then I ordered the dresser, and had Johnny bring out all of the tubs of Bentley's old clothes out so that I could start putting them into place. I am just hoping and praying that the new baby will be able to wear the majority of the clothes that Bentley had because they will be born in different seasons. I mean clearly the Cashmore boys are not small so fingers crossed we can make due with what we got.

Well we all know that babies do not sleep in their nursery right away..... so this go around I kept telling myself this and I definitely took my time setting things up. But if you know me you know that I cant have things not done and prepared, so I started to kinda freak out when I got to the 35 week mark and it still was not done. LOL So it was time to get things into gear. I bought some decoration items from Hobby Lobby, found this super adorable rocking moose off another local site, and got the rug off Amazon.

I bought the crib we wanted but decided that we would not buy a new mattress since Bentley wont be sleeping on his too much longer. We got that all put togheter and set up and then finished hanging the rest of the decorations. I love the way that it turned out and cant wait to welcome our little bear into this perfect nursery.

The blank space below the wood log is where we will hang his name once he is born ;)


Here is the completed wall and a look at his crib with the mattress and bedding!!

Half Way Point

Well here we are already 20 weeks into my pregnancy!! Crazy we are half way done already.  This pregnancy hasn't been quite as easy as Mr. Bentley's but still blessed to be on this journey. In the beginning I had some spouts of on and off nausea, thankfully that didn't last too long so that is wonderful!

Around the 9 week mark we got the official "Graduation" from the fertility clinic. It was great to hear those words but also a little sad knowing that this will be the last baby for our family. We are grateful that this place was able to give us two babies despite all of our struggles. We will still have to make the decision on what we will do with the remainder of our frozen embryos. 

We did the Chromosome testing that we had done with Bentley that also checks the Gender at our 12 week appointment. Since I found out I was pregnant I was convinced that I was going to have a girl. The entire process after the embryo transfer was completely different then what it was with Bentley. Some of it was a little concerning but also made me really think we were going to be seeing lots of pink this go around. But, Once I saw that US at our appointment it changed my mind. This baby looked exactly like Bentley at his 12 week appointment. It was so crazy to see how much of the same things the baby was doing compared to how Bentley was. We got all of the test results back that were normal from the scan so that was great news. We decided to do another gender reveal but this go around Johnny and I did not find out ahead of time. We let my mom get the gender results and then we would be surprised along with everyone else that was there. And the results showed we were expecting another little Mister!! We couldn't be more excited. Nevaeh was thrilled to know that she will always be Daddy's only Princess! 

We decided to take a family vacation instead of a baby moon this time. So we took a trip to California to visit Disneyland. The kids had a wonderful time. Nevaeh loved Seaworld and of course the beach. It was a great trip but beyond exhausting for Momma. Since coming back it has seemed to be non stop sickness around our house. First it was Johnny and then Nevaeh and I both came down with bad sore throats. Hers turned into Strep and mine was just a virus. I also had to take a trip to the ER because I had severe back pain and the doctors were concerned I had a kidney infection. So I spent 5 hours in the ER. No fun but got out on some antibiotics to cure a UTI that hopefully wouldn't turn into anything worse. 

Nevaeh turned 13!! Cannot believe we have a teenager! We celebrated with a party bus, mall scavenger hunt, a sleep over, and brunch with the family. She and her girl friends had lots of fun!

Now we are on the back half of this pregnancy and have LOTS of activites coming up. Bentley's turning 2, numerous camping trips, birthday parties, and our annual trip to Glenwood Springs. Between all of that we have to figure out when we are going to get the nursery ready and pull out all of Bentley's old clothes so I can get those washed and ready for the Littlest Cashmore. Hopefully the summer heat is good to me! 

HCG Test Day & Our First Ultrasound!!

Sunday is Day 9p5dt and our first HCG test!!! Day 9 – By this time, the levels of the hormone hCG, are high enough in the blood stream to be detected. You may take a home pregnancy test today. If the test is negative, it could still be a false negative. Wait for another two days and take the test again. The blood test for beta HCG is much more relaible and is usually done about 10 -12 days after blastocyst transfer.

Since I will just be getting a blood draw and not the results I went ahead and went to the clinic by myself, while Johnny stayed home with Mr. Bentley. I got there around 7:40 AM. They got me in and out in about 30 minutes and then we went and did our grocery shopping before the store got crazy. It seemed like time was taking a lot longer than usual. Probably because we are waiting for phone call!!!

Like any other Sunday, it was full of cleaning, and playing with Bentley. Phone finally rang about 11:00 am to let us know that my HCG levels came back at 130.8 which meant that I was in fact Pregnant!!! They want to see the number above 50. When I got my first HCG test done last transfer  my level was at 195. So this time around it is lower but still well above the 50 mark. I had taken 4 tests prior to this day because of how skeptical I was. Three of them showed positive. The nurse went over all of my medications to continue taking, told me that I needed to go back to the clinic for another blood draw two days later to make sure that my HCG level was doubling.

WE DID IT AGAIN!!! WAHOO!

So from the time I got the phone call on my first HCG, I was already 4 weeks. It is still new to me and all I can think about is how the heck I will handle a teenager, a two year old, and a newborn. I think that thought runs through my mind every day. We are still very excited and cannot wait to watch this miracle grow.

12/17/17

I got a congratulations phone call from our Doctor on Monday and then I went back into the clinic on Tuesday for my 2nd HCG test. The nurse called me in the later morning and told me that my levels were at 358. She told me that I needed to continue on all of my same medications and to schedule my first ultrasound for a few weeks later. I will need to call and get another order of medication since I will be on them until I am 10-12 weeks pregnant.

This go around the exhaustion and nausea have been so much worse. I always feel like I cannot get enough sleep. We literally go to bed by 9:00pm at the latest every night even on the weekends. I also get super nauseous, but mainly when I go too long without eating. Thankfully the nausea has slowed down by week 7. We had our first Ultrasound at 6 weeks and 5 days. Everything looked great! Baby measured at 6 weeks and 1 day and the heart rate was 127 bpm. We will have our first appointment at the OB in a few weeks and hopefully get to start weening the meds and get the official "Graduation" from CCRM.

We had our first appointment at the OBGYN on January 19th. I had an ultrasound and everything showed baby was doing well measuring a few days ahead so that is exciting. Baby's heart measured at 180 bpm. We finished the appointment with discussing the timeline for future appointments. 

Everything else has started to be smooth sailing so I hope that this continues. 

Bed Rest and the wait for our HCG Test

I was on bed rest for the remainder of Friday after the transfer and then all of Saturday. Laying around doing nothing is not my forte' at all. I have so much I could be doing and my back was killing me from laying down too much. As I laid in bed the day of the transfer I noticed a little light cramping here and there but nothing major. I decided to give you all an explanation of what happens inside the body after a transfer. Because our embryo started hatching before it was implanted the timeline of everything may be a little off but it gives you an idea.

Best rest way harder this time than last time. Bentley would whine and cry for Mommy and I could not pick him up. My discharge instructions say that I can not lift more than 10 pounds for 2 weeks. Well the doctor and I both know that was not going to be possible especially having a 22 pound toddler. I did my best to take it easy for that first day and a half while Johnny was in charge of keeping Bentley occupied.Day 1 – After the embryos are transferred, the cells keep dividing. The blastocyst begins to emerge from its shell and this process is called hatching.

Sunday marked 2dp5dt (aka 2 days past 5 day transfer). Johnny gave me my progesterone in oil shot that morning and then it was off to the races. Okay not really the races but we did have a super busy day! I really hope that I did not over due it because I was on my feet all day long and didn't get much rest or relaxation. By the evening time I noticed a little bit of cramping as I was laying in bed. Nothing much just a little here and there still.Day 2 – The second day is crucial because this is the time when the embryo begins to attach itself to the uterine lining. The blastocyst continues to grow.

Day 3dp5dt was back to work. I changed out my patches that morning. As the day went on I had pretty bad cramping all day. I am not sure if it was because I was sitting or what but they finally went away after I was home and was reclining on the couch. Last time around I was very anxious at this stage wondering if it worked or didn't work. I have those same feelings this go around. Day 3 – On this day, the blastocyst invades into the uterine lining and implantation begins. The woman may have light bleeding and spotting on this day

Day 4 Johnny had to give me my progesterone in oil shot that morning. I didn't have any new symptoms really during the day. Day 4 – On the fourth day, the blastocyst continues dig deeper into the uterus Light bleeding and spotting may continue on this day as the embryo invades the endometrial blood vessels to nourish itself through the maternal blood supply. However, the absence of any bleeding, cramping and spotting does not mean that implantation has not occurred so don't let your mind play games with you.

Wednesday is Day 5p5dt, I woke up around 1:00am to Bentley screaming at the top of his lungs, not sure if he had a bad dream or what but at that same time I had some more pretty bad cramping. By the time I woke up for the day they had gone away. Last cycle I had taken at at home pregnancy test this day and it had given me a very very faint positive line. Day 5 – On the fifth day, implantation is considered complete. The embryo is developing vigorously.

Day 6 Johnny gave me another Progesterone injection. No new symptoms to report except I did however develop cold like symptoms. Stuffy head, exhausted, sore throat, and sneezing. I am not sure if I was getting a cold or if it just from the medications. I will say that I have had a lot of doubts this go around. Don't get me wrong I am still praying for a positive outcome but because of all the cramping and weird symptoms that I have had so far compared to last go around, it just gives me some doubt. Every cycle and person is different so it is not really a sure sign if it did or did not work just my opinion so far. Day 6 – The growing embryo triggers the release of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) into the blood stream. This is a hormone that is produced by the syncytiotrophoblast, the specialised cells which will form the placenta later on

Day 7.... It was finally the weekend which meant we were only a few days away from out HCG test ;) Last cycle I had taken 3 at home tests by now! ......... the anticipation is killing me AGAIN!! And with all of the weird symptoms I really have been thinking a lot about it. I changed out my patches first thing in the morning, then had to work for a little while before heading out to do some shopping. As the day went on I became so so so tired and finally called it a night at 8:00 Pm. Day 7 – The fetal development is in full swing and the embryo continues to develop quickly. As the placenta begins to take shape, it continues to release more hCG into the blood stream

Day 8 - Weekends are so crazy busy so really there was no time to notice any symptoms. Just anxiously waiting for the HCG test tomorrow and being completely exhausted!!! Day 8 – More hCG is released into the blood, as fetal development continues and the placenta begins to function.

FET Day # 2

I received the call for the transfer time on Wednesday, cycle day 22, around 5:30 PM. The nurse confirmed what day I started on my Endometrin. Told me that I needed to check in to lab by 11:45 AM on Friday and then the transfer would be at 1:15 PM. I opted not to do the acupuncture this go around since it costs an extra $250.00 dollars. She made sure that I was going to have a ride to and from the clinic and also went over all of the bed rest instructions as well as my medication instructions. She told me that I should receive a call from the IVF lab either the next day or the morning of transfer to confirm that we will only be transferring one embryo.

I got the call from the lab on Thursday around 2:30 PM. They wanted to confirm that I was feeling good and was still planning on coming in for my transfer. They also confirmed that they would be thawing and only transferring in one embryo, and that it was our highest grade embryo. I confirmed that it was a day 5 grade scale 4AB. The embryo that turned into Mr. Bentley boy was a 4BA, The best grading you can get is a 4AA. So we again have a pretty close to perfect embryo. 

Cycle day 24 was our Transfer day. The morning's are always hectic! We got up with Bentley, got him ready for the day with Auntie, and sent Nevaeh off to school. I had to do a couple hours of work that morning while Johnny went to the gym. But I made sure there was time to take our picture to remind us of that morning, and then it was off to the clinic.

We checked into the clinic at 11:30 AM for my labs. After that we went upstairs and checked in for our transfer. The nurse came out and let us know that they were running about an hour behind. At that time I already had a half full bladder and knew I wouldn't make it another hour before peeing my pants so I had to use the restroom. Finally about 12:30 the nurse came out again and let me know that I should start drinking water and they would have my room ready by 1:00 PM. We got all settled into our room and waited for the ultrasound tech to come in. She came in and checked my bladder to see if it was half full, and decided that I needed to drink a little more water and that she would be back in about 15 minutes. So I just chugged a full cup of water because I didn't want to push it back any more than it had been.

Our doctor came in and confirmed we were ready to do this again LOL. He got me all prepped and said that everything was looking great. He did a test run and that went very smooth. He told us that our embryo looked awesome and that it had already started hatching, which is a good thing!! Then the embryologist came in, verified my name and date of birth, showed us our Embryo so Johnny could take a picture of it. Then it was time to insert it in. Watching it on the ultrasound monitor was super cool. Only Johnny got to see it last time so I was excited to be able to see it this go around. After he was all done I needed to lay there again for another hour with minimal movement.

Our Day 5 Embryo

After the hour was up I got to go to the restroom and then they wheeled me to the front of the clinic and waited for Johnny to go grab the truck and pick me up. The lab had called with my results and said they looked perfect. My progesterone level was at 27 and they want to see if above 15 and my estradiol was at 924 and they want to see it above 300. I needed to continue on all of my medications as planned. Now onto bed rest......... This should be fun with a toddler. 

Blood Draw Level Checks

As we are going through this process I find myself looking back at all of the old posts I did from my first FET. Its so crazy how different its been so far. Looking back they had me go in for my third lining check and blood draw on cycle day 15.  My lining measured just about 11mm, and my estrogen level at 114. That's when they had me start on an oral form of estrogen daily while wearing 3 patches every other day.


This time around I didn't have my first lining check until cycle day 17. I went into the office that morning and the nurse told me that my lining was measuring 12.2 with a tripple pattern. Which is good. At this time they want it to be between 8-14mm. She told me that I will most likely stay on the same calendar schedule that I have been following but that I'd get a call later that afternoon with my estrogen level and at that point I'll be told what to do next. When I got the call the nurse told me my estrogen levels came back at 629. They like to see it above 300. My progesterone level was less than 1 which was perfect. So as of now I will follow the calendar I have.

Cycle day 18 I took my last Lupron injection. WAHOOOO! I called the pharmacy to make sure that my scripts were ready for pick up of the Medrol and the Doxycycline and they had no record. So I sent an email to my nurse but since it was the weekend I wouldnt hear from anyone until Monday. Little did I know the nurse would call me later that afternoon and she resent my scripts to the pharmacy. Thank goodness!!


So I started those meds on cycle day 19 along with my Endometrin, 4 patches, Vit D, and prenatals.

The next day I got up bright and early so that Johnny could give me my first Progesterone in oil shot that morning. Man oh Man do those hurt so damn bad!!!!!! I will have to do these every other morning.  I will go back in to the clinic on Cycle day 21 for another blood draw to have my progesterone levels checked.

The nurse called me to let me know that everything is looking great and that my progesterone level was at 25, they want to see it above 10. She said that I will just continue on all of the same medications and that I would hear from the office the next day to let me know what time my transfer would be.



Update on the progesterone in oil shots.... well I think Johnny is trying to pay me back for all the times I have had to stick him with a needle when his blood sugar is low. I have a giant bruise on my rear from that first shot. :(