Dr Visit

Today was my first Dr. visit since getting my positive pregnancy test results. I am/baby is 6 weeks and 1 day.
So I got an ultrasound to confirm there is in fact a baby growing inside and that it has implanted in the correct spot.
And..

There it is! A tiny little peanut.  It measured at exactly 6 weeks and 1 day. We got see the tiny little heartbeat flickering and we got to hear it as well.  Heart was beating at 107 beats per min.  Just getting started working.

Dr. said things look great!  He did warn that even though things are good there is still always that chance of miscarriage. Which I am quite aware of it, since we have been here before.  Hearing the heartbeat and losing it later.  But we are being optimistic!

I am suppose to be staying on all my medications, continuing injections and such till at least 10 weeks. Only a month to go, I hope!

My due date was confirmed at August 14, 2014!

And I suppose everyone wants to know if its a boy or a girl?!

Well....

We are joining Team PINK! 

So hoping that this little girl will be the one sticks through and makes it all the way!

I can't wait to buy little girl things! Trying to restrain myself (and my mom) till we are through the first trimester, at least!  But its fun to look!

and yes, those of you knew I wanted a girl were right. But she did also happen to be the first genetically good embryo on the list. I think we were just meant to have her!

thank you all for your continued support and prayers!

Love you all and Thanks again!

Results

As most of you are aware because I couldn't keep my anticipation off of Facebook, I had my 1st pregnancy test blood draw on Wednesday.   Thankfully, the results came in relatively quickly so I didn't have spend all day in suspense.  Those results were POSITIVE! I had a HCG number of 74 and the nurse that called with my results said all they wanted to see was a number over 50. And she also told me that I was considered 3 weeks and 6 days along. So my number was perfect for being a day behind 4 weeks.  So I was over the moon excited but then I had to wait till today for my second blood draw. This time the HCG number needs to double or at least raise by 60% at the minimum.  Results from that blood draw came in with an HCG number of 157. So the number is great!
Now I'm officially 4 weeks and 1 day!
I have an ultrasound appt on the 20th so hopefully little embryo keeps growing at the appropriate rate and hopefully we will be able to see something.

I have been at this place 4 times now, so I'm excited and nervous. I've never had a pregnancy go past 8/9 weeks. So, just have to stay hopeful that this one will make full term.
I'll be keeping everyone updated as to how things progress.
For the time being though, I'm still on my progesterone injections and estrogen patches until otherwise told by the dr to stop. So probably 6-8 more weeks.

Also,  Greg told me not to tell what the gender is of what we are having until after an ultrasound. So another couple weeks of secret keeping! :-)

Thank you everyone for the all the support and prayers!  We appreciate it so much! Love you all!

Thanksgiving Weekend and the Waiting!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  I enjoyed mine for sure! Lots of food, family and fun!
After my parents left (after being here to help me out while I was bed rest after my transfer, Thank you to them!), my in-laws and BFF Ashley came to stay with us for Thanksgiving and the weekend.  It was definitely nice having people to our house for our first time hosting thanksgiving. Even though my in laws did most of the cooking.  Greg and I have no idea what we were doing and in general I wasn't very helpful except to tell everyone where things are in the kitchen. Everything turned out tasty and great! Special thanks to  the Noel's!
Over the weekend, we took everyone to Santa Fe to check out the shops at the Plaza and enjoy a New Mexican lunch. I also took everyone to a drinking chocolate place where they have meso-american hot chocolates (basically spicy hot chocolate) and candies. No one tried it but Greg.  They are the second group of people I have taken there and no one tries it. So not taking people there any more.
Greg also took his family up the Sandia Tram and hiked up in the snow. Ashley and I didn't go with them because I was taking it easy still, Ashley has already been up the tram and it was cold and there was snow up there still.  The pictures they took though were beautiful.  It is pretty in the forest with the snow on the ground. Greg and I then took everyone to our favorite New Mexican restaurant in town. It did not disappoint! Though the chili's were a little spicy for a couple of people. ; )
And everyone went home yesterday! Empty house and lots of laundry (which is all done already).

On top of Sandia




As for me and my transfer which I suppose in the real reason everyone is reading this:
Things are going as well as can be expected. I am trying not to read too much in to every pinch, twitch and pull in my lower abdomen but I can't help it. There isn't much I can do, this either worked or it didn't. I am 6 days past transfer so if my little tiny embryo implanted it has already happened (or not).  I still have to wait 2 more days until I get my first blood test.  Then 2 more days to get the 2nd, which will confirm either the positive or negative I get with the 1st blood test.  I was doing pretty good with the waiting until Saturday then really started wanting to know. Good thing we had people over to keep me distracted otherwise I would have been going crazy by Saturday.
In theory, I can test with a home pregnancy test, even though it wouldn't be completely accurate. Thankfully I don't have any in the house. I don't want to give myself false hope before getting actual results.
2 more days, just have to keep telling myself that!  Good thing I am going back to work this afternoon. Gotta stay busy!
So hopefully I will have results for everyone by the end of the day on Friday!

Time for everyone to start thinking, if in fact this entire process has worked (and I make it full term this time), are we having a BOY or a GIRL?

Lots of people have already told me what they think based on what I said I have wanted in the past, but as I said before we picked the 1st good one on our list.  Do you still think its a BOY or GIRL??
(I gotta have fun with the little bit of mystery I have left with this, cause obviously I've shared a lot)

Transfer

Transfer is complete! Finally!
The process was fairly simple today.  Went to the dr office with very full uncomfortable bladder and waited for the dr.  When he finally appeared, my bladder was so full I had to empty it a little bit.  Then a catheter was inserted up into my uterus using ultrasound guidance. And so increased pressure on the bladder.  Once the catheter was in place, the embryo was inserted. Literally took 5 minutes for the proceudre. Then it's was a long 20 minute wait till I could move off the table.  Had to have my bladder emptied by catheter since I couldn't move off the table and I had to pee soooo bad.
My dr said our embryo looked beautiful so he thinks our chances are pretty good!  Just need a little bit of luck!
So bed rest the rest of the day and tomorrow.  Then just going to take it easy after that.
We'll know if this work by next Friday the 6th.
So glad the waiting is almost done!  Just hope this works so we do not have to do this again until we want a second baby.

I'll keep you all updated as test results come in!
Thanks for all the support!

There it is! 6 day old blastocysts!
No bigger than half the diameter of a strand of hair (or so I've read)!


special thanks to my parents for getting my house ready for my Thanksgiving guests, taking care of me while i laid on the couch and for re-staining my stair banister!

1 Week Left

One more week! Its finally getting close to the all important day that I have been waiting 4 months for!
I had an appointment at the Dr. office today for an ultrasound to check the lining of my uterus.
The nurse that did the ultrasound said everything looked great. Nice and thick and has all 3 layers that it should have. Ready for an embryo to snuggle in to!
I got all my instruction for the next week and  for the day of the transfer!
I have to take my injections that I give myself in the thigh until tomorrow and then Thursday, I start the progesterone injections. : ( My thighs will finally be able to recover for the all the injections. I have bruises and I feel like I am covered in punctures. But the progesterone is so much worse!
I also have a belly covered in estrogen patches. 4 of them now.  I have red splotches all over from taking them off every other day and putting new ones on. I'm going to run out of fresh skin to put new ones on soon.
This will of course all be worth it when this works!
I'll post an update after transfer to let you all know how it went.
The nurse today said the transfer itself will only take a few minutes but then I'll have to hang out laying down for about 30 minutes (with a full bladder, since that's apparently necessary for the transfer). Then I'll be home on bed rest until Thanksgiving.
My parents are super nice and are coming out a couple days before the transfer to help me get ready for thanksgiving and take care of me while Greg works on Wednesday. Then Greg's family will be here for Thanksgiving weekend and Ashley will be here from Texas as well. So I'll have plenty of people to help out while I take it pretty easy for the weekend.


YAY! ONE MORE WEEK!

2 more weeks!

Yes, I am counting down the weeks!
I started estrogen patches last Saturday.  I started with one patch and I am suppose to work my way up to 4 patches.  So far I am at 2 patches, I should be at 4 patches by Tuesday and that is when my next appointment is.. The estrogen is suppose to making my lining grow and I'm still on injections to keep my ovaries quiet and keep from ovulating.
Saturday wasn't a great day. All day I seemed to either have a huge headache or felt nauseous. I am fairly certain it just the introduction of the estrogen into my system. I have been ok every since, so that a good thing. I am worried about when I have to start the progesterone shot next week because I got really sick last time. Hopefully, that will also only be a one day thing.

That's about it for this week. Nothing really new, just trying to keep this blog updated. I know I have been pretty boring the last couple of months but I guess that part of the process.  Lots of waiting!
I'm really hope this transfer works otherwise it will be more waiting until we can try again. I'm tired of waiting!

Keep you all posted after the Dr. appointment next week!

Baseline ultrasound and 3 week count down!

Today I had my baseline ultrasound for the beginning of the transfer cycle.   All was good! Everything is nice and quiet, as it should be.   I go back in 2 weeks to see how the lining of my uterus is thickening. On Saturday, I start esteogen patches to make the lining grow.
This also marks 3 weeks until the transfer happens!

Quick update but that's all that happening for now!
Updates again in 2 weeks.

Shots start Today!

The day of Transfer is exactly a month from today!
Yesterday, I spent all day making calls and leaving messages because I was afraid that I wasn't going to get my meds that I needed to start today on time.  It was finally determined that my health insurance company was holding things up by not authorizing the meds in time.  Thankfully, the nurses that my Dr.'s office got it all sorted out. My meds will arrive on Monday but for the weekend the nurses were able to supply me with enough for the weekend.  So nice!
So today, I'm starting a single nightly shot that I can give to myself in the thigh.
Excited I am starting the process. Hopefully this month flies by!

Updates to come as things change and progress!

Results and THE Date!

 Yesterday, Greg and I went to see the Dr. to get the results of the embryos genetic test. And we got good news! Out the 15 that made it the testing and freezing stage, 8 came back with 23 normal chromosome pairs! I was hoping for 4 at the minimum and we got double that. Also since all chromosome pairs were tested we know how many are boys and how many are girls. We got an even split 4 of each!
This good news was coupled with getting the report on quality of embryos.  4 of our embryos are graded as 2's and 4 are graded as 3's. 1 is the best on this scale. Dr said that grading of quality is at the discretion of the embryologist. But because we do not have best quality embryos our chances of success does goes down slightly.  Dr. gave us the option of transferring 2 embryos (transferring 1 embryo has always been our plan) to increase our chance of success but that comes with a 50% chance of twins, which is something we don't really want to risk. Especially Greg, who nixed that idea immediately. On a side note, our Dr. was super nice and teased Greg a little bit, telling Greg that we are going to have 8 kids. He also told Greg not to worry so much about the cost cause I'm going to win the argument about how many tries and kids we have.  It was great that he was able to calm Greg down and help us make a decision about what to. Dr. told us if it were him, he would only transfer one.  Better piece of mind for us and less risk to me as well. He did say that if a single doesn't stick this time that we should consider 2 for the next try.
So, we came to the decision and we will still only transfer a single embryo. The risk of twins is too much for us to handle at this point. And we picked the specific embryo to transfer as well. Along with a back up plan in case the first one doesn't survive the thawing process.  The freezing process has advanced so much that approximately 90%+ survive the thaw, so I'm not too worried about it.
However, everyone will have to wait until we get positive pregnancy results to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. :-) Have to keep something a mystery!

On to the transfer date and process:
I will be having our single embryo transferred on Nov. 26th!
And I will be starting this process Saturday with injections....more injections, I thought I was done with these.
I am currently on birth control pills and I will starting an injection Saturday that will be keeping my ovaries from growing follicles.  This is the opposite of the retrieval process that I already went through. Then in a couple weeks I will be adding estrogen patches to help uterus lining get nice and thick for the embryo to settle into.  Then I will stop one injection and switch to another.  I will be switching to progesterone which I did for a few days after the retrieval. Greg has to give this one to me and it is not fun.  I will have to continue the estrogen patches and progesterone injections if the transfer works for the entire first trimester.
We will know if the transfer is successful Dec 6th!  Then it will be a long couple months after that to get through the first trimester, which has never happened.
If every thing goes well and as it should, then we should be having baby the middle/end of August 2014!

Please send all your positive thoughts our way!  We'll need them to make it through it all this!

Genetic Test results in a week!

Got my appointment scheduled to get our genetic tests results for all the frozen embryos. Next Tuesday!
Hopefully during this appointment, we will also schedule the transfer and decide which embryo will be thawed out to be transferred.   The waiting is almost over!  Well at least until waiting for the transfer to happen and then waiting the 2 weeks to see if the embryo sticks and grows.

On the bright side, My OHSS is completely gone! Back to my normal size and normal weight.
This means I am also back a the gym, trying to stay in shape for the transfer. No more Gatorade! I was getting tired of drinking that stuff.

This was my belly about a 5 days after the retrieval and my belly was full of fluid from the OHSS. I had gained about 6 pounds.

And this is me about 2 days ago. Back to normal! Thankfully!


Update next week with hopefully good news!

Waiting!

We are just about 2 weeks since the retrieval and still about another week before I can even make an appointment to see the Dr and get our biopsy results.
I all the sudden feel really anxious about waiting. I had been doing really well not thinking about it and the last 2 weeks have gone by quickly. Maybe because last night all my dreams were about having the transfer done, I've gotten more anxious.
I have also been stalking the internet, reading message board post by people going though IVF. Which has been both helpful and stressful. Most days I read success stories and it gives me a lot hope that things will work out this time.  There are so many other couples out there that have more complex problems then Greg and I have and IVF works out for them.  But then of course there are those that IVF hasn't yet worked out, so those stories make me super nervous.
Anyway, trying to stay up beat and focus on positive thoughts! It will work this time!

On another note, my OHSS has started to subside. I have lost 3 pounds of the about 6 that I gained in the week after the retrieval. My belly is almost back to its normal flat state, which I am pretty excited about.  I have also introduced caffeine back into my life. I missed it so much! I'm going to enjoy it while I can! Pretty sure I'll have to be back off it around transfer time.
I haven't been to the gym in almost month, so I'm going to start back on Friday. Get back to my normal life for hopefully only a month.

I'm really hoping that we will have enough embryos that come back good so we can transfer before Thanksgiving.  But that's hopeful thinking on my part. No definite plans until I see the Dr.
Not having definite plans and results is killing my Type A planning personality.

next update I hope to have plans and results!

Love you all!

Frozen!

Today was a very important day in the growth of our embryos. Though I think they are scientifically known as blastocysts at this point. Today all that have grown to this stage have been flash frozen. Out the 34 follicles that we started with, 15 grew large enough to be biopsied and then frozen.
Now it's a waiting game for a few weeks till we get biopsy results.

I'm  pretty excited about how many we have to test. I'm just hoping more than half come back as genetically good.

I'll keep everyone updated. But it's going to be a little while before I have more news.

Post Retrieval Aftermath

Its been about 4 days since I had my egg retrieval and things have been going relatively well.
I have developed OHSS, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome
The Mayo Clinic website has this to say about it:

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) usually occurs as a result of taking hormonal medications that stimulate the development of eggs in a woman's ovaries. These  fertility drugs may be prescribed to treat infertility. In ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, your ovaries become swollen and painful. About one-fourth of women who take injectible fertility drugs get a mild form of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which goes away after about a week.

I have experienced a 5 pound weigh gain in the last 4 days, my belly is incredible swollen and occasionally can be painful depending on the position I'm in.  Since I have this additional weight on my belly, my lower back hurts if I stand for too long. My belly looks like I'm almost 5 months pregnant.  These symptoms are suppose to last about 2 weeks. I still also have very sore boobs. But no more headaches!
Greg keeps telling this is just preparing me for the weight I'll have to deal with when I get pregnant.  But at least that weigh gain will be slower.
So in order to come combat all the fluid that has leaked into my belly from my large ovaries, I have been drinking lots of Gatorade and pedialyte. I am also suppose to be eating lots of protein. Some how that's suppose to help too.
In addition to all that fun stuff, I have started taking progesterone injections.  Greg has to give these to me in the upper butt lower back area.  This injection is particular not fun because its an oil which makes it especially difficult to inject. Take forever to push in.  Also,the first time I got the shot, I became nauseous, like I had morning sickness.  Which seem reasonable considering I still have HCG in my system. HCG and progesterone are 2 very important pregnancy hormones, so my body might be confused. The progesterone shots are a precaution that I'm taking for another few days, in case I needed to do a fresh transfer instead of the frozen transfer I am planning on.  But will the all the possible embryos we have, a fresh transfer seems unlikely. So I just get to suffer a but longer

I went to the Dr. this morning to have a follow up visit.  He told me I look pretty good for being hyperstimulated.  Although my ovaries are still 10cm in size. Which he so nicely put as each of my ovaries are the size of a newborn baby head, awesome.....
My Dr. and I also discussed how many embryos will be biopsied, since we have so many and the genetic testing is expensive.
We do not know the exact number yet for many will even make it to the biopsy stage but with 26 to start with, Greg and I decided that 16 will be biopsied.  That number will of course be less if less make it the biopsy stage.
All embryos even those that will not biopsied will be frozen.  We will then hope that at least 50% of the tested embryos come back with genetically normal results. Which we would should get in about 3 weeks and then we will start the process of the transfer.

Fertilization Results

Called the Dr. office this morning to find out how many of the eggs that got sucked out yesterday fertilized after one of Greg's swimmers was injection into each egg.
And out of the 34 eggs, 29 were good enough have a swimmer injected and of those 29 eggs, 26 fertilized and have started growing.
 The Dr said he is very pleased by this result and I am completely surprised by how many we had to start with and even more by how many have fertilized.
Now we wait till Wednesday, 6 days, to find out how many continue to grow and make it the biopsy stage.
Then I can't wait to find out how many have good quality genetics. That's the true test!

Egg retrieval Day!

As most of you noticed I already posted on Facebook that I had my egg retrieval this morning and it was successful.
But before I get into the details of today I'll give you some updates since Tuesday.
As I mentioned in my last post, Tuesday I had my HCG shot.  Greg was nice enough to poke me in butt with that shot.  It wasn't so bad but side effect of that shot was that my slightly sore boobs became ridiculously sore and tender.  No fun at all! Also on Tuesday, my blood test results came in again with high estrogen levels so I didn't have to do my usual nightly injection.
Wednesday, no more injections! But I did have have to have another blood test to get my HCG levels tested.  Which thankfully came back normal so I didn't have to do another one of those injections.  Wednesday was not a really good day for me, as I started hyper stimulating.  I was working when the pressure in my belly felt like it was pushing up into my stomach and lungs.  Super uncomfortable!  Thankfully a bottle and half of Gatorade later, I felt much better.  I was definitely glad I had bought more Gatorade and pediaylte before I went to work that day.

I realized that many of who read my updates my not fully understand what I have been going through. I'm sure I haven't been the best at explaining. So before I tell you about the retrieval, I wanted to show you some pics. (None of the pics will be mine but it will help visualize what's been going on with me)

First pic is an ultrasound of follicles in an ovary before staring fertility treatment. The little red dots are follicles.















Next pic is and ultrasound with multiple medium to large follicles. The big black circles are the follicles.



















So here's an illustration of of normal female parts and then after follicles have grown.
















Now you kind of see why I've been bloated and uncomfortable for the last few days.

So now on to the part that's really important. Egg retrieval day!
Day started off with Greg going to the dr office to give his part.  Need some good swimmers to fertilize the follicles that got sucked out.  Anyway, then Greg took me to dr office to get my part over with.  Thankfully, I got put under anesthesia and the dr sucked out a combine total of 34 follicles.  Of course not all of them will be good and not all will fertilize. But I figured if even 50% of the follicles fertilize we still have quite a few to work with. Tomorrow, I will be able to call the dr office and get the total number of fertilize eggs. Also, to give you an idea, my Internet research says that between 10-20 follicles is the average.  Since I have PCOS,  they did expect me to have a little more and to hyper stimulate.
Now it's pretty much a waiting game.
Dr did tell me after I woke up and became aware of what's going on, that I am hyper stimulated. Since all the eggs are out, my enlarged ovaries will fill with fluid. So I'm drinking Gatorade like its my job to keep it from getting worse. Also, the dr prescribe me some vaginal suppositories. I know you are all excited to hear about those as I am to take them.  These are suppose to help with the hyper stimulation.   Better to drink the Gatorade and take the suppositories then go to hospital to have fluid drained from my belly and be in pain.
Starting Saturday I have to start progesterone injections for 5 days. More shots in the butt!  These are just a precaution in case we have to do a fresh transfer and not the planned frozen transfer.  Though with so many follicles, problems leading to a fresh transfer seem unlikely. But just in case...
I will have to resume these injections when we do the frozen embryo transfer and then for the entire first trimester.

I will post more updates as I get results from the dr.
But for now the hard part is over!

Thanks for the support and prayers!

Final Ultrasound!

Before I begin with the most recent updates, I thought I would mention that it officially feels like fall here in ABQ.  It's 75 degrees and I feel like I will have to get out sweaters and sweatshirts soon.  Also with it feeling like fall, I am sad because Starbucks has their pumpkin spice lattes out and I CAN'T have one! I have not been able to have any caffeine since starting my injections. : ( No coffee, no teas, and no COKE!  Can't wait till I can enjoy one these beverages again.
So that's my "poor me" pity party for the day, on with the updates. : )

I have still been going to the Dr. every day for ultrasounds and blood work. My arms look more like a heroin addict everyday. I have really great bruises. The lab people even feel bad poking me now.
Since Sunday my follicles have grown to the 17mm-19mm range (there are a few smaller ones, so not sure those will be any good but we will see) and there are still bunches out them! Upwards of 15 follicles still.
I have been giving smaller doses of the medications and have been doing the 3rd injections which prevents ovulation.  But a couple of times now my estrogen levels have been high so I have been skipping my nightly injections.  Not complaining about that! : )
With the smaller doses of meds, my headaches have almost disappeared.  However, the bloated belly and pressure has only gotten bigger and occasionally worse. I was informed today that these symptoms will get worse before they get better, once I have the egg retrieval. yay.....

Egg retrieval is scheduled! Thursday is the big day!  Follicles have seemed to max out in growth and there's a lot, so Dr. said Thursday will be the day. So today, I will be giving myself super low doses of the usual injections but will be adding the dreaded HCG Injection.  This one is dreaded because Greg has to give it to me in the lower back/upper butt area with a needle that is 1.5 inches long, (has to go in the muscle).   Not excited about this at all!  HCG is suppose to trigger the follicles to be ready to be "released". This injection has to be given at a very specific time and that time happens to be 11:45 tonight. another yay......
No shots tomorrow though, unless I happen to need more HCG, which means I to have to get more blood drawn tomorrow to check those levels. But no Dr. visit tomorrow.

Thursday is the all important day! The general procedure for Thursday will be that early in the morning Greg will go the Dr. office to provide a sample of his swimmers,so they can be all ready for the eggs.
Greg will then take me to the Dr. office where the retrieval will take place.  I will be placed under anesthesia and the Dr. will use the internal ultrasound to guide a needle through the uterus wall and into the ovary and suck out all the eggs he can. Repeat for both ovaries.
Behind the scenes, the embryologist, will the hand pick one swimmer for each egg retrieved and fertilize them. He will let each embryo then grow for 6 days, then biopsy any that have made it and grown to the 6 day stage. At that point embryos will then be frozen.
After I recover and such, we will be told how eggs they were able to retrieve. And then the next day I can call to see how many fertilized. And then 5 more days we will know how many grew large enough to be biopsied for the genetic tests and frozen. It will then be 3 weeks until we know the results of the genetic tests and then begin the process of getting ready for the transferring of an embryo.
Hopefully there will be enough good embryos that I will not have to go through this whole retrieval process again!

So wish us lots of luck that everything will go smoothly!
More updates after Thursday!

IVF Weekend Update

I have been getting up very early for the last 5 days to go the Dr. for my daily ultrasounds. The getting up early is my least favorite part of these daily Dr. visits. I am definitely not a morning person.

Anyway, no one really cares about me complaining about getting out bed before 8 am! ; )

So last 3 ultrasounds have showed that the follicles are still growing but they are taking their sweet time. Only growing about 1mm a day. Which isn't necessarily bad, just means I am on my meds longer.  As of today the the majority of the small follicles are in the 13-14mm range and the bigger ones are in the 15-17mm range.

So close! And the Dr and nurse who have been monitoring me have both said that there are lots of follicles in there. Today, the nurse measured 15 of them and that wasn't all of them. The more the better! I'm hoping for 8 that fertilize and grow, since that is the max freezing number unless we pay more money.

Been having my blood drawn for the last 4 days. My arms look like a heroin addict with the puncture wounds and bruises. Been having my estrogen levels tested. Those levels were normal until yesterday, my Dr. called to tell me that it had gotten high so I didn't have to do my nightly injection. He didn't want to risk overstimulating, which I am glad for (and for not having to do one shot yesterday).

Having the estrogen levels tested again today. So I'll find out if I'm on or off the meds again today.

At Saturday's appt, the Dr. was thinking that I would have my retrieval on Tuesday but with the follicles still not quite big enough, retrieval could now be on Wednesday.

Side effects lately are still headaches. they aren't as bad as long as I drink lots of gatorade and water.

My belly has bloated up a little bit.  Looks like I have a constant food baby.

I also have some pressure in my belly and my belly feels heavy and full. I told the nurse I'm running out of room in there for all these big follicles.

Still no weight gain, pretty excited about that! And still feeling general alright.

Back the Dr. again tomorrow!

2nd IVF Update

In my last post, I wrote that I would be going to the Dr. on Tuesday and I did. I also went again this morning.
At Tuesday's appt. I had an ultrasound that showed that there still follicles/eggs in the ovaries and that they were growing but slowly.  The largest follicle was only 6mm.  The follicle needs to be around 20mm to have the retrieval. So my Dr. up the medication to a high dosage for a day and then back down to a medium dosage for yesterday.
Today at my Dr. appt. follicles have doubled in size.  Ranging in size from 10mm-13mm. My Dr. seemed pleased with these results and I am to stay at the medium dosage for my medications.  I also get to start going to the Dr for daily ultrasounds until its time to retrieve the eggs.  I also had my blood drawn today to check my estrogen levels. I know this important to the follicle growth but I cant remember why.
I have yet to start the 3rd medication, since the follicles are not quite big enough yet. Still doing one injection in the morning and one in the evening.
I suppose the good thing about the follicles growing at a relatively normal/slow pace is that I have not been overstimulated. Which I understand makes you feel terrible and puts the retrieval at risk of not happening.
I am still suffering from nearly constant headaches, some bloating and pressure in my belly.  Nothing really too terrible. I'm getting use to having the headaches at this point and I'll take the headaches over the other side effects.  Thankfully, I have not gained any weight as of yet. I was warned at the beginning of this process that I could gain 5-10 in water weight. Speaking of bad side effects, Greg should really be happy that I am not having emotional mood swings ; )

So, overall doing well!
Ultrasounds and possible more blood work Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Hopefully follicles will continue to grow and I will have a retrieval date for early next week.


Another update possibly sometime this weekend!

Thanks for all the support!
Courtney

IVF Baseline and Start of Injections

I am a little late posting on this but my family was in town and then we went to Durango for the weekend.
But here is the IVF update:
Last Wednesday, the 11th, I went to the Dr. for my baseline appt.
The nurse did an ultrasound to check everything and to count how many follicles/eggs were in my ovaries.
At the time of ultrasound there were between 20-22 combined from both ovaries.  The nurse said that was a good number even slightly higher than normal. The number could change through out the next week but should stay around there. So we it would seem that we have a good chance to get some good eggs to be fertilized.
On Saturday the 14th, I started my injections. 2 a day for now.  One in the thigh and one the belly.
I am for sure not enjoying giving myself these injections.  Though the one in the thigh isn't so bad but the one in the belly is not fun and hurts more.  No crazy side effects yet, just some wicked headaches.  I'm trying to drink lots of gatorade and water to help keep the bloating down (i was warned that it would happen) and to help with the headaches.
Tomorrow the 17th I am going to the Dr. in the morning for my 1st ultrasound to the check to the growth of the eggs in the ovaries and the current count.  Also at this appt. they will decide if I need to change my injection dosages and when I need to start my 3rd daily injection. And they will decide when I need to start going in for daily ultrasounds and start getting daily blood work done. Yay more needles : (

More updates to come as I go to the Dr.

Goebel's riding the train from Silverton to Durango

Overdue Update and Starting IVF

I forgot that I had not posted on this blog in sooo long.
There hasn't been much that has been missed.  We have settled into our permanent lives here in ABQ.
We did get a new kitten.  His name is Zinc and we adopted him in April from the city animal shelter. He is absolutely adorable and quite the cuddler.  He has grown so much in the last 4 months.  When we got him he didn't even weigh 2 pounds and now at 6 months old he is just over 9 pounds.  Spice is still adjusting to having him around.  He likes to attack her when she least expects it.  I hope that once he grows out of his kitten playfulness that they will become better friends.

Over the summer I went on quite a few vacations and Greg came with me on one vacation.
In April, I went to Orlando, Fl to visit a friend that just relocated there.
In May, Greg and I went to Chicago, IL to visit our friends the Labuz's, that we met while we were all living in California and Amanda and I worked together.
In June, Greg and I went to AZ because my baby brother, Xander, got married!  We are so happy for him and our new sister-in-law Ashley.
In July, I went to New Orleans, LA with Amanda and her friends for a girls weekend.
In August, I went to Logan, UT with my mom, Xander and Ashley to the Utah Opera Festival.

That pretty much catches up what we have been up too.
Now with no more big vacations planned (except all the Goebel's are coming to ABQ for a few days and then we are going to Durango, CO for a few days, next week), Greg and I are starting our first IVF cycle.

*Medical details* Don't read below if you don't wanna know

Since most people are unaware of our situation and why we are going to be going through IVf, I will try a quick and non technical explanation,
Since 2011, I have had 3 unexplained miscarriages and 1 year where I was unable to even get pregnant.
After many exams and tests, I was diagnosed in PCOS or polycystic ovarian syndrome. Basically,  my hormones are not at the correct level and messes up my cycles. This also makes it more difficult for me get pregnant and then stay pregnant.  This diagnoses explains the year of not being able to get pregnant and one possible reason for my 1st miscarriage.  Now that I have been properly diagnosed and medicated, physically I have been able to get pregnant, 2 more times.But the reason the other 2 miscarriages had been unknown.
After a few more Drs. and no answers, I went to a fertility clinic to see a reproductive endocrinologist.
After talking over my history, the Dr immediately order more testing and not just on me but on Greg as well.
I had more hormone testing done, ultrasounds and Greg and I both had genetic testing done.  Greg also had his sperm tested.  All my hormones and such came back normal and good. Greg and I both had our genetic tests come back normal, no abnormalities detected.  However, Greg's sperm sample results were not perfect. All his numbers were good until they looked at the shape of the sperm. Only 2% were the normal shape.  This number was lower than it should be but now we had discovered another reason for miscarriages.  Abnormal shaped sperm can carry abnormal DNA and/or missing DNA.
This could be the reason why 2 out of 3 pregnancies had heartbeats and appeared normal until it got a stage where the DNA code was missing and then stopped growing.

So with all this new information, our Dr. recommended IVF (In-vitro fertilization).  This would give us the best chance for full term pregnancy.  We are not just doing traditional IVF either. We will be having the sperm that will fertilize any eggs hand picked, so the best shaped ones are used and then our resulting embryos will be frozen and genetically tested.  These processes should gives us the best odds for a normal healthy pregnancy and baby. We plan on only transferring one embryo, so there will be no risk of having multiples.  Our Dr. is confident that one embryo is all we will need and transferring more than one is a risk that we don't need to take a this time.
With all the technological advances that are involved in this whole process an added bonus is that if we have more than one good quality embryo, we will able to keep any extra frozen so that if/when we decided to have a second baby (or for some reason the first one doesn't take), we will only have to go through the transfer process and not the whole egg retrieval process too.  Another bonus is that if there is more than one good quality embryo we will get to choose which embryo will be transferred, and with having the embryos genetically tested we will know the sex of the baby at the time of transfer.

I think that about explains what we are doing and why.  Here is the breakdown of how long this process will take:
Week of Sept 9th-baseline appt (ultrasound to check ovaries and uterus)
                             beginning injection medications-stimulating hormones to make multiple eggs grow
Week of Sept 16th: daily/every other day ultrasound and blood test to monitor egg growth
Week of Sept 23rd: Egg retrieval, once eggs have reach the appropriate size
                               fertilization will occur the day eggs are retrieved

Once eggs are retrieved and have been fertilized, we will know how many embryos we have and then all will tested. After testing we will know how many good quality embryos we have and how many we will have to choose from and freeze.

Transfer of embryo is tentatively scheduled for Late Nov or Early Dec.
Once my body has been able to rid its self of all the stimulating hormones and testing has been completed.

I'll be trying my best to update on the progress of everything!  We are hopeful, excited and little nervous to be going through this process and that this all be worth the effort in the end.


Courtney