Trying on hold

Soon after posting about going for our third try, we decided that we were going to put that try on hold. I hadn't been feeling well and decided that I wanted to feel normal before going through everything again. After a couple more doctor visits and couple of tests, there appears to be nothing physically wrong with me.  I must have been completely stressed out and/or the meds had me feeling off.  I've been off almost all of the meds for a month now and I have done a couple sessions of acupuncture to help my ailments.  I am happy to report that I am feeling much better and pretty much back to normal.
I am hoping to continue doing the acupuncture to help my fertility problems.  Maybe it will help with the success of another try.  In the meantime, we have not yet decided when to try again. We are considering the more natural route, or at least give it try. We are both taking some vitamins and supplements to help wth our respective situations. If nothing comes of that then we will go back to IVF.  So for now... normal life with no extra hormones.

Try #3

We went to our follow up appointment with my fertility doctor. And he didn't have much in the way of answers. Just possibilities. Possibly that even though the embryos have all normal chromosomes that they could not have been totally normal and that's why they failed to grow after initial implatation. Or another possibility is that I have auto immune reaction to the growing embryos and my body is shutting down the growth.  Or another possibility is that we just have bad luck.
Anyway, so I had more blood drawn to test for some possibilities. And I have been having some pain in my ribs and right side and I went to regular doctor and now she is looking at my blood work from my liver function test (that I had done because of one of the medications that I am, can cause liver damage) and she has me going to get an abdominal ultrasound to make sure my gallbladder and liver are functioning normally. Apparently high estrogen can cause gallstones.  And I have recently had very high estrogen.  Hopefully, I don't have any issues there because I don't need one more thing to deal with, with my misbehaving body.
My fertility doctor did give me a calendar for my next transfer date. December 9th.
Starting back with injections November 8th. So a few weeks away.  Only getting about 3 and half weeks without medication before starting up again.  This time my doctor has finally refined my estrogen situation so hopefully it will not get high again. And he is adding a steroid to my medication schedule right before transfer in order to help combat any auto immune issues.
Hoping that the third time will be the charm. If not I'm taking a long break before trying again.
We have yet to decide on the embryo. Doctor gave us the option of doing 2 this time because the quality isn't great.  Greg is still against 2 but we'll see what the doctor says.  He gave us also the option of thawing one seeing what the quality is and then if it's not looking good then thawing another one and transferring both.  I'm leaning towards that option but Greg is still not convinced. Also, I'm going to try not to pick the gender this time.  I'm not sure which embryos are which gender with these 4. I'm going to try to avoid finding out and making the gender a surprise until after the transfer or blood tests.
And that's what's going on with us and trying to make a baby.

Fail #2

Well it's official we have had our second fail.  Initially we got good results with the blood test.  Positive with a great number on the first blood draw.  Second blood draw was not great. Number went up but not enough.  Third blood draw number stayed exactly the same.  Fourth blood drop was a  significant decrease. Another Chemical pregnancy.  

Not sure why my embryos are implanting but not continuing grow after the initial implantation.  Hopefully on my follow up visit we will be able to look more in depth at what a possible cause could be, besides just bad luck. We only have 4 embryos left and they are the poor quality ones.  We have used up all the good quality embryos. And I'm reaching the end of my physical and emotional limit with these tries.  

Updates to follow after my next visit.  In the mean time we are enjoying our vacation in California!!!! 

Transfer Day

Its done! Our second attempt at baby #2 is complete, Transfer went relatively smoothly. Except for having to wait a hour for my bladder to fill up completely.  Last transfer my bladder was too full and I had to let a little out and then I still felt like I was going to burst. So this time I didn't drink as much water, but then invent full enough.  Then when my bladder was full enough, I had to wait 15 model minutes for the embryologist to be ready.  It's good thing they gave my a Valium to take beforehand. By the time I actually had the transfer I was getting sleepy and didn't care about anything especially my very full bladder. Transfer was easy and the embryologist said this embryo was looming better than the last one and she gave it extra time to grow and expand.

Now it's the dreaded 9 days wait for my first blood draw. Hoping for better results and higher numbers than last transfer. 

Thankfully, my mom is here to help entertain Alex.  She's has so much engery and I've been trying to relax and think positive.
On a side note, my estrogen levels finally got down to normal

5 days and progesterone started

I had my mid cycle ultrasound and blood work done a few days ago.  Ultrasound went great. Uterus is looking great again. So great that my blood test showed my estrogen is higher than the doctor wants it. He dialed back my estrogen medication dosage and had me go back for more blood work a couple days later. Well, that blood test showed my estrogen hadn't changed at all, so estrogen medication was dialed back a little bit more and back for more bloodwork tomorrow. I suspect that the doctor will knock down my dose again but we will see.  

Today I started the dreaded progesterone injections. Definitely my least favorite. But my thighs where I give myself my first set of injections are started to looked very spotted and bruised.  Along with my arm from all the blood draws.

Feeling over all better since being on the antibiotics. I think the extra estrogen has been contributing to my headaches though.  Hoping that once my levels get to normal(ish), I'll feel better.

In the mean time, looking forward to cooler weather! 

Also, a fun fact, when I have my transfer on the 26th will be exactly 3 years from when I had my egg reterival.  I'm hoping that is a good sign.  That egg reterival was the beginning of this process and that was successful.  Wish me luck!! 

Second try in 9 days

I have been late at posting that I have started my meds for this second try.  My transfer is in 9 days. I guess that makes me over the half way point of this cycle. The first injections have been going well except I nicked a vein on one injections and gave myself a large bruise.  Good thing it has cooled down here and I don't need to wear shorts. I tried to do the patches again but the name brand instead of the generics that I used on the last cycle. And ended up having a similar skin reaction but less severe. I was switched to estrogen pills, both oral and suppositories.  I start the dreaded progesterone injections next week.

On top of all this stuff, I also had a bacterial sinus infection. I was having serious headaches, neck pain and face and ear pressure.  Got some antibiotics and I am feeling better.  But that added 2 more pills to my daily bunch. That's 9 pills a day that I've been taking.

Really hoping this cycle results in a positive because I don't want to go through all this again.  It's been much harder these last two cycles then when I did all this stuff the cycle I got Alex from.  I didn't have nearly these kind of side effects. 

So finger crossed!!!!

Ready to Try Again

I had my follow up appointment with my doctor yesterday and he says that it was just bad luck that my transfer didn't work.  He decided to have me redo some blood work that I did in 2013 before I had my transfer with Alex, just make sure nothing has changed, like my thyroid, etc.  All those tests were normal 3 years ago and he doesnt expect them to different but it's more a of precaution before doing another transfer.
Which brings me to another transfer.  Going to try another transfer on September 26th. About 6 and half weeks away.  Enough time for my body to get rid of all the previous hormones and start over. And my lower back to recover from the bruises from the progesterone shots.  And my belly has some extra time to recover from the patches. Back to starting shots this month on the 26th. And going to try patches again but a different brand and hopefully I will not have same reaction.
We will again only opt for a single embryo.  The risk of twins with transferring two embryos is still 50% and that number is too high for Greg.  Which is fine with me because I do not want twins either. We only want one more child. With that being said, we are not sure if we will choose a male embryo (since 2 failed this time) or have another girl (since we had success with one already). That is to be determined at my baseline ultrasound.

So fingers crossed we have better luck this time both with the medication and with little embryo sticking!!!

Fail!

Monday I had my second blood test for my HCG level and it doubled.  Which was fantastic news.  Even more than little more double, it went up to 19.  So we had some hope that the embryo was growing. Today I had another blood test to see if my HCG doubled again. Unfortunately, it did not. It went down to 14. That means this is the end of this try/cycle. Doctor told me to stop all my medication.  Now we wait. I have an appointment with my doctor next week to discuss trying again.

I am disappointed to say the least. We lost 2 good quality male embryos in this cycle. And I went through a lot with the medication this time. I suppose that when a person goes through IVF they can't get lucky every try.  So this is our fail. And I am hopeful that next time will not fail.  We still have 5 embryos frozen. Although we only have 1 good quality embryo and then 4 fair quality.

I'll update next week after my doctor visit

First Test Results

Yesterday, I had my first pregnancy blood test. After waiting 6 hours for the doctors office to call me with results, I finally called. And results are Positive! But the hcg level (the hormone tested by home pregnancy tests) was only 7.6. The nurse said anything over 5 is considered pregnant. 7.6 is extremely low. With Alex my first blood was in the 70's. So while there is a little hope that this embryo stuck and is growing, the chances seem pretty low. I'm still on all my meds and I have another blood draw on Monday. We will be looking for a at least a doubling of the first number for this to be a viable pregnancy.
So more waiting! Not really looking forward to more waiting. Even though if I had a higher number we would still have to wait but I would be less anxious.  I feel like I'm in limbo. It's not good news but it's not bad news. I feel like this is worse than bad news. With bad news I could have planned our next step. But now it's a really big waiting game. And probably going to have multiple blood draws even if the number does double.
Update after get results on Monday!
Hope our little embryo is a fighter and a late bloomer!

Day 6 after transfer.... Waiting....

It's been almost a week since little embryo was transferred. Waiting is the worst part of this whole IVF situation. The waiting leaves room for hopefulness and dread.  I have very little "pregnancy" symptoms.  And any of these symptoms could be contributed to the medication or me just hoping I have symptoms.  Also, I have plenty of time to google every little thing and outcome.  Which also gives me hope and dread. Still have about 4 days until my first blood test and then a few days after that the confirmation blood test.

After my transfer, I was not required to be on bed rest like I was last time. Dr said there is no evidence to show that bed rest improves your chances of successful implantation.  Though this idea seems to vary by Doctor.  But with my mom here for a couple days after transfer to help with Alex, she required me to be on bed rest.  Though I still moved around more than last time.  Hard not to with a toddler running around.
My skin is recovering quickly from the estrogen patch disaster.  I still have red spots but the blisters are gone.  And the itching has gone away. Side effects from the pills and suppositories are minimal.  I had to have blood work done a few days after transfer to check my estrogen levels. My levels were higher than the doctor wanted so I got to cut back a little bit. One less pill is nice when I am taking about 7 pills. Progesterone injections are about the same.  Not great! But nothing to be done there.
Overall, feeling good and normal. Just going a little crazy waiting.  I think I am more impatient with the waiting this timethan last time. Just have to make it to the end of the week.

Transfer

Transfer has happened! Everything went relatively smoothly.  We transferred one hatching blastocyst! Meaning that little embryo was starting to grow and move out of it protective shell. The embryologist was really excited about the progress the little guy was making. So that made me very hopeful.  Especially because we lost one embryo in thawing.  It arrested/stopped growing so they had to get another embryo out of storage.

While at my transfer the nurse and Doctor both saw how bad my skin was reacting to the estrogen patches.  It was bad, I had lots of red blisters from the patches and I was incredibly itchy.  I thought maybe it was because I was the generic version of the patches.  Last time I was on the brand name ones and only had slight reaction to the patches.  Just red spots once removed, no blistering.  But anyway, dr said to get off all patches and he switched me to oral pill and vaginally suppositories (yes, you did need to know that). Since getting off the patches my skin has been recovering. 

The dreaded progesterone injections are still not great. I have a back full of bumps and bruises.  Those are to be expected.

Now it's the waiting game! I hate this part!

One more Week until Transfer

I went to the doctor a couple of day ago for my mid cycle ultrasound and blood work check. I started using estrogen patches to boost the lining of my uterus, in order to make a nice comfy home for my little embryo,. Ultrasound and blood work were all good.  Lining is looking exactly as it should and hormones levels are at the appropriate amount.
The only bad thing is that I seem to be having a worse reaction the estrogen patches then I did before. Either my skim has gotten more sensitive or the adhesive the generic brand the pharmacy gave is different. Either way, my belly, where the patches are located, is so itchy and the patches cause these lovely red spots when i remove them.  I have remind myself this is worth it and only temporary. Hopefully I will be rid of these patches sooner rather than later.
I do start the dreaded progesterone in oil injections tomorrow. These are not fun and kind of painful. But with the way these patches are effecting me, I feel like the injections will not seem so bad.
I am excited and nervous about the transfer next week. I'm hoping for the same luck we had the first time, with Little A. Really hoping that we will not have to do another cycle after this and little embryo will stick and thrive.
Please send sticky baby dust this way! We need it!

For photo updates, I post updates on my instagram account @cmgnoel
for those that are interested in those.

Until next week....

Back at it again

Its been awhile since I've updated this blog. Having a baby and now a toddler seems to use up lot of my free time. I'm definitely that cliche mom that can't use the bathroom alone. Let alone use a computer for more than 2 minutes without my helper. But anyway...
We have decided to try for baby number 2.  Which means going back through a frozen embryo transfer) cycle. Started with my consultation back in Feburary and a hysteroscopy back in March. Everything was good so I was good to go for the transfer. Only problem was that my fertile doctor was moving to a new office during the months I was hoping to have the transfer so we had to wait until late July.
I started in late June with my Lupron injections. Small needle in the thigh with medication to shut down my ovaries.  No need to ovulate this cycle. Also I'm back on metformin, medication that I was on for my last cycle to help regulate the PCOS symptoms. And this week I started with the estrogen patches. Starting with one patch and working my way up to 4 patches at one time.  Thankfully, side effects from all these meds have been mild to none. The patches irritate my skin when they are removed. So eventually I will end up with a belly covered in red squares.  That happened with my last cycle so I expected it.
As of today, I am 2 weeks away from the transfer! Getting excited and nervous! I have one more appointment next week to check them lining in my uterus to make sure it will be suitable for the embryo to nestle into. And then I will begin the dreaded progesterone injections.  Not looking forward to those. Big needle in lower back and the progesterone is in oil and takes forever to injection.  I'll be getting help from Greg on that one.
We are planning on only transferring one embryo again. Since one embryo worked out last time we are hoping for the same success. But with a boy embryo this time! Hoping to give Little A a baby brother.
I will try to be good about keeping the blog updated again through this process.


As for an update about Little A, she will be 2 in just over a month.  Time has been flying by! She full of sweetness and sass. She talks all the time and has an amazing vocabulary. She is about average/normal size for a 2 years old. She has curly blonde hair and she gets Shirley Temple references all time when we are out. She loves swimming, climbing, playing with her stuffed toys and  our cats. Who don't appreciate her play very much. She had 2 really good friends, but one has moved back to Germany. Her other friend, we make YouTube videos with. You can check us out on our Secret Parent Club channel.
I am hoping that she will be great big sister but she still gets jealous when hold other people's babies or play with other kids. She is however a little helper, even when her helping isn't very helpful.