Embryo Transfer!

    My husband and I were very excited for this day! We talked about how amazing it was that we had 8 eggs and we couldn't wait to see what the future held for each one of them. We didn't think once about the eggs not surviving fertilization, we thought we were in the clear. Well we were greeted by our embryologist, who delivered the devastating news that only 1 embryo made it to our day 5 transfer:( She did inform us that we had another embryo that was lagging behind that we could put back as well. She let us know that there was a good chance that the embryo could catch up while in the uterus, so of course we decided to give the embryo a chance. We were then escorted to the OR for the transfer and we were allowed to take pictures during the procedure.
       I was awake during this procedure, it was kind of felt like a pap smear. I did take one Valium before entering the office to help with relaxation. I did laugh at one point, which was funny to watch on the ultra sound. My husband held tightly onto my hand, until I finally told him that I was okay. When our doctor was finished he came over and gave us hugs with well wishes.:) At this time everyone left the OR and it was just the two of us. It was a nice relaxing time for both of us to just talk with each other and of course say a little prayer for our little embryos.
         Once we were out of the OR they made me go to the bathroom and get dressed. We were allowed to leave whenever we felt comfortable and at this point I was starving:) We made it home safely and I slept for the next 4-5 hours. When I woke up my mom  had arrived with my favorite chicken and noodles! We loved having visitors during our bed rest, which we did almost 48 hours. Luckily we have netflex and movies to keep us busy. We both love to sleep too, so of course that helped:) We are now in the dreaded wait until our first Beta HCG blood test, 10 days after our transfer. So we just ask for lots of Prayers for our one embryo to stick and for our second embryo to catch up. We both have struggled this entire process about freezing our embryos, so we feel like our decision was made for us. We were both upset at first, but quickly realized that God always has a plan. We just pray for our little embryos to stick around for at least 9 months;)

Embryos update:)

     Saturday morning, the day after our retrieval, we received a call from our embryologist. She let us know that we had 16 eggs retrieved, but only fertilized 14 of them. Out of the 14 embryos only 8 survived he fertilization! We both were so happy to hear this, because we didn't want to have to many or too little embryos! We are going to put back 2 embryos back and freeze the remaining 6! We just praise God for this amazing journey and beautiful outcome. We also found out that we are doing a 5 day transfer, which is what we both wanted. The 5 days between the retrieval and transfer will give my body time to heal, so our 2 embryos can snuggle in nicely.
   Also the day after the retrieval I started on estrogen and progesterone vaginally twice a day. I have to be on both of these medications to keep my hormone level up, because before the retrieval my levels were very high. Each follicle produces estrogen and progesterone, which helps with egg development/ uterus wall thickness. We won't the best possible uterus/endometrium for the embryos to be transferred into, so they won't want to leave:) I still feel bloated, but love that I don't have anymore injections at this time.  Now we just wait until egg transfer on  Wednesday September 10th at 8:15am:) We just ask for continued prayers for our little embryos to keep growing and for a smooth embryo transfer:)

Egg Retrieval!

     The day we have been waiting for, Egg Retrieval time:) it feels like time passed quickly and slowly all at the same time! Is that possible? I had given myself 30 some injections by this time, so I was more than ready for this day! We can't say it enough, we have been so blessed during this journey. We checked in exactly at 6am on Friday, September 5th. We had to fill out paperwork and meet the staff who would be taking care of me during surgery! At this point I was getting very nervous about the anthesia, because I have never had surgery before and I felt like I was losing control.  Here is my before surgery picture...

   
      I was only able to sleep around 4 hours! I was just anxious and of course the first football game of the season was the night before:) The surgery itself only took about 15 minutes, but we  were there for a total of  2 and 1/2 hours. The first hour of being there was filling our paper work and getting my IV put in. When they wheeled me back to the OR, my husband went to do his part;) He still thinks his participation in this whole journey was harder than what I had to do, but don't worry I set him straight! Lol! Once in the OR our embryologist( the person in-charge of fertilizing our eggs) asked my name again and I was out! I woke up about 15 minutes later with a snack and drink waiting for me! Our doctor and embryologist both came in to give us the great news...16 EGGs were retrieved:) Our doctor  also stated that everything looked perfect and expects a good transfer! We were both so happy, because this just means there are 16 eggs to work with, not 16 babies. While waiting to go home I felt great, until I went to stand, I begin to feel nauseous. I was able to fight through it and made it home safely. I slept most of the day and only puked once. I wasn't able to take the pain medication that was prescribed, because every time it made me sick. I even ate full meals with it, it just wasn't my friend. I just took Tylenol every 4-6 hours and slept a lot the next few days. The only complaint I have is abdomen pain/tenderness, but I think it's because I'm constipated:( I had read so many blogs that said to take a stool softener, but I didn't listen. I am now 3 days out from the surgery and still having constipation pains. I honestly believe I only had pain from the surgery on Friday and the last few days have been from not going to the bathroom. I'm not allowed to take laxatives or anything that acts like a laxative, because you need all the water to stay in your body. I keep thinking this shall pass too:)

My Last Injections!

     On Wednesday September 3rd at 7pm I gave myself my last 2 injections:) The last two injections were the HCG trigger shot, which allows my body to ovulate. Ovulation won't occur until 36 hours after giving the injections, so they had to be time perfectly to when my surgery was scheduled. Our nurse called Wednesday afternoon to go over the day of surgery information and when to inject the trigger shots. My surgery was schedule for 7am on Friday September 5th, but we had to be there at 6am to check in!

   
     The last two injections were subcutaneously in my abdomen, like the previous injections. For some reason both of these shots hurt and made me bleed. I feel like it was my punishment for my last shots, haha! I felt sharp pains a few hours after receiving the shots, so I just rested the next 36 hours until surgery day! I didn't want to ovulate on my own, because then this whole process would have been for nothing. I have only heard of a few people that ovulated all their eggs before their surgery. I figured taking it easy would hopefully help my body stay calm:)

Our Ultrasound Checkups:)

       Our first follicle checkup since starting Stims was on August 30th, 6 days after starting the medications. Our first appointment before starting the stimulation process showed that we had several on the right and left measuring around 6mm. Our first ultra sound on medications showed a growth to 11-12mm, which is exactly what we needed. The follicles should grow around 2mm per day. The nurse counted 12 follicles so far, which is perfect. At first I was disappointed, because you hear about all these women who have 17-20 follicles. I asked a million questions, because we only plan on doing this one time and we want a baby:) The nurse stated that more follicles can grow and they hide behind each other too. I know you may think I'm crazy for wanting so many follicles, but the more follicles, the more eggs we have. The more eggs we have the more chances they will survive. I would just hate to have only 6 eggs retrieved and then maybe only one actually gets fertilized. There is still a lot that needs to happen for all of this to work. We need lots of prayers that our egg retrieval goes well and that our eggs are able to be fertilized!! Once the eggs are fertilized, they are called embryos! We need the embryos to keep growing, so they can be put back into the uterus to grow into beautiful babies:)

      Our Second Stims ultra sound/ blood work was today, day 8! I was so nervous about this one, because my husband was not able to make it. I just feel better having him with me and he keeps the attention off me for a minute. I also had a nurse that I have never had before, but I got thru it! The ultra sound showed 17 follicles!!!! Almost all of them were measuring 18-23mm, which they are considered mature at 18mm. This was amazing news! The nurse kept counting/measuring and stated everything looked perfect. We are ready for the egg retrieval!! She said the cervix, uterus, and ovaries were looking good. There was nothing to worry about at this point, so we can schedule the egg retrieval for FRIDAY!!! I injected my last Lupron shot this evening and in the morning I will finish Menopur and Gonal-F. I will inject Ovidrel tomorrow evening, which will allow the eggs to finish maturing for egg retrieval! The surgery has to be exactly 36 hours after this shot, so I will be given an exact time tomorrow to inject this medication! I am so excited and scared! It seems like it has gone by so fast, yet it's been months! Please just keep us in your Prayers as this journey has just begun!

Stims days 1-8:)

       I am currently on day 8 of stims and I am just starting to feel uncomfortable. My husband and I were both scared of what could happen during this time. We both had read several blogs stating how much pain they were in and how they were ready to give up. I can say that we have been blessed so far. My complaints seem so small, compared to what I thought it was going to be like. At first I was scared to give myself injections everyday, but now I don't even hesitate to stab myself with a needle. The Lupron and Gonal-F are very easy medications to inject. The Gonal-F comes in a ready to use syringe, so all I have to do is dial to 150units! Now giving Menopur was a bit of a struggle to get use too. Menopur is a vial that I have to dilute with Sodium chloride, which causes it to burn when injecting. I will be very honest, I HATED this medication at first, but then quickly got over it. I figured the burn only last about a second and then I can go about my day. The needle for the Menopur looks bigger than the other needles, but in reality it is actually the smaller of the three meds. The key to injecting Menopur is to dissolve everything fully, make sure you have no air bubbles, and inject slowly.
      My complaints so far are complete exhaustion, bruising, and bloating that showed up today, day 8! My new found exhaustion is killing me!! I am a go-getter and always wanting to be doing something. I can barely keep my eyes open and all I want to do is sleep! It's crazy, but I will take it. I believe everyone's experience with Stims is different and we were just blessed with an amazing experience so far.

Just giving injections in my car before work one morning;)

Stims Medications!

   I started my follicle stimulating medication on Monday August 25th. I inject Gonal-F 150 units and Menopur (2 vials the first two days, then 1 vial a day thereafter)  in the morning around 8am. I am still injecting Lupron in the evenings around 7-8pm. I also take a Prenatal, Synthroid, and a baby aspirin per day. It was very difficult to figure out how to fit all of these medications into one day, because I have to separate each medication out. I finally have a rythmn where I take the synthroid in the morning with my injections. The prenatal and baby aspirin I try to take with my lunch, so I can have food on my stomach. The injections in the morning have to be given exactly 12 hours apart from my evening dose, because Lupron stops my body from ovulating to early. I will be on these medications for 8-12 days, depending on my follicle development:)
     Once we are given the green light I will inject both syringes of ovidrel, which causes my body to ovulate 36 hours later. My egg-retrieval surgery will be schedule exactly 36 hours from Ovidrel injection!! The next/last step is embryo transfer, where they will put 2 embryos back into my uterus:) Embryo transfer will hopefully be 3-5 days after egg retrieval! We both just pray that my body reacts well to the medication and that we are able to at least have one good embryo:)

Our First Appointment!

     Our First appointment we signed our consent forms, blood work, and ultra sound. The consent forms were a little intimidating, because there was so much to decide/sign. We had to decide if we were going to freeze the embryos that we didn't use or throw them away. I had already decided that we would freeze the embryos, but my husband was struggling spiritually about the decision. My husband was concerned about having "babies on ice". He didn't think it was something that God wanted him to do. The nurse left us alone to discuss, which before this day we had talked about it a million times. I explained to him that if this doesn't work the first round, I would want to try again. I also explained that the frozen embryos would be given a chance to live. If we were blessed with 6 embryos, then We would put every single one of them back into the uterus to hopefully survive. We are only aloud to put back 2 embryos per cycle. My husband then voiced his opinion about how we should only try this one time. His reasoning was because if God wanted this for us, then it would work the first time. Now before this day, my hubby had not researched anything concerning IVF. He was just going on whatever everyone else had told him. I explained that our RE will take the eggs out and place the sperm inside the egg, but he doesn't make the embroyo stay inside of me. God decides if my body is ready for a baby or not. The doctor doesn't make me pregnant, he just gives us the highest chance of becoming pregnant. I also stated that throwing away embroyos, was never an option for me. I believe if we were blessed with that many embroyos, then they all get a fighting chance. Once my husband understood exactly what we were doing, he signed to freeze our embroyos:)

      Next we both had to have blood work done! I had to have about 4 tubes of blood taken and My husband only had 2. They were checking for diseases, infections, and my estrogen/progesterone levels to make sure everything was in good shape. Everything came back perfect and we were ready to start the stimulating process, but first an ultra sound...
      Our first ultra sound was to check the lining of the uterus and that my ovaries were at complete rest. Everything looked good and were had some follicles forming. I had 4 in my left ovary and 3 in my right. All were measuring around 6mm, which we were told was perfect. A follicle is what produces the egg each month and they look like dark fluid sacs on the Ultra Sound. They want them to get to a size of at least 18mm and then they would retrieved the eggs inside:) After the Ultra sound we went over my medications I would be starting for stimulation/Stims process of IVF!

      

Birth Control & Lupron Injections:)

       I started Birth control on July 20th, which was day 2 of my menstrual cycle. I was taking the medication in the evening to try to help with the nausea, but I still had nausea hours after taking it. I took this medication for a little over 5 weeks.
        August 15th I began injecting 10 units of Lupron between 7-8pm at night. I will continue injecting this medication until we are ready for the egg retrieval. Lupron stops the body from ovulating to soon, so it allows the other medications to boost up my egg supply!! I inject in my abdomen and I really have had no side effects from this medication. I'll be honest it has been the easiest injectable medication so far. I stopped taking birth control on August 22nd and we had our first ultra sound that day as well....

How we came to our Decision!

       Our decision to do IVF was not a quick decision. From the beginning of this journey I kept saying I would do anything, but IVF. I didn't want to believe that we couldn't  have babies the "natural" way and I didn't want to mess with my hormones. When our second IUI failed in June, our doctor called us into his office to have a serious talk. He stated that both IUI were "Text book perfect", there was no reason for the failure. He gave us 3 options at this point;

1.   We could try another IUI, but he only gives us an 8% chance of it working. An IUI only has a 10-20% chance the first try and decreases with each month:(
2. Laparoscopic surgery to just look around at everything to see if everything looked normal and that I don't have endometriosis. 
3. IVF

   We knew we didn't want to do another IUI, because we couldn't take another month of no baby. We didn't like our odds of 8%. My husband really wanted me to have the minor surgery to see what we were dealing with, but as the doctor explained it would put us back a few months from getting pregnant and we would end up doing IVF anyways. It took us a good 2 weeks before we called the doctor back to tell him our decision to move forward with IVF. We also told him we didn't want to have the transfer until at least September, so it would give us time to relax before the madness started! Our insurance will pay for 80% of our IVF cost and all of our medications. Knowing this information also helped with our decision, because why go thru another IUI or surgery if you going to end up here anyways?! We would be wasting more money and still have no baby! We feel very blessed that our insurance is paying for majority of our cost. We were really thankful when we received one of my medications that cost us $50, but insurance paid $3,000! It just amazes me that insurance companies are still not wanting to pay for it. I know it cost a lot of money, but the outcome of a beautiful baby is worth it:) So our decision was made to begin the process...

Our IVF Protocol!

   IVF protocol is different for every patient and every clinic. The RE will decide what works best for each patient individually, so to prevent over stimulation! Here is how our cycle will go...

•         7/20-Started taking Birth Control pills, on day 2 of my menstrual cycle. I have to take BC to help relax my ovaries and hopefully prevent hyper-stimulation from occurring. I stopped the BC on 8/23!

•         8/15-Started injecting Lupron (10 units) at 7 pm everyday!  Lupron is prescribed to prevent ovulation during the stimulating phase. I have to be on this until we are ready for the egg retrieval. 

•         8/25-I will be starting Gonal-F (150 units) and Menopur (2 vials) injections in the morning at 7am. Both of these medications will stimulate my healthy follicles to produce lots of eggs. 

• 9/4 or 9/5-Egg Retrieval day! This day can vary, depending on when the follicles get to 18cm.
• 9/9 or 9/10-Egg transfer day! This day will be 5 days after the egg retrieval, so it could change!

    We have appointments everyday starting August 30th. Our RE will monitor my estrogen/progesterone levels and my ovaries by ultra sound! They are looking for each follicle to be the size of 18cm, which they are currently at 6. I have 4 follicles on the right and 6 on in my left ovary. Follicles are the fluid sacks that produces the eggs. During a normal cycle most women only produce one egg, in one ovary.  If they starting getting to big, our cycle will be canceled. This is the reason for daily ultra sound and blood work checks. We don't want to hyper-stimulate and have to start all over again.

Our TTC Story:)

         Lets start from the beginning of our journey! I am 27 yrs old and my husband is soon to be 31 yrs old! We have been together for 7 years, but only married for 2. We decided together that we would just let things happen when we got married. I was secretly hoping we would get pregnant right away:) Well of course 4 months go by and still no pregnancy. We decided that in January we would really start putting effort into having a baby..like looking at a fertility calender! Well we ended with a BFP on March 11, 2012, but we miscarried alittle over a week later:( We had an appt. with our OB the following Monday to make sure everything was fine. After this appt. we were very optimistic, because we had gotten pregnant so quickly! Our doctor suggested to keep doing what we were doing and follow up in a few months. My husband and I did take sometime to grieve, because we still felt sadness/disbelief that this had happen to us. We were told by so many that getting pregnant would be a breeze and don't stress about it! Well our story was different...

         About 3 months later I missed one of my periods. I was then diagnosed with PCOS, because I had multiple cyst in my ovaries, that wouldn't allow me to ovulate! I questioned the doctor multiple times, because my periods have always been 28 days apart and duration of 5 days! I don't have any characteristics of PCOS, but I just trusted my doctor. We were then put on a medication, Clomid, to help jump start ovulation. This medication taste terrible and actually stopped me from ovulating completely. We did 5 rounds and then decided to see a Fertility specialist.
   
      Our first appointment was in February and I will never forget his reaction to us. Before I could even speak our RE asked if he could do an ultra sound. He confirmed that I do NOT have PCOS:) This discovery was good/bad, because now we don't know why we can't get pregnant:( We are now classified as unexplained infertility?!! My husband was tested and has lots of sperm, but low motility! We tried another oral ovulation booster, Letrozole, but no success! We then proceeded on to IUI procedure, which we failed twice! We were only given a 20% chance from the beginning, but we still had hope! Our RE doctor only gave us an 8% chance of an IUI working a third time. He says your chances go down each month you do the procedure:( So now here we are...IVF bound:)

Welcome!

Welcome to our Page!

    My husband and I wanted to start a blog for our family, friends, and anyone who needs a little guidance! We both love to write about things we are passionate about, but by no means are we amazing writers! So during the journey we will post pictures, updates, and our feelings from day to day! I hope you enjoy our blog:)