2 Embryos Frozen

The doctor called this morning to let us know that we have 2 more embryos that made it to the blastocyst stage and have been frozen. That is excellent news and gives us a shot at a future child if this pregnancy results in one baby! Very happy news...

I was driving today and thinking about what a crazy experience IVF is... it truly is unlike anything I have ever been through in my life. I was thinking about what I have learned and what advice I would give someone just starting the process. Obviously this is just based on my situation, but I thought it would be interesting to share, so I picked 3 key things:

1) Be organized! I literally have an IVF binder that has tabs separated into different sections: medications, receipts, financing/expenses, test results and misc. The binder goes to every doctor's appointment with me and has helped me stay on track and keep all the necessary paperwork in order! I always can find any paper I need and when you are going through IVF, anything that can keep stress to a minimum is awesome.

2) Find a doctor you absolutely trust. If are beginning the IVF process, hopefully you already feel very comfortable with your doctor, but if you don't, think about changing. Chris and I both love our doctor and the whole office, which I think is so important. Because IVF is unlike anything else you've been through, you really have to place a lot of trust in the staff at your doctor's office. I have never once questioned whether the staff (doctor included) cared about me or had our best interests at heart.

3) Share your story. This will be different for everyone. For me, it meant writing this blog and letting everyone we know into our journey. That was our choice. That might not be for everyone, but even if it isn't, find one or two people besides your partner you can share your journey with. Obviously communicating with your partner during this time is essential, but sometimes you just need an outsider's view or support. Finding that is really important.

Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now. Just a few thoughts! Thanks to everyone who is pulling for us!

Transfer Complete!

Our transfer this morning went great! The doctor said our embryos looked awesome and called it a "perfect transfer". I'll take perfection any day. The procedure itself was uncomfortable for me, but not too painful. We literally watched the embryos head into my uterus on the ultrasound screen. It was a pretty emotional moment for us. Not many people actually get to see the moment their embryos  enter the body so I guess I will count us lucky. I couldn't be more thankful that this process has gone so well! We will get a call Wednesday or Thursday letting us know how many embryos were frozen but it looks like we will have 3-4, which is good.

Hilarious story: as we are waiting for the nurse to take us back, Chris asked me if they have been playing classical music for the embryos during these "formative" days. He said, "they better not be playing any Lady Gaga, I don't want our kid to come out weird". Such a thoughtful dad already. ;-)

Below are some pics chronicling our trip today!

This first pic is of Chris' stylish outfit. The shirt was an extra-medium but the pants were HUGE! 

Here we are! So excited!!!

Isn't he adorable?

The gun show! 

Our embryos, the best and brightest! ;-) 

The petri dish where our embryos have been hanging out the past few days. Yes, we got to keep it. 

I've never been so willing to get up early on Sunday!

This morning I got a call from the doctor that our transfer was going to be cancelled for today and postponed until Sunday. While I am anxious to get it over with, this is actually great news. As the doctor said, it really is ideal to wait until the embryos are in the blastocyst stage because they have a much better chance of implantation and pregnancy rates are much higher with frozen embryos at this stage than earlier.

So this is really encouraging news. I'm not sure how many embryos we still have, I just know that my doctor wouldn't have us wait unless it was the right thing to do! On Sunday we will put 2 embryos in and then freeze the remaining embryos. We will know exactly how many we have frozen on Sunday.

It really seems that everything that could go awesomely, has. This is super exciting for me, and of course makes Chris even more worried. Opposites attract you know!

Sunday morning Chris and I will head to the doctor's office. We cannot wear anything with fragrance including lotion, cologne, perfume, aftershave, hairspray etc. So we will be au naturale and the embryos will be put into my uterus using a catheter similar to the one used in IUI. We will be in a clean room for the procedure. After the embryos are injected, fluid will be run through the catheter and that fluid will be examined under a microscope to make sure both embryos left the tube and are in my uterus.

And then... we wait! For two long weeks! I truly thought I would feel a lot more anxious about that wait than I currently do. I think that after waiting for a year to even get pregnant, and starting IVF back in early June, two weeks really doesn't seem like that much time. I'm looking forward to August 6th when we will get the most exciting news of our lives!

The following is a picture of an embryo at the blastocyst stage:

Nontuplets!!!

Amazing news today! As you know, yesterday 10 eggs were retrieved from my ovaries. Typically, half of the eggs fertilize putting us in the 4-5 range. Today my doctor called to say that 9 eggs fertilized! It's truly amazing and we feel very blessed. 

The next step is transfer. Because we have quite a few fertilized eggs, there's a chance my doctor will wait until Sunday to transfer. The longer you wait, the better chance for implantation but there is also a chance of losing embryos along the way, which is why you have to have a lot in order to wait. I have a tentative appointment on Friday at 10:30 for transfer and the doc will call by 8:30 am to let me know whether I come in or wait till Sunday! 

The prayers are working, keep them coming!! 

Great News!

Hello all! Today was a very big day and I apologize its taken me so long to get the update ready. This morning Chris and I went for our egg retrieval. On Sunday night I gave myself two shots to get our eggs ready to release. The timing of the shot had to be perfect, 15 minutes early or late and the entire procedure would have to be changed. Nuts! Monday was a day off from any meds, a welcome break!

Today started with a valium before we left the house before 7am. When we got to the doctor's office they gave me a lovely new outfit and IV (see pics). I got some more pain meds through the IV and was relatively knocked out for the procedure which only took 15 minutes. The doctor used a needle to enter my uterus and suck the eggs out of my ovaries. It wasn't painful during the procedure but I had a lot of cramping after. They gave me a vicodin to ease the pain which kicked in on the ride home. I kept telling Chris how awesome I felt!

I fell asleep as soon as we got home and slept for much of the day. After the vicodin wore off I was able to take some tylenol to ease the cramping. While I finally feel pretty good at 10pm, the doctors say that I will continue to experience some pain and cramping for the next few weeks.

SOOOO the great news is that we retrieved 10 eggs! My doctor said that is his favorite number because it's not too many and it's not too few. Maybe he tells that to all the ladies but it certainly made me feel good. Tomorrow they will call and let us know how many eggs were successfully fertilized. He said it is usually half so 4-5 would be a reasonable expectation.

Embryos will most likely go back in on Friday although it's possible it won't be until Sunday. I am feeling really good today because this procedure was the scariest part of this whole process. It was definitely the most unknown and therefore the scariest for me. I'm so glad it's over! Really, at this point, everything is pretty much out of my hands. I don't have to worry about shots anymore, and even though I will be taking some meds for the next few weeks, the worst is over.

I feel completely confident that we are going to get great news on August 6th! Thanks for all the prayers, please keep them coming!

It's about to get real up in here!

Just got back from my doctor's appointment, First let me convey that I am incredibly tired due to the fact that I saw the AMAZING Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 last night at midnight. So if this post isn't quite as coherent as usual, it's due to sleep deprivation.

First of all, GREAT NEWS! My doctor said there are 8-12 really good eggs and even more smaller ones. That is awesome. Everyone at the office commented on how well my body is responding to the meds. So what does that all mean? Well first of all it apparently means lots more side effects. Any time now I should start feeling crampy and bloated and that should last a few weeks. Awesome. But I'll take it if it means that this process works!!!

I will continue with injections tonight and tomorrow, doing 2 each session. On Sunday I will take the Ovidrel shot that releases my eggs. It must be timed perfectly. More than 15 minutes late and I have to call and change the timing of the whole procedure. Nuts! Monday I get a day off and then Tuesday will be our retrieval day. I take a vicodin in the morning and then they will further sedate me when I get there. We will obviously know on Tuesday how many eggs were retrieved, but on Wednesday we will find out how many fertilized.

Based on the number and quality of eggs fertilized, transfer will most likely be Friday but possibly Sunday. Regardless of when eggs are transferred, we can take a blood test Saturday Aug. 6 to find out if we are pregnant!! After transfer, the insanity doesn't stop. I'll still be taking daily meds (I won't go into details... just know that it's not pretty)... but it will all be worth it when we see 2 pink lines!! Finally!

Keep the prayers coming!!!!!!!!!!

Moving Along

Good morning all! Just got back from the doctor with good news. He said my uterus is responding well to the medication and I have 7-8 follicles (or eggs) developing. I was hoping for a few more, but he said they looked great. He gave me the medication schedule for the next few days. I'll be doubling up and doing 2 different injections on Thursday and then I head back for another ultrasound on Friday.

The Friday ultrasound will give us a clear picture about when retrieval will be, but he said if everything goes as scheduled we will be retrieving eggs a week from today!!

I'm going out of town this weekend on a work trip with MK so I'll have to take a lot of injections with me, but I shouldn't have any problems.

So all in all, good news and the process continues!!

I've never been so excited to use needles Post 11

This  morning was my second ultrasound and we got good news! The doctor literally said that my uterus and ovaries looked perfect and he couldn't ask for anything more! Yay! So what does that mean? Well, I am off birth control now. Friday I will be able to start injections. I have the treatment plan for the first four days. Then next Tuesday I go back for another ultrasound. Based on how my eggs are developing they will give me a treatment plan for the next few days. If everything goes as planned, I should be doing egg retrieval the following Tuesday (the 19th). That means beginning of August we should know if we're pregnant!

I am so excited that we finally get to start the injections. While I am definitely not excited about sticking a needle in myself on a daily basis, I am excited that the show is finally getting on the road! With injections though, there could be some serious side effects. Some women experience OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome). This means I could look pregnant, and feel really nauseous. It doesn't happen to all women, just some. It will definitely be an interesting experience to see how the medications affect my body. 

Feel free to comment and ask any questions you might have! I'll do my best to answer them!