4th and Goal

Our transfer was on Sunday, March 21st at 8:30 AM. It’s weird to think that our future babies, maybe… possibly… were put into their mommy at this time! It’s also scary as hell to think that maybe they weren’t.

We transferred two embryos: one was an “8-cell Grade 1” (aka. Pefect) and the other was a “6-cell Grade 2” (aka. Near perfect). The procedure itself was just slightly painful. I found out that I have a tilted, short uterus and as a result had to have an ultrasound-guided transfer. This means that I was required to go to the procedure with a full bladder then they had an external ultrasound working on my tummy as the RE was placing the embryos in my uterus. This was only semi-interesting to watch, as I could barely tell what they were looking at during the ultrasound.

After the transfer, I was required to go on bedrest for the day of and the day after. I was pretty antsy just laying there for two days; however, it meant that I got to spend Sunday afternoon with my mother and all day Monday, with my hubby!

I also got all kind of treats from friends and family! I got lots of yummy food from my MIL including my favorite... coffee cake! I now have a sparkling clean house thanks to my mom, and am the proud owner of some new leggings thanks to her as well (which is pretty much all that fits at the moment). I also got to stare at two dozen beautiful tulips all weekend thanks to my dear friend, Yessica! And got to play with my new coloring books and modeling clay and look at my adorable egg basket filled with little goodies from my good friends Mara and Kary (read the note in the basket- it's the best)!

I also got tons of calls, texts, and Facebook postings all weekend and am so grateful for those as well! I think it’s pretty obvious that this whole IVF thing was just one large master scheme to get free food, gifts, and cleaning services! I’m so smart!

So for now, we just wait to see if it worked…. Get comfy little embies!!!!

Halftime Report

I recieved the call from the Embryologist with my "fert" or fertilization report. Here's the scoop:
They retrieved 12 eggs on Thursday. Of these, 10 were viable. Of the 10 viable eggs, 7 were fertilized!

My RE is opting for a 3-day transfer which means, the transfer is TOMORROW (Sunday, March 21st)!!!

Please wish us luck for a successful transfer! Hopefully my little embryos will get nice and comfy!

Hail Mary

So as most of you know, our E/R was this morning. Let me start by saying it couldn't have gone any better! I had my regular RE rather than that (insert word here) other one. They retrieved 12 eggs, and it didn't hurt a bit!!!!

Here's the play-by-play, if you're interested:

They prescribed me a Xanax which I took at 9:30 this morning. It didn't make me feel dopey, it just calmed my nerves a little bit (may I have 30 more of those please?!) Then we reported to the embryo lab where they checked both mine and Chris' IDs, checked us in and had Chris...... um make a deposit......

Then we went to the REs office where they checked my blood pressure and gave me an injection of something called Dilaudid (or something like that). Again, this didn't make me feel dopey it just made me a little drowsy and took the edge off.

My IVF nurse checked on me continuously until about 11:30 when my RE arrived. He numbed my insides (I'll spare you the details) and then took an ultrasound with a needle attached and used the needle to get to my ovaries and drain each "follie." These were drained into a test tube which when full was sent through a little trap door right in the exam room. The door connected to the embryo lab (pretty cool) where the Embryologist was on the other side collecting the test tubes and searching for eggs within them. (This whole time, I was wide awake and could see everything he was doing on the ultrasound screen. It was awesome!) This went on for about 15-20 minutes and then we were done!

My RE stuck around to chat with us for a bit, I hung out until I was able to walk on my own, and then we headed home. Since getting home, I've been sleeping mostly, checking texts, and of course chatting with my friends on The Bump. I'm still feeling okay and am just now starting to get a little crampy. My RE prescribed me some Tylenol 3 and said I'd get pretty bloated and crampy (fun, fun) and this is perfectly normal.

The Embryologist will call us tomorrow to let us know how many of the 12 eggs were fertilized (it is usually about 70%). Then they'll decide if my transfer will be on Sunday or Tuesday.

Thanks for all of the well wishes, thoughts and prayers! Please start praying that we have lots of successfully fertilized eggs, tomorrow!

Go!

So yesterday was… how shall I say it…. exhausting. I went in for another follie check and b/w and unfortunately had the mean Dr. again. She again said all of three words to me. And when I asked, “Am I ready?!” Her response was “Nope.” Wow, thanks so much for the details.

So I went to work and waited to hear the results of my labs….and waited….and waited….and waited...all the while checking my cell phone literally every 30 seconds. Finally at 3:00 or 3:30 the nurse called me with my lab results and… I promptly lost my cell phone signal. Again, it was an exhausting day (I'm not sure how my poor friend- we'll call her Mara- got any work done with me bothering her all day).

To make a long story longer, I finally connected with the nurse who said my labs looked “great” and that I could trigger on Tuesday (aka. today)! This means......... the retrieval will be on Thursday, March 18th!!!!

Here's hoping the luck of St. Patty's Day carries over into Thursday!!

Get Set...

So, I recieved my lab results from Thursday's labs and it turns out the stims were working too well. I think the idea is they don't want things to cook too fast, so they reduced my dosee of Gonal-F. (This means is one less shot a day, so that's a plus.)

I went back in yesterday for another round of labs and another u/s. Thankfully I had a nice RE for the u/s this time. I think he measured 6 or 7 follies in each ovary, so that's really positive. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite ready for the retrieval so I go back in tomorrow for another round of b/w and another u/s. The doctor called us yesterday with the lab results saying the reduced dose did the trick and I'm right on track. He didn't come out and say we can trigger Monday, but said if my labs look good tomorrow it's very likely we'll trigger tomorrow night!

Trigger= The medicine that triggers ovulation. Once you take this medicine, you are 36 hours from Egg Retrieval!

On Your Marks...

So, my first “follie” check this morning was less than climatic! I still don’t know my E/R date... I have to go in Saturday or Monday or both days for more “follie” checks and then they’ll determine my E/R date. Bummer. This is perfectly normal and in fact, the RE said I was responding to the meds the way I should be. So basically, I’m on track, but they need to keep monitoring me until right before the E/R and then they’ll tell me the date. It will be next week- I know that for sure- I just don’t have an exact date.

So as far as the actual appt… it sucked! I didn’t have my normal RE and the one I had was a….. (fill in the blank). She acted irritated that I was there, gave me all of two minutes of her time, and aside from saying “You’re responding to the meds like you should” gave me no other details. When she was done with the u/s she pretty much packed up and walked out. Nice to see you too (fill in the blank)!

The positives from the appt are that I am on track and she measured 10 follicles (future eggs), so that’s good. I’ll hear more details about my lab results and future appointments, this afternoon. For now, we just wait…..

“Off to the Races”

Those were my RE’s words this morning after my baseline ultrasound. Apparently it’s pretty common for women to develop cysts on their ovaries. If that’s the case you are required to stay on the meds a little longer in order to shrink the cysts. Well, for the first time during this god-awful experience, something has actually gone right… no cysts, thank you very much! So as long as my blood tests from this morning come back normal (as we all anticipate they will) I can start “stimming” tomorrow!

This means I’ll start taking the drug that will create multiple eggs. A friend at work- we’ll call her Yessica- keeps saying, “don’t you think you could just sprinkle on a little extra of that medicine just so we’re sure you have enough eggs”….. mmm hmmm she can help with my 8 screaming babies then! :)

I told my RE I was relieved there were no cysts as I am in a wedding on the 27th and any sort of delay in the meds would not really mesh well with that. His response was, “Oh, I hope to have you pregnant by the 27th. Even if you don’t know it then!” This is the first time in a long time that I’ve left the doctor’s office feeling so confident. Based on my lab history, the look of my ultrasound, and just my family’s background, I’m starting to feel really positive that things will work out.

I'll go in on March 11th for another round of labs and another ultrasound. If things look good, they'll schedule my E/R for the following week... fingers crossed!