Looking good

I went and had my blood drawn again yesterday to make sure things were progressing in the right direction. Here are yesterdays numbers......

HCG: 2,563
Progesterone: 219.2

It's a wonderful feeling to have everything progressing the way it should. I do feel better about everything, but until I see that heartbeat (or beats) I won't be able to feel at ease about this pregnancy. I haven't decided if I should go back on Friday or just wait until Tuesday to have my levels tested again. To me, next week is the big test. The last 2 times, week 6 is when things started taking a turn for the worst. If we can just get through next week, I'll be able to take another weight off my shoulder.

I can't wait for the first ultrasound!! It's scheduled for April 9th, our 7 week mark.

I also found out that I have a UTI. This is my first one and they are not fun! The office called in some antibiotics for me, so I'll start taking those today.

No doubt about it!

I finally had my blood test today. It's funny because I've already had 2 positive HPT but it wasn't until I could see what my levels were that I would really start to get excited. I had my blood drawn at 7:30am and was expecting a call around lunch with the results. But I didn't hear back from them until 3:00pm!! At least the news was excellent; a very positive test.

Here's the break down:
HCG: 340 (min. range 50-100)
Progesterone: 181.7 (min. 15)
Estrogen: 1382: (min. 300)

The progesterone and estrogen were so high that they wanted my to stop taking them. I'm a little nervous about that based on my previous history. But I have to remember that these levels are really high and my body is doing what it's supposed to. They want me to come back in 1 week and do the blood work again and have an ultrasound in 3 weeks. I talked to my nurse and told her about my concerns with levels suddenly dropping and I convinced her to let me get my blood work done on Tuesday and Friday of next week. :)

I do feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders today. I can relax a little, but I'll still be really nervous until our ultrasound in 3 weeks.

Here are the HPT from Tuesday and Wednesday. It's amazing how much darker that 2nd line got in just 1 day!

I couldn't wait any longer to take a home pregnancy test and look what I got today!!!! I still have to get my blood test on Friday and that will help determine my HCG levels, but this is a huge relief!!

I've officially been impregnated!!

The big day finally arrived and we had our embryo transfer on Monday. We had 2 embryos that were grade 2 with at least 6-8 cells, so they decided Monday was the day. The whole process was really quick and pretty painless. In fact, it was very similar to an IUI, but done in an OR with a creepy table and huge stirrups. We got to watch on the TV as the embryologist sucked up the embryos into a catheter and brought them into our room. That was pretty neat to actually see them. They gave us a picture of them to take home with us. How neat to be able to see how human life starts out. Hopefully one day we'll be able to show that to our kids! They wheeled me back to the room and I laid flat on my back for 45 mins. and then we went home. They recommend you stay on modified bed rest for at least 24 hours and I had no problem doing that.

It's weird that I can say I did IVF and it's all over. I can't believe how fast those 6 weeks went by!!!! Now I just have to survive until the blood test on the 19th!

All those shots led up to this.......

I had my egg retrieval yesterday and everything went pretty well. I was really nervous about the pain of the procedure, but the anesthesiologist was amazing and I didn't feel a thing. I did have a heard time waking up from the anesthesia (like always) and it took us a couple of hours to leave. The nurses were wonderful and gave me two doses of anti-nausea and some good pain meds. Unfortunately I still got sick and managed to punk twice before we left, once on the way home and twice at home. Gotta love being knocked out! Once I was home and resting, I started to feel much better. Chris is a great nurse!

The dr. came in and told Chris that they got a total of 11 follicles. A little less then I thought, but they said it was still a great number. This afternoon I got a call from the nurse and she said that out of the 11 follicles they got, only 7 were viable. Based on what they saw from the sperm sample the embryologist decided to do ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection; www.advancedfertility.com/icsi.htm) and injected the sperm directly into the 7 eggs. They said they have a 75% fertilization rate so we were only expecting 5 eggs to fertilize. I was pretty disappointed because even if they fertilize, there's still a chance they won't all make good embryos and even less of a chance they'll all freeze in cryo. Luckily we have the best embryologist and they were able to fertilize all 7 of them! The nurse said the chances of that happening were very low and we were very lucky to have that happen.

So tomorrow I start taking a new batch of various pills and progesterone gel. I'm schedule for the transfer on Monday, but it may get moved to Wednesday; depending on how the embryos look. Here's to thinking good baby thoughts!!!!

Retrieval set for Friday!

I got good news when I went to the dr. today; we're doing the retrieval on Friday!!!!! I have 14 follicles that measure over 14mm, the minimum for retrieval and most of them are at 16mm-20mm. I can't believe it's finally here! I gave myself my last shot tonight at 8:15 and we have to arrive at the surgery center at 7:00 Friday morning. I'm looking forward to tomorrow; the first day in 3 weeks I won't be injecting myself. The dr. reassured me that this would be a pain free and fairly quick process. It's crazy to think that by Monday or Wednesday of next week we'll be doing the implantation. Hopefully I'll be sharing more good news on Saturday when I get the fertilization report.

Horrible Weekend

This past weekend I caught that terrible stomach virus. I spent the first 14 hours vomiting, every hour! The next 36 hours were spent with awful stomach pains, the need to vomit but couldn't and extreme headaches. I have never been this sick in my entire life! I was very worried that being this sick would somehow interfere with the IVF process, but luckily my doctor said it would have no effect on it. The really crappy thing about being this sick and doing this at the same time is that you can't stop giving yourself injections. I remember hugging the trash can and having Chris prep the syringe for me so I could quickly inject myself beofre vomiting again. Not a pretty picture! I was so sick on Sunday that I wasn't able to go to my dr appt or get my blood drawn. I'm so glad that I have an understanding dr and she let me wait one more day before I had to get off the bathroom floor and come into the office.

Monday's visit revealed some unexpected info.....we were very close to the retrieval date. We picked up 3 more follicles and they were all growing very well. The uterine lining looked nice and thick and my estridol levels were progressing nicely. Based on that info, the dr. thought we might be doing the retrieval on Friday morning! She wanted to see me back on Wednesday to do another ultrasound to be sure.

Appt. Update

I just got back from the dr. and things are looking pretty good. I have 8 follicles ranging in size from 5cm - 7cm and 1 big one that is 12cm. The dr. was happy with the way things were going, but was a little concerned about the 12cm follicle. She said when one big one forms they tend to steal all the hormones needed for the other ones to develop and grow. Once they get the results back from the blood work, they'll adjust my meds accordingly. She said they might increase my meds a little so the other follicles can keep growing. My next appt. is Sunday morning and hopefully things will keep progressing the same way.

So far, I feel pretty good. I was a little worried about going in today because I haven't felt anything. I've been reading blogs and forums from other people and most of them all mentioned feeling their ovaries getting bigger. I was afraid there wouldn't be anything developing. I guess they're either more sensitive or just a bunch of babies.

It caught me off guard by how uncomfortable the ultrasound was. They're usually pretty uneventful, but today's was noticeably more unpleasant. I would imagine that they're only going to get more uncomfortable as my ovaries get bigger and bigger. Yeah.......

Here we go

I went to the dr. this morning and today we did the baseline ultrasound, uterine measurements and checked for cysts. (I must say how much fun it is to get an ultrasound done while your currently on your menstrual cycle.) Luckily for me, Dr. Hansard is amazing and super quick about it. I really like that the doctors do all their own ultrasounds because they're really quick and efficient. Everything looked good, no cysts and nothing out of the ordinary. So tonight I get to start taking Gonal-F, the ovarian stim. drugs. Due to some annoying issues with the insurance company, we had to switch from Follistim to Gonal-F. The meds still haven't arrived, so the office is giving me one of theirs to use until mine finally decide to arrive. This med is a little different then the one they trained me on, so I had to go through injection training all over again. I am a little nervous because it's a pretty high dose and if I already find 10cc of Lupron to be uncomfortable, how am I going to react to all this?!! And now I have to give myself a shot in the morning and one in the evening.........my stomach already looks like a pin cushion, I can't imagine how it's going to look and feel after 2 shots a day. I'm seriously thinking about having Chris give me the Gonal-F injection in back of the arm and I'll do the Lupron in my stomach. I just have a hard time trusting someone else to inject me, especially since I have to relinquish my control. Any way, so I start that tonight and then I go back on Thursday for a blood draw and another ultrasound. Hopefully everything will be moving along nicely and we can hurry up and get these injections over with!!

This isn't my picture, but it's almost identical to what I have to take:



If you're really bored, here's the video they recommend I watch:
http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/resources/gonal-frffpen.jsp

A little background.....

I guess it would be helpful if I added a little back ground about how we got to this point. This can get kinda boring so I'll just give the bullet points.

• ’98 first unofficial endometriosis diagnosis, started on birth control pills

• April ’01 had first laparoscopy, official endometriosis diagnosis
o Start 6 months of Depoe Lupron injections, alternate with 6 months of birth control pills

• Oct. ’01 got married

• ’03 came off all meds, started trying to get pregnant

• Oct. ’05 first positive pregnancy test
o Miscarried at 7 weeks
o Unknown reason for miscarriage

• Oct. ’06 second positive pregnancy test
o Miscarried at 6 weeks
o Unknown reason for miscarriage, suspected progesterone issues

• Nov. ’07 sent to infertility specialist
o Diagnosed as ‘unexplained infertility’
o No insurance coverage

• Dec. ’07 start Clomid, first IUI

• Jan. ’08 Clomid with IUI

• Feb. ’08 Clomid with IUI

• March ’08 Clomid with IUI

• May ’08 2nd Laparoscopy
o Stage 3 Endometriosis confirmed

• July ’08 Clomid with IUI
o Determine that IVF would be our only chance for successes
o No funds available

• Dec. ’08 Start birth control pills

• Jan. ’09 Start researching adoption
o Attend multiple orientations

• Feb. ’09 Start adoption process with LDS Social Services

• Oct. ’09 Get health exams for adoption stuff
o Diagnosed with Hypothyroidism
o Start daily meds

• Oct. ’09 Husbands insurance change
o Added to his plan
o Some infertility coverage

• Nov. ’09 Confirm details of insurance coverage
o Schedule with fertility clinic again
o Adoption stuff put on hold

• Dec. ’09 Meet with fertility doctor
o Stop birth control pills
o Start IVF cycle as soon as I get my first period

• Jan. ‘09 Attend IVF seminar

• Feb. ’09 First official IVF appt.
o Base line ultrasound
o Mock transfer
o Start meds


*And this concludes my history with infertility. =)

Lupron - the 1st shot

Saturday morning finally arrived and I was a little annoyed I had to get up early on a Saturday. The Luron must be taken in the morning and at the same time every day. Since I leave my house for work at 6:50am every morning during the week, I now have to get up at that time on the weekends. I gathered all my supplies, Lupron vial, alcohol wipes and syringe and headed back to the bathroom. The funny thing was that I was actually a little giddy about this and was really excited to finally get this going. I picked my spot on my stomach where I would be injecting and wiped it with an alcohol wipe, wiped the top of the vial with a wipe and took the cap of the needle and stared at it for a few moments. Then I inserted the needle and drew up the meds, 10cc worth of hormone goodness. I pinched my stomach and got ready to insert the needle, but I found myself just staring at it in the mirror. The stupid thing is I had to pump myself up and say out loud, I can do this, I can do this. After chanting that a few times, but quickly jammed the needle in my stomach and injected the meds. And surprisingly, it didn't hurt! I spent some much time dreading and worrying about it and it wasn't even that bad! I CAN do this!!!

Sunday and Monday were pretty much the same. I find that I have to pump myself up before I can inject the needle. Sunday's injection didn't feel very good, but I think it's because I'm still figuring out the technique. I do alternate between the right and the left side and I the right hurts more then the left. Hopefully I'll get better at this over the next few days! And the excitement has defiantly worn off. This isn't 'fun and new' anymore and I'm counting down the days until I don't have to be a pin cushion. Sadly, I know that next week is going to be even worse; 2 shots a day, blood draws every couple of days and v. ultrasounds. The fun is just beginning.........

The first official appt.

On Friday we went back in to the dr. and had our official first appt. We did another ultrasound (which I should be used to by now, but I'm already sick and tired of having those done!) to make sure the girls looked good and were ready for this crazy ride. After that quick visit we meet our IVF nurse face to face and she was going to do our injection training, go over all the legal paper work, talk about our schedule for the next few weeks and go over all the meds. I first have to say that I love my nurse Kelly! She understands my obsessiveness and the fact that I call her all the time to clarify things doesn't bother her.

Today she brought us good news about the the dreaded intramuscular injections. Apparently as of last week, the entire clinic has officially stopped using progesterone injections and has moved solely to a gel. Yeah, no shots in the butt!!!! The alternative is kinda gross and apparently really messy, but who cares, no shots!! I was so overjoyed when she told us that and I really felt much better about the whole thing. The other good news is that the other injections for the Lupron (hormone suppression), the Follistim (ovarian stimulation) and the Ovidrel (ovulation trigger) are all going to done with an insulin needle, so they'll be really small. She showed us how to draw up the meds and to properly measure it out and she let me practice on this weird thing that was supposed to represent skin. Overall, it doesn't seem to hard. I found myself feeling my better about everything and can hopefully put my big freak-out from last night behind us. The doctor also decided to move up our schedule 2 days and we're going to start the Lupron injections on Saturday instead of Monday. Yeah!

That afternoon, half of the meds arrived via FedEx. It was a little overwhelming to see all those syringes, especially since I was going to be sticking everyone of those in my stomach! But I have to remind myself that thousands of people have to inject themselves with insulin everyday, heck even kids do it. If they can do it, I can do it.

Here's my tentative schedule for everything:

Feb. 13 - start Lupron injections
Feb. 17 - stop birth control pills, continue with Lupron injections
Feb. 22 - Dr. appt., base line ultrasound, mock transfer, start Follistim injections, continue Lupron injections
*while taking Follistim, come into the office every 3 days for blood work and v. ultrasound
March 4 - Ovidrel trigger shot, stop Lupron and Follistim injections
March 6 - egg retrieval
March 8 - start Progesterone gels, start oral meds
March 9 or March 11 - embryo transfer
March 20 - pregnancy test, stop oral meds, continue with Progesterone
April 2 - if positive test, first ultrasound and depending on lab work, continue with Progesterone

The dreaded injections!!!

When I first found out we were actually going to be doing IVF, to say I was over joyed is an understatement. I never in my life ever thought I would be able to say "I'm doing IVF" and I still get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. But, there was always this awful word that scared me to death; INJECTIONS! To be honest, there have been times when I thought I wouldn't be able to do this because I hate needles!! In doing some research about IVF, I found out that there would be daily injections and half would be subcutaneous (just under the skin) and half would be intramuscular (in the muscle, in the butt!). On average, most people's IVF cycles are around 6-8 weeks long and during that time, you have to give yourself multiple injections everyday. I did a little math and calculated I would have to give my self around 55 shots!!! That really freaks me out!!!



Most people dread coming home from their vacations, but I was really dreaded coming home from our cruise because that next day we were meeting with the dr. again and getting injection training.

The first few days

I'm starting this a little late, but it's better late then never. In January, we meet with the fertility doctor again and sort of ironed out our plans. The first step was to wait for my monthly visit before we could start any meds. The clinic had found that women who come off all their meds and have one 'natural' cycle before starting treatments, have a higher success rate then those who don't. And for the first time in my life, it was late! We were a little pressed for time because we were going on our first cruise Feb. 6 and I did not want to worry about any of that while on vacation! She finally showed up 2 weeks before the cruise and we were finally able to get started. The next step was to start birth control pills..... I know that sounds a little counterproductive, but they want to make sure they control your hormones and you didn't spontaneously ovulate. So I started my pack on 1/25/10and will take them for about 3 weeks. We scheduled another appt. to meet with the dr. again the day after we get back from our cruise to go over more dates and to do the injection training. The more I think about it, the more our cruise was well timed. It was wonderful to relax and enjoy our time together before I become a hormone enraged psycho-path!

Welcome

I started this blog so I can write about what it's like for me on this crazy journey through IVF. I wanted to create a separate blog so I can get a little more detailed about things and not worry about who was reading it. I also felt is was important to document all my thoughts and feelings so I can look back on them and remember what we went through. Plus it's always nice to be able to express yourself and sometimes it just feels good to let all of your emotions out. I hope you enjoy.....