IVF

One Baby and a Heartbeat!

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Today I am 6 weeks! This morning was our first ultrasound and we were able to see the little “nubs’ along with the heartbeat! Such a great feeling! Dr. Garzo said all the measurements were perfect and to come back in 2 weeks. That will be my last appointment with Reproductive Partners. Kind of sad! I am “graduating” to my OBGYN. Kind of exciting!

I am still lucky enough to say I haven’t had any morning sickness so far, just drowsiness and dizziness. I heard somewhere that when a women get’s bad morning sickness and sore breasts it’s because the Progesterone  and Estrogen levels are low. Who knows if that true or not but if my levels stay good then maybe I will soar through without any bad “side effects”. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself!

Tomorrow is Shane and my 4th Anniversary…What a great gift we have been given! We are headed downtown to try chef Brian Malarkey’s new restaurant Friday. Very eager for that!

The most beautiful number ever!!!!!!!!!

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My nurse called me today with my blood test results and…. I am PREGNANT!! YAY!!!!!!!! The first question I asked was “what was my beta?” The Beta Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)  is a hormone excreted during the development of an embryo or fetus. She  said ” well, we like to see a Beta of 50 of higher and yours is 307! Thank god…I am definitely pregnant. Then I asked her if I as having twins based on the high number but she said they couldn’t tell by that quite yet. So my next appointment is on September 8  where we will get to hear the hearbeat..and then celebrate our anniversary the next day!

I wasn’t really given any other advice other than to keep my excercise low impact and to stay away from sushi! Sounds easy enough 😉 I was also given the option to switch to Progesterone suppositories instead of the injections but I decided to stick with the injections, I have made it this far so why not? At least for a  few more weeks! I will keep this blog going throughout my pregnancy….ahh I can’t believe it’s real!

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock….

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It’s 4 days post embryo transfer and I have been on an emotional roller coaster. All the  wondering and what ifs are getting to me. I am doing my best to clear my head and remember it’s all the hormones in me but it’s hard to do. Tomorrow is my progesterone level test and I can’t stop thinking about what the results will be and what they will mean.  I don’t want to be around anyone other than a  few friends and family that know what we are going through. I feel like hiding out! That sort of concerns me, I don’t want to sink into a depression but that is sort of what it feels like.

I managed to get outside for a bit to read in the sun today , although it is HOT out there…would be a great day for a pool. In a few hours I am headed to acupuncture which is a very relaxing place to be.  I am looking forward to the Dr. giving me the OK for some walking. I think I would like to walk out by the water or even on the treadmill, I am hoping that will lift my mood. Don’t have much more to write about today. Going to work after my appointment tomorrow, maybe that will help take my mind off things!

A little bit pregnant…after egg transfer

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We had the egg transfer yesterday and it’s pretty exciting to know there is an embryo inside me trying to bury itself into my uterine lining!

Yesterday we got to the Dr. at 10:00 and met with the embryologist. She showed us all the fertilized embryos and how they graded them. That whole process is over my head . The bottom line was we have 6 blastocysts and 2 that were ready for transfer. So she asked us the question of the day…” how many embryos do you want to transfer?”  What a surreal experience, sitting in a Dr. office deciding how many babies we want. Our ultimate decision was to transfer just one. Just one baby for us…for now!  We are freezing the rest, total of 9!

The Transfer itself was pretty easy. The Doc did a practice trial first to map out exactly where he wanted to put nubs ( Shane’s nickname for our lil embryo) The whole process didn’t last long, no more than 10 minutes. They had me continue to lay down for 30 minutes before I was wheeled down to the car.

I find myself antsy and having a little anxiety during this time of bed rest. I want to get up and take a shower, sit in the sun but I am laying down on the couch and the bed trying to keep myself entertained. My parents came down and it’s nice to have them here. You don’t realize all the things you get up for during the day until you can’t get up anymore.  This 2 weeks is going to be a long wait I am sure and I need serious willpower to not take a HPT before the 2 weeks are up…Give me strength 😉

Egg Retrieval

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Well the hardest part is over, at least I hope so! The retrieval went a lot easier than I anticipated. We arrived at the Dr. office at 7:45 and by 8:10 I was given a morning cocktail as they prepped me for surgery.  The last thing I remember was hearing Jack Johnson ( i brought the cd to listen to) and telling the nurse about how Shane and I met. Next thing I know I am in the recovery room. Shane came back and waited with me for a few hours before I was released. He was bored out of his mind. LOL. Besides some cramping and feeling super tired I felt fine.
Before we left, the embryologist came in and told us that Dr. Garzo retrieved 16 eggs 🙂 12 mature,2 intermediate and 2 immature. She said that the 2 intermediate eggs may mature enough to be fertilized but the 2 immature ones most likely wont. 12-14 eggs….not bad! They are injecting the eggs with the sperm today and tomorrow  we will receive a phone call telling us how many fertilized.  They will also let us know when the exact transfer time and day will be.

I am still at risk for OHSS so they gave me some diet restrictions. Stay away from white flour and sugar. Increase my fiber intake and drink 4 cups of green tea a day. Guess I will be having caffeine after all. Oh and since I stopped my meds I haven’t had a headache! I am to take medrol and doxycycline today up until the ET. The medrol is a steroid hormone to assist pre-embryo implantation and doxycycline is an antibiotic.

I think that is all I have for the day. I wonder if this makes sense. My nurse told me not to drive or sign any important documents in the next 24 hours since I may not be alert enough to make sounds decisions.

Ha!

Side effects

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I am noticing some of the side effects from the cocktail of meds I am taking. The past 2 days have been hard. I have had a headache since yesterday morning, I am drowsy and pretty emotional. Some of this may be due to my caffeine withdrawals but I sure hope it gets better. I can’t imagine feeling like this for another week and a half!

I have planned out the next week, from dinners to workouts and the hubs and I are going to try a new yoga/stretch class at the Y. Hopefully all of it together will help if I do continue to feel poopy!

Day 1-3

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On the first day of my cycle I was told to call my nurse and schedule an appointment  for my baseline ultrasound and labs for the 3rd day of my cycle.  That was today. What is a baseline appointment you ask? The Dr. checked to make sure I didn’t have any cysts on my ovary and that my uterine lining looked good. I was given a thumbs up and the go ahead! Next they drew blood to check my FSH, Estradiol and DHEA levels. Can’t really tell you what they all are but if any levels are too high or too low they can adjust them with more meds…lucky me! I was also given a big box of Lupron and some birth control pills. The bcp are essentially going to help the Dr. take charge of my cycle. Once I am on the bcp for 1 week I will start the Lupron injections subcutaneously every morning until the egg retrieval. Lupron  is used to suppress ovulation. Once I stop the bcp in about 2 weeks  I will get another period. Once that happens we will go in for another ultrasound, blood draw and a lesson on how Shane gets to stick me with needles everyday.  My nurse said I don’t have to cut out caffeine, herbal supplements and alcohol intake until I start the stimulation meds oh and no more hot tub for me after that either! So I have a few more weeks with my vices before I go without them for 10 months..fingers crossed!

My journey with IVF

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I have made the decision to take the time to document our  journey with IVF. IVF is short for In Vitro Fertilization, a fertility treatment where eggs are fertilized by sperm outside the womb. There are many different reasons a couple may need to go this route. Our story goes like this…the Mr. and I have been married 3 1/2 years and trying for baby for about 2 1/2 years. After a lot of Dr. appointments and such we learned that the Mr.’s sperm morphology ( the shape ) isn’t great. Here is a picture with normal and abnormal sperm. Notice the shape of the abnormal sperms head. This is our problem, these sperm cannot penetrate the egg.

So with this we were sent to a Fertility Specialist and Reproductive Endocrinologist  named Dr. Gabriel Garzo from Reproductive partners http://ucsandiegofertility.com/.  They have been nothing short of wonderful at RP and I couldn’t be more comfortable with our choice of Dr. and nurses.

I am not sharing this news with many people, just close friends and family of course. I don’t know how to explain the way it feels to not be able to get pregnant naturally. Shame, or embarrassment, I guess it a good way to describe it. It’s hard to talk about infertility  with people because you will usually get some nonsense back. “Oh you just need to relax” or ” just go on vacation” or “it will happen when you stop trying”. Nope, people we have done all this and now we know why it didn’t work. Science…DH sperm just can’t get the job done without assistance. It’s as simple as that!

So within the next few weeks our journey will begin and I would like to share it with you! I will admit I am nervous, but know in my heart that this treatment will eventually give me the baby I so badly want to love with all my heart!

So let’s venture through this journey together!