First u/s

Went in for my first u/s this morning. They just wanted to check my lining to see if those God-awful estrogen pills were working. They need it to be 8mm thick to to do a transfer, and I was only at 6.8mm :( So... guess what! I get to take MORE estrogen pills! Except now I get to take not only the 4 orally I already am, but now take one vaginally in the morning and one in the evening!

I go back Friday for another u/s, so I hope this helps... what a girl won't do to get her baby!! :)

ETA: Oh, and I added the picture above last night... it's a picture I took at our family's cabin on a lake up in South Dakota. I love it up there, it's so serene and beautiful at sunset. I can't wait to get back up there this summer.

Blah!

Well since I've been taking these estrogen pills, I have been nauseaus on and off all day! Ugh! Yesterday was particularly bad, as I have finally got the the highest dose I will be on, and that was rough. I finally called my RE to see if there is anything she could give me or I could take for the nauseausness... she said there have been several people calling complaing of that (so I'm not the only one! :) Since I take 4 pills a day, she suggested taking 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening... and so far today, I'm not doing too bad! Finally, I don't feel like gagging every 5 min!

Oh, and she did mention that if we get pregnant this cycle, I will have to stay on these estrogen pills for several weeks into the pregnancy, so I better get used to it! Oh, GREAT! :)

I go in for my first u/s on Monday morning, so I'll be back to update then!

Here we go again!

My cycle started today, so here we go again!! I called my RE and told them we are going to do a FET... so she told me what will happen. They will prescribe me Estrogen pills I have to take for the next few weeks, and I start tomorrow. Then on April 27, I will go in for an u/s to see how my uterine lining looks. That is when they will also start the thawing of the embryos. They will give me updates as to how many survived the thaw, and then how they are growing. They have to grow to a certain size (blastocyst stage) before they will transfer them back into me (usuaklly 5 or 6 days after thaw). So she said transfer will probably be that first weekend in May, if all goes well! Then I have to start the progesterone shots again (yuk).

So I went and picked up the estrogen today to start tomorrow! I just pray we get some good blasts to survive the thaw and grow into one of our children!

New Plan

I talked to my Dr. on Monday to get some answers... my progesterone level was excellent (those shots helped afterall!), my estrogen was very low (but would have been with a negative pregancy test) and my hCG level came back at <1.

So then I talked to the gal that handles the insurance at the office and talked to her about what this next step would cost us. Now that we have hit our family deductible, our insurance pays for 90% of fertility treatments! Woo hoo! So after discussing it, Tommy and I decided to go ahead and start this next cycle and do a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET). I have to call my Dr. when Aunt Flo starts up, and she will prescribe me the estrogen pills I will take. So no shots! Until after the transfer... but more on that later.

Today will be a very busy day here at the office, we are down 2 people, and when there is only 4 people to start with in the dept, that's a lot! So it will be good to keep me busy!

And The Results Are...

...negative. I couldn't belive it... My RE called me this morning at 9:15am. She said she was flaberghasted that one didn't take, but sometimes it happens. It was the perfect, textbook IVF cycle... we are heartbroken. I told Tommy after I got off the phone and he was so upset, he started to tear up too.

She did say we can try a FET next cycle if we want, as soon as my period starts. We might do it, we might wait a month. I just don't know if we can take much more bad news anymore. This month marks the 2 year anniversary of us trying. I'll update more when we made a decision as to what we will do next. We won't let this get the best of us... we were MEANT to be parents!!!

Thanks for all your support and prayers xoxoxox

Great News!

My RE called today and left a message on my home phone today... out the 8 remaining embryos that we did not transfer, 7 of them made to freeze! So we have a total of 11 frozen! That is AWESOME! So when and if we need to go through this again, we can dethaw a couple embryos and do a transfer that way (called FET - Frozen Embryo Transfer).

Just had to share the good news! :)

BUSY!!!

I am SOOOOO thankful I have been super swamped at work! Doesn't that sound strange?!?! I haven't thought much about the test on Sunday, so this is a good thing... it's actually going by pretty quickly!

I did break down and test yesteray night, only to see if the trigger shot was out of my system, and since it was a snow white negative, it is out now. So if I do decided to test early, it will be a "real" positive, and not a medically induced one!

OK, back to work! I'm buried!!

Everything A-OK!

I had blood drawn this morning at the hospital to check on my progesterone and estrogen levels, which are necessary to sustain pregnancy. My estrogen level was great! Progesterone was a little lagging, but they didn't sound worried. I just have to keep taking those fantastic progesterone shots in my butt every night... woo wee, those are fun! :)

I got in for my beta (pregnancy test by blood) a week from today... Easter! I'm hoping there is symbolism in that Easter symbolizes new life, that I too may be starting a new life. It's going to be a loooong week!

It snowed today!! There was a huge snow storm that swept across South Dakota and Nebraska, but thankfully we didn't get anywhere near what they did out west. We got maybe 2" and it's so wet, that it didn't stick on any of the pavement. I was worried if I would be able to make it in today to get my blood work done! My tulips, which were starting to come up, I hope will make it too.

Ah, the ever changing spring weather in the midwest!

Transfer!

Sorry I did not get to update yesterday on the egg transfer, but I was confined to strict bedrest yesterday and Tommy was very adimate and me not getting up unless I had to pee! So here's what happened yesterday.

I woke up at 6:30am with Tommy, he went to work for a little while, so I got up and took a shower. Dr. Doherty called about 7:45am to talk to me about my babies. Out of the 10 ones they let grow in the lab, she said 4 of them looked reeeeally good. Since I had so many good quality ones, she said we should only transfer 2. She said she wouldn't be surprised if both of them stuck (gulp) because of the quality. I took my Valium about 8:30, and have been drinking like mad all morning, to have a full bladder when I got there.

We got there at 9am, and was doing OK when I got there. I got changed into my sexy gown and hairnet, and Tommy had to wear a shirt, pants, hairnet, mask, and booties so he could join me in the OR. By 9:30, Dr. Doherty still wasn't there yet, and I was in sooo much pain. I was getting all hot, crampy, just absolutly miserable because of my bladder! FINALLY, the nurse came running in to tell me the Dr. was there! I couldn't even stand up straight it hurt so bad! And I had to walk all the way down to the OR! So hunched over, I held on to Tommy with one arm, and my crotch the other (I was sooo afraid I was going to pee!), we made it down to the OR... Dr. Doherty was at the end of the hallway cheering me on. When we got there, she handed Tommy a picture... of the 10 embryos that were doing so well!


As I finally got down to the OR, they had me lay on the table, and put my feet in the stirrups... but I couldn't even straighten up because my bladder was contracting so bad. So Dr. Doherty emptied some of my bladder, and what a relief that was! Whew!!!! So then I could lay down, Tommy was on a stool sitting by my head. There were I think 4 other people in the room. The ultrasound nurse did the u/s on my belly, while Dr. Doherty did her thing down there. It was totally painless and felt much like a pap smear. It was litterally done in 5 min. Maybe less. Then, bless her soul, Dr. Doherty emptied the rest of my bladder...... that was the BEST feeling I think I have ever felt in my life. Wow, that was something else!

I was then wheeled back down to my room, and was instructed to lay there for 1 hour. After the hour, I had to pee again, so I did, and got dressed at the same time. The transportation gal came up next and they loaded me on a cart (I have to lay down this entire time). She wheeled me down to the front door of the hospital and Tommy brought the car around. I walked to the car, loaded myself in the backseat to lay down, and off we went. We got home about 11:30am.

So I've been a queen ever since... having food, drink, whatever I needed brought to me :) Too bad it's only gonna last a couple days! I have to go back Sunday morning for more bloodwork to check my levels. Of course, at 7:30am... ugh.

Now our mission: pray like hell at least one sticks!

Transfer is set!

The RE office called this morning to give me an update on our little guys, and she told me they are at "Code 1" stage, which means 1 or more have hit all the milestones for Day 2. She couldn't tell me how many exactly, I don't know if she knew!

So we are scheduled to do the transfer tomorrow at 9am. My Dr. will call me in the morning to discuss how many we will transfer. I was always thinking 2, but Tommy said let's do 3. We will see what my Dr. says. It will really depend on how many look good!

I am supposed to have a full bladder when I get there, as the bladder helps to push the uterus down and gives it easier access for the Dr. to place the embryos. Also, they gave me a prescription for Valium! She said to take one on the way to the hospital tomorrow. Me on Valium, relaxed and all, and with a full bladder. This should be interesting! :)

I will update again tomorrow after the transfer to let you know how it went! :)