We are a go for Transfer!

So I had my uterine lining check yesterday and everything is perfect! They want you to be at 8 and mine was a little under 11 - so that's really good! That being said the embryo transfer will take place on the original date they gave me. We are started to get really excited! I'm also a little scared but more excited than anything!

I start my progesterone injections tonight (I have been warned by my nurse these are the worst out of all injections so we will see....and then will continue these along with the estrogen injections until 8-10 weeks pregnant (fingers crossed!)

I will post again next week - that will probably be my last post for a while as I want to take time to either deal with the happiness or the sadness without having people constantly ask me about the results. Either way at some point you will all know the outcome!

Let's Get This Show On The Road

So last Friday I had my Pre FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) appointment. They did the usual bloodwork and ultrasound and everything looked as it should at this time. This appointment is what gives you the go ahead to start medications again…YIPPEE. I had my first Delestrogen injection that evening and this will continue every 3 days until I’m told to stop. I have elected Jon to do these injections (since it’s intramuscular in my lower back and just easier to have someone else do it) and thank god – but he is the best at this – I barely feel anything at all! As far as side effects I was sick last week so I cannot specifically attribute this to it but I had a little nausea on Saturday and I definitely had gas and bloating and last night had hot flashes (which for anyone that knows me I am ALWAYS cold). Nothing horribly uncomfortable though. 

A side note apparently a lot of these fertility drugs are becoming harder and harder to get - I had to jump through hoops to get the Delestrogen (CVS is the worst BTW) and the Progesterone is having to be mixed by individual pharmacies so these are costing way more than they should because the pharmaceutical companies just aren't making enough of it. These should be generics that at the most cost about $20 - each vial has cost me anywhere from $75-$95 WITH INSURANCE. Something is so wrong here...

So I continue this protocol until my next appointment which is December 14. At that point they will do bloodwork and ultrasound again and if everything looks good we will add in Progesterone injections. Stay Tuned!

The Results are In...

So we finally got the PGS results....

We have a perfect embryo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other one did come back as abnormal but I am so trilled we have one perfect little frozen eskimo.

Let's Play the Waiting Game

So we are still awaiting the PGS results of our 2 frozen embryos. It has been approximately 2 weeks and 3 days and I am GOING NUTS! We were told it could take anywhere up to 3 weeks so I emailed my nurse and am awaiting word back from her. I am hoping with the Thanksgiving holiday we will have them by tomorrow at the latest. Either way I haven't been sleeping too great and I've been severely irritated/uneasy - I know its a mixture of the stress of waiting on these results and the hormones but I don't like feeling that way at all.

In the meantime I have been on birth control for about a week and a half now to make sure I don't ovulate this cycle. Never thought I'd be taking that anytime soon! My body has been all sorts of out of whack with all the hormone fluctuations and once we get news about our embryos I can proceed with the next step of the process which is getting ready for the transfer. The good ol' needles will start again and guess what...they are ALL intramuscular (they will go where the trigger shot went - lower back on either side). They have you take estrogen every couple of days and then start adding in progesterone once it gets closer to the transfer date. Oh and another great part - the cost of this phase was NOT included in our initial IVF fees (in case you end up with no embryos they don't charge you until after but they didn't tell us that) - so now we have to pay an additional deposit and cost of the new medications. Make it Rain!

As far as the actual transfer date I am deciding to keep that a secret as we really don't want to be in a place where we have to tell people the good or possibly bad news on the given date where they do the blood test. We want it to still be a surprise to most of our friends and extended family and honestly if things go the other way we will just need time to grieve. So either way you will all know at some point and I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.

So my next post will hopefully be with happy news on the embryos but in the meantime here is an article I read the other day and I think it's worth a read!




http://community.today.com/parentingteam/post/to-the-girl-with-baby-on-her-christmas-list

Embryo Update

Sunday I woke up feeling REALLY uncomfortable. I still cannot complain though as I wasn't in any real pain at all during or after the procedure so I'll take it!

Day 5:
2 of the embryos are biopsied and frozen because they have already reached the blastocyst stage which is amazing! They are both graded A by SGF which means they appear to be perfect to the embryologist. The 3^rd is still growing so they will check in again tomorrow.

Day 6:

#3 is still growing very slowly. They will give it one more day to see if it reaches blastocyst stage.

Day 7:

#3 didn’t make it to the blastocyst stage.

Overall we ended up with 2 Grade A embryos. I am happy because they couldn’t be more perfect at this point. The biopsied cells are being sent away to be screened doing what is called Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) Testing. This will test to make sure the embryos are chromosomally normal which rules out a TON of possible issues a child could be born with. We elected to do this at this point because it lowers the chance of miscarriage and will ensure a better chance of a chromosomally normal child.

The results of this test can take anywhere up to 3 weeks. So now we wait and pray!

Next up - waiting for my lovely aunt flo to make a visit so I can start getting my body ready for the embryo transfer!!

Egg Retrieval

So the past few days have been a whirlwind of ups and downs. I ended up having my egg retrieval Friday morning and honestly it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. They put me to sleep and it ended up being about a 10-15 minute procedure. I had minimal pain/discomfort that day – which I was really shocked about considering they go in and use a needle to aspirate each follicle in my ovaries! They told us that day that they retrieved 7 eggs total. Not the best number but not the worst either. I went home and rested the entire day and the next morning received the update call around 10am. I found out that out of the 7 only 4 were mature eggs and out of that 3 of them fertilized. Needless to say I was UPSET we only ended up with 3 out of the 7. I cried most of the day because I thought we would be in a better position at this point. My parents came over and that helped ease my pain. It really does help to be surrounded by such wonderful people and most of my friends contacted me throughout the day to see how I was doing. I was dreading the update call on Sunday…I woke up and actually started baking to take my mind off of it. I finally got the call around 12pm that all 3 embryos are growing as they should be!!! I am beyond relieved they are progressing and growing cells. So now we wait until Wednesday when the next update call comes – this will be day 5 and they should be considered blastocysts at this point. At that point we should have a good idea if we can PGS test/freeze all the embryos or not.

Trigger Shot

Last monitoring appointment was this morning!! Big celebration!!!

Everything looks good so tonight I will be getting my trigger shot (HCG) at 9:15pm. This will get my body ready for ovulation in order to prepare for the egg retrieval surgery which is scheduled for 9:15am Friday. This shot is an inter-muscular injection so its done on the lower back off to one side (I had the nurse draw X's on the spots!) - this is completely different from the shots I've been doing since those were subcutaneous or just under the skin. I can't say I'm not a little nervous but I'm definitely excited to be done this phase of my journey.

Tomorrow I have the day off from injections and appointments - another Big celebration!

Day 10 of Medications

So I’ve been going to appointments every other day since beginning the medications. I had a lovely allergic reaction to taking all 3 shots in one day at the same time on Friday, although it was good to know this is VERY common and also good that this only occurs once in the cycle where I am taking all 3 at one time. My stomach swelled up pretty bad and it felt like a bad sunburn and it went away after about 24 hours. My last appointment was this morning and I am still currently on the 3 shots a day regimen (Cetrotide in the AM, and Gonal F and Menopur in the evening).


This weekend was the first day I felt really uncomfortable in my mid-section because of a combo of soreness from the needles and bloating – I also am finding myself fatigued and just blah. I compare it to when you know in the back of your mind that your body is telling you that you’re going to get a cold soon or something like that when you get a cloudy head. Anyways as of today there are 12 follicles that are steadily growing at the same pace (WOO HOO!) and the doctor said that Friday will most likely be the day for my retrieval. I hope that’s the case because I really don’t want to have to get refills on any of these medications and I am so ready to  be done with injections for now!


Next appointment is tomorrow morning so stay tuned.

Day 3 of Medications / First Monitoring Appointment

Today was my first monitoring appointment since I started the stimulation medications. It's always the usual bloodwork and ultrasound and my nurse said that everything is as it should be at this point! THANK GOD! As of today I have a total of 12 follicles which could potentially contain eggs and they are all growing at the same pace. So I am going to keep thinking happy thoughts and doing everything I have been doing for the past few days. Luckily I haven't had much in terms of side effects yet other than some dull headache pain/mild dizziness every now and then and some nausea right after taking my shots. I go back again on Friday morning for my next appointment.

My pre-injection icing!

My nightly set-up of meds

I'm So Excited...I'm So Scared (ok just a teeny bit!)

So yesterday I had my IVF Evaluation appointment to see if my body was ready to move onto the stimulation phase of this process. The doctors appointments are pretty much always the same – you get your blood drawn and then have a transvaginal ultrasound. Yesterday they were checking to make sure I didn’t have any large follicles and that everything looked “calm” – also the blood test was checking my estrogen and progesterone levels and also to make sure I wasn’t pregnant before starting the medications.

I got the follow up call in the afternoon that I would begin my stimulation medications that evening!! This is the not so pleasant part of the process where you take lots of injections to get your follicles (located in your ovaries) to grow in order for eggs to be retrieved from them after 10-12 days. My protocol has me taking medications called Menopur and Gonal-F – so it is 2 injections daily in the evening. For the Menopur I have to mix 2 vials of the powder medication into sterile saline and inject that into my abdomen. The Gonal-F is the easy one as it is a pre-filled pen that I just change the needle tip and inject (also into my abdomen). Last night went fairly well (no needle sticks in my finger ha ha!) I just numbed the crap out of my stomach first which really helps a lot. I had no immediate side effects or reactions other than a slight burning with the Menopur and redness for about 15 minutes afterwards. Today I have a teeny tiny bruise but other than that no effects – I am hoping it stays that way for as long as possible! I'll make sure to post a photo of my medication set up later tonight or tomorrow!

My First Injection

Today was my first injection. I'm not going to lie...I was really scared once I started getting everything out and prepped to actually do it. This medication requires mixing a pre-filled syringe with a powder then injecting that into your stomach right next to your belly button. This was one time I was happy to have a bit of excess flab there!! Of course as I am taking off the needle cap I accidentally stick my finger and it starts bleeding everywhere - only me! Anyways the needle went right in and it wasn't too bad actually - I think it was more of the anxiety of thinking about it. It started to feel a little sore right after so I iced it but I SURVIVED! So now I have 2 more days of this same shot and probably less than a week of the estrogen patches.

One of the most expensive deliveries of my life...

The medications for my stimulation phase arrived today and there are ALOT of them. These will be used to ramp up my ovaries for egg retrieval.

Teddy Bears and Ice Packs

So today I ordered my medications - all $5,400 worth of them and they should arrive in a day or two. I might have almost vomited while giving them my credit card number... We also had our injection training class this morning so things are really starting to move a lot quicker now - finally! The class was a bit overwhelming, especially with one of the meds but I think we have the handle of it and they gave us lots of detailed directions and links to videos. So next Monday I will start an estrogen patch (Vivelle Dot) every other day then Tuesday I will do my first injection of a medication called Cetrotide which I will do once daily for 3 days.

Also I had lunch with one of my best friends, Jenn, this past weekend to celebrate her birthday and look what she gave me - an IVF care package! I am very thankful to have such a wonderful, supportive friend.

The "Jenn IVF Care Package"

LH Surge

Just a quick update...
Over the past few days I've been testing for an LH surge (indicates ovulation) with an ovulation predictor kit (OPK). It's basically the same as a pregnancy test but testing for a different hormone. A side note...I just finished my box of 100 tests (thank you amazon)! I've been using them for months at this point and hope I don't have to do another ever or at the very least a long time.

Anyways I got my positive last night so will order my medications and go in for my injection trainings (eek!) this week. Approximately 10 days after a positive test is when I will start my meds so that will be October 9. My nurse said if everything goes as planned my egg retrieval should be sometime around the end of October.

Cycle Day 1 - Suppression Phase

Today officially signifies the start of my IVF treatment cycle. Over the weekend we completed all of the consent forms and educational videos regarding the actual IVF process and PGS testing (I'll explain more about PGS later).

The first stage is known as the suppression stage - this is where the patient is given medications to suppress the ovaries from functioning on their own in order to "prime" them to be stimulated medically. This usually starts one of 2 ways - either with birth control (so crazy right??) or estrogen patches. Since I have a lower AMH level I will be doing the latter and using estrogen. After speaking with my nurse I was informed of the next steps which includes testing for ovulation in 10 days until I get a positive or peak. At that point we will pay our deposit and PGS fee to SGF and they will order my many medications! Luckily I have some insurance coverage for infertility but we still will be paying about $10,000 out of pocket for ONE round of IVF. This is basically like gambling a $10,000 hand on black...waiting to see where the roulette ball falls. I am optimistic though and keeping happy thoughts.

So now I am just waiting for Day 10 to come!

The Back Story

To begin with I’m going to start with a somewhat abbreviated timeline of the past 2 years so those that haven’t been involved the whole time can get an idea of what we’ve been through up until this point.

• December 2015
• We begin "trying" to become pregnant
• December 2016
• Still not pregnant (If you are under 35, one year is when it is recommended to talk to your OBGYN if you are not pregnant yet; over 35 is 6 months)
• Appointment with OBGYN for ultrasounds and semen analysis
• Ultrasounds come back fine, semen analysis shows low count
• January 2017
• We have our first appointment at Main Line Fertility (MLF)
• We find out that one of the medications Jon has been taking for almost a year is basically "birth control for men." Jon immediately discontinues use of this medication.
• A bunch of initial tests are done including bloodwork, ultrasounds and a sonohysterosalpinogram and all came back normal
• We are both prescribed clomid and plan on pursuing Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and the diagnosis is we are dealing with male factor infertility
• February 2017
• IUI #1 is unsuccessful
• Jon begins seeing a urologist and is prescribed injections to assist with his hormone levels/sperm count
• March 2017
• IUI #2 is unsuccessful
• April/May 2017
• We took 2 months off from treatment - it was MUCH NEEDED
• June 2017
• IUI #3 is unsuccessful (still no change in protocol or game plan from my doctor at MLF)
• July 2017
• IUI #4 is unsuccessful
• We decide we are switching fertility clinics (was NOT happy with ALOT of things at MLF by this point)
• First appointment at new clinic: Shady Grove Fertility (SGF)
• August 2017
• A few initial tests are ordered including a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) and sonohysterogram (neither of these tests were ordered at MLF and were unbeknownst to me standard tests for almost all fertility clinics)
• Right off the bat my doctor felt the initial bloodwork requested by MLF for my AMH levels (I was tested at a 2.7 which is good and means a good quantity of eggs) did not match what he was seeing on my ultrasound (not many follicles - with my AMH there should have been alot more). They drew more blood and sent it to a lab that specializes in this test. Results come back and my actual AMH is alot lower than the first test (1.03) and I am considered to have a low AMH which means diminished ovarian reserve (eggs).
• From the HSG it is discovered that my left Fallopian tube is blocked and can not be repaired nor can one control what side you ovulate from each month
• MLF totally missed BOTH of these issues simply by not paying enough attention or spending enough time with me during my treatment. I saw my actual doctor a total of TWO times throughout all of this. That is NUTS! I cannot tell you how IRATE/SAD/HURT/DEFEATED I was when I found this out. Not to mention the money that was spent on procedures that were most likely not going to work for us.
• September 2017
• After a much needed vacation we decide to move forward with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) as the chances of getting pregnant via IUI are hovering around 6-10% at the highest because of the blocked tube and low AMH and with IVF that jumps to around 55%.