Testing Day and Follow Up Appointment.

This is the end of our first cycle that did not work. This is the last post for round 1.

Big Fat Bummer

This was our hope. That this drawing would be true. And it did not happen. But soon!

My initial post I wrote about all of this you can read here.

The day we found out round 1 did not work.

Interrupting Our Story: When Real Life Gets Hard

It was completely unexpected. Shocking. Sad.

I was still feeling things going on in my body.

I had to stop the estrodial and progesterone and baby aspirin in order to start my cycle 1 week later. It only took me 4 days.

I did schedule an appointment with Dr Murrain a week later.

And this is what he said.

He would not have done anything different when it comes to the procedure or the decisions that were made.

He is going to up my follistim medications from 225 ml to 300 ml from the beginning. Hopefully this will help  produce more mature eggs so that we have more embryos coming out and then possibly will be able to freeze some.

He said that 1 in 3 women just do not get pregnant on the first try. So we will try again 2 more times and then at that point we will talk about the next option.

We agree with all of his assessments. 

So….

The next step is to start my cycle. Heal for a month. Start my cycle again, and on day 3 start up birth control. 

And now that brings us to today. 

Friday September 26th. 

I am starting birth control.

I know, too much information, but you all are now caught up and real time in these posts.

Sorry I have been so late in the game getting these last few out. Honestly, there was no time limit pushing me and I just really wasn't all that motivated.

So round two in a month! I will definitely keep you posted real time then. It will just be easier.

Although now, you won't hear anything for a month because I am doing nothing. 

I have no desire to write a post every day that says, "took my birth control and prenatal again." 

No thanks.

See you in about a month!

Day 5 - Final Bed Rest Day

This is the end of our first cycle that did not work. There are 1 posts remaining for round 1.

Final Bed Rest Day

This my friends is what has happened over the last 3 days. As of today, the 5th day, our little embryos should have become a blastocyst and implanted. 

Maybe. We are oh so hopeful.

I am only sporadically sore from the progesterone shots at this point.

I really don't feel any different.

And it is my final day of bed rest. 

Did I mention that when we got up this morning, that Thomas looked outside and our car was gone? Dissappeared. Vanished into thin air.

But back to IVF stuff. We now wait for a week and 2 days until our blood work is done and then we will know if this whole thing took!

Day 4 - Bed Rest

This is the end of our first cycle that did not work. There are 2 posts remaining for round 1.

Bed Rest

This is what bed rest looks like. Taco salad, Gone with the Wind, along with Thomas and sweet friends coming to visit.

I definitely had sore bun from the shot last night. Good thing Thomas rotates the sides because this is going to be painful! Maybe it will even me out. And then once I am off bed rest, at least I can do lunges so I have results from the sore buns!

Day 3 - implantation

This is the end of our first cycle that did not work. There are 3 posts remaining for round 1.

It is day 3. Go time or not?

Our 9 am phone call said yes!

Plan for a 10:30 am implant.

I have 1.5 hours left to be not pregnant!

What should I do?

Well I cleaned and walked around a lot since I would be on bed rest for the next 4 days!

They told me to drink 32 oz of water before I came in.

This is the Gyft Clinic.

Here we are before the implant!

So much stuff everywhere!

After I was all set up in the room, Jeff the embryologist came in to talk through where our embryos were.

1 is a 10 cell with a 4 grade
2 are 8 cells with 3+, 3+ with some small fragmentation
2 7 cells with 4, 3 grade, 1 has unusual zone (it looks like a bowling pin)

1 is poor quality still.

Their recommendation was to implant 2 or 3 because at day 3 stage the likely hood was that 1 would turn into a blastocyst (a day 5 embryo).

Thomas and I looked at each other and we both said 3 without hesitation.

You can see our little implanted embryos!

Post implantation! This could be our first picture as parents!

After the embryos were implanted, Dr Murrain kept the catheter with the embryos in to ensure that they took for a minute. Jeff then took the catheter to ensure that they embryos had vacated the catheter.

They did not want me to move for an hour, so with my very full bladder, Dr Murrain used a (different) catheter. That was definitely a first! It definitely stung when going in and out, but the hardest part was not peeing on the bed afterward! I had tried so hard to relax so that it wouldn't hurt unnecessarily. But it still does. Yikes bladder control!

 Oh and I started progesterone shots.

In the rear. Yikes! Thomas has to give them to me because of the place.

I can feel the progesterone in oil move when I move. Gross. And these will continue through the first trimester! Many more weeks of these!
 The nurse taught Thomas how to give me the shots. Good thing he already knows!

These are all 6 of our little guys.

These are two of our little guys that we implanted. Jeff the embryologist puts a solution on them so that the hardened shell that had formed would be broken to allow for easier attachment.

The three embryos that we did not use, Jeff will care for them and call me on Monday to let me know whether or not we need to freeze them. When frozen there is a 75% chance that they will thaw and survive.

Right away we headed to acupuncture and then straight home for 4 days of bed rest! 

Thank goodness Laura came over for an hour to keep me company because I was going crazy after an hour! And then she brought me the 3 hour long Gone with the Wind! Love you friend!

And now we are off! Ready for the next 2 weeks of waiting!

Day 2 - Update time

I know I have been lacking in my posts. This is the end of our first cycle that did not work. There are 5 posts remaining for round 1. I want to finish the story though.\

These are our babies first pictures. They fertilized 24 hours before and now have split. The ones that are still only 1 cell never fertilized.

 And these are their first report cards.
6 have survived!
2 are 4 cells with a 3+ grade
3 are 3 cells with 4,4,3+ grade
1 is a 2 cell with a 2 grade

Thomas's stomach still hurts from the procedure 2 days before, but I am doing well!

Every things Thomas and I say or do, we are now saying, "is for the babies!"

We really are so excited!

Day 1

 Today is day 1 after they extracted the 24 follicles and 3 seminiferous tubules. And it is agonizing waiting for a phone call about if any of them fertilized. 

And honestly it was a major struggle day.

  But then a sweet friend sent me this.

And of course that made me cry. She had no idea that today was the day we would find out if any of the little swimmers fertilized the eggs, but she listened to God's nudge. An amazing thing.

And of course I cried.

She sent it to me just 5 minutes after we got the phone call. And of course I bawled again. For the 3rd time. It was the phone call that said the results. The phone call that said that of the 24 follicles, there were 12 mature eggs. Of those 13 mature eggs, they found 13 sperm to fertilize them. Of those 13 mature eggs with sperm inserted into them, we have 5 that fertilized and 2 that maybe fertilized.

I had texted a few people and my favorite response was, "Yayyyy. 7 is the perfect number. I say implant all and you can have a favorite child for each day of the week." Thank you Grace Faucett. You are amazing. Needed that brightness in such a tough day.

It sounds amazing, but what the nurse told me was that they had wanted a few more. And that it was a struggle to get that many fertilized. But God knows. And He performs miracles, right? Yes. He says so in Job 5:9.

These my friends are our 12 eggs. The ones with the double nucleus in the middle are the ones that have fertilized. These are our little babies! Their first pictures! 

And tomorrow will be their first test scores. Graded from the git go!

So we wait until tomorrow to see how they have progressed. And go from there.

Extraction Day!!!

Today is the day!!! We are making a baby people!

My appointment is at 8 am, which means I have to take a valium at 7:30 and I cannot eat or drink anything all morning.

Thomas's appointment is at 12:30.

This is a silly picture because it is the yolk of an egg!

Sweet Sarah took me to the clinic and stayed with me when they put me under.

Ok, here is how it went. I took the valium at 7:30. I had no idea how I would react, but honestly I was fine! Thomas and Sarah took me to the clinic to wait with me, but the took me straight back the minutes I came. I paid the anesthesiologist in cash (my drug money) and then back I went!

I started to feel the valium slightly, but I was still able to go into the bathroom by myself to put a gown on. I kept my shirt on, but was bare on the lower half and just put a gown over it along with slippers and a hair cover.

I went into the room next door and sat on the table, moved my legs over, then laid down.

Dr Reddy was my anesthesiologist. He put my IV in my wrist right above my thumb. He was awesome! I didn't feel a thing! The doctor came in and said we would get started and then I fell into a deep sleep. :) 

I woke up a little less then an hour later and was completely coherent from then on out.

The procedure went beautifully. Perfectly normal. They did go through the left side of the vaginal wall once and the right side twice. 

They got a total of 24 follicles which hopefully have lots of mature eggs in them!

This is after both of our procedures. I never felt anything more then what felt like moderate cramps with  the results of a hard ab work out! Thomas on the other hand felt like someone had repeatedly punched him in the balls. Yikes!

Thomas procedure went well, but they had a hard time finding a lot. 

My post op form.

These are 4 of my eggs being implanted with Thomas's little swimmers. 

They suck up with little swimmers in the needle. They insert it in the egg, suck out a little liquid from the egg, and then push it all the way in so that when they take out the needle, the sperm does not follow the needle out.

Each little egg needs the little bump on the outside. It carried an extra set of DNA. They do not fertilize with out it. They also need the little halo looking membrane on the outside. It is kind of a hard shell. 

At this point all we know is that they got 24 follicles and 3 seminiferous tubules which is where the sperm swim through in the testes so that they grow until they exit. So these guys will be a little immature compared to sperm that come out other ways.

So we wait and pray! And Thomas ices. Lots.

Thank you Sarah! We couldn't have done today without you! You are absolutely an amazing friend, note taker, and nurse!

Waiting Day

Today is a waiting day. 

Tomorrow is the extraction....

And the actual beginning of a baby being made.

And it just feels weird. We waited for so long and then the last couple of weeks we have actually been "doing" something. And waiting again, if only for a day, just feels weird.

So I went in to work for the first time in a week.

And just hung out after work.

I had to take the estrodial 3 times today. Morning, afternoon, and evening.

And I am not allowed to eat after midnight. 

Folks I will be so sound asleep at midnight, the thought will never cross my  mind! First thing in the morning before the appointment? I can only hope I will be so nervous I will loose my appetite. Because normally I wake up famished!

Final Shot - Day 13

 Today is the final shot day!

I am feeling my ovaries like crazy!

My back hurts and I am tearing up often!

Sorry Thomas.

Here is the information that I walked away with in the morning appointment.

I need my estradiol to be below 3000. They will cancel the rest of the procedure if it is above 5000.

Here are where my follicles are at:

Left side:

18

2 @ 16

2 @ 15

3 @ 14

13

Right side:

2 @ 18

17

2 @ 16

15

14

The hope is that more then 15-16 will have mature eggs

I went to acupuncture, because Janelle wanted to see me within a few days of the extraction. 

Well when I laid down I told her I still had not heard and usually they call at this exact time.

 So she did not put needles in 1 arm so I could answer the phone if need be.

 Of course they called in the middle of the appointment!

So I had my sheet that I had been given that morning, all ready to fill out.

My estradiol is at 1540. It went down because eggs are ready to release.

That means it is a go! I was so giddy!!!

My instructions are...

Take the final shot at 9:30 pm. The exact time on the dot. Because extraction would be 35 hours later.

So we set an alarm because we go to bed at 7:30.

We got up....

Oh wait, is this supposed to be in the stomach? oh crap! I forgot to ask!

But I vaguely remember her saying it was in the stomach when I asked during the injection training. Good thing I asked then!

As for a picture... it was at 9:30 at night. We were both mostly still asleep. We most definitely did not get  a picture.

The shot was Ovidrel which basically told my brain to release the eggs!

I also was to take 1 estrodial (a small estrogen pill) and nothing else.

So I stopped my baby aspirin and all other shots.

I was so excited after my acupuncture appointment, that I called Thomas and told him immediately, but as I went to get my hair trimmed, I was giddy! Good thing I am good friends with my hair gal, otherwise she would have thought I was nuts!

These are the two papers you get. This first one has all the information I needed about when to take my final shot, but also for pre-op day for taking out my eggs.

 

This is more pre-op info.

And the $450 to Dr Reddy? That is cash for the anesthesiologist. I seriously felt like I was doing an under the table hand off. 

This literally was my drug money. 

Wow.

And Another Appointment - Day 12

Some times in the middle of it all you just need to go pick apples.

This is the tree we leased for the year.

Today my ovaries look like a paw or a chocolate chip cookie according to my nurse. They can be so silly! They make the time go by.

Left side:

2 @ 15

2 @ 14

2 @ 13

2 @ 12

3 @ 11

Right side

1 @ 15.4

1 @ 14.8

2 @ 12

2 @ 11

Uterine Lining is measured at 6.7

Estradiol level 1703! Holy cow it doubled!!

I am feeling very emotional today.

I have a slight headache, but fixed it with hydrating.

Really having to pee often because my ovaries are twice the size of normal ovaries!

And i was 30 minutes late with my shot. Good grief Mica! Pay attention!