The oven is on...

And we're baking!

 

The last time I posted, the day of my embryo transfer, I mentioned that I would be taking a pregnancy test in a couple weeks. Well, it has been more than a couple weeks and I am finally ready to announce on the blog that I am, in fact, PREGNANT! And, in case you can't tell from the picture below, it's looking like TWINS! We were able to see both little heartbeats at the ultrasound yesterday. It was amazing :)

 

 

 

Ryan and I are over the moon to be expecting not only one, but two little miracles! I am feeling okay, no morning sickness yet, but I have been having food aversions. Some foods that I usually like don't really sound good to me right now. (The other night I turned down ice cream!) I also got some kind of cold/allergy crap last weekend, so I've been congested all week which has been no fun. Otherwise though, I'm feeling pretty good! Ryan is super excited and tries to make as many ultrasound appointments as he can. (These being IVF babies, I get a lot more ultrasounds than a typical pregnant girl, which I am totally fine with!)

 

I am due May 11, 2013, however with twins, it could be earlier. I am still getting ultrasounds and bloodwork at my fertility doctor, but they will probably release me to my OB at around 10 weeks, I believe. I am also still taking hormone supplements, which I will probably be allowed to stop around the same time I am released to my OB.

 

It is still very early in the pregnancy (I am 6 weeks, 5 days today), so I am not "going public" yet. I will probably make a Facebook announcement around Thanksgiving when I am well into my second trimester. However, I will continue to keep the blog updated the entire time, so stay tuned!

 

Love, Amanda

A little pregnant :)

I had my embryo transfer today! I figured this was as close as one could get to being "a little pregnant". I am not technically pregnant yet, the embryo(s) have to implant themselves first; however I have them in my uterus and I am on the same restrictions as a pregnant woman. Here they are in all of their glory, 2 beautiful 8 cell embryos!

 



 

 

The transfer itself was pretty easy, except for the fact that I had to have a FULL bladder during the procedure. It puts pressure on the uterus, which is good for some reason. I took a Valium before the procedure to relax my uterus because when things are placed into the uterus that don't belong there, such as the catheter used to insert the embryos, the uterus will contract which is not good. Here is a picture of the embryos in their new home:

 

 

I don't know if you can see the little arrow, but it's pointing to the little white blip, aka the embryos, in the middle there. Cute, aren't they?! BTW, my doctor said that he wanted to post a picture of my uterus on Facebook, LOL!  Apparently it's quite pretty! A great home for a cupcake or two :)

 

So now I'm on my bedrest. At least my doctor is allowing me to get up to take a brief daily shower, which I am pretty excited about! I get to take a pregnancy test in a couple weeks, in the meantime we're just going to talk nicely to the embryos in hopes that they keep on growing!

 

Love, Amanda

Ladies and gentlemen... we have embryos!

I had my egg retreival yesterday and we were very pleased that they got 7 eggs! I'm doing fine, a little sore, but you would be too if you had large needles stuck in your ovaries! FYI, I was unconscious for this procedure, and I wouldn't have it any other way! After they retreived the eggs, they unfroze Ryan's sperm and attempted to fertilize the eggs. We are so excited to report that they were able to fertilize 2 eggs! I go into the office on Thursday to have the two embryos transferred to my uterus. This will be a fairly simple procedure, much like a pap smear. Ryan will be there because we figured he should at least be in the same room as me at conception :) After about 2 weeks I will get to take a pregnancy test at the doctor's office! Ryan and I are still undecided as to whether or not we will test at home beforehand. The doctors advise against it, but it is so freakin' tempting!

Starting on Thursday, I will be on bedrest for 3 days. I will be staying at Ryan's parents' house since our dogs are a bit *ahem* unruly (putting it mildly!) Please feel free to stop by and visit because I literally can only get out of bed to go to the bathroom (and thank goodness for that!). Right now I am very much looking forward to bedrest, but I have a feeling that after about a day and a half I will be going stir crazy! I have to make sure I bring a lot of entertainment.

So I don't get much of a break from medication. Sure, I don't have to take shots any more, but I will be taking prednisone for a few days, as well as a "special tablet" that I will be taking (hopefully) well into pregnancy. This tablet contains progesterone, a hormone that helps prepare the uterine lining to receive and nourish our fertilized eggs. And I will just say that I do not take this tablet orally... I will leave it at that :) I also have some estrogen patches and pills that I'm sure I will eventually take along with the progesterone. More homones... YAY!

We will report back after transfer. Please keep our little embryos in your thoughts!

(The first IVF baby was born in 1978)

Love, Amanda

Pulling the trigger tonight!

Well, we have reached the point where I am done with my stimulation medications and am ready to take my trigger shot tonight to have my egg retreival on Monday! I took my stimulation shots for 12 days this time as opposed to 8 days last time. We are looking to get 4-5 eggs this time, which is honestly not as much as I had hoped, but my doctor seems to be optimistic, so we will be as well. At least it's better than the 2 we had last time! Let's just hope we get some eggs to fertilize so I can actually make it to transfer this time!

I will post another update after my retreival on Monday.

Love,
Amanda

Boooo, you hormones!

I hope everyone gets the "Mean Girls" reference in my title ;) (If you do not get it, please obtain a copy of this movie and watch it ASAP!)

I had my first monitoring appointment today. The doctor saw 3 small follicles on each ovary, which sounds hopeful, but it's still very early in my cycle to really tell anything. They told me that from my bloodwork, my estrogen level was at  46 and they would like to see it over 100 at this point, so they upped my medication. I was taking 225 IU each of Gonal F and Menopur, now I will take 300 IU of each. Hopefully this will give my body the little push it apparently needs!

However, I am slightly worried for my sanity with this medication increase, LOL! I'm getting a lot more emotional this cycle than I did the last time (I'm guessing it's the new medicine, Gonal F). I've had little freakouts over nothing the past couple days, and I know it's due to the extra hormones coursing though my body! Today, for example, I had a mini meltdown because I needed to order more Gonal F to get me though the weekend and I kept getting a busy signal at my pharmacy! Luckily, my super hero husband helped me get things situated and I will be getting my medication tomorrow :)

I would also like to give a shout out to my pharmacy and my clinic. My clinic uses a mail order pharmacy called Conception Pharmacy (yup, that's what it's called!). Ryan called my clinic to tell them we were having trouble getting through to the pharmacy, and a little while later I got a call from one of the pharmacy staff calling me from her cell phone to take my order. My clinic must have got in touch with them. The pharmacy made ordering my meds super easy and stress-free, even though I'm sure they were dealing with stress from their phones being out!

Back to the hormones, LOL, a couple brought a baby into the waiting room of my doctor's office today. My sanity and patience were truly tested when the parents started cooing at him and taking pictures of him! Couldn't one of them have stayed home with the baby? Do they realize how insensitive it is to bring a baby to a fertility clinic?

I have another monitoring appointment on Monday. Until then, keep my sanity (and Ryan's) in your thoughts! :D

Love,
Amanda

Shot one... done!

IVF #2 is officially underway as I have taken my first shot! It didn't hurt at all; just as last time, I get more stressed about mixing up the meds than the actual injection. We have a new medication this time, so it was a little different, but not bad! I have my first monitoring appointment on Friday where I will have bloodwork and an ultrasound to check the status of my hormone levels and ovaries. I can't wait for the day when they use that "magical" ultrasound wand to check on something other than the status of my uterus and ovaries!

In other good news, we applied for a grant back in June that gives out money to young adult cancer survivors, and we found out today that we made the second round of the application process! We won't find out until November if we are going to be granted any money, but it's nice to know we're still in the running. What a great way to kick off our new IVF cycle!

Until Friday...

Amanda

IVF take 2... aaaaand ACTION!

I know it’s been awhile, but we’re finally ready to start our second round of IVF! We’re very excited to be moving forward with our journey toward parenthood. The last few months have been a rollercoaster of emotions as we prepared for IVF 2.0 financially. Several people we know have announced pregnancies since our failed cycle (including THREE that we found out about the day we found out our egg did not fertilize), and I’m not going to lie, it was hard. Of course we are happy for our friends, but we want that happiness for ourselves as well and it’s frustrating that it will never be easy for us, as evidenced by Ryan’s latest sperm analysis… still no swimmers.

Now that we have a game plan, I’m feeling much more positive and optimistic. It feels good to be actively working toward our goal! My baseline ultrasound appointment is going to be August 2, and if all looks well, I will be starting injections on August 6!  They have changed one of the stimulation medications and upped the other. Instead of Bravelle, I will be taking Gonal-f, and I will be taking a higher dose of the Menopur. On doctor’s orders I am currently taking baby aspirin once a day and the supplement DHEA 3 times a day to help improve the quality of my eggs.  August is a good month for us; if all goes well we will be taking our pregnancy test a few days after our 4^th wedding anniversary!

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I would like to take a moment to talk about infertility etiquette. I like to think most people have common sense enough not to say/do some of the things I talk about below, but you would be VERY surprised, especially when sometimes it’s people who have been through infertility themselves!

One situation that happened to me personally was when I was getting my hair done last weekend. The stylist’s assistant was being super chatty and asked me if I had kids. I told her no, and then she asked me if I was married. “Yes… 4 years” I replied. Then she asked me “so, you don’t want kids?” UGH, nosy much? I looked straight at her and told her that my husband had cancer 2 years ago and that “kind of” put a hold on us having kids. Awkward silence ensued. People can be so rude!

I also do not appreciate when people bring their kids to the fertility clinic. I feel that it’s very insensitive toward the women going through treatment, especially for ladies such as myself who do not have any children. The families I see are not there just to show off either; they are there seeking treatment as well, so you would think they would know better! As for the ladies who show up with their kid just to show-off that I may not see (I’m sure they get those every now and then), my clinic has a picnic once a year for successful patients to bring their bundles of joy. Until then, sending pictures is more appropriate.

Here are some more etiquette tips if you know someone (else) who is going though infertility and are not quite sure what is appropriate, or if you just want some insight into what kinds of emotions people dealing with infertility struggle with.

http://www.resolve.org/support-and-services/for-family--friends/infertility-etiquette.html

I am so ready to get this going!
Love,

Amanda