Relieved

My second HCG level came back at 348!  The nurse said that was just what they wanted to see.  She didn't feel that I needed to get another blood test to check my levels. My next step will be to have an ultrasound on February 6. Hopefully, the doctor will be able to see a heartbeat.:)  

Pregnant

I'm thrilled to announce that I am pregnant! My HCG level is at a healthy 84.  That's four times higher than my HCG level was in my previous pregnancy.  I'm hoping that means that I'm at the beginning of a healthy pregnancy.   

I will get my HCG level tested again on Monday and I'm hoping that seeing another good number will relieve some of the fears that I have.  Pregnancy after a miscarriage is just so terrifying.  Although I know that realistically I have better chance of everything going right than going wrong, it still feels scary.  

I struggled a lot with whether or not to tell all of you right away, but I soon realized that I need your support now as much I did before.  If something were to go wrong, I would want you all to know.  Thanks so much for all the support that you have given me during these last six months or so of fertility treatment.  I'm hoping I will only be posting good news on this blog from now on.:) 

Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise

This morning's embryo transfer was a much more positive experience than the last time. We were able to transfer two embryos of excellent quality and my doctor said we have four more that are frozen for future use.  Although I was hoping for  a few more, I'm thrilled that we have the option of future pregnancies without having to go through another egg retrieval.  
The transfer itself went quickly and smoothly and my husband and I were able to go to out  for breakfast immediately afterwards. The last time I had a transfer I was required to be on bed rest for two days after the transfer, but they have since relaxed the rules because research indicates that bed rest can cause more stress and some activity can increase blood flow to the uterus.  

If you spend any time perusing infertility/IVF forums, you will see the term PUPO, as related to the two week wait after an embryo transfer.  PUPO is an acronym for pregnant until proven otherwise and it's one that I've decided to embrace during this two week wait.  I'm going to try to take good care of myself and stay positive.  

I'm sure it will help that my husband and I leave for West Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday until Tuesday for a rugby tournament.  I'm hoping the warmth and sunshine will decrease my stress levels and keep my mind off pregnancy results.  I'm also hoping to have another acupuncture session in the next couple days because it's supposed to help with implantation and stress relief.  

Below is a picture of my two embryos.  Let's just hope and pray one or both of them decide to stick around!

Adventures in Egg Retrieval

It's been a very interesting couple of days!  I'm going to back up and start with the day of my trigger shot.  

I was told on Tuesday that I would need to take my trigger shot on Wednesday night, but I needed to take the shot at a certain time and they told me that they would call with the time of the trigger shot on Wednesday. I waited all day Wednesday for a phone call that never came.  The office closes at 4:30 so when they hadn't called by 5, I was getting worried.  I ended up calling the emergency line at 5:30.  I had to talk to a medical assistant and then a doctor and then finally a nurse called and told me the timing of the trigger shot and what time my procedure was scheduled for on Friday.  I'm not sure who dropped the ball on that one, but it was definitely a scary couple of hours.

My egg retrieval was scheduled for 10:30 am on Friday.  And I knew I had to get there on time because the egg retrieval has to occur approximately 36 hours after the trigger shot.  Usually it takes about 45 minutes to get to the fertility center from our house, but there were blizzard conditions yesterday morning so we left about 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to my scheduled arrival time.   

It turned out the worst part of our drive was getting out of our own subdivision.  We ended up getting stuck on our way out.  Since my husband is no help when it comes to pushing cars, I had to get out and try to push us out of our subdivision.  There I was, my body filled with way too many eggs, trying to push us onto a busy road.  I even ended up falling in the process. I was very grateful that I wasn't already pregnant because otherwise that could have been a problem. Luckily, there was a neighbor trying to get out at the same time as us and he came up with the idea of pushing our car with his SUV.  It worked like a charm and we finally made it out of our subdivision.  At that point, we didn't even care if there was a little damage to our car.  We needed to get those eggs out of me!  The rest of the drive proved to be without mishap and we made it to the fertility center just in time.  

One of the worst parts of the egg retrieval process was trying to get an IV into my arm.  4 pokes and 3 nurses later, they finally got an IV going.  I think because I've had my blood drawn so many times, they just couldn't get my veins to cooperate.  The retrieval itself went pretty smoothly.  I think I felt more pain this time than last time, but it went pretty quickly.  After they had wheeled me to the recovery area, the doctor walked in and told me they had gotten 29 eggs.  I was so happy to hear that news that I quickly forgot about the pain.  

The rest of yesterday was kind of a blur.  I was just so tired after the anesthesia that I kept drifting in and out of sleep.  My parents came over and brought us a breakfast casserole, fruit, and cookies. I like to have breakfast at any time of the day so the food really hit the spot.  I know a lot of people feel nauseated after anesthesia, but apparently I am not one of them.  

I already got a call this morning from the fertility center and the nurse said that I have 16 eggs left!  We only had 9 left at this stage last time so we're thrilled with that number.  I know we could lose more, but even if we lose  more, we should have enough left to freeze.  I am going in tomorrow at 9 am for my embryo transfer and then we will just have to wait  and see what happens.  

I am really glad that my egg retrieval occurred on January 9.  It just happens to be the birthday of my cousin, David, who passed away nearly five years ago.  He was a good friend and I miss him dearly.  It feels nice that something momentous has happened on his birthday.  

Thanks so much for reading.  Hopefully I will have some more good news tomorrow.  

Monitoring Appointment #4

When I went to my appointment this morning, I was feeling a little concerned.  It turns out that they wanted to see me today because my estrogen had skyrocketed since the last time they had seen me.  If my estrogen gets too high, I could be at risk for ovarian hyperstimulation.  The nurse explained to me that it's good that my estrogen levels are rising because it means my body is producing a lot of eggs, but they have to be really careful that it doesn't get too high. And each day that the eggs grow, my estrogen levels get higher. She also explained to me that another day would be better for egg growth, but the doctor has to balance my health and the health of the eggs.  So, basically, she took the measurements of my eggs, but told me they would have to call me later to determine next steps because they had to wait for my estrogen levels. 

Although I didn't initially want egg retrieval to be as late as Friday, I was relieved when the nurse called and said it was still a go for Friday.  She said my estrogen had leveled out so I was able to get my last stimulating injections tonight.  Tomorrow I take the shot that will trigger ovulation.  

This cycle has been much more uncertain than the last one, but in some strange way it's been a bit of a relief.  If it had gone exactly the same way as the one last one I wouldn't feel as optimistic as I do now.  

I almost forgot to mention that we also got all of my husband's genetic testing results today and it all came back as normal.  So I really feel like everything is going as well as it can and we're doing everything we can so I should be able to get pregnant, right?  Let's hope my sense of optimism can remain for the rest of this week and into the two week wait.  

Monitoring Appointment #3

This morning I had my 3rd monitoring appointment. My ultrasound showed that I had quite a few eggs that were already mature and several smaller ones that weren't quite there yet.  After seeing the progress my eggs were making, I assumed the nurse would tell me that egg retrieval would be Thursday.  When she unexpectedly told me that she thought egg retrieval would be Friday, I almost started crying.  I just didn't want to think about an extra day of discomfort and an extra day at work.  After I finished talking to the nurse, I scheduled my next appointment for Wednesday and headed to work.  

I had finally gotten used to the idea of egg retrieval being on Thursday when the nurse called me on my cell phone while I was at work.  Apparently, the doctor had decided that I needed to lower the dose of one of my medications and come in for an appointment tomorrow.   She also mentioned that egg retrieval would likely be on Thursday.  I'm still not sure what caused the change in plans.  Either my estrogen levels were too high for them to continue to pump me full of meds or the doctor decided that my eggs didn't need that much time.  I didn't get a chance to ask many questions because today was one of the more chaotic days at work and I couldn't find a private place to take a call.  I guess I'll find out more tomorrow.  


Since I'll probably be posting another update tomorrow, I'll keep this post short.  Thanks for reading!



 

Monitoring Appointment #2

I went to the fertility center today for my second monitoring appointment.  Once again, everything looked great.  The ultrasound tech counted approximately 16 large eggs, which is the exact same number I had last time at this stage.  I also met with a nurse and she told me she suspected that my retrieval date would be on Thursday, January 8. 

The only difference between this cycle and my previous cycle is that my lining seems to be better this time.  During my previous cycle, I was still spotting at this stage and at this appointment the tech said that my lining is already where it should be for embryo transfer.  

My next appointment is scheduled for Monday and I'm thinking I might have one more appointment after that.  I'm already starting to feel a little uncomfortable so it will be interesting to see how the next week goes for me.  It's not terrible yet, just a little soreness and tenderness in my midsection.  

I'm trying really hard to stay positive.  I've been told over and over again by my friend, Sandra, to keep reminding myself that there is no reason that this shouldn't work.  I'm finally working to heed her advice.:)