4dp3dt

Now I am sure most of you don't understand the title of this but basically it means that I am 4 days past a 3 day transfer. I have had cramps since 5am the day after the transfer which had me worried. I am still unsure how to feel about them. I am worried if I don't have them and worried if I do. It's out of my hands though. This 2 week wait is torture.

We still don't know if we were able to have any frozen embryos. I tried to call but no one picked up. They are supposed to send us something in the mail regarding our embryos. If we don't have any then we will have to do the full blown IVF again the next time. We would much rather prefer to do a FET. We'll just have to wait and see.

Meeting w/ the Doctor

We met with the doctor today regarding our embryos. They grade the embryos 1-5 with 1 being the best. Out of the 7 embryos 5 were grade 2 and 2 were grade 4. She stated that the grade 4's probably wouldn't make it to day 5 but she was hopeful that the grade 2's would. We weren't willing to take that chance so we had two day 3 grade 2 embryos put back in today. As long as the other embryos make it to day 5 then they will be frozen which is what we're praying for. We would really like to be able to do IVF again without having to do all the injections.

So today I am officially PUPO (Pregnant until proven otherwise). My first beta is March 3rd. Yay! We are very excited.

A little bummed

We received the call today to tell us how our eggs fertilized. I have to say I am a little bummed. It only takes one but I was hoping for a lot of good embryos. Anyways, there were 19 eggs, 16 mature, and 7 that fertilized. We are praying that all 7 are excellent embryo's because we would like to have some left over to freeze for future use. Otherwise we will have to go through this whole procedure again. We will be heading back to Walter Reed on Sunday (appt at 9am) which is when we will find out if we will be doing a day 3 or a day 5 transfer.

Egg Retrieval

Egg retrieval went well today. They retrieved 19 eggs which was a shock considering there were 29 follicles at my last ultrasound. I can't complain though. Unfortunately we found out that we will need to do ICSI because the motility was low which has never happened before. We were both completely shocked with this but we are praying that it's all under God's control. We should get a call tomorrow about our fertilization report.

Bloodwork #5 & 6 and ultrasound

On Tuesday we had another ultrasound and bloodwork to see how things were progressing. They counted 29 follicles ranging from 14mm-19mm. It appears as if they have been growing about 2mm a day. The doctor said that we may trigger tues night or wed night, but it was dependent on my E2 levels. I got a call around 1pm stating that we were triggering that night. No more meds and we triggered on Tuesday at midnight.

The HCG shot really wasn't that bad and I made sure to numb the area before hand. I haven't had any pain today either so I am happy. God is good! We went in this morning for more bloodwork to make sure that the shot was given correctly.

Our Egg retrieval is scheduled for Thursday so we are a day ahead of schedule. We will be arriving at the hospital around 7am and will have the retrieval between 10am-1pm. I am excited and a little nervous. Personally, I dread surgery but it will be worth it in the end. I will keep everyone posted. We will be driving home after the retrieval which will also be nice.

Bloodwork #3 & 4 and Ultrasound

We had to go in yesterday for bloodwork because my E2 (estradiol) level was getting too high. They took me off of the menopur which helps the ovaries develop more follicles and increased the gonal-f which helps the follicles to mature. Today I had 25 follicles ranging from 9-14mm. The doctor said that everything is looking good and that I had a heart shaped follicle. So the image is now Spence's bookmark. She said that we don't have to go in tomorrow for anything unless we get a call which we didn't. We will have to do something fun for Valentine's day.

We are praying that we are not behind schedule and that my follicles continue growing about 2mm a day.

2/11 Bloodwork #2, Sonogram, Pre-op

Today we had to go in for our second bloodwork. We arrived around 5:50 but ended up being #4. Oh well! During the sonogram the tech was looking to see what my ovaries are doing. It appears as though I still have 29 maturing follicles ranging in size from 7-10mm. Unfortunately I need to go in again tomorrow morning for more bloodwork. I am praying that everything is ok. There are no med changes as of now but it is a little nerve wracking. I guess I will have to ask tomorrow why.

2/9 Bloodwork #1

We drove up to Walter Reed again really early this morning (2am) and arrived about 5:30am which meant that we were #1 in line for bloodwork. Yay! In and out in no time. We drove home after the appointment so I have been chilling out most of today. The nurse said that if there are going to be any med changes that they will call by 2pm. No call! I am ecstatic because that means I should be responding well and doses don't have to be increased.

Personally I don't like taking medication and the Menopur really stings (its mixed with sodium carbonate). I have Spence inject it but he has to go really slowly. Praise the Lord for everything so far. I go in again on Friday for a sonogram, bloodwork, and pre-op.

Injections

I started injections this weekend. The lupron injection isn't bad although I still don't like poking myself. It takes several countdowns to finally suck up enough courage to do it.

Anyways I started Gonal-F and Menopur on Sunday. Needless to say I messed up already. Hopefully its no big deal. The Menopur stings and bled which was a first. The one I messed up was the Gonal-F. I set it and when I took the cap off the needle somehow bent it. Ugh! Stupid me forgot that I could just put on another needle so I tried to straighten it out. So I set the dose, injected, and heard a click so I figured the medicine was done and pulled out. Wrong! There was still medicine coming out. Then I panicked. I don't think I gave myself the correct dose.

I did some research on the pen and found out that I am supposed to hear a click for every 37.5iu. I only heard one and I should have heard two because I am on 75iu. They also stated that you should leave it in the injection site for about 5 seconds as the medicine is still coming out. I sure wish that would have been discussed at the injections class. I am praying that tonight goes much better and that my mistake won't be too costly! 

What?

My baseline appointment was today in which I had bloodwork drawn and a vaginal sonogram. Even though those feel invasive they aren't as bad as some of the other things women have to go through. The small fibroid is still there. It didn't look very small to me but the tech pointed it out to me on the screen. It is on the outside of the uterus and about an inch away from the uterine lining which is great. It shouldn't impact an embryo attaching. He counted 14 follicles on my right ovary and 15 on my left. He also noticed a small cyst on my left ovary which stinks. So I needed to get more bloodwork to determine if it is producing any hormones. So far I have not received a call back.

Here we go....

We will be leaving at around 2am to travel to Washington D.C. for our baseline appointment. We had the option to stay at a friends house in Maryland but decided we didn't want to leave the dogs longer than necessary. We will meet the doctor tomorrow as well as have a sonogram to check out my uterus and ovaries. As long as everything looks nice and quiet I will advance to Microdose Lupron on Saturday. I received some of my meds in the mail today and should receive the rest tomorrow as well as a schedule. We also have an injections class on Friday and then we will head home. We should be home sometime in the late afternoon. Please keep tomorrows appointment in your prayers as we would like this cycle to go as smoothly as possible. Thank you!