Sticky Vibes

Isn't this picture a bit disturbing? Fitting, but disturbing!

I finally got my butt out of bed this morning and went back to work. I don't think I've ever slept as much as I did over the past 4 days! The bedrest was much needed, and it definitely helped me to recoup from the stress we experienced around this time last week. I continue to be on activity restriction, so I volunteered to be the phone nurse at work for the week. It's an annoying job, but the only thing strenuous about it is pulling a few hairs out of my head every 10 minutes, so it'll do.

I had to start taking progesterone suppositories 3x/day (Yes, while I'm at work...and I'll spare you the classy details) and 2 estrogen patches to my abdomen every other day. This is because my body isn't producing them like it would after normal ovulation. These two hormones support the lining of the uterus, as well as an actual pregnancy, so I have to have them. If an actual pregnancy occurs, I have to continue them them up until about 10 weeks of pregnancy. This is when the placenta would be functioning enough to produce enough of the hormones on its own.

I'm feeling pretty good but it's a little difficult to keep the anxiety away. I think about it atleast once every 5 minutes and wish I didn't have to wait another week to see if it worked! The progesterone makes my body feel as if it's pregnant anyway...extreme hunger, hot flashes, abdominal tenderness, sore udders, the usual. I have been eating like a wild boar and I can't stop! It's so early, and there's no way of distinguishing the side effects of meds between pregnancy symptoms.

I'm going to let myself enjoy the rest of this week because this is the closest I have ever been to being pregnant. I will cherish every little pinch I feel to my abdomen and pray that Deuce is making himself at home. The IVF community also terms this phase as "pregnant until proven otherwise" haha! God has a plan, and we will try be patient and get our answer soon.

Our family and friends have been awesome and we want to thank y'all again! From the meals, visits, texts, calls, blog comments, prayer lists, care packages, etc...it is so overwhelming. We are thankful for each and every one of you! Hopefully, we will have a happy ending to our story soon!

We hope everyone has a fun and safe Labor Day/football weekend! I will be taking another weekend filled with R&R, but the ESPN will be in full force. GOOOOO COCKS!

Deuce Bigalow

All of our prayers were answered and everything went smoothly and as planned this morning. Thank you all SO MUCH for the prayers! We have the best friends and family ever.

Our little embaby was 8 cells this morning and our doctor said it's structure looked pretty good. They look for the shape of the cells and if any chunks are floating around outside of it and he said that it was good enough for transfer according to their standards. He was disappointed at how my ovaries responded and said that it looked like I had poor ovarian function for a woman my age, which may explain why we can't get pregnant naturally. If there comes a time that we have to do this again, God forbid, then we may have to look into egg donors. We're not going to worry about that right now...we will cross that bridge if we have to! The main thing we need to concentrate on is that we did grow 1 good embryo, and that's all it takes!

We nicknamed the embaby "Deuce" on Monday when it was just two cells...I know, we're crazy. It was Andy's idea though. Technically, it is a baby so it had to have a name. Deuce has been the little engine that could, and he definitely beat a lot of odds this week. We are so grateful that everything turned out perfectly today. God is good.

I had to take a Valium and an antibiotic one hour before the transfer this morning. Needless to say, any anxiety I had was null and void by the time I wobbled into the office. I was feeling pretty doped up. I also had to go in with a full bladder, and of course I chugged twice the recommended amount of water just to make sure it was full enough. (((Pop))). The full bladder pushed my uterus down which helped them to better visualize the transfer on the ultrasound monitor. There was a team of about 6 people in the room for the procedure. It was basically like a pap smear, no discomfort whatsoever. The nurse held the ultrasound monitor on my abdomen and when the doctor said "go" the embryologist sucked Deuce up into a tiny catheter, then the doctor thread the catheter into my uterus and placed him exactly where he needed to be with ultrasound guidance. The embryologist then placed the catheter under a microscope to make sure that Deuce was gone.

I have been on bed rest today and then activity restriction until Friday. I'm afraid to move! I feel like he's going to fall out, but the doctor assured me that after a couple of days, normal day to day activities will not affect the outcome. Of course I can't do any strenuous activities, and going to the gym is out of the question, but I will sacrifice anything for this baby to stick! My doctor said it's okay to go back home tomorrow, so that's our plan. It will be nice to lay around the house and do absolutely nothing!

And now, without further ado, we introduce Deuce! The first picture is a little distorted but is the 8 cell embaby, and the second pic is my ultrasound with the arrow pointing to Deuce in my uterus. They said that implantation occurs in 3 to 4 days, and we will find out if it worked on September 8th. Please send baby dust our way and pray that this baby sticks!!! Love to all!

Our Petri Dish is Pregnant!

That's right! We have an embryo growing in the lab as of this morning. Unfortunately, only one fertilized and it was with the help of ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). The photograph to the right helps to visualize the process. This is when the embryologist finds a good sperm cell and injects it into the egg with a tiny needle. It is amazing what they can do nowadays. He said that he had a hard time finding a good sperm cell to inject into the egg, but we are just thankful that we have one that fertilized. That is much better than getting a phone call that said none of them fertilized.

They retrieved 8 eggs from my surgery yesterday, 5 of which were mature. The other 3 were described as "degenerative"...I'll know more about what that means once we talk to my doctor later this week. I would have asked the embryologist this morning, but I was still trying to register in my mind that there was only one embryo. Our doctor had estimated that 5 would fertilize, but this was before the results of the sperm sample were back. Overall, the surgery went well...I got a nice dose of "Michael Jackson" and slept most of yesterday and all through the night. Now I know why he liked that stuff! I'm still a little sore today, but they said that is normal. Apparently, my ovaries are supposed to fill up with fluid after the retrieval, so I'm trying to stay hydrated and rest as much as I can.

The next 48 hours are critical in the little embaby's development. It has to divide properly or it won't be viable enough to use. Right now it is at the stage where mine and Andy's chromosomes have welded together...They want it to have atleast divided into 8 cells by Wednesday morning. We need all of the prayers we can get right now. Who knew it would be so hard for us to achieve one of the simplest things in human nature! If it looks viable on Wednesday morning, then they will put it inside of my uterus at 11:15 am. We are still in Charleston and will stay here for the time being. We went ahead and took the week off work so that we wouldn't have to deal with the stress of this along with work matters. Plus, I'm on activity restriction from my doctor, and will be on bedrest if the transfer takes place on Wednesday.

Andy's thoughts on the matter are that he beat all of the odds when his mother was pregnant with him, so he doesn't see why our embaby shouldn't survive! Andy was a Lippes Loop IUD baby...oh yeah. Conceived and baked for 9 months with an IUD smashed up against his face the entire time. He had a 50/50 chance of surviving with the IUD inside of his mother. If she would have had it removed, it would have aborted the pregnancy.

So that's our hope. Our little embaby is the "golden egg". This is completely out of my body and hands now. It is now up to God to decide if it's time for us to become parents.

Please please pray that our embaby looks like this on Wednesday! We will be in touch!

Trigger Happy

Ladies and Gents...(well, whatever gents would care to read about my gonads on a daily basis)... I am RIPE! My follicles are mature and my uterine lining looks "beautiful" according to my doctor. All of my follicles did a lot of growing overnight and they counted 6 at maturity today. After speaking with my nurse, my estrogen level has jumped from 800 to 2500 which is supposedly where it needs to be. However, because of my estrogen level, they said that there are more than 6 follicles. Not sure where they are hiding, but they better cooperate this weekend!

I have been instructed to stop all of the injections that I've been taking for the past month (my poor bruised belly loves that idea) and administer my "trigger" injection tonight at 10:00 p.m. sharp. I already have it mixed, in the fridge, and waiting to be drawn up! I have to be in Columbia at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow for my last round of bloodwork because my Augusta doctor will not be open. Surgery for my retrieval will be on Sunday at 8:30 a.m in Charleston.

We'll probably head down to Charleston tomorrow evening so that we will already be there and ready to go. I can't believe this is actually happening...I never thought that I'd be able to do IVF! Yay!

A big shout out to my Sister-In-Law who is in labor right now...good luck and we love you! Can't wait to meet our niece Haley soon!

I will probably be zonked from anesthesia on Sunday, but I will update as soon as I'm back to my old self. I hope they give me some good drugs. Wish us luck!!!

This Is Your Ovary...And This Is Your Ovary On Drugs.

***Note: These are not my ultrasound pics...however, this is very similar to what I see each time I get an ultrasound. Each black area is a follicle on the ovary. The bottom half of the pic is a stimulated ovary***

We are almost there!!! Yay! I have about 5 mature follicles along with quite a few smaller ones. My labs look really good and they told me that I was almost ready for retrieval. I was told to take another stimulation shot tonight, then my other injections in the morning before going back to the doctor for more labwork and another ultrasound. My nurse believes that I will have to "trigger" tomorrow night and have the retrieval on Sunday morning in Charleston. My appointment tomorrow will give us the final answer. Let's hope I don't have to wait almost TWO hours to be called back like I did today! I guess they don't care that you have to take off work every other day to do this.

The trigger injection is one of the most critical parts of the cycle. It induces the final maturation of the eggs, loosens the egg's attachment from the follicle wall, and allows for timing of the egg retrieval. It basically prepares my body for ovulation...however, my doctor will manually ovulate me before my body does the deed itself. I will have the retrieval exactly 36 hours after I give myself the trigger.

The trigger is called HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and is the same hormone that is present in pregnancy. This hormone is what makes a pee stick turn positive when you are preggo. Therefore, if I try to pee on a stick (too much info, I know) in the next couple of weeks, it will say that I'm pregnant. The only way to confirm that the IVF works is through a blood test 14 days after the retrieval.

I know this because I had to take this injection with all 6 of my IUI's and made the mistake of testing too early. It is pretty cool to see a positive on a pregnancy test though. Sometimes I would just do it for the fun of it, haha!

And P.S...My ovaries don't feel like peaches, they feel like WATERMELONS!

Insane!!!

Just read this article and thought I would share. Absolutely incredible. Hopefully we'll have some frozen embryos for the next litter!

Celine Dion Pregnant With Embryo Frozen for 8 Years

Just Peachy...

I have been a nervous wreck all day. I have got to stop reading IVF horror stories on the internet. I even had my mother on the brink of throwing up all day. Sorry mom!

I don't really remember much from today up until my nurse finally called me back around 2:30 this afternoon. When I went in this morning, they measured 4 medium follicles (cysts containing eggs) ranging in size from 11mm to 15 mm. This is the exact size they want them to be at this point in time. There were several smaller follicles that may contain eggs, but they don't measure those. They may "catch up" before retrieval, who knows. Of course, I've learned how to read the ultrasound monitor and saw a big black blob on the left ovary! They hate me. Nurses can be the worst patients. Anyway, there is a big fat follicle measuring about 22 mm on that side....which translates to almost an inch. I knew I felt something...I've been going through this long enough to know my body all too well. The Augusta doctor can't give me his opinion because he's not technically my doctor, so I got to play the waiting game all day!

I picked up the phone when the nurse called expecting to hear that I was going to be cancelled, as I had spent the entire day convincing myself that this was the case. Not to be pessimistic, but I have to mentally prepare myself for bad news because, unfortunately, it is the norm when it comes to infertility. She wasn't concerned about it right now!!! Thank you God. She referred to it as a mature follicle and said that we would continue to push through the cycle. My estrogen came back normal at 800 which is good. She said we will keep our fingers crossed that everything continues to go according to plan, and that I will be rechecked on Thursday morning. I've read that some women go in for the retrieval surgery and they were able to obtain more eggs than were seen on the ultrasounds. Let's face it, I'm not 21 anymore...Four eggs are better than nothing, but the more I can get the better the chances of a successful outcome.

Another interesting tidbit I learned from my doctor today...an ovary is normally the size of a grape. In a patient undergoing stimulation for IVF, it is about the size of a peach. Hmmmmm....

Migraines and Gonads

This morning, I went to the doctor to have my bloodwork drawn. I must say that it's a lot easier to drive through downtown on a Sunday morning. My appointment was originally scheduled to be yesterday, but my Augusta doctor was only scheduled to be open this morning. Instead of making me drive to Charleston, they let me delay my labwork by a day. My nurse called me back this afternoon to tell me that my estrogen level looks good! I will take the same dose of medications tonight and in the morning, but I will have to decrease the night med (Follistim) beginning tomorrow night. Don't ask me why...I just do what they tell me to do, haha! My guess is because they don't want my estrogen to go above a certain level, so they have to titrate the dose to keep it where they want it to be. My next appointment will be Tuesday morning and will include labwork as well as an ultrasound.

I was feeling pretty good up until about Friday...I woke up nauseated with a massive migraine and I'm pretty sure it was either from stimulation meds or caffeine withdrawal. I couldn't even function at work for most of the day, but was able to get through it. I'm not supposed to take any ibuprofen or aspirin products because it may affect the lining of my uterus, but I had to do it. Excedrin Migraine is my new best friend.

I'm also feeling a bit of pressure and bloating in the gonad region...I just think that gonad is a funny word. Anyway, I know it's because I probably have, like, 18 eggs growing on my ovaries at this very point in time...but I can't seem to get it out of my mind that the cyst is growing back. I will know once I have the ultrasound Tuesday morning. I'm not sure what they will do if I have a cyst...I know they can do surgery to aspirate them, or....cancel the cycle. Dear God, please let it be 18 eggs. I think that I'm just stressing, which is human nature considering all that we have been through to get to this point. Just like I said before, I have to put it in God's hands.

In other news, I was able to attend my little sister's first baby shower on Saturday. It was hosted by our second mom and sistas from another mister...the Thomas girls. Thanks for a great time...y'all are the best!

Holy Medicines, Batman!

The cyst is GONE and my hormone levels are non-existent!!! Popopowwwww! My nurse called after my appointment this morning to let me know that my labs look great and that we are ready to begin the stimulation phase tomorrow! How's that for answered prayers?!?

My medications have arrived and have literally taken over my bedroom dresser. I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all, but I have instructions typed out by my doctor to let me know what to take and when to take it. The two medications that I begin tomorrow are Low Dose HCG and Follistim. These drugs will mimic two hormones that are normally present in egg developement, FSH and LH. The amount that I get via injection is higher than the levels a woman would produce naturally, which will result in my body producing multiple eggs as opposed to only one.

I will start mixing the HCG with my Lupron injection and give that to myself every morning. The Follistim came with a fancy cartridge and injection pen which I will give to myself every evening. I had to watch a few videos from my pharmacy's website to learn how to load the cartridge and administer that one. It's the most expensive one out of the bunch, coming to a whopping $1800...Ouch! I sure don't want to mess that one up!

At this point I will start going to the doctor more often for labs and ultrasounds. They will adjust my doses every couple of days depending on how my hormone levels and follicles respond. My next appointment is on Saturday...fun! If my Augusta doctor is not available, I will have to go to Charleston for this appointment. I will know more later this week. I guess it's apparent that my reproductive system doesn't operate on a Monday-Friday schedule!

Andy gets the honor of starting a medication tomorrow too...it's an antibiotic that we will both be taking to prevent any germs from interfering with the process. For example, we would hate for a simple UTI to mess everything up.

We are excited to finally get started with this cycle. I'm not sure how long I will have to take the stimulation medications because it all depends on how I respond. In an attempt to decrease the stress of it all, we will just put it in God's hands and take it one day at a time.

The Little Cyst That Could...

I went in for another ultrasound/labwork this morning. As it turns out, the "Little" cyst is still hanging around. My nurse called me this afternoon to inform me that my estrogen was still elevated and that the Lupron had not suppressed it. From what I understand, I probably ovulated through the birth control pills. Because of this, the ovulation left a cyst on my ovary which is producing estrogen. This probably explains why I have yet to start my period...the estrogen level has to drop in order for it to occur. Also, if I were to begin the stimulation meds without my estrogen being low, then that would put me at risk for OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome). You can read about it here:
http://www.ivf-infertility.com/ivf/standard/complications/ovarian_stimulation/ohss.php


Hey, atleast we're dealing with elevated estrogen instead of elevated testosterone! I don't need anything else to shave:)

Instead of beginning my new medications tomorrow, I will continue the Lupron injections to try to suppress my system. I have to go back Tuesday morning for another ultrasound and more labwork to see if we've made any progress. If so, I will begin my stimulation meds next week. If not, I will probably continue Lupron until the cyst is gone and my hormones are null and void.

So far, I am feeling good. We are a little disappointed that this cycle is being delayed, but there is a reason for everything! I was so scared that they were going to cancel it, which means a lot of moolah and emotional investment would have been flushed down the toilet. We have been through a lot thus far, so it is easier to mentally prepare for setbacks. We have learned that this entire journey is about playing the waiting game. God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and patience is extremely hard but definitely a virtue when it comes down to it. As you may have guessed, our original dates for egg retrieval and transfer will be changed. Hopefully, we will have a better idea next week!

We would also like to give a shout out to Andy's sister, who will be having a little girl any day now!!! This is her first baby, as well as the first niece in the family. We love her and wish her the best of luck with delivery!

I think I can...I think I can....choo choo!

Back To Reality...

Annnnd...we're back from the beach! It was sooo good to get away, but I feel like I need to sleep a week to recover! I was able to "let loose" for the last time to get everything out of my system. Our vacation was filled with lots of bike rides, beach time, beer, sunsets, beer, excruciating sunburn, beer, good food, beer, and the obligatory Hucko drama. Speaking of excruciating sunburn...my mother, father, brother, Andy, and myself were confined to the beach canopy, a.k.a. "Burn Unit", for the last half of the week because of our irresponsiblity with sunblock. Must have been the beer. We arrived each day donned with SPF 50 and packed ourselves in like sardines underneath the canopy. I must say it was pretty humorous. Note to self: reapply sunscreen after 2 hours.

I stopped my birth control on 7/23 and began my Lupron injections on Sunday 7/26. My belly is a little bruised and sore, but not too bad. As suspected, I have had the hot flashes, irritability, and a little nausea. One thing that I have noticed is I am extremely anxious and having trouble sleeping. I'm not sure if it is the medicine or if I'm just nervous about the rest of the month in general. Today, I called my mail order pharmacy to request that the next round of medications be shipped. The pharmacist says, "Oh wow, your doctor called in quite a few medications this time." She then proceeded to spout out a list of about 7 medications that I couldn't even pronounce if I tried! They'll be calling me back tomorrow with the final price and to collect payment before they ship them out. Do you think my insurance company will not recognize them as infertility medications and cover them by accident?!? Fat chance, but it would be pretty entertaining to rip them off for once:)

I go back to the doctor on Friday for more labwork and another ultrasound. They also told me that I would have another menstrual cycle this week as well, so I'm waiting on that to happen. I'm praying that the cyst has disappeared, but we will know for sure on Friday! They are also supposed to counsel me on how to give myself those other medications. If all goes well, I should start those on Saturday.

After much persuasion, we were able to get a few family pics on the beach! These are our first family pics in over 10 years as well! I've posted all of them on facebook, but here are a few of my faves. Enjoy:)

With momma...

The Aunts and Grammy lovin' on my sister's baby bump


With our sweet daddy:)

Annnndddd....The Burn Unit:)