BFP!

On Saturday, March 26th we went in for our first beta.  Jason and I were not feeling great about the test and we had to wait FOREVER for the doctor's office to call with the results.  The nurse told us we would get a call between 12:00 pm  and 1:00 pm.  When we still had not heard any news at 1:30 we were freaking out. So, I decided to just take a HPT.  We both watched two lines quickly appear - something that we had never seen before! We were so excited, but we still wanted to wait for the doctor's office to call and confirm the results.  We finally received a call at about 2:00 pm and were told that we had a positive test and my HCG level was 235! 
We went back on Monday to take another blood test to make sure the HCG levels were rising.  My HCG level was at 425 on Monday and the nurse said that was great!  Our first ultrasound is scheduled for April 11th at 3:00 pm.  Hopefully, we will be able to see the heartbeat(s) at that time! We are really praying that we have both babies!


We are very happy and praise the Lord for this blessing, but we know we have a long way to go before we have a baby or babies in our arms!

Transfer

Yesterday was transfer day - our RE transferred two beautiful embryos (one "perfect" embryo and one 8-cell embryo). I am officially on bed rest for a week so this post might be a little longer than all the others.

We arrived a little after 10:00 am and I immediately began to drink my bottle of water.  We didn't have to wait long before the nurse called us back in the operating room area.  Shortly after the nurse gave us some instructions our RE came in to give us the report of our "McEmbryos" and showed us a picture of the 2 to be transferred! The report: out of the 19 eggs retrieved, 13 actually fertilized, but 3 didn't make it before they gave us a call on Saturday.  An additional 3 embryos failed to grow, so we are now down to 7.  We would be transferring 2 of the best looking embryos and the other 5 would be frozen that day. 


The next step was for me to take my Valium and sip on a little bit of water.  Once I felt full, I needed to stop drinking the water.  After one of the other doctors came in to check on the progress, we were ready to go into the OR.  Jason was allowed to go back with me this time, scrubs and all! He looked just like a doctor! I'm so glad he was able to go with me, because the procedure was less than pleasant to put it mildly.  I squeezed both his hands pretty tightly the whole time! I was very uncomfortable.


After the transfer was over I had to lie down for 30 minutes.  We ended up waiting a little bit longer than that because they had two other transfers going on that day.  I was feeling pretty tired by that point and ready to go home.  I felt like I had been through a trauma and I was just now feeling the effects of that trauma.  Once we got home I had some lunch and went straight to sleep.


This whole process has been rough, but it's been worth every surgery, shot and pill. It is weird to think that I have life inside me for the first time ever! I can't even describe to you how happy that makes me feel.  New hurdles still await, but we are very optimistic at this point. Please pray that both the embryos make it!


Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Embies

We just got the call from the nurse and we have 10 little embryos! We will be doing a day 3 transfer on Monday at 11:00 am.  We are thrilled! I am still in quite a bit of pain from the retrieval, but this news helps a little!

ER

My ER (egg retrieval) was this morning at 9:00 am.  Everything went well, including the anesthesia! I don't remember much after they took me into the operating room, which is probably a good thing! They retrieved 19 eggs!! I was so shocked, I guess I asked about five times how many eggs we got!  I'm not feeling very well right now, so I'm just resting and Jason is taking care of me.  


The doctors are pretty confident that my transfer will be on Monday, but we will get the official call tomorrow afternoon.  Thank you everyone for your prayers this morning! Jason and I appreciate every one of them!

Finally...

We are triggering tonight! We will take 300 iu of Follistim tonight along with the HCG (trigger) shot at 10:00 pm sharp.  This shot is very important and has to be given exactly on time.  It will be a little different than what I am used to, simply because it is an intramuscular shot.  All of the other shots I have been taking have been subcutaneous.  This one is a bigger needle! I am a little nervous, but mostly excited that we are FINALLY here! It just seems like the whole process leading up to the retrieval has taken forever.  


We will go back to the doctor tomorrow morning and then the retrieval will be on Friday morning at 9:00 am.  I will be put to sleep for this procedure and will be in the hospital for 2-3 hours after it is over.  We are praying for a lot of good eggs!

I have been dealing with a lot of anxiety recently, so Jason let me schedule a massage for tomorrow! He's so sweet!

Day 11 of Stims

I'm tired of making these posts about stimming, but here they are anyway:  E2 level is at 1,831 and we have 13 follicles.  The lead follicle is 17 mm and we have a few that are close to that (14, 15).  We are still waiting for them to increase a little bit, so we will be taking 300 iu of follistim again tonight.  I hope I can post that we are triggering tomorrow night!! To the doctor again tomorrow morning...

Day 10 of Stims

Well, my estrogen level is only to 1,587.  The nurse said that's not much, so they are increasing my dosage of the follistim.  I will be taking 300 iu of follistim instead of 225 iu tonight. We will be out of follistim after tonight's shot, which means we have to buy more from the pharmacy tomorrow (lucky us). I still have 13 follicles, with the largest being 14 mm.  The nurse also said that it looks like we may do the HCG shot (trigger shot) on Wednesday, March 9th, which would mean that the retrieval would be on Friday.  This seems like it's taking forever! Come on already!

Day 9 of Stims

My estrogen level is up to 1,411 now and we have 13 follicles. The largest follicle is now 13 mm.  We will be stimming for a couple more days.  I go to the doctor again tomorrow.  This is starting to get old, but I'm glad we're almost there.

Day 8 of Stims

Well, I had another appointment this morning to check my levels.  My estrogen level went up to 900 and I now have a total of 12 follicles.  The largest follicle is only 11 mm, so the doctor thinks we may have to stim a little longer than most people. A mature follicle is at least 18 mm, so we may go a few more days before the retrieval. We will go back to the doctor again tomorrow morning so we will miss church, but I am glad they are monitoring me closely. 

Day 6 of Stims

We have follicles – 8 of them to be exact.  My E2 is 377. According to the IVF nurse, these numbers are good.   For some reason I don’t feel confident about this. It seems as if there should be more at this point.  We go back again on Saturday morning to check my levels again.  I am praying that there will be more follicles!  Right now, the ER (Egg Retrieval) is scheduled for March 9^th, but that could change.  I have been dealing with a lot of anxiety.  Maybe I need a massage or acupuncture...