In July we set up our first appointment with Dr. Gehlbach at Midwest Reproductive Center in Olathe. We had a consult/ultrasound of my uterus and ovaries/talked about the next steps in the process.
In August I had to have an HSG to make sure my fallopian tubes were not blocked (so the egg could travel through to my uterus). Needless to say, the dye travelled fast through my tubes and we got the 'green light' to move forward with IUI.
On August 14th, I had my baseline ultrasound and blood work done to check my estrodial/FSH levels to determine the dosage of medicine to administer.
Every morning while driving to my appointments I would see this sign that gave me alittle inspiration:
On August 16th (Daddy and Grandma's birthdays:)) we got all of our medicine delivered and started the shots of Menopur the next day! Unfortunately, we went back up to my parent's house that weekend to celebrate birthdays and attend St. Joseph's Church Picnic so my parents had to watch Mark give me my first poke in the tummy, they weren't too thrilled about that but it turned out to be a piece of cake!
I went in for ultrasounds to measure my follicles and blood work to check estrodial/FSH levels every three days up until September 5th when we had to cancel out the cycle due to there being 9 large follicles. {We want a baby, but not 9!} We were pretty disappointed but then again we knew this first time around would be a trial and error due to my body not knowing how to respond to the hormones that were being injected.
We waited a good month for my menstrual period but I did not have one. I went in for an ultrasound to check things out, come to find out I had a large cyst by my uterus filling my pelvis. Dr. Gehlbach defined it as a 'functional' cyst.
A couple weeks later I went in for another ultrasound and the cyst was gone and we started back up on the shots! Going in for our 2nd round of IUI. This cycle I went in for ultrasounds and blood work every two days because they wanted to monitor me very closely due to my ovaries being over sensitive!
On November 4th we ended up having to cancel the cycle again due to their being numerous follicles measuring 10-11cm and my estrogen spiked to 1000+. Wowza!
We just kept going back to this and kept the faith...
Next step for us was discussing the IVF process or if we wanted to try another round of IUI. This was a tough decision to make due to the expense of the procedure of IVF and just knowing we were not guaranteed a positive outcome. We were determined to make this happen though!
We gave my body a break and started the IVF process after the 1st of the year. On January 4th we started the shots back up again. My little niece was born on December 30th so Auntie made her way up to Sioux Falls, SD to stay with my sister and brother-in law for about 4 days so my mom and brother-in law had the honors of administering the tummy pokes. With IVF I had to have 2 different shots. They both did awesome!!!
On January 14th, I went in for my 3rd ultrasound and blood work of the cycle. I had several follicles (of course) and my biggest one was measuring 16mm and they have to be 18mm to be 'mature' aka ready for ovulation. So I continued one more night of shots to make them grow a little more.
On January 15th, I took the shot of Ovidril at 10:30PM to make me ovulate because my follicles were 'mature' and my estrogen level was at 2,460!
Our scheduled egg retrieval was set for January 17th at 9:30AM. I was on bed rest after the procedure. Well I was supposed to be on bed rest but I took the procedure rather well and had very minor cramping so I didn't necessarily rest all day ;) . I didn't go anywhere though because I had been put under earlier that day so obviously couldn't drive.
Here is Mark, in zombie mode, after being up since 4PM the day before, such a troop! He was tired, yet had an adrenalin rush of excitement:
And this was right after I came with it again after being put under, like my hair net? ;) They gave me animal crackers and a sprite while I was in recovery (and ever since then, I've been hooked on animal crackers!):
I got the call from the Embryologist around 3ish saying they retrieved 16 eggs, 13 of those were mature, and 10 were fertilized and growing in the lab! #happydance! #sighofrelief
For the next 5 days I got a call from the Embryologist updating me on our 'embies' progress in the lab. They stayed right on track in the growing process so it was good news everyday!
For the next 2 weeks up until the blood pregnancy test, I have to take progesterone and estrogen medicine to keep my uterine lining thick and 'hold' the pregnancy. If the test is positive, I will continue those meds through 10 weeks and then the baby's placenta will take over producing the hormones.
On January 22nd, we had our Embryo transfer at 11:00AM. Before our appt. Mark and I went and ate breakfast at IHOP and killed alittle time at Target. Of course we found some super cute clearanced out KC Royals baby outfits so I just had to get them! :) ((I keep all receipts))
At about 10:30 we headed over to the hospital to check in. I did not have to be put under or anything like that for this procedure. We ended up transferring "2 beautiful blasts" according to the Embryologist who came running in the procedure room that morning informing us of our 2 beauties they had ready for us. That was very reassuring!
The transfer went very well and took about 20 minutes. I did not go in to work that day due to it being right smack in the middle of the day. I just took it easy the rest of the day and looked online at baby stuff hehe.
And now for the dreaded 2 week wait..............
No comments:
Post a Comment