Undergoing IVF

To start our IVF cycle I had to go on birth control for 14 days. During this time my tennis team went to State Championships and we actually won which meant an invitation to the Sectional tennis tournament in Oct. My whole team knew we were getting ready to start this IVF process so I wasn't sure if I would be able to go in Oct but I went ahead and signed up anyway just in case. A few days after stopping birth control I went in for a suppression check and all came back good. 2 days later on Sat, Aug 20th, 2011, Danny gave me my very 1st shot to start stimulating my ovaries to produce a lot of eggs. My 1st shot and the following 5 days was a mixture of 2 meds in 1. Gonal-f and menopur. That 1st shot I was so scared! We were at the lake and I remember sitting in the chair and kinda freaking out. Danny pinched my stomach and just did it. For getting a shot in my stomach it was not to bad, but still scary. Over the next days I got a lot better about it. I just sat in a chair, leaned back and covered my eyes while he did it. On Wed I had my 1st appt to monitor my progress. I was responding really well and at that point had to had another shot called Ganirelix to stop me from ovulating before they were ready. So on Wed night I had to get 2 shots in the stomach. Then at 7am on Thurs I had to have another dose of Ganirelix and more Dr. appts. On Fri I went in and had my pre-op meeting and met with the Dr to talk about my progress. I had to go in on Sat and Sun and Sun I got the call that I was ready to go. On Sun night at about 10 pm Danny gave me a shot of HCG which would make my body ovulate in 36 hours. We were scheduled to be at the office bright and early on Tues, Aug 30th for my procedure. I was very nervous. For this procedure it involves having an IV put in and then they put a needle through your vagina to capture the eggs. Thank goodness they do put you to sleep for that but it is quite scary. While I went for my procedure Danny gave his part. He said it was very short procedure maybe about 15 min and the Dr. said it was a success. They were able to remove 15 eggs. I was told to relax and take it easy for the rest of that day.

The next day feels like a very long day. You are told you will be called with the fertilization report by 1pm. Well at like 1:15 I finally got my call. They removed 15 eggs, 12 of which were mature. Out of those 12 they used 10 of the for a procedure called ICIS which is where they directly put 1 sperm into 1 egg. The other 2 we wanted to see if they would fertilize naturally or naturally in IVF terms. Well to our surprise all 12 eggs had fertilized. Next you wait to see if they are strong enough to grow into a 5 day embryo or if they need to do a 3 day embryo. They want to be able to do a 5 day embryo b/c if it was natural the 5 day embryo would be where it needs to be when the embryo lands in the uterus and is ready for implantation. We were scheduled for a 5 day embryo transfer which took place on Sun, Sep 4th.

We went in to have our embryo transfer and were extremely optimistic. We got a picture of what would hopefully become our baby and they did the procedure. We only put 1 embryo in b/c of our age. This is not painful but very uncomfortable. You must have a full bladder and they have an ultrasound wand pushed down on your bladder. They then insert the embryo into your uterus through a catheter in your cervix. Then you have to lay there with a full bladder for 5 min. The day after the egg retrieval I had started wearing estrogen patches and that day I started taking a vaginal progesterone insertion. Being that it was Labor Day weekend I just tried to take it very easy for the next 2 days. After embryo transfer they have you on very limited activities so your body doesn't undergo anything to not accept the embryo. The wait to find out if you are pregnant is 10 loooooonnnnnnngggggg days. The Friday after the embryo transfer my chest, face and neck broke out into a horrible rash. I figured it was a reaction to the possibly the progesterone. It subsided after a few days but was weird. I was scheduled for my pregnancy test on Wed, Sep 14th. Well on Mon I started to spot. Spotting for me has always meant my period is coming so my heart started to sink. This began our week of hell. The spotting was light and tapered off and then came back. I cried on Mon but tried to remain hopeful. On Tues the spotting was very light so I tried to be hopeful until later in the afternoon when the spotting turned more red. By around 5:30 or so I was full blown bleeding and my heart was crushed. I cried and cried and was so upset. The next day wasn't any better. I had to go in for my pregnancy test. Well, I get there and none of my veins worked. I got stuck a few times with not a drop of blood coming out and then got sent to Quest instead. Well I got to Quest and the fire alarm goes off so I left and got breakfast and went back to the dr. office and had them try again. Well after being poked a total of 5 times she gave up and told me to go back to Quest. I did and luckily that lady got it on the 1st try. I didn't hear back from the dr. office that day so the next morning I called and was waiting for a call back.

Around lunch time on Thurs, Dr. Slayden called me. He told me that my pregnancy test came back as positive but the number was really really low. My number was 16 and to be a viable pregnancy at that point it needs to be around 50. He said that I was miscarrying. Basically having a miscarriage that early is called a chemical pregnancy. The embryo implants but for some reason does not make it. Most women never even know that this happens b/c they start to bleed when they would get there period. I needed to go back in on the following Mon and make sure that all of the HCG had left my body. I made an appt for Danny and I to meet with Dr. Slayden on Wed, Sept 21st to discuss our next option and what happened. I have to say going through this probably is the hardest thing I have ever done. My heart was broken, my spirits crushed and I was just so sad. I wondered why I had felt so lead to do IVF from God and then it didn't work. Then I felt so bad for questioning God and I had to not be angry but no this was for a reason. We continued to pray everyday for our miracle.

Meeting Dr. Slayden we decided that we should do a frozen embryo transfer. I would start by taking Lupron (another injection) for about 2 to 3 weeks to suppress my ovaries. Dr. Slayden told us that frozen embryo transfers were more successful b/c the body isn't so stressed from everything the IVF procedures put them through. We had 4 frozen embryos and we would put 2 in when the time came. Next is starting this very long cycle!