IVF Cycle - Day 34

Day 34: October 12 Poke Count: 62

I have been taking the Lupron Injections for almost 2 weeks now and so far I haven't noticed any side effects. This has been a nice change from the Menopur and Gonal - F. Other than the results of the embryo biopsy, there has been almost nothing going on with our IVF Cycle. Just the injections and a whole lot of waiting around.

There has been one big decision weighing on us since we got the results of the embryo biopsy; "how many embryos do we transfer?!" Since we started this whole process, we have gone back and forth between one embryo or two. In the back of our minds the plan has always been 2. We would be thrilled with twins and it would give us a small increased chance in conceiving. We started questioning our decision to transfer 2 embryos when we got the news that we only have 4 healthy embryo's.

I spoke with our nurse, Ashley, on Monday and she thinks we should start with one embryo. If I do not get pregnant the first time, this would leave us with 3 healthy embryos. This would also decrease the chances of me becoming pregnant with twins. While Twins would be a welcomed blessing, multiple pregnancies come with additional risks for the mother and the babies, There has been an increased number of IVF patients who are choosing elective single embryo transfer (ESET) in recent years. ESET has shown a decrease in multiple births, but has not shown a decrease in live birth rates. My young age and relatively healthy body give me a higher chance of becoming pregnant, so my doctor and nurse think one embryo will be enough for me to become pregnant.

The doctors can give us guidance in how many embryos to transfer, but ultimately it is our decision and we have no idea what we want to do. We have the doctors advising us to transfer one and everyone else telling us we should transfer 2. Everyone wants us to have twins! I am praying for guidance and confidence in whatever decision we make. At this very moment I am leaning towards 1, but that could all change in about 20 minutes.

I started taking estrogen pills today. I will stay on the estrogen for 21 days before the embryo transfer. I have an ultrasound on October 24th and we will need to let them know our decision on the embryo's at that time. That leaves us 12 more days to change our minds over and over again.

-Emily

Embryo Biopsy Results

Brian and I are camping in Pentwater this weekend for Oktoberfest. What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend with family to keep our minds occupied while we wait for results turned into a much better weekend! I woke up this morning to a voicemail from The Fertility Center asking me to call them. I called right away and they gave us the results. Out of the 11 embryos that were tested, 7 of them tested positive for the Epidermolysis Bullosa gene mutation. That means we have 4 healthy unefected embryos that can be transferred back into my uterus. Not all at once of course!

I will stay on my Lupron injections for a few more days. I am currently injecting 20 units every evening. On Monday I will decrease that to 10 units every evening. On Wednesday I will start to take estrogen pills every morning and evening. In the following weeks I will increase that to 3 times daily. The estrogen will help build up the lining of my uterus to allow embryo implantation. I'll have an ultrasound somewhere in the next month to make sure the lining is healthy enough for an embryo transfer.

My embryo transfer is tentatively scheduled for November 1. On that date, they will transfer an embryo back into my uterus and I will officially be pregnant until proven otherwise!! After a little more than a week, I will have a blood test to tell if the embryo implanted and I am truly pregnant. If that test is positive, they will do another blood test the following day to see how my hormones are increasing. During the weeks following the embryo transfer I will be on progesterone injections to help with implantation and embryo growth.

While we were hoping for more embryos, we are thrilled that we have 4! That's 4 opportunities for an embryo transfer and possible pregnancy! We appreciate everyone's love and support while we continue this journey. Prayers for continued success are appreciated!

-Emily

IVF Cycle: Stims Day 13

Day 13: Wednesday 9/21 Poke Count 44

Today was eventful! I started the day with my cetrotide injection and stopped by the fertility center on my way to work to have my blood drawn. Around 1PM (an hour after I got back from my lunch break) I got a call from Ashley) My Estrogen levels had dropped from 2254 pg/ml yesterday down to 1578 pg/ml today...not good! They have no idea why this would happen, but if it continued to drop, the follicles would stop growing. I told her I had half a vial of Gonal-F left at home and she wanted me to come to the office right away to get some Menopur. They never have medication in the office and they just happened to have 2 vials that someone had donated. I left work, picked up the medication and went home to get the Gonal-F...this is where things got interesting.

The past week or so, my brain has been mush. I am constantly losing things and forgetting the name of things. I don't know if its a side effect of the medication or I just have so much on my mind, but its not fun. Anyway, I haven't been able to find my house keys since Monday. I left a door open so I could come home on lunch, but I locked that one when I headed back to work after my break today. Brian had opened the dining room window yesterday, so I could wiggle it open and climb inside. I went through the gate into the back yard and found a new, disgusting, wriggly friend making a run (or slither) for it to the Hosta....there was a snake moving very quickly through the grass! I had my little mental freak-out, bolted up the stairs to the deck by the dining room window.

I had to break part of the screen to get to the actual window and I was just barely able to open the window enough to get through. The whole time the dog is barking at me and I'm worried the neighbors will think someone is trying to break in. Excitement aside, I got the medication, gave myself both injections and headed back to work. The Fertility Center called again and told me they still plan on doing my egg retrieval on Friday at 7:45AM! I have to do my Pregnyl (trigger) ingection tonight at 8:15PM and an injection of Lupron at the same time. My mom is actually coming over to give me the Pregnyl shot since its an intramuscular injection. She gives shots all the time at work and I've only done the subcutaneous ones in the belly. Brian is not too fond on stabbing his wife, so I'll let my mom show me how to do it! By the end of today, I will have had 44 pokes since the start of IVF! It really doesn't seem like its been that many!

Thursday night I'll take Valium before bed and take a few more meds in the morning on Friday. Ill need to take a Z-pac to prevent infection, 1000mg of Tylenol and a light sedative. I'll be put under for the procedure and then they will create our embryos!! We will know how many eggs were retrieved immediately and we will get updates on the embryos almost daily until they are biopsied and frozen. Keep your fingers crossed for lots of eggs and lots of embryo growth!

-Emily