5 weeks Pregnant: No More Injections!

Tomorrow I will officially be 5 weeks pregnant and I feel great! I haven't had any nausea or bloating whatsoever. I am continuing to be extremely tired in the evenings though and I'm usually in bed by 8PM. My eyes also seem to be feeling really dry. I haven't been able to wear my contacts much at all and have switched to wearing my glasses a lot more. If I didn't already know I was pregnant, I probably would have no clue that I was pregnant!

I went in for another blood test last Friday to check how my Hcg was increasing. It had risen 136% from 174mlU/ml all the way up to 411mlu/ml. They look for it to increase by at lease 80% if not double, so this is great news! I have my first OB appointment at the fertility center on the 28th and I think we will get to hear our baby's heartbeat!

When I say I am done with injections, that does not mean I am done with the medications. I have to continue taking Progesterone until I am 11 weeks pregnant and Estrogen till I am 10 weeks pregnant. These help support the baby until the placenta is fully formed and I am through the first trimester. I really haven't had that much trouble with the progesterone injections, that is until earlier this week when my backside began to resemble something akin to an ugly pumpkin!

Yes...like that, but not orange!

I broke out in giant, red, itchy hives around each injection site. I called The Fertility Center that day and they said I had probably developed a sensitivity to the sesame oil that they put the progesterone in. Apparently this is not too uncommon. They said my next option was to try a progesterone injection with a different type of oil. They sent in the prescription for Progesterone in Ethyl Oleate hoping that a synthetic oil would help stop the hives. Only problem is my insurance will not cover anything other than sesame oil and the out of pocket cost would be around $150 for just 3 vials. I only paid $4 per vial for the Progesterone in sesame oil.

In an effort to save some money, my doctor has switched me to a vaginal capsule 3 times a day which are only $8 for 90 pills. The capsules seems like they will be annoying, but it will definitely be worth the savings. The hives seem like just a localized reaction, but they did tell me I will need to be extra careful the next time I eat anything with sesame in it. While they hope it will not be an issue, I may have developed an actual allergy to sesame. I'll just need to be careful and be aware that I may have a reaction in the future.

Switching to the capsules means I am 100% done with all of the injections!!! We started this journey back in September and My final poke count is exactly 100!! I had to have 2 pokes one day this week because I ran out of the medication before the next vial was delivered. We had to do one injection in the morning with about 1/3 of my dosage and another injection at night with the remainder.

On another note, it seems as though Renly, our dog, knows something is going on. He has been glued to my side for the past week or so and has just been super clingy. The other night he seemed like he had to go to the bathroom, so Brian got up to let him out. He ran over to my side of the bed and wouldn't budge even when Brian tried to coax him with food. Finally I got up with him and had no problem getting him to go out.

I have heard of animals acting differently when someone is pregnant, but I wouldn't think that it would happen so early. I looked up some info online and a few different articles suggest that the hormone changes cause your scent to change. Humans cant tell, but animals can sense a change and they innately become more protective of you. I like to think he is just as excited as we are and wants to protect the baby. ;)

-Emily

Pregnancy Test Results!

Our hearts are full today with wonderful news; I am pregnant!!!

I found out Wednesday morning. Yes, I know I told everyone that the blood test was scheduled for Thursday, but....I lied! I lied to everyone, including Brian! It started out as an accident where I had the calendar for a 3-day embryo transfer instead of the 5-day transfer which really is only an 8 day wait. Plus, Brian had mentioned a while ago that he was kind of sad that we wouldn't have that moment together of me surprising him with the news that I was pregnant. I thought if he already thought the test was a day later, let him believe that! So I did my best to keep him from figuring out the actual date. The day of the embryo transfer the nurse held up a paper with "November 9" written in big letters. I practically snatched it from her hands before Brian noticed the date and just went on with the plan. Later that day I wrote the blood test on our calendar on the 10th and he didn't say anything about it so I assumed he was still planning on Thursday.

I also thought it would be nice to have a cushion day in there. If the test came back positive, we would have a day to tell our families before announcing it to everyone else. If it came back negative I would have a little bit of time to gather my thoughts before people started asking about the results. I took a pregnancy test on Monday morning and it said error. I didn't even know that was a thing! It was one of the digital ones and there was an hourglass icon and a little book icon with an arrow. The pamphlet in the box said it was an error warning. I just threw it away and texted Brian that apparently I wasn't supposed to know early. A while later I wondered if the hourglass icon meant it might still show a result so I dug it out of the trash and it said "pregnant"! I was obviously excited, but I knew it might not be correct due to the error warning so I decided I still wouldn't say anything to Brian.

I got to the lab super early Wednesday morning, just hoping they were open early that day! I sat in my car and flipped through channels trying to find a station that wasn't talking about the election and finally ran inside when I saw someone else go in early. I was in and out in 15 minutes and the lady who drew my blood said I should know in a few hours.

Finally, my phone rang at 10:30am and it was Ashley! I could hear it on her voice that she had good news. I walked out of the office and took the call in the hallway but I'm pretty sure everyone in the building heard me yell" oh my gosh, really?!?!" It seemed like she took forever to finally just spit it out! I went back to my desk and was literally shaking from excitement. I tried to hide it from my coworkers but I'm sure they noticed something was off from 5 minutes earlier. I was anxious to get home and tell Brian the good news. I had to tell someone so on lunch I told the dog he was going to be a big brother. I told Brian right when I got home from work and he was totally surprised. Of course, we had to tell our parents right away.

We went over to my moms house and waited for her to get home from work. She rolled down the car window and i just blurted "I'm pregnant!". She lept out of the car screaming and gave us big hugs! We visited for a while and then drove to Fruitport to tell Brian's parents. They were surprised to see us at the door at 7:30pm. Brian's dad opened the door, said "what are you guys doing here?" And again I just blurted it out! I'm not very good at this whole giving big news thing. He yelled for Brian's  Mom and she started jumping up and down. It was a night of hugs, "wow's" and phone calls to family. One family member even offered to buy me a silver bucket to puke into when I start getting sick.

So, I'm pregnant! We are going to have a baby!!! I go back for another blood test on Friday to make sure my hcG levels are increasing as they should. They want them to increase by at least 80% if not double. My next appointment is November 29th and until then we will pray for our baby to continue growing strong and healthy!

Our first family photo! 

-Emily

The Two Week Wait

In IVF world, they call it the "two week wait", even though it is really only 10 days. Online IVF forums are filled with people asking IVF veterans tons of questions about what happened during their 2WW. This has made me feel a whole heck of a lot less crazy over the past 4-5 days. I have joined the club of women in their 2WW who want answers to every little thing they feel or think they might feel.

It's a strange feeling knowing that something so incredible could be going on inside my body and I could feel absolutely nothing! A baby could literally be beginning to grow and I wouldn't be able to tell at all. I keep saying "I should feel something, right?" That was until yesterday. I thought I might have felt something strange and my mindset switched to "no, there's no way I could feel that this soon!"

Friday afternoon, I started feeling these little twinge-y pains in what felt like my ovaries. The same feeling I had when I was on the stims medication. I looked it up online (always a reliable source) and found story after story of how other women have felt these same things during their 2WW. Some say it is implantation pain, others say it is my ovaries starting to produce more hormones...I must be pregnant, right?!? I also woke up early this morning with my calf muscles cramping up like never before. Online it says that this can be an early sign of pregnancy, but I am not totally convinced on this one yet.

I know it is absolutely insane for me to be analyzing every little feeling I get at this moment, but I can't help it. I just have to wait around and believe I am pregnant, while also knowing that I might not be pregnant...It would drive anyone batty. Until the pregnancy test on Thursday, life goes on. We are still dealing with the progesterone shots at this point, which have proved to be a major stressor for both Brian and myself. The shots themselves really aren't that bad, but we have both had horrible dreams about these shots.

I dreamt that I tried to give myself the shot and when I checked for blood in the syringe, blood started pouring out like a lame horror movie. Brian's dream was even weirder. He dreamt that it was time to move on to the next stage of shots, where he would have to inject a live baby eel into my muscle. He said the weirdest part was that in his dream, I was totally fine with this and thought it was no big deal. While I have gotten used to the shots themselves, my backside has turned into one big, lumpy bruise. I have lumps on both sides about the size of a tennis ball. You can't really see them, but I keep making Brian "feel how big the lumps are now!" He hasn't been amused so far.

Next Thursday will be a big day for us. On top of the Pregnancy test, my good friend, Brandon, will be in town for the day from Seattle. We are going to grab lunch on his way through town to visit his brother. When Brian realized this was on the same day as the test he said "he better not know before I do!" As if I would ever do that! The nurse at The Fertility Center said if we want to know the same day as the test, I should go in the morning. Of course, I found a lab that is open at 7AM, so I can find out ASAP. Hopefully they call after I leave work for the day so I don't have to hide my excitement from my co-workers. I realize that this could be sadness, but for now I am thinking positive!

- Emily

Embryo Transfer

IVF Cycle Day 54 : Poke Count:82

Today was the day! The day we had been anxiously anticipating for so long! Today we went in for our embryo transfer.

Sexy hospital gown selfie!

Last night was far from restful. I had a dream that they thawed all of our embryos, only one of them survived and I didn't even get pregnant. I woke up at around 3:00 this morning and I don't think I ever truly went back to sleep. I would nod off and then wake right back up again. Finally around 7:30, I decided to just get out of bed for the day. I woke Brian up at 8:00 to do my Progesterone shot and took my Valium & Estrogen at 8:15AM. We had to be at The Fertility Center at 9:15AM and the embryo transfer was scheduled for 9:45AM.

They took us right back to get changed into our gowns and went over a paper of instructions for the rest of the day. Within 5 minutes we were headed to the procedure room. They confirmed my name and date of birth and then had me confirm that we would be transferring one embryo. Dr. S let us know that they only had to thaw one embryo and they still have 3 healthy embryos frozen for future transfers! They even handed us a picture of our embryo that we got to see! It had just been thawed so the edges are pretty rough. She said as moisture continues to enter the embryo, the edges will even out.

I layed there for a minute just looking at the picture and waiting for everything to get started. Out of nowhere Brian started laughing and singing along with the music they had playing in the procedure room....Marvin Gaye's "Lets get it on". Appropriate for an embryo transfer, I think! The nurse started laughing along with him and soon we were all giggling like idiots. After only a few moments it was go time!

The nurse used an ultrasound to look at my uterus while Dr. S threaded a catheter through my cervix. Dr. S told the embryologist she was ready for the embryo and they brought it in from the lab right next door. Dr. S had us look at the monitor on the ultrasound and we saw a little white flash where the embryo was pushed out of the catheter. Dr. S said the embryo will implant into the lining of my uterus over the next few days. Then she took the catheter out and it was all over. It all happened so fast! We went to change back into our clothes and I actually asked the front desk receptionist "So, we can just go? That's it?" I expected to have to lay there for a while before we could leave. I guess I thought the embryo would fall out or something! We wound up walking out the door at 9:42AM, that's 3 minutes prior to our scheduled procedure time!

We spent most of the day at home.  Around 1PM, I got restless so we went out to grab some lunch. I was still feeling a little "off" from the Valium this morning so I layed back down when we got home. We have had so many people reach out today to let us know we are in their thoughts and prayers. We appreciate it all so so so much! The next 10 days are going to be absolute torture waiting for the blood test!

-Emily

IVF Cycle: The Home Stretch

IVF Cycle: Day 48 Poke count: 76

The past few weeks have been extremely uneventful as far as our IVF cycle goes.  We went to visit our good friend Kat this past weekend as she starts her new adventure in Toronto. She and her husband, Nate, will be living there for the next couple years due to his job. Brian and I had some excitement on the way up there when we realized we would need to use an actual map to find our way to her apartment after crossing the border. Who knew Verizon shuts everything off when you cross into another country? We pulled out an atlas that I had in my car from a road trip years ago, but unfortunately Canadian maps were not included. We wound up using the map that was frozen on my phone screen just to make sure we were on the right highway. Once we knew we were headed in the right direction, it was smooth sailing! We got to take the train into town, tour downtown Toronto and take a tour of a castle turned haunted house. It was a great little escape while we keep our minds occupied.

I had my last appointment before the embryo transfer on Monday. They performed an ultrasound to measure the lining of my uterus and make sure it was all set to implant an embryo! Brian accompanied me to this appointment and I had a good laugh. We got in the room and the nurse told me to undress from the waist down and the ultrasound tech would be in shortly. Brian looked at me and said "I thought they were just doing an ultrasound today??" maybe I haven't made it clear that all of these ultrasounds have been internal ultrasounds. They aren't the average belly ultrasounds where the only uncomfortable part is getting that gel off of your stomach. These are pretty uncomfortable in every aspect. They don't hurt or anything, they are just awkward.

As we were lying in bed last night we watched the training video for these injections. I told Brian that I needed him to be calm in the morning and act like it was no big deal for him to be stabbing me with a giant needle. He has been pretty freaked out about the whole idea of giving me an injection from day 1 and if he was upset, I would get upset. The little ones in the stomach are like nothing at this point. I even gave myself 2 of them in the car this past weekend and had no problems. The progesterone injections on the other hand are wayyyyyy scarier. The medicine is mixed with sesame oil, so the needle has to be big. It's also injected directly into the butt muscle/hip area which can be pretty painful. .

They have to be done in the morning so I'm not just going to bed and laying down for the next 6-8 hours. I'll have to keep moving to prevent the muscle from developing a bulge from the oil building up....FUN! We stood in the bathroom for about 15 minutes this morning while I stalled. First I had to get the dog a treat, then I had to pee, then the alcohol wasn't dry on my skin, then I just didn't want to do this! Brian did great and acted less nervous and more annoyed with my stalling..yeah, he was totally acting. Once I finally calmed down enough to let him give me the shot, it really was no big deal! It barely hurt at all! I really need to stop listening to what everyone else says. So many articles online are titled "the dreaded progesterone shot" or "tips on surviving your first progesterone injection". If I had known better, I would have avoided these articles altogether. They just made me stress over something that really wasn't even that bad.

I am still taking estrogen multiple times a day along with the progesterone and I am starting to notice some new side effects. In the last week of my Lupron injections, I developed little bruises on either side of my abdomen. I guess my skin was sick of the needles! In fact, my skin is probably in the worst condition ever. I am breaking out all over my neck...yes, my neck. One of the most random places to have a breakout. I'm assuming this is from the estrogen, but I'm not 100% sure. I have also gained some weight. I am not eating any worse, in fact I am eating healthier than I normally do, but I've still gained a few pounds. I guess this is normal, but that doesn't mean I like it! Other than a few extra pounds and a pimple covered neck, I haven't noticed any new side effects lately! 

My last post focused on the big decision of how many embryos to transfer. A few days after that post, we made our final, final decision. We will be transferring ONE embryo. The plan was to transfer 2 embryos from the beginning, so changing our plan was not an easy decision. Brian and I both separately spoke with our nurse and both feel that we should go with one at this point. I had been going back and forth since we found out we only had 4 embryos , however my mind has been at ease with this decision since we set our mind on a single embryo transfer. I am a firm believer in going with your gut, and I think this is the only time my gut feeling has done a complete 180. 

In less than one week, we will be in the procedure room ready for the embryo transfer. I thought that the pregnancy test would be done on the 8th day after the transfer, but I was mistaken. It is actually a full 10 days after the embryo transfer, so we should find out on November 11th if I am pregnant. I cannot believe this past 2 months has gone by so quickly. We may be saying goodbye to this long, drawn-out process and welcoming the beginning of a healthy pregnancy. Thinking happy thoughts! 

-Emily

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