Getting started with IVF!

Ok guys! First I want to talk about our IVF consultation :) We both feel really good about it and felt like it went really well! I was definitely nervous about our "odds" since we have now had two miscarriages but our doctor feels like that wont be an issue moving forward.
We have unexplained infertility since all of our blood work came back normal, so moving forward we just have to account for extra "what ifs". But since I respond so well to the medications, our doctor just feels as if IVF will be a great way for us to "weed through" the bad eggs that I may have and that could have potentially caused our previous miscarriages. But before I go into specifics...our doctors feels like our chances are just as good as anyone else's going through IVF...65-70% :)

Ok now onto the fun...but confusing part!
I got a call from the IVF coordinator this morning with my tentative IVF schedule and retrieval date!!! It is so exciting and is moving very quickly, which is great for me because I hate waiting for anything!!!!

So she told me that I am to continue taking my prenatals, B6, B12, and Folic Acid but she also wants me to start a low dose aspirin, antibiotics to clean my system of any infection, and......birth control!!! YUP!!!! Seems counterproductive right?!?! Well..there is a reason for it. The birth control will allow my follicles to suppress their growth and will allow them all to get small and roughly the same size. So when I do start my injections, all the follicles will be the same size and will grow at the same rate. We are shooting for 15-20 follicles and he would like them to be the same size. Make sense? Ok...moving forward!
I will continue the birth control until the 22nd but in the mean time there is plenty to do!
I go in next Wednesday the 11th for my "mock transfer". This will actually be a shorter appointment for me than other ladies going through IVF because usually the appointment includes a hydro ultrasound but since we just had that done, all he wants to do is take some measurements. We will also be talking to the business coordinator to go over financing options, costs, etc. There is also labs that day but I dont remember exactly what those are for.

Then on the 18th we will come in for a sono and they will tell us if we are able to start our Lupron. Lupron is an injection used to suppress hormones made by the body that trigger ovulation. Im not entirely sure how long I will take this but I know its nightly.

Then on the 26th I will come in for more labs and a sono and they will tell me my next steps.

Then on the 28th I should start my Menopur and Follistim injections.

Then shortly after that I will be coming in every 2-3 days to check on my follicle growth and my  tentative retrieval date is March 11th!!! YAY!!! Prayers for lots and lots of follicles with eggs!!!

The doctor will then fertilize each egg with Wesley's sperm and call me daily to tell me how they are doing and how many we have left each day.
On day 3, if we have embryos that are just doing great, then we will do a transfer the next day or so. If not then he will allow the remaining embryos to keep growing for 2 more days. This will give us a better understanding of which embryos are "strongest". He will then talk to us and we will choose which embryos we would like to transfer. He recommends 2 but if there aren't 2 outstanding embryos then he could possibly transfer 3.
So within a week after March 11th we will have put in at least 2 embryos in my uterus!!! YAYYY!!!
We are so excited and cant wait to really get started!!

I will update again when I have a little more information and I will probably do a video once I get my medications ;)

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers!
Hopefully this is just the thing we needed to get our take-home babies!!!!

Test Results!

Well...I got my test results back yesterday!
It was pretty much the opposite of what I wanted to hear.
I wanted answers...I wanted to know that the loss of our 2 babies had a reason that we could fix moving forward.
But, no such luck.
All of my tests came back normal.
I did have one blood clotting test come back borderline but they don't think that that would cause a miscarriage. So I'm going to repeat that test in 12 weeks if I don't get pregnant by then.
I did ask for extra vitamins just to ease my mind as far as that goes. So they are putting me on extra B6, B12, and folic acid.
I also voiced my concern about a potential 3rd loss since we didn't find an issue with the tests. And she said that in the case of a 3rd loss, we would do tests on my eggs to see if there is an issue with them. But since that costs so much, we would probably do IVF and they would just test the embryos before they put them back in.

So the game plan is the same right now. I will start my provera next week and once I start my cycle we will go in and start a normal IUI cycle.

Thank you all for the positive thoughts and prayers!

Left Needing Answers

Alright guys! I am sorry it has taken me so long to get this post up but we have been through a very crazy past few days and it has taken a toll on us emotionally and physically.

Ok during my last post I told you guys that my numbers weren't going up like they should and they didn't think that this would be a viable pregnancy.

Well...that hasn't changed..but the reasoning behind it has changed a few times.

Before Friday, they thought that it might be a tubal pregnancy because of the way my numbers were slowly going up. But on Friday when I went in for my ultrasound, our doctor thought that it was probably in my uterus and was just an early miscarriage.

We were somewhat relieved by this because the thought of an ectopic pregnancy scared us more than an early loss because with an ectopic pregnancy, your chance of having another goes up quite a bit(roughly 30%).

I also had a lot of questions for the doctor.

One miscarriage is very normal...but a second is not.

So I wanted his opinion on why this was happening and what we would do to prevent this from happening again.

He told us that after my levels went back down to zero, we would be doing a series of blood tests to determine if I had some sort of vitamin deficiency, blood clotting disorder, or autoimmune disorder. Each of which he told me can be treated with either blood thinners or extra vitamins.

But the first step was to "pass" this pregnancy and get my numbers back down to zero.

So he gave me a prescription for Cyclotec, which I was supposed to take vaginally and pass everything within one to two days.

So Friday night i took it and nothing happened. Then I took a second dose on Saturday and again...nothing happened. No spotting...no cramping..nothing. This worried me! How can this stuff not work??

So I called the doctor and he had me come back in on Monday morning to see what was going on.

So I went in and he did another ultrasound. Thats when I asked him what would be the reason that the medicine didn't work??

He said it usually points to tubal pregnancy.

ughhhh!!!

That was the last thing I wanted to hear!!!!

But then he said something that I definitely didn't want to hear..that I would be having another D&C the next day :(

While the first one was quick and I healed great, I hate the idea of major surgery. I have had my fair share of surgery in my life and the thought of being put under, yet again, was enough to make me sick to my stomach.

But what choice did I have??

So the game plan was to have the D&C and if my hCG levels went down then the pregnancy was in my uterus...if not then it would be considered in my tube and I would have to take a low dose chemo shot in order to get rid of the pregnancy without surgery.

So yesterday I went in and had another D&C and while my doctor said this one would be easier since I wasn't as far along, it was quite the opposite! Last time I had almost no bleeding, no nausea, and no cramping...but this time I had it all. Nothing crazy but definitely not what I was thinking.

But its over and that is all that matters!

The next hurdle was to make sure that my levels dropped so that we could rule out a tubal pregnancy and hopefully move on!

So I went in this morning for my post op checkup and blood work.

They called me this afternoon and my levels had DROPPED from 109 to 42!!!! This was amazing news!!! The numbers were showing that the pregnancy wasn't in my tube and moving forward seemed less daunting!

So now I will go back Friday(and probably weekly) until my levels get back down to zero then we can do the blood work to see what is causing our multiple miscarriages and hopefully it is something we can fix easily so we can finally have a baby!!!

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers!

I will keep you updated as we move forward!

Good News and Bad News

I am sorry it has taken me so long to do this post but when you read why...you might understand.

On Friday morning I took a pregnancy test like I do at the end of every cycle. Most of the time it is negative but Friday was different. It said "pregnant" on that tiny screen.

I assumed that the next time I got pregnant, I would be ecstatic! That was not the case. I was nervous and anxious and I had a bad feeling in my heart. I knew something didn't feel right. 

I wasn't spotting. I had no cramps. But for some reason I felt as if this was not going to be my take-home baby. 

Call it mother's intuition...or maybe I just know my body better than most.

But I hesitantly called my doctor's office and asked for a blood test since my pregnancy test said positive. 

I got in and immediately my nurses were lit up because I was finally pregnant again!

They asked me how I was doing and all I could say was that I was nervous and I had a bad feeling.

They took my blood and I left.

They called me that afternoon and told me that my hCG (pregnancy hormone) level was at 26.5.

This told us that I was indeed pregnant.

But they asked me to come back 3 days later to make sure that my levels doubled like they should.

So on Monday morning I went in for another blood test. I still had that bad feeling in my gut that something was wrong.

They called me that afternoon and my levels has risen to 48. Which doesn't seem bad because they went up...but they didn't double like in a healthy pregnancy.

So this morning they had me come in for yet another blood test. 

My levels rose to only 66. Not even close to doubling.

My nurse asked me to come in for an ultrasound and blood work on Friday because they think it could be a tubal pregnancy(implanted in my fallopian tube instead of my uterus).

So I have an appointment Friday morning to see what is exactly going on.

But before we got off the phone I had to ask..."do you think this will be a successful pregnancy??"

And she told me "we aren't ruling it out but no..we don't think this one is going to work."

Which brings me here. Confused. Upset. Hurt. And feeling like there is an even bigger problem than just my ovulation and getting pregnant. 

They did tell me that they will be doing a lot of blood work to see what could be causing our(now multiple) miscarriages. 

Hopefully Friday we can get some answers.

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers. I wish I had some better news to give you guys. But this is where we are. 

Progesterone Check for IUI #7

Hey guys!!!

This blog post will be short and sweet!

We had our progesterone check today and just like almost every cycle before this, my levels are great!!!

My levels were >40 which is amazing :)

So now we just wait to test!!!

I'm not sure I will ever get used to this waiting game haha!

Keep up the positive thoughts and prayers!!

Hopefully this is our last IUI and we get our take home baby out of this cycle!

I will post next week on whether or not this cycle worked!

Hurry Up and Wait Facebook Page

A Different IUI

Hey guys!! Sorry I'm so late with this post!

It has been a really relaxing day and I have taken full advantage of it :)

So this morning we went in for our SEVENTH IUI!! 

I told you guys last week that the nurse that would be doing our IUI, wanted to do things a little differently this time and BOY DID SHE!

Other than the fact that she was putting cleaned sperm in my uterus..it was just different.

First off..we had 32.6 million sperm this time! That's 10 million more than last time!!!

So after the nurse came in, she said that she wanted to do an ultrasound on my uterus first. We have never had an ultrasound on IUI day so I was a little curious as to why. But what she wanted to do was measure my uterus to see exactly how far she needed to put the catheter in to get to where my tubes are.

Which turned out to be great because she found out that my uterus was shorter than the average uterus! 

She then marked the catheter the exact length of my uterus so she didn't put it in too far and irritate the top of my uterus. She said that my short uterus could be why I have a little more sperm being pushed down after the procedure. I can elaborate a little more in another post if you guys want. 

But on to the fun stuff!

The nurse then tilted the table A LOT! After that she found exactly where she needed to put the catheter and put it in the exact length of my uterus. 

Then she waited until I stopped cramping and she put the sperm exactly where it needed to be. After she did that she waited until it went into my tubes before before removing the catheter (about 5 minutes).

The normal procedure takes about 5 minutes...this took closer to 15. But she said that she was able to get almost all of the sperm into my tubes!!!! She told us that she has never done an IUI where that much of the sperm got into the tubes. (Usually you have some that comes out in everyone).

Then instead of sitting there for 15 minutes...I laid there for 20 minutes.

So if this doesn't work...we will seriously be shocked!!!!!!

So now the 2ww starts!!! We have a progesterone check on Friday so I will do my next post then unless there is something else you guys would like to see a post on :)

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers!!!

Follicle Check for IUI #7

Alright guys!

Today was our follicle check for IUI #7.

I was a little confused as to why our doctor wanted us to come in a day early for our follicle check this cycle. I have always had good sized follicles on cycle day 12...

But the more I thought about it, the more I questioned whether or not bigger was better when it comes to follicles. 

If you guys remember, my follicles have been pretty big the past few cycles. I think they got up to about 28mm. And this entire time I thought that was a good thing! Now...I am not so sure.

I haven't actually talked to my doctor, but I think he might think that I have been ovulating early and that's why I haven't gotten pregnant. 

Anyway! So we went in this morning and like usual...I thought my follicles were on one side when in fact..they were on the other! I really thought that a majority of my follicles would be in my left ovary since I have been feeling that side a lot more. But when the nurse went in I had 4 follicles on my right (2 mature and 2 pretty close) then I had one in my left ovary that was mature.

So that is 3 mature now and 2 more that will be ready in a couple days!!

They called me this afternoon and said to do my HCG trigger shot tonight at 10 and we would have our IUI Saturday morning!!! We are pretty excited and hopeful that this will be our last IUI for a while :)

This is also our last chance to get pregnant before, what would be, our due date for our pregnancy in March....so pray that this works!!! I can't imagine not being pregnant on that day....

And I want to just let you guys know how amazing our nurses are!!! 

I mentioned last blog post that they are changing the way they are doing our IUI this time. The nurse that told us how she wanted to change it is now coming in on her DAY OFF just to do this new procedure for us!!! The entire staff at our doctors office goes above and beyond for us and we are eternally grateful for all that they do...including coming in on their day off just to try something new for us! I just cant describe to you all how much these people mean to us and how much they just want to see us have our take-home baby! We are blessed!

ok guys! Enough mushy stuff! I will post Saturday and let you all know how it went :)

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers :)