HolidAZE

Well our total frozen embryo count is 6! We are hoping for embryo transfer towards the end of January! Thank goodness its the holiday season as I feel like time will zoom on by! Thanks for hanging in there!

FREEZE!

As winter is upon us, normally I hate the word FREEZE but this morning it was welcomed and we are beyond thrilled! From NRM: "Good morning, the lab is freezing 5 beautiful embryos for you today. One embryo degenerated overnight, so they have 3 more in culture for potential freeze tomorrow."

Funny fact...

Did you know that at the instant of fertilization, a baby's genes and sex are set?

Retrieval, Recovery and RESULTS!

What a whirlwind these past two weeks have been! Saturday I was a nervous wreck! Not to mention I had lower abdominal pain (to be expected) from my swollen ovaries and I just was not pleasant to be around. Thankfully my sister and husband are patient with me! Sunday morning was even worse! I felt like an elephant was sitting on my uterus! We head to NRM and as usual we are greeted with the finest people in reproductive medicine (in our opinion)! I go back to pre-op, change into my sexy gown; the socks they give you are awesome by the way!!! Jay has extreme ADD and was driving me nuts fidgeting lol! Anyhow, Susie Obrien works there as an embryologist… I have known her all my life as I was best friends with her niece. To say it was such a relief knowing the fate of our future child was in her loving hands is an understatement. I was holding it together emotionally until she came out to wish us good luck and said she had been emotional all morning. YUP then I lost it. I was just a hot mess! So we walk to the operating room and that’s about all I remember… I was OUT! Came out after what felt like 5 minutes and Jay said I was a hot mess again lol! Then the words “you had 17 eggs” were music to our ears. We were ecstatic!!!! Especially since I was having horror thoughts the night before! OMG this was the best news we have had in a while!!! They send us home after I eat a little something, drink and pee! First stop… DUNKS of course!!! Hubby brought me home and tucked me in and there I layed the rest of the day! Now we were waiting for the call to see how many were fertilized (his sperm injected and received by an egg). Ready for it??!!!................. Of the 17 eggs, 12 were mature and injected and of those 9 were FERTILIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No words to describe how happy this news made us!! If I could have jumped I would have but instead I just shared my news and cried and cried and cried tears of happiness!!! We are day 2 after retrieval and the fertilized eggs will continue to grow for 5 days total before they are froze. Fingers crossed most continue to split until day 5! Thank you all for the texts, calls, messages, etc. You don’t know how much your support means to us!!

IVF Date & Time Confirmed!!! Here we go.....

We got word this morning that the retrieval procedure will be Sunday morning at 8:30 - we have to be there at 7:30am. The procedure is up to an hour but not usually that long. Not sure about recovery time yet. Once they retrieve, Jay will do his "thing" and then they will start fertilization. For the embryos that make it 5 days they will freeze them and store them until my ovaries are ready for insemination. Stay tuned... Thanks for all the well wishes, positive thoughts and prayers. We love you all!

It's been a week of UP's on this rollercoaster of conception!

Good Morning! Today was yet another ultrasound and more bloodwork. My right ovary has a lot of BIG follicles and Dr. Casson said we will be triggering Friday and my egg retrieval procedure will be............. SUNDAY!!!!!!!!! Although I am nervous about this the excitement Jay and I have trumps those feelings! Its been a week of good progress and we couldn't be more happy with the care we continually receive at NRM. OH the other night, no one was around to give me my shots in time so I inadvertently got over my fear of injecting myself!!! The proof is in the picture. (Some may think its weird to post a picture of this but I need these to hold over our child's head later in life when they wanna put me in a nursing home) hehehehe

Be advised... Frequent posting ahead...

So we are getting to the end of IVF cycle #1 and so I will have a lot to update since I am going to NRM just about daily now. This morning I had yet another ultrasound and more bloodwork followed by a check in with Dr. Wonderful! The ultrasound still showed LOTS of follicles around 14mm (they need to get to 18) and blood results are pending; I usually get a call in the afternoon. So we meet with Dr. C and he says although this is taking some time, this is looking like a great cycle! MUSIC TO OUR EARS! BUT… (There is always a “but”)... It looking like you are on your way to getting Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS). EEEKKKK! He continues to say that in order to prevent OHSS we aren't going to trigger you with HCG we will use Lupron (ok that’s fine) and instead of putting the embryo right back into your body, we won't be able to do so0 until a month later once the ovaries have calmed down, meaning the embryo’s will be frozen. We were warned of OHSS in our initial consultation but we were like “the percentage of it happening is low, we don't really need to worry about it.” WELL once again our luck curses us. Good thing is that NRM’s freeze rates are high quality and we can prevent OHSS! We have waited this long whats another month! Our health is a priority and I am glad NRM see’s it that way also. SO he mentioned possible extraction THIS WEEKEND!!! Yes I said it, this weekend!!!!! He will confirm as the week goes on. We are thrilled with the progress and hopeful now more than ever!! This is VERY exciting, nerve racking, emotional, ahhh just a bundle of unexplainable emotions!!! Hang on tight, and thanks for being on this ride with us family and friends!!

Anxiously awaiting my appointment this morning...

Well, Nicole from NRM called with the blood results and my estradiol and LH levels rapidly increased which means I am at risk of premature ovulation. She called me and said "Jennifer, we need you to go home and add in the additional injection (cetrotide)and decrease your Menopur and Gonal to 2 vials each... like NOW!" So I cancelled my work training and skedaddled home! This new shot stings a bit after injections and the injection site is sore for a short period of time but nothing that I haven't become used to. I did try to give it myself but again I became nauseous at the thought and said F&$% it... MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Jay wasn't home) I go at 8:15 this morning and expect the news to go one way or the other... cancel or ready or not!! I am hoping for the ready or not of course!!! I don't know if it is all these hormones I am pumping in myself but I am exhausted and can barely stay awake past 8pm! UGH this better all be worth it in the end and then I can get used to the exhaustion right?! :)

It's a GREAT Monday!

In the interest of being cautiously optimistic, this mornings appointment brought great news! Maybe my mom was my lucky charm! :) 2 days ago I had 2 follicles worth measuring... today I had over 10!!! And they are all growing at about the same rate! Finally my ovaries are waking up! Guess they are late bloomers much like myself haha! Maybe we found the magic potion! See my single dosage pic below! HAPPY MONDAY! I go back Wednesday and fingers crossed for even more growth!

Here is a little glimpse inside NRM. Its a comfortable, clean and welcoming place with awesome views. This morning I had ultrasound #1 of 3 for this week. Nothing was really happening with the ovaries which Mel (the tech) said wasn't uncommon with polycystic ovaries. It was a little disappointing but nothing that we haven't experienced before. Hopefully as the week goes on the damn things will start kicking into gear and making lots of follicles!!!