Embryo transfer day

Thursday was embryo transfer day.

We went in to HRC at 7:45. I had to drink a bunch of water before my appt so that I could be ready for an ultrasound... But this time the regular kind that they do on your tummy.  I had to pee soooooo bad. When I was laying on the table waiting for the embryologist and Dr. Wilcox, this is how I felt.

I was terrified that I was going to go all over the doctor... Actually... I'll be honest. I was REALLY terrified that I was going to fart right in his face.

How embarrassing would that be?!... and awkward.

Thankfully I did not fart in his face... or pee.

When Dr. Wilcox got there he told us that he would like to transfer 3 embryos and that by doing so we would have a teeny tiny chance of having triplets.  If we were going to have triplets then he would want us to do selective reduction.  I told him that Jared and I had talked about it and the only way we would ever do selective reduction would be if I was going to die.  So we compromised and he transferred 2 embryos.

We have about a 20% chance of having twins.  I really hope they both take!  I've always wanted twins my whole life, but really, I would be thrilled if we could just get one little miracle out of this.

The procedure itself only took about ten minutes, after which I was allowed to empty my bladder.  THANK GOODNESS!  I had to pee so bad!  I didn't even get dressed, I just wrapped the sheet around my waist and ran barefoot to the bathroom... and of course it was occupied.  So then I felt special because Dr. Wilcox let me use the Dr.'s bathroom.  haha

Here is a picture of all my little embryos! :)

And here is a picture of my uterus.    

The lighter section in the middle is where my two embryos were "dropped off".  Hopefully they've snuggled right in by now.

When we left, Dr. Wilcox ordered me to lay down with my feet up for the next 48 hours.  I was allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and I was allowed to sit up when I ate my meals.  Other than that I needed to lay down.  Holy crap.  All I have to say is that I pray I do not get put on bed rest at any point during my pregnancy {since this is definitely going to work}.  My back hurts sooooooooo bad!  Jared rubbed my back for me both nights and I used a heating pad for the last half of the day on Friday.  It was pretty boring.  I watched a ton of Law and Order and NCIS, but Friday night I watched my Cardinals win the World Series!  Woot! Woot!  11 in 11 baby :)

Today is the first "normal" day since the embryo transfer.  I still have to take it easy for 2 weeks {like, I'm not allowed to pick up anything or do any exercise or clean the house}.  If I try to push it at all I get pretty bad cramps so I'm going to be really good and try to follow the Dr.'s orders to a T.

And in 10 days I get to go back in to take my pregnancy test. :)  Yay!!!!

ivf - egg retrieval day

Monday was egg retrieval day.

We had to be to HRC at 7:45 so that Jared could give them a sampling of his manhood. 

The nurse that helped me was named Maria.  She was so nice and made me feel super comfortable {which was great because I was basically freaking out}.  I was so nervous that one of the big days was finally here.  In my  mind there are 3 really big days with IVF.  The egg retrieval day, the embryo transfer day, and pregnancy test day.  Maria and I talked about Dr. Wilcox and about how he is soooo nice and has such a calming affect on any room he walks in... and that I like that he has warm hands, haha.  I was back there for about 20 minutes before they were ready for me and the anesthesiologist put me out.  {I am soooo greatful for that kind of a drug!  It has made it possible for me to endure many procedures in the past.}

When I woke up I was back in the recovery room with Maria.  She told me that while I was under I started telling Dr. Wilcox that Maria and I had been talking about him and how nice he is.  Maria kept telling me "be quiet!  That was between you and me! haha" and apparently I also told him that I liked that he had warm hands.  Needless to say... I was pretty embarrassed.

 This is how awesome I looked right after the procedure.  Try not to be too jealous of my good looks.

Maria gave me juice and brought Jared in to see me.  I asked her if she knew how many eggs they got out or how many follicles that I had.  She didn't know but she said she would call and find out for me. :)
When she came back she told us that the doctor got THIRTEEN eggs!!!!!!  Yay!!!  The average person with two ovaries gets 8-16 eggs {about 60% get less than 12} and I got THIRTEEN with ONE!  I'm amazing. :)  Well, actually, my doctor is amazing for knowing how to get my body to work the way we needed it too.  I'll admit, I totally started crying from happiness.

When we got home I went straight to the couch and laid there until 6:00 that night.  Then we went over to our friends house {because she's awesome and said she would feed us} and I laid on her couch until 9:00.  Basically I wasn't allowed to do anything and wasn't about to try and push myself at all.

Yesterday I felt about as bad as I did on Monday so I stayed home from work and laid on the couch all day again.  :p my back is sooooo sore.
That morning I got a call from HRC and Saba told me that 8 of my little eggs were fertilized.  5 of them didn't take which is about average.  {30% of eggs won't fertilize for whatever reason.  Either they are not mature, or they're too old, or... etc}
I'm hoping the biggest hopes that all 8 of my little embryos grow big and strong!  I know the odds, and so I know at least a couple of them won't make it, but I hope most of them do!  We're going to have 2 embryos transferred into me, but the rest we'll freeze for next time, so the more embryos survive, the more potential children we have. :)  And I don't know about Jared, but I really want to have around 5 children.
Big families are the best!

We've totally come up with names that we like too, haha.  Our first boy will be named Wyatt Reid Barney.  Wyatt, because Wyatt Earp was a badass.  Reid after his Grandpa Reid Barney.
Our second boy will be Duke Dangerfield Barney. 
Duke after John Wayne {another cowboy, haha Jared wants to stick with a cowboy theme for all the boys} and Dangerfield after my Great Grandpa Preston Dangerfield West.
For girls, we haven't come up with anything for sure yet, but we both really like the name Hailey Lynn.  Lynn would be after me and my mom, and we just really like the name Hailey, plus I have a pretty awesome friend with that name. :)

Anyway, tomorrow I go back in for another appt.!  We'll get to see our little embryos and we will discuss whether to do the embryo transfer then or on Saturday.  Yikes!  I'm so excited and I'm so nervous!  I could totally be a mom next year.  One or two of these little tiny's could totally grow and be in my arms nine months from now.  My mom and dad could be grandparents.  My brothers and sisters could be aunts and uncles.  And my grandma and my aunts and uncles could all be great.

This is awesome.

the hcg shot

Well today is trigger day.

At 9:45 exactly I will have to get the hCG shot.

In my butt.

I'll have Jared do this one since I won't be able to reach back there myself. 

The big needle is the mixing needle, the small one is the injecting needle

I have to take the hCG shot 35 hours before the egg retrieval

this will make the eggs go through the final stages of maturation before they are retrieved.

{there really is too much to learn and remember with this IVF business}

Tomorrow I'll start taking an antibiotic to help prevent any infection from the procedure on Monday.

Today I cleaned my house and did a weeks worth of grocery shopping since my activities will be even more limited next week.

And I got a nice reminder of why I'm not supposed to do housework.  

Making the bed was painful and I had to lay down for like, 

an hour afterwords.

I felt like an old lady!

And when Jared and I were at Costco I started cramping really bad {Just from walking around!} and all I wanted to do was sit down.  Anywhere.  So I sat on a crate of soup for like 5 minutes, haha.  Is regular life this hard when your pregnant?!

Jared said I should have got one of those motorized carts to drive around the store.  I think I would rather stay home and go hungry than drive one of those things... which is funny because I think it would make Jared's week to be able to drive one.  Boys are silly.  He keeps life interesting though so I guess I'll keep him around awhile longer.  ;)

2 days!

ivf - day 51 - cycle day 12

Tonight will be the last night that I have to do all my shots. :)

YYYAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

 You would think that those shots would get easier to do after 3 weeks.

They don't.

I will take my HCG shot tomorrow night at 9:45 to get my body ready for the egg retrieval.

The procedure is scheduled for Monday at 8:45 a.m.

{And they said I have to take off this cute nail polish, dang! haha}

My ovary has stretched from the size of an olive
to the size of a small orange

{about 5-7 cm in diameter}

And I can feel it!

I have 8 dominant follicles and about 10 smaller ones

{crossing my fingers that I can get a couple more big ones by Monday}

Which I think is awesome for one ovary

These suckers get three more days and then they're coming out.

I don't know what my estrogen levels are as of today because the dr.'s office didn't call me back with the results. :(  Oh well.  It's not like it makes any difference, it's just fun to hear how they sky rocket up every time. :)

And the fun thought of the day.  Since the egg retrieval got pushed back 3 days, the embryo transfer was also pushed back three days.  The pregnancy test can be done 12 days after the embryo transfer WHICH MEANS I'll find out if I'm pregnant or not ON my birthday!  12 days from Thursday the 27th is exactly November 8th :)
I think I might get my best birthday present ever this year.

ivf - day 49, cycle day 10

Day ten appt. was great today :)

My ultrasound was good, but the doctor wants to hold the egg retrieval off for a couple of days.  My body is a little behind because it didn't respond as quickly to the meds at first but it's been responding much better with the tweaks he's made.

Here's a picture I found of about what my ovary looks like right now

The average ovary is the size of an olive

{obviously not the size of mine right now}

All of those circles are the follicles.

Dr. W says that he wants the follicles to be 18 mm in diameter so we can get good mature eggs out of them.  That's a freaking inch and a half.  There's 15 follicles in my ovary right now.  No wonder I can feel this thing! 

My poor ovary!  This little guy is getting stretched out a TON!

As for the blood work.  My estrogen levels today were even better.  In two days they've gone from 484 to 1244!  

From what I've researched, most doctors want to see estrogen levels that are between 1000-4000 and they want to see ovaries with 8-15 follicles that are between 14-20 mm in diameter {The goal is to get 8-15 quality eggs to work with} and then they'll do the HCG shot to induce final egg maturation.

BUT I only have one ovary to work with so no way will I get that many eggs.

My doctor wants to be able to get at least 10 follicles that are 18 mm in diameter so that he can hopefully get 10 quality eggs to work with.

I'm hoping that we can get at least ten eggs.

I'm hoping that all of the eggs that we do get will fertilize.

I'm hoping that all of those little embryos multiply and grow just like they should.

I don't want to lose a single one.

I go in for my next appt. on Friday.  I'll do the shots tonight and tomorrow and hopefully on Friday my ultrasound will look even better and I'll have even more phenomenal estrogen levels.

Dr. W thinks this will all go down on Sunday.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Day 7 checkup = Amazing

There are lots of countdowns in the IVF world.  First countdown is when "Aunt Flo" comes to town.  Second countdown is when you begin the Lupron.  Then the last countdown is when you start the stimulating hormones.  No wait!  I lied, there's more countdowns after this.  There's a countdown after the embryo transfer until you can take the pregnancy test, and then the FINAL countdown is for baby to come. :)

I'm on day seven of the third countdown and, of course, I had a checkup this morning.  I'd like to give a shout out to Dr. Wilcox for being the best doctor EVER.  That man has got some great intuition with things.  Because he upped the dose of Bravelle and he got me started on the estrogen pills, my endometrium {the lining in my uterus} has thickened and is now 10 mm. :)  This is awesome.  Then he checked out my ovaries, which by the way, he told me that I have a BIG, beautiful right ovary.  That's right.  Bam.  And now I have 15 follicles that are growing.  9 of them are bigger than the rest and he said he'd like to see 10 really good ones for the egg extraction.  {There's an egg in each follicle so basically he wants 10 great follicles so he can get 10 great eggs}  Finally, my estrogen levels are at 484.47.  A HUGE jump from the 80.78 that it was on Friday. :)

He upped my dose of Menopur from one vial to two each night and I'll continue doing 4 vials of bravelle, 5 units of Lupron and 2 estrogen pills plus the prenatal vitamins.  My next checkup is on Wednesday and they will decide to either continue the meds for a couple of days or have me take the HCG shot to get ready for egg retrieval {on FRIDAY!}

Eek!!!  It's so close I can hardly stand it!

Not a good checkup

This morning I had another checkup with HRC.  

A blood test to check my estrogen levels, {they want to see over 100 by day five and like to see over 200} and an ultra sounds to check out all my little follicles and the lining of my uterus.  I'm still spotting a little from my cycle and this is bad news bears.  Because of this my uterine lining hasn't thickened up at all.  Not. Good.  Also, my estrogen levels came back at 80.78... very low. :( So the doc told me to start taking Estradiol {estrogen pill} starting today and twice a day to kick start the process.  He found about 9 follicles on my right ovary and this is a good thing.  He told me that the right ovary produces more that the left so it's good a good thing the one I have is the right one! :)

if you want to know what a follicle is click here 

 I was also told to increase my dose of Bravelle from 3 vials each night to 4.  And speaking of Bravelle, last night I finally figured out that it hurts a fraction of what it did before if I give myself that shot in the abdomen.  Thank the Lord!  Because I didn't think there was any way I was going to survive with that shot for another day.
Finally, I was instructed to talk to my ovary.  Apparently it's supposed to help. {weird, but I'll do whatever it takes! haha}  I told the doctor I would talk to my uterus too since it hasn't done what we want yet.

My next appt. is set for Monday.  Hopefully my body kicks it into overdrive this weekend and I have a great next appt.  The estrogen pills are supposed to make me feel happier {yay!} and I was told to avoid any and all stress, so I've got a nice relaxing weekend in front of me.

I'm thinking a bubble bath and martinellis :)

Drugs

I thought I'd post a picture of all the drugs I get to take every day.

I figured out how much money I inject into myself daily... it's a lot.

So the needle with the orange thing at the end is for the Lupron, that's the stuff that I've been injecting for a week and a half now.  The pills are my prenatals, and the other needle is used for all the other vials along the top row.

I take 1 mL of the sodium chloride (grey lid) and mix it into a vial of Bravelle, suck it back up and then squirt it into the next vial of Bravelle and so on until I've mixed all 3 vials of Bravelle plus the vial of Monopur.  These drugs come as a powder and I think it looks cool how the powder just disappears when the sodium chloride hits it.  This is what it looks like

This stuff is a lot thicker than the Lupron so it hurts like a mother when I inject it.  But it will all be worth it in the end.

Today I cried for like 30 minutes for no reason.  Really?  I've only taken the shot for one day and I'm already this emotional?  Yikes.

My weird dream

The other night I had this really weird dream.  

It was super windy outside.

Like, so windy that I could stand up and lean all the way back without falling over

(like in the Matrix when they're dodging bullets)

Anyway, I'm all leaning back and then the wind pushed me down the driveway and around in the street and I'm totally having fun with it when I look down and see that my stomach is showing a little, and it is hairy.

WHAT THE CRAP?!

So I get all embarrassed and run into the house and everybody that I passed was all, um, you need to shave.

So I get inside and I shaved my stomach, all weirded out about even having hair on my stomach when I lifted up my shirt to find that my ENTIRE chest was all covered with hair.  All manly gross.

I pulled the hairs out and I swear they were like 5 inches long.

So then I woke up.

Super grossed out.

Yesterday HRC called to tell me the results from my estrogen level test.

15.4

I think I had that dream because my body thought I was turning into a man since my estrogen levels were so low, hahaha.

A special request

All this IVF stuff has, as funny as it sounds, kind of caught me off gaurd.  I've been wanting to have children for so long and waiting for this point in my life for so long that it's weird that the time has finally come.  It's here.  If this all goes to plan, I won't have to be waiting any more.  I can finally move on to the next phase of my life.  Sometimes I don't feel like any of this is real.  I'm sure that pretty much everyone at some point in their life has felt like they were watching themselves go through their day to day actions.  Like what's going on around them isn't real.  I feel that way with IVF.  Time has caught up with me and I'm actually doing this.  It doesn't feel real.  

I have so many different emotions swirling through me right now that my body gets confused and doesn't know how to respond.  I'll go from oober happy to crying to happy and bouncing around again within minutes.  It's like I'm bipolar or something.  Poor Jared!

IVF Update:  I took my last birth control pill last Tues. and started my cycle on Sat. as expected.  Today I had an appt. with the doctor.  They did blood work for my estrogen levels and an u/s.  It looks like the Lupron has sufficiently suppressed my ovaries and my estrogen levels are below 70 (mine was at 15.4), so I will begin taking the stimulating hormones tonight.

As for that request...

Jared and I would like to invite you to join us in fasting on Sunday the 16th and/or Sunday the 23rd.  The purpose of this fast is to have a successful embryo transfer continue on to a successful pregnancy.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!  We appreciate all of the love and support that we have received and continue to receive throughout this endeavor.  We love you all!

Hello side effects

Yesterday was day 4 of the Lupron injections and up until then I had not experienced any side effects of this drug.  Not so anymore.  Last night I felt like someone punched me in the stomach.  And when I stand up everything starts to spin a little, which isn't good since I already have bad balance. haha  I can fall over just standing up normally so this could be pretty embarrassing.  Oh well.  The only other side effect is that I haven't been sleeping well.  At all.  I didn't realize until now that trouble sleeping was a side effect and I've been experiencing that since I started the injections on Friday.  At least I haven't had any hot flashes yet!  And at least I've only felt nauseous and haven't actually throw up.  It could definitely be worse!  Hey, maybe since I feel sick I'll eat less and then I'll lose weight (:  There's a light at the end of this tunnel, haha