Beta #3

Okay, so I caved. Yesterday about 11am I made the choice to drive to a lab that is less than 2 minutes from where I work. The bad part about the lab is that they send it off to Qwest and results are next day. I figured that is still sooner than it would have been so I paid the $49 and just did it.

Well of course I called first thing this morning and they told me that they would have someone call me back in 15 minutes. An hour later still nothing so I called back and they said that everyone had been in a meeting but someone would call me back right away. Forty minutes later nothing. So you guessed it I called back again and this time the person said that the results were in and they would email them right over to me. Twenty five minutes later nothing. So I called again and they said they would double check the email and send again. Twenty minutes later I hadn't got a call or an email so I ran (well wobbled due to the ohss) to my car and drove over there.

1,698  (20DPO ,15dp5dt)

I cried on my way out to the car because I was so happy. My doubling time went from 68 hours to 48 hours. I will take it!! I know that we still have a very long road ahead of us but for now I am going to thank God for every moment of this pregnancy. I am 38 and with this comes a lot of risk, but God is in control and he already has my path forged so I need to relax and let go. I am super ready for our sono Wednesday!

As for my OHSS. I am up to 152lbs. I know you guys don't know me but my weight is usually 125 and before IVF was 130/135. After the medications I got up to 142 and due to OHSS I am 152. So basically I am carrying around an extra 20lbs and I am miserable. I know that it will pass so I continue to drink over 100oz of Gatorade a day, and drink protein shakes, and eat/drink stuff with higher sodium. I really can't eat much for solid food so I eat a lot of soup or just have the shake. My doctor faxed my work a paper today that I need to be on bed rest until Monday. I can work from home but my boss doesn't love the idea. So I am at work now but I plan on going home around 2PM central time. And tomorrow I only work until 2:30 and am off until Monday so we will see how I am feeling. If I continue to maintain the 152 I can stay out of the hospital and that is my goal. We can't afford for me to not be working.. We have a little thing called a loan for this IVF to pay for!

Thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes! Whatever you are doing is working so please keep it up!

Beta #2

Well, my beta #2 did not double. However my nurse said that it was a good number. If it would have doubled my number would have been 496.


405 was my number


I asked the nurse a few times if she really thought that number was good. She said yes and doubling is just a rough number they go off of. My number is over 60% so that is a good sign. I don't have another beta scheduled but she said if it would make me feel better I could come in on Tuesday to get it checked but she doesn't think it is necessary. I keep going back and forth because our ultrasound isn't until 12/4 and I will be 6 weeks 1 day at that point. I really wish that I didn't know everything that I did in my head. If a fertile person was to get that number and was told to come back in two weeks they wouldn't think anything about it. But I am not that person. I think that I am just going to pray and wait for the u/s. I trust the nurse and feel like she would have told me if they thought it was a problem. I have waited this long... what's another two weeks.

A girl from my support group also made a great point. She said that I could have started out with two implanted and one has decided to slow down or didn't make it. Only time will tell.

So I pray...

Prayer for the Benson's

Please continue to pray for Holly and Darren. The waives of emotion that they must be experiencing is unfathomable to me.

Beta #1

I went in at 7:45 this morning to get my blood drawn. I asked them to call and leave a message so that my husband and I could listen to it together. So they called, left the message and I called my husband. He was on his way to work so he stopped by and I met him in the parking lot. My husband has been holding out for the blood test to fully accept it was true. Well....

248... I am so excited with this number!

I will be going back in on Thursday to make sure that the number is increasing like it should. Then we will get to schedule our first sonogram. I am praying that everything keeps moving forward like it should. I will continue to pray until our baby is home.

Today I choose to celebrate! Today I am going to stay positive! Today I am 4 weeks pregnant!

God is good

7dp5dt

So I really was going to wait until 6dp5dp but Miss T lit the spark and so I had to test on one of my wondo's. Well needless to say, I am glad that she did! BFP!!!!

5dp5dt

At first I thought that I may have seen a line, so I snapped a quick picture and started to enhance. After messing with it for about 30 seconds I looked at the test strip again and saw this! My first ever 2nd line! I instantly started shaking and crying. My husband is a lot more level headed than I am and told me he would rather wait for the blood test and not get disappointed. But the rest of the day he had a smile on his face and was super happy. :)


On day 6dp5dt I really wanted to see a dark line on a FRER so I went out and bought one. Well I thought that I did at least. I ended up grabbing the First Response Rapid Results which you are supposed to take the day after a missed period. This test is not sensitive and reads 50 mIU not 25 like the FRER. I didn't see a line and started to freak out (still thinking it is the early test). I left the room came back and there was a line! It measured 50 mIU and I was only 6dp5dt!

6dp5dt Rapid Result, not FRER

 

 

So what's a crazy girl to do? Go out and buy a FRER. I went to two separate CVS's and nope, none. Then I went to the grocery store today and found one that came with a digital. It was worth the $18 to see this! The women in my Facebook group think that maybe both embryos stuck!

 

7dp5dt

 

 

I have one more of the Rapid Results that I will test with tomorrow morning just to see, and I will be going in for beta on Tuesday.

 

Thank you all for your prayers, well wishes, and sticky thoughts. I AM PREGNANT! Now I want you to switch your prayers for a great beta and a take home baby (or two).



 

 



 

 

5dp5dt

So I have a bunch of Wondfo pregnancy tests at my house. Yup, I used one yesterday. I KNEW it was way too early but I did it anyway. Why? Um, because I just felt the need. I am not going to test today but I will be buying a three pack of First Response tests. I just can't help myself. I will test Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning. I just don't want to be a nervous Nelly on Tuesday waiting for the beta. I will still be nervous but not as nervous if that makes sense.

I have been sneezing with a runny nose for the past few days and waking up with night sweats at least two times a night. My poor husband has been sleeping on the couch since transfer so that I can sleep better. I told him that he didn't have to, but he insists on doing it. He tried to sleep with me one night but I keep waking up sweating and then I would get cold so I ended up on the couch. One of these days our paths will meet again.

I am only about 4 or 5lbs away from where I was before egg retrieval so my OHSS has pretty much left the building. It is amazing how thankful I am to be able to breathe again. Of course yoga pants are still my best friend. I tried to wear my "fat pants" yesterday to work but I had to unbutton and unzip when I was sitting down. Good thing I am in an office.

So here I am , another day down. This has been the longest week of my life!

Crazy Train

I have officially boarded the crazy train. Don't get me wrong I have got on and looked around a few times, but I am on this damn train until Tuesday. My husband was the one that bought me the ticket.

My OHSS has been getting better the last couple of days. He walked into the bedroom last night and said "so we probably aren't pregnant since you are getting better, because I read online it is supposed to get worse". Yesterday was 3dp5dt, implantation is supposed to occur today 4dp5dt. I told him that I wouldn't have any pregnancy hormones in my system to make the OHSS get worse. He has yelled at me numerous times to get off of that "damn google". So why is he on that damn google!! I know he is super anxious ,really wants the IVF to be a success and feels as if he has no control. I get it! I really get it but I don't want him to tell me stuff he found on a message board.

So needless to say I have been on Google off and on all morning. I am done now. It is in God's hands and I will know if our beautiful embryos decided to take up camp in my uterus on Tuesday.

Did any of you have OHSS get better and still end up being pregnant?

2dp5dt

Well, today is 2dp5dt (two days past my five day transfer for non-infertiles reading)
  
Transfer day ended up being semi comical in the morning. We got up bright and early because I was told by the Embryologist the prior day to be there at 7:15. We sat in the waiting room and then around 7:30 the nurse walked in with a weird look on her face. Hi Mrs. Stork, didn't you get the message about the time change? Nope.. I looked at my phone and sure enough she had left a message telling us that the transfer was at 10:30 now and to be there at 10:15. It was okay because we only live 15 minutes from the RE's clinic.
 
We came back at 10:15 ready to roll. Mr. Lost had on his Super Man socks, and I had on my wonder woman socks (both with capes of course). I guess they felt as if my OHSS was "mild" enough that we could move forward with the transfer.
 
Once we got into the procedure room we looked at our list of 18 Embryos and had to let them know one or two and which one(s). We decided to move forward two 5AA blasts. We don't have an issue with multiples and we liked that it increased our chances by 10%. My RE reassured me that I had a good uterus for two. I'll take his word for it. 
 
The procedure itself was so quick, but so emotional. The thought of actually becoming pregnant overwhelmed me when I saw the catheder on the ultrasound.
 
I had been suffering from OHSS leading up to the transfer and later that night my stomach bloated up again. I looked like I was very pregnant and was finding it extremely hard to breathe. I got scared to the point of wanting my husband to take me to the Hospital. However I didn't want anything to disturb this transfer so I cried and breathed deeply in the recliner until I finally fell asleep. Yesterday morning it was better when I woke up but as the day went on my skin stretched until it was once again hard to breathe. It wasn't as bad as transfer night so I dealt with it. This morning was the first time in a week that I was able to take a full breath. I am still very swollen but I'm getting better. I am very aware that once a pregnancy is achieved OHSS will get worse and last until week 8 or 10. The only other way for it to go away is to have a period. I'm just planning on being better in 8 weeks. :)

The 1st picture is after I gained 5lbs on bc pills. The 2nd is transfer night

So here is the timeline that I have been staring at and will be staring at until it is time to test. I am going to try to hold out until at least Monday to take a home pregnancy test. I would like to say that I could wait until beta on Tuesday 11/19 but I know me way too well.

 

 

I found out yesterday that they were able to freeze 6 embryos..So I'm glad that they are there and ready for us. My husband was sad about the 10 that didn't make it to freeze but I know it happened for a reason. Please send sticky thoughts, baby dust, best wishes and most of all prayers in our direction!!

Embryo report from this morning

(14) - 8 cell grade A embryos
  (4) - 6,5 and 4 cell embryos


I am excited and emotional. I don't want to seem ungrateful so I am not going to get into the details on why I feel the way I do..

Please pray for me and send good thoughts my way.

OHSS & Embryo update

I knew that I was at risk due to the amount of follicles but I wasn't super ready for the way I am feeling at the moment. First let's start with the way that I look. My stomach appears to be four months pregnant, which would be awesome if I was pregnant. And to top it all off I waddle as well! Taking a full breath is out of the question. I haven't had a bm since Tuesday morning and I know that I need to but due to the soreness in my stomach.. ouch. A girl at work is going to get me some Milk of Magnesia in a few minutes to see if that helps anything along. I have gained over three pounds but I am keeping track to make sure it isn't more than 3 a day. If it calms down we will have a five day transfer on Sunday. If it keeps getting worse this cycle is canceled and we will have to freeze the embryos and do a FET. Of course I am praying for the OHSS to calm down and do the transfer on Sunday (the day before my birthday). If we have to freeze the embryos I may have a meltdown. I have went through all of the discomfort and pain to get to this point!

Yesterday morning we got the fertilization report and out of the 18 mature eggs 15 fertilized. Today when I got the call I was so nervous to find out how many had stopped growing. Well to my surprise the other three caught up and we now have 18 embryos! At least something is going right!

I want to thank Courtney for all of the great advice and help to get me through the OHSS. I had beef jerky and Gatorade for breakfast, milk of magnesia as a snack, and I will be having chicken noodle soup, peanut butter and another beef jerky by the end of the day.

Your good thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Retrieval Day and the results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday morning's drive was somewhat quiet but due to my husband we were going to be arriving five minutes late. I am the 10 minutes early kind of gal. It is amazing how he is never late to any of his softball games (wink, wink). I am partially to blame though because I assumed he was awake but he was not. He sometimes wakes up super early and goes to the other room to work. Yesterday he woke up super early and headed to the couch and fell asleep again.

 

Anywho.. We got there at 7:20 and they called him back at 7:25 to do his thing. Then I walked back with the nurse to the IVF suite to get changed and ready to go. DH made it back after they had put in my IV with just enough time to take a quick before picture, gave me a kiss and off I went across the hall. I was super nervous about the sedation for some reason but after the extreme burn in my IV site I was out! Now I know why Michael Jackson loved Propofol so much, that stuff is uh-mazing. 

 

I kept getting reports on how many eggs they had retrieved. 12, 15, then 22 by the time we left! I got a call later in the day telling us that 18 of them were mature. So I was pretty excited with the results. The Embryologist also told us that my husbands morphology was not good at all. We knew he had issues for sure but I guess this sample was worse off. She said she was glad that we were the only case that morning so she could look really hard for the best ones. Whew. I really feel like God had a big hand in that for sure.

 

I was in a lot of pain yesterday but pushed tons of Gatorade and water. My husband was the pain pill warden and would only let me have them every four hours which sucked because they wore off after about 2 1/2. I took my last pills at 9:30 last night but woke up very nauseous at 2:30. I was so hot that I had to go sit on the couch with the ceiling fan blowing on high. Then I thought I was going to puke, walked fast to the bathroom and broke into a heavy sweat. After that I tried to find a comfortable position and get some sleep. The pain is a lot better today and I have only taken one pain pill so far.

Around 8am this morning we got our first embryo update and........ 15 fertilized! Once again she said she was surprised with the amount due to the morphology. I feel so blessed at this point and will anxiously be awaiting our daily call! 

My husband is upset about his morphology and has went to Dr. Google to ask questions. Yes, this is the same husband that told me to stay off of the Internet and to just ask the doctor. I told him once again that she picked the best of the best and to be grateful of the high amount we have.

Thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts. I will continue to let you guys know about my daily reports even if that is all the post is about. 

We are one step closer to one or two baby Storks!!

Retrieval day tomorrow

Well here I am , tomorrow is my egg retrieval. I remember posting that shit got real when we started this process and now it just got more real
 

I have follicles for sure. There are over 20 in my left ovary and over 20 in my right ovary now. There had been 10 plus on the right but somehow in 3 days another 10 joined in the game. There was a good amount measuring over 18 so I took my trigger shot and antibiotics last night. My E2 is super high of course due to this and is currently sitting at 5,030 as of Sunday. I asked the nurse at my clinic if she thought my fresh cycle would be canceled if I developed OHSS tomorrow after my retrieval and she told me to get off of the Internet. I was instructed to drink a ton of water today and so I am. 

 

My lining was really good per the RN. She pointed out that I had a great triple line and it was around 10. I think she said that they want it over 8 so I am fluffy and ready for one or two blasts to settle in for the next nine months. (SO ready)

 

One of my friends at work made this for me and gave it to me this morning. I adore homemade gifts because I know there was so much love and thought put into it. The note on the back said " Some love and sunshine for you this week. :) xoxo. Amazing..

 

 

 

So I am requesting good thoughts and prayers for:

- no OHSS after retrieval

- a lot of healthy mature eggs

- good motile sperm to fertilize the above eggs

- great division of cells every day

- five day transfer which is the plan as of today

I am not going to lie, I am scared of so much right now but I am trying to lift up all that fear to God. I will update you guys as soon as I am back from la la land tomorrow and know how many eggs they got from my super big ovaries. We will check in at 7:15am and they will start at 8am. 

Wish me luck!