This post has been a long time coming. I finally sat down to the computer to write, cleared a spot off the desk, and discovered my mouse has been abducted by my toddler. After awhile spent searching, I found the mouse…missing it’s batteries and cover. I tried to find replacement batteries, but no luck. Any other day and I would’ve said forget it, I’ll live to write another day. But not this time. This post I HAD to write! I got it sorted out, got my toddler to bed, and now to tell the world our big announcement…WE ARE PREGNANT!!! (I say “we,” haha. If only we could share the nausea!)
I will give the (not-so-) quick and dirty version on this post because friends and family want to know the outcome; I will do a series of separate posts for those wanting more of the boring sciencey stuff and those going through (or thinking of) IVF and have questions.
We transferred the very last of our two remaining frozen embryos on Sunday, July 9th. We found out from my blood test today (well, technically yesterday since now it’s past 1 a.m.) that it was successful and I am now pregnant! Because the embryos were already 5 days old, and crazy IVF math, the due date if it’s a singleton is March 26; if it’s twins, sometime in February.
So there you have the happy news in a nutshell; for the longer version, read on.
We did a Natural Cycle (unmedicated) this time around, as some of you may remember from my previous post. That means planning goes out the window and we are ping-ponged around by Mother Nature as to if/when she decides to cooperate (or not) within the confines of the IVF clinic’s calendar. It turns out that my natural ovulation window was slated to happen right on the cusp of their “off” month…they only do embryo transfers every other month, counting from the second week. If it happened one or two days BEFORE July 4, I was told I couldn’t do the transfer until next month; if it happened ON or AFTER the 4th, I would make it in this time around (just barely) IF they could get the embryologist to agree to come in on the weekend and IF they could have enough staff coverage on the 4th (a holiday, obviously) and IF my vaginal ultrasound indicated that I did indeed ovulate successfully and IF my estradiol and progesterone levels came back ok.
We just so happened to be camping in the middle of all this, so along with the camping gear went my ovulation testing strips into the trailer. We also had no cell phone signal. When it came time to start testing, I barely let myself hope that all the stars would align to make it in this cycle. But lo and behold, ovulation held off until I got my LH surge (positive test on ovulation strip) late afternoon of July 2nd and the line peaked the morning of the 3rd. That means ovulation is coming in the next 24 hours or so. Hubby and I jumped in the truck and drove til we found signal and called the clinic. “See you in the morning for your ultrasound,” they told me.
On the morning of 4th of July when the other campers were making their way to the beach to get a good parking spot before the crowds, we were driving over two hours to our clinic. I felt so bad that they all had to work on a holiday because of me, until we got there and the place was packed with other clients who apparently all “came due” for some sort of next step in their process all at the same time. I was excited since I knew I had ovulated just fine.
We begin the ultrasound, and the doctor tells me that unfortunately, he isn’t seeing any evidence at all that ovulation either happened or is about to happen…no recently ruptured follicle, and no ripe follicles about to burst. Just a whole lotta nuthin’. I was like, no way…I KNOW I ovulated. I know my body, I know FOR SURE I ovulated. He tested my estradiol and while we waited for the results we drove back to camp. On the way back, they called and said they wanted to see my estradiol at 200 or more…and I was at 76.
Well, Lord Love a Duck…now what? I asked the doctor if this counts me out until next time to try again. He said there is a VERY SMALL possibility that I ovulated a day or two sooner than we thought, and he said it wouldn’t hurt to get my progesterone tested that Friday just to confirm in the unlikely event that I did indeed ovulate. He told me to expect it to be negative but because there is a small chance, he’s not ruling it out.
Because the progesterone test had to be done that Friday (later he realized he should have ordered it for Saturday by accident, but it worked out fine), and it would need to be analyzed that very same day with enough time to get the results back to the Eugene clinic so they could determine if 1. I did ovulate, and if so 2. schedule the embryologist to come in. We called around the entire region where we were camping in Coos Bay to find a clinic that could provide a same-day-result progesterone blood test to schedule for that upcoming Friday. There were zero. Every single one sent out those labs and had a 3 day wait. So we packed up on Thursday night, bid adieu and drove straight home so we could get the test done bright and early back at home. We have a same-day lab here at home, obviously. We pulled into the driveway at 2:30 a.m. and by 9 a.m. next morning, I was anxiously awaiting results.
Turns out I do indeed know my own body; my progesterone was at 10.1! We got scheduled for our frozen embryo transfer Sunday the 9th. So back up we drove to Eugene a day later, where we stayed at my sister’s house (thank you Kayla!!) and the following morning, while my sister watched my little guy, we found ourselves all gowned up about to transfer the last of our little snowflake babies and officially be done with that part of the IVF journey for better or worse.
I held my breath while waiting to hear whether or not the babies made it through the thaw-out; that’s always a little nerve-wracking since quite a few don’t. I think it’s around 6-8 percent, if I remember correctly. The doctor came in holding a picture of our embryos after the thaw…both made it through just fine, and in fact were already beginning to “hatch” which is a very good sign.
We were brought back to the operating room and the actual transfer went extremely fast – we watched on an ultrasound screen as a tiny white little air bubble carried the babies to where, hopefully, they would “stick” and ultimately implant (they don’t implant in the exact same place FYI, just the general area). It was quick and easy (albeit extremely uncomfortable and a little painful at first, but not terribly) and before we knew it it was over! It all went perfectly and we were sent home with a couple of STAT orders for blood HCG tests 9 and 11 days later.
To celebrate getting this far at least, I had my hubby drive me all over Eugene to find a Chinese Restaurant serving Dim Sum. It was well worth it.
That day we drove back home, and fell head-first into my son getting a horrific flu bug…several nights of barfing, followed by several days of diarrhea, and horrible body pains…he kept sobbing and grabbing at his thighs, ankles, and arms. Finally after about five days of that, he got better and I got worse. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been that sick for that long. PURE MISERY FOR FIVE DAYS. Same symptoms as what Ethan had, and the most horrific body pains I’ve ever had from a virus. My heart broke thinking about Ethan having to suffer through that as a tiny little toddler unable to communicate what he was going through. So about ten days of pure hell here at the Heading House.
In the midst of all this, I ended up caving in and testing WAY sooner than my bloodwork was scheduled for…and couldn’t believe my eyes when, only four days after the transfer, I saw what looked like the faintest shadow of a line on a First Response pregnancy test. I chalked it up to an evap line or my eyes playing tricks on me, and decided to wait for a “better” line before I believed it. The next morning delivered, still VERY faint but definitely there…a second little pink line staring back at me. I was officially a girl mom. Joy overwhelmed me along with flu symptoms.
A few days later, I suffered a miscarriage scare…bright red spotting, horrible cramping, and back pain. Of course, I was in the middle of one of the worst flu bugs of my life, so “symptoms” were a little convoluted…but scary still. I didn’t dare get my hopes up that the pregnancy was still intact. I went numb and waited to get my bloodwork results.
Needless to say, in the midst of all this, I wasn’t really able to “process” all that had happened and was happening…it was swirling around my head in fragmented pieces like when I try to watch a movie while half asleep. It didn’t feel real at all.
Finally the day came for my first blood test. Thankfully I had my mom with me for moral support (and as chauffeur and nanny) in case it was bad news.
My first blood test betas/HCG levels the day after the scare came back great, at 127…it was 9 days after the transfer (9dp5dt as they say in the fertility/IVF forum lingo). However, we wouldn’t know if I had miscarried until my next blood test two days later, to show whether that number was moving up or down. The next two days’ wait seemed like an eternity.
Two days later (today!) I had my second blood test, and my mom and I killed time until the result came in (thankfully not very long after.) If the number was a lot higher than the first one, we were in the clear. If lower, it meant miscarriage We were now 11 days post transfer (11dp5dt). I was nervous when I looked at my phone to see a notification pop up that results were in; I opened it to discover my beta had tripled to 382! For comparison, Ethan’s first beta at day 9 was 58 and day 11 was 178. I couldn’t believe it after the miscarriage scare. I still very well could’ve miscarried one of the babies if both implanted – time will tell. But now we know at least one of them is hanging on and doing just fine so far…maybe even both! If I come through this with even just one healthy little baby girl, I will be the happiest momma in the whole wide world.
Oh, did I mention we know both embryos are baby GIRLS!?!?
So that’s where things are at now…all signs seem to indicate this is a healthy pregnancy of at least one (possibly two) baby girls. Of course, only time will tell…there still a reasonably high chance of an early miscarriage, until we get to week 10 when the risk drops considerably. I’m just taking this one day at a time and believing we are going to come through this with a beautiful baby girl (or two!).
Thanks for all your support and prayers so far, this has been such a roller coaster to say the least. I will keep you all updated as things progress, and write some more in-depth posts on what the numbers mean (i.e. what’s a good beta/HCG level for a 5-day frozen embryo transfer and why is it lower than a normal pregnancy, etc. and stuff like that).
