Progesterone...Ouch!

Ok, so I need a little sympathy I guess. These shots are horrible! and to know that I have 9 weeks left! Big sigh! So today I went for a progesterone check, which was blood work to see my levels and see if they needed to adjust the amount I was taking (which is 1cc). So I get the message from the IVF nurse tonight and she says..."Kristi your levels look great, we need them to be at least 30 and your were over 80". I breathe for a second and think oh good maybe I will not have to take them anymore...WRONG! she then finishes by saying..."so keep up with your injections at 1cc everynight!."
They really were not bad at first. The needle is HUGE, the oil is thick! and honestly the first 3 or so shots were not bad. Now I guess because my butt is so sore they just really hurt. This maybe TMI, but my butt is completely bruised! yes, both cheeks, since we alternate sides. Tonight when Casey gave me my shot he said "I kind of liked giving them to you at first, it was neat, but know I just feel really bad." He is so sweet! I was hoping they would get better and maybe they will, but my poor buttocks is just so sore right now I do not see it having the opportunity to get better.
Besides my butt I am feeling good. A little cramping, but they said I would have that for about 5 days. We are both doing well, talking to my belly and our pictures everyday. Well, I talk to them all the time. I tell Casey when he gets home that I talked to the kids all day. Casey just smiles at me and ask what did you say to them?  I said you know, things like... I hope you are setting up camp in me because that is your home for the next 9 months! and things like I cannot wait to meet you, we are ready to be your parents, I love you already, I can't wait to be your mom etc...All the stuff they need to know! :)
I told Casey last night to talk to them. He said I already did, they better mind me! Hahahaha...
Well here is a picture of my needle! and my progesterone (very thick! it is in sesame oil).

Transfer Day

 

We are excited and crossing our fingers all goes well!

Today was the transfer and everything went great! It was so quick. It was about 10 minutes from the time they wheeled me back in the surgery room until they wheeled me out. I was up in the stirrups, Casey was beside me, the doctor came in, the nurse squeezed the goo/jelly so we could see it on the ultrasound monitor. In the monitor you could see the doctor put the tube-like thing in, moved it around a bit and then he said that is it! Then he came beside the monitor and said see that white dot? that is it!
So we did it! We are feeling good, being positive, and praying hard that these embryos like my nice warm body and that they will be making there fit and place roots to call this home for the next 9 months. It will be a nerve racking two weeks, but what an exciting time. What an awesome experience and journey that Casey and I have been on. We are stronger people as well as a stronger couple for going through this process. God had this plan for us and I am excited to be apart of it.
I will keep you updated!! Love you all!

Here are our babies! Please pray for them to grow healthy!

All is good

Oops! I thought I had posted this...we have 7 viable embryos. From the egg retrieval we had 13 follicles, of that 9 were ready, and 7 took. I think that is about average. If I remember correctly I thought they said about half or less take. We found that out on Friday. They called again on Saturday to say that they all still looked good and that we would continue with the transfer for Tuesday, August 3rd. That is a good thing too, a Day 5 transfer. I did not realize that until the other day. They had just been saying Day 3 or Day 5 transfer. If they have to do a Day 3 that means that the embryos are not developing on there own so they want to get them back in you, they have shown to do better growing inside your body than outside in the incubator. But we are good and everything looks great!
Oh yeah, progesterone shots...are you kidding me! When I updated last Casey had given me my first injection. It was fine, didn't really hurt, I was thinking "what was everyone talking about?", well now I know. You have to give it about an hour, your butt begins to burn, feel sore, and ache! Oh it is joyous! We have to alternate checks, so know both sides just hurt. I really hope I do not have to do these for 10 weeks, but if I do I will take them knowing that this is just the beginning of some of the sacrifices you have to make in being a parent!
We will not know anything else until we go in tomorrow morning. How exciting!!! I will most likely post again tomorrow, but then maybe not for a while, or not any updates, but it will just be a waiting game. I know I have said over and over how thankful I am for your love and support. You all have been so wonderful. Casey and I have talked about our journey and how nothing has been typical, but we are still not sure how to tell people when we are pregnant. We will find out two weeks after the transfer, meaning I will only be 4 weeks pregnant. I am sure you will know a lot sooner than they typical 8 to 12 weeks people typically wait, but we are not 100% sure when we will tell?  I guess I do not want to sound mean, but please do not call, text and email on the two week day, I PROMISE we will tell you! and we cannot wait to share this wonderful news with you all. I am not exactly sure how long it will take for the blood work to come back? maybe later that day or then next day depending on my appointment time. I actually have to go in for blood work,no peeing on the stick, well they do not recommend it, because I have been giving myself FSH injections and FSH is what the pregnancy sticks read, therefore you could have a false positive; then I am assuming we will have an ultrasound sometime soon. I know that I will be with the fertility doctors until 10 weeks and then I will be released back to my OBGYN.
I love your hearts, your friendship and your time in prayer for us. You are amazing! I am blessed to know you all. Hugs and Kisses!

Egg Retrieval=Success!!

Today was the egg retrieval and everything went great! We got there at 9am and went back to get things ready. When we walked in I saw a familiar face, Jenni. Jenni is a friend from church and I had forgotten that she worked there. She works only in the surgery part so I have never seen her in my previous visits, plus she only works on Thursday's. Well, everyone is familiar now, Casey was laughing at how everyone knew me! but I have been there almost everyday for the last week and a half.
It was nice to see a familiar face and know that Jenni would be with me. Everyone there was so nice. The last thing I remember was going back to the operating room and them saying, time 10:11am. Then I woke up in my room and I heard one of the nurses say "you can go get Casey now". So I was in recovery for about 30 mins I guess. I woke up groggy and with a little discomfort, but besides that I was surprised at how well I felt. She keep asking me about my pain level every 10 mins. I told her 2, she said I was a trooper then, most people seemed to be in more pain. I like it when my high tolerance kicks in! Before we left the embryologist came in and told us everything looked great and that they were able to retrieve 13 eggs. We will get more information on them tomorrow.
So we came home and  I slept for a while, just hanging out in bed all day. Casey has been taking good care of me. He just gave me my first injection "in the buttocks" and he did AWESOME! I was really worried about him giving me the shot, although the whole time he kept telling me it would be nothing. He will have to give me this injection "progesterone" for the next 10 days and then possibly longer. I am feeling better about it since tonight went so smoothly. Thank you for all the messages and text. We truly appreciate all of your love and support. We will keep you posted on how the developing goes!!

Egg Retrieval is here!!!

So first let me tell you that today was a little crazy. The first rule of IVF is DO NOT RUN OUT OF MEDICINE! the medication that I am taking cannot be bought at Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, etc...So I have been checking my medicine everyday like a mother hen with her eggs. So yesterday when I was at the doctor, my nurse told me that if I needed to go another day or two she did have some medicine to float me for tonight and Wednesday. I had told her that I had enough to last me until Tuesday night. So this morning I am getting ready and go pick up my box of Bravelle, it is EMPTY!!! I HAVE to have my morning FSH injection! I cannot mess things up right now when everything is so close! I had already used it and for some reason put an empty box back in the box of medication. I was freaking out, trying not too, because I knew that she had some at the office, but I am suppose to take my medicine at 7 and the office does not open until 8:30 and I am suppose to do a training today at 8:30-Ahhhhh.....
Long story a little shorter I was able to go set up for the training, run to the doctor and get my injection, start the training a little late, do the training until lunch, go back to the doctor at lunch for blood work and ultrasound, and back to finish the training for the rest of the afternoon. Whew! but I did it and everything turned out OK. We got the call this afternoon around 4pm that said everything looks great. I will "trigger" tonight, which means we will have the egg retrieval on Thursday at 10am!!!!
Are you serious!!! It is all happening!! The moment we have been waiting so long for-so many emotions!!
I am so excited and feeling great. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that everything goes well and successful! I will keep you updated as everything happens.
Egg retrieval on July 29 at 10am
Bed rest for Friday and Saturday
Implant the embryos on Tuesday August 3rd.

Yippee!!

4th Ultrasound...

Well, everything is moving a long just as it should, but the egg retrieval will not be Wednesday. They are saying it looks more like Thursday or Friday now. They have said since the beginning that it is all a guess. Everyone is different and everyone responds to the medication in different ways. Today it looked like I had 14 follicles and about 6 that were almost ready. So I go back tomorrow for another ultrasound and blood work. Everything is so close! Please keep the prayers coming! Check back with you tomorrow. Maybe we will have a date for surgery!

3rd Ultra sound...

Everything is still good. I had a few more follicles this time. Looks like there were 13 that were good and some that were still growing. She said I am exactly where I need to be in the cycle. We always like hearing words like that! In the last post I told you about Dr. Freeman, but what I did not tell you is how she freaked me out! She was telling me the process of the egg retrieval and then she said "you and your doctor have discussed how many embryos will be transferred". I told her that we had not really discussed it, that she had just flat said that if you are under 35 we only transplant one embryo, sometimes two but we can discuss that when the time comes. So Casey and I have discussed it and Casey is sold on two for sure. I go back and forth with it, but after talking with Dr. Freeman she has really freaked me out. She said "we do not want you to have twins, our goal is for you to have one healthy baby, your body is not made to have twins, many twins dies at 15 and 20 weeks". Are you kidding me? I did not know what to say? I said well our goal is to have a healthy baby as well, but after 5 years of trying and all the money that we have spent we do not want to do this again. We do not want to be stupid or selfish, but we would like to weight out our options and hear the facts. I asked her about my height (having more room for them) and being in pretty good shape may help? She said no! that stuff does not matter. We ended the conversation with; you will discuss this with your doctor after your egg retrieval.
So I went back today and was talking with my IVF nurse, Jennifer. She was telling me that everything looked good and that I do not have to come back in until Monday. She said that she still thinks Monday will be my "trigger day". I guess that means when things will be ready? She said if Monday is my trigger day than the egg retrieval will be on Wednesday. I told Jennifer about my conversation with Dr. Freeman. She basically said that was her job to scare you and make you think. She said about 100% of people who come in for IVF say they want twins! Just for the same reasons we do. There has been some recent research showing that women who go through IVF are at a higher risk because even if you become pregnant with a singleton, your body things you are having twins from all the hormones and steroids you have in your body through this process, so if you have twins your body thinks it is triplets! putting you at a higher risk. She said with each baby you subtract 4 weeks! So twins 36 weeks and triplets 32 weeks! They just know those babies need to stay in the oven as long as they can. She also said that they had lost three sets of twins in the last few months, which was rare, but on every ones mind. I guess I had never told Jennifer that I was a twin. She asked me how long my mom carried us? I said we were 1 day early. She said that was good news! I guess there is some correlation in your moms delivery and in how you will be with your pregnancy/delivery? So I left feeling a little better, but it still ways heavy on our hearts. So please pray that we will know what to do with the number of embryos and that everything will be a success and whatever God's plan for us and our baby or babies will be to his glory!