And It Went Like This…

I know I have been quiet on my blog for sometime now but by no means has it been quiet on the forefront! My last post was in early February and we were waiting on our blood results to tell us if we were chromosomaly normal – Me: 46XX, Craig: 46XY which equals, both normal! In early April, Craig and I headed into our 3rd round of IVF. This round had some stakes. After this, we had decided it was time to take a little break. Not giving up, just taking a break (couple months) to focus on our lives together, health – mentally, physically & emotionally and our bank account. We went into this 3rd round with every ounce of hope we had left but more jaded than ever.

I started my injections again on April 3rd. This time, the cocktail of meds was very different than my previous rounds. I was excited to see that my doctor had a new plan, so I went into this very optimistic.

I started with one shot but that one shot included 5 different meds I had to mix into one shot (Menopur x 1 vile of diluent + 4 powers). This shot burns, but it only last for a couple seconds. It’s a little daunting each time. You have to put the dilution into the drawing needle then push that into each vile of powder and move around each time until each one dissolves. It took me about 8 mins. to inject this one shot every morning.

Half way, I started on Ganirelix (shot comes pre-mixed and ready to go). I took this one for 5 days.

Then came Omnitrope for 4 days with a my trigger shot on April 12th. *(Refer back to earlier posts explaining which each of these meds do).

I was prepped and ready for my retrieval on April 14th.

Half way through this cycle, I could feel the medicine working, it felt different this time. My stomach was huge, I was very uncomfortable. With each IVF cycle, I am at the doctors office almost every day – blood work and baseline ultrasounds to check my progress. I was growing follicles each day and they were getting stronger & bigger every day (each follicle contains 1 egg). I was ready, ready to give my body some relief and hopefully come out of it with some good news.

We didn’t tell our families or friends much this time. They knew I was back for another round and my injections had started again. But Craig and I decided we just wanted to keep this between him and I as much as possible. I felt like I sounded like a broken record. After 2 failed rounds, it’s tough to be excited and we were very guarded this time.

And it went like this…

15 eggs retrieved!! That’s 3 more than the first time, and 4 more than the second time!

Out of those 15, 10 made it to the next day (that’s 5 more than the first time and 3 more than the second time)

So we waited again, until day 6 (blastocyst), we had 6 eggs make it to the next stage! (4 more than the first time, 3 more than the second time). From here, those little embryos were sent off for genetic testing. We have opted for this test every time because we want the best chance of transferring a healthy embryo, something we have not had any luck with. So now we wait again, 7-10 business days to be exact.

This wait was a little different this time, there was more at stake and our stress levels were to the max! I was sitting on the couch and Craig comes downstairs playing tropical music on his phone and he said, “if were going to wait, we might as well wait on the beach” He booked us a week long vacation to Florida!

We just got back on Thursday and it was one of the best vacations ever! We ate, drank, had prefect weather everyday and lots of pool & beach time! Between this past year with Covid, jobs, IVF – it felt so good to feel a little normalcy for a few days.

The “waiting” still lingered in my head though. My anxiety woke me up every night. As vacation was ending, I knew the “call” was coming any day now.

We had a car service take us to the airport the morning we left. Our driver was this older lady from the South and she was the sweetest thing! It was about a 40 min. drive from our condo to the airport and we somehow got on the conversation of ghosts, spirits, etc. She told us she is very aware of the afterlife and she is a spirit reader in some sense or another. As Craig put it, she gave me him the heebee jeebees. As we pulled up to the airport and we got out, I was fidgeting with my wallet and dropped some change, one dime to be exact. As I got up, she turned around and said, “honey, you dropped a dime on your seat. That means you have an angel with you”. And then she drove off.

We had a layover in Atlanta and when the plan landed, I turned my phone back on. It immediately showed a message from my doctor. As people were getting off the plan, I opened the message…

WE FINALLY HAD ONE BEAUTIFUL EMBRYO MAKE IT!!!!!!! The test results included the sex of the embryo but Craig and I decided we are not ready quite yet to know that. Pretty crazy huh?

Craig and I were jumping in our seats and trying our best not to make a scene. In that moment, I felt like a million pounds was lifted off of me and I could see it in Craig too. So now what?

Friday morning (yesterday), I went in for a procedure called a Hysteroscopy. This is one step (of many) to prepare my body for transfer. It makes sure there are no polyps or fibroids in the uterus prior to transfer of the embryo. Nothing like getting a camera stuck up in you the day after vacation! Ouch! That 5 mins. was probably some of the most intense pain I have ever felt. The things we do!

I got cleared and I have a tentative plan! I start progesterone shots in a few weeks along with a couple more pills. We are also doing one more test, Era Trio. During IVF, the embryo may not implant successfully if not transferred at the optimal time. This test will tell us exactly when body is ready for transfer. With only one embryo to spare, we want to make sure we did everything we possibly could to make this work.

I can’t believe we finally made it to this point. There is so much more to go and nothing is guaranteed (we have been reminded of this far too many times) but to have this feeling right now after so much pain and loss, it feels pretty good. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was the different cocktail of meds, maybe it our time or maybe it was my angel. Maybe it was all of the above.

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