Less OHSS

As of my OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome) check on Friday, I'm down six pounds and several inches. I have another check on Monday. I'm feeling sooo much better, despite not having been able to work out in two weeks. I think I'll head to the gym for the first time tomorrow. No running is allowed, yet, but I'll get my walk on!

Sorry, the updates will get boring again until May. I just have to wait for my period to start taking the pill for a couple of weeks. After that I will be on lupron (ovarian suppresant, makes your body think you are menopausal) and estrogen (to build up my endometrial lining again). They estimate we will be able to transfer some time in May. I'm hoping it's May 1!! I doubt it. Oh well. April is just a couple days away, then I can say we are doing the embryo transfer 'next month'. Argh.

OHSS Update

Today I went back in for an OHSS check (after my ET cancellation yesterday because of OHSS). Yes, I still had it...and with a vengeance. I had gained two pounds and over an inch in my waist since yesterday(so I'm officially up ten pounds and over seven inches from normal). I felt like I would explode with even the tiniest bit of water. My back was even swelling because the fluid had no place to go. My RE gave me the option of draining the fluid, and I BEGGED him to do it. I couldn't breathe, drink, eat sleep or move without feeling like I would explode. He warned me that they would have to put me under again. BIG FREAKIN DEAL MAN!!! Anesthetics don't bother me. I don't get nauseous or anything, so I was all for it. If nothing else, being under would put me out of my misery!

He agreed to drain the fluid. He got 3.5 liters out of me!! I'm still a little bloated, but I feel anorexic compared to what I was. Mark brought me home, I took a three-hour nap and I feel fantastic! I'm now only allowed to drink Gatorade, no water, nothing. I'll go back on Friday for another check. My RE thinks I'm on the down slide since my HCG shot (trigger shot/hormone that agitates OHSS) was a week ago today. I can only pray for more relief. The treadmill at the club is calling my name and good foods are something I've been dreaming of since my diet has consisted of protein shakes and Gatorade. I can't wait to get my body in prime condition for our
May FET (frozen embryo transfer). So that's it for me. I wouldn't wish OHSS on my worst enemy!

Oh, and we officially have 9 frozen blastocysts (the stage right before embryos implant). We were a little bummed at first because we had five yesterday and they were still watching 19, but I think nine will give us a good chance at a pregnancy! Hopefully those nine will give us a couple of kids and we (meaning I) won't have to go through this again. One can only hope and pray!

Embryo Photo

OK, so everyone gets to show off their kids...so here's my first chance. These are the two embryos (blastocysts) that were going to be transferred to me today. Because of the OHSS, they are now frozen. But...they are fully conceived. You can see that the one on the upper left was starting to hatch in the lower right corner. Ah, they're gorgeous aren't they? :)

Bad news, my ET was cancelled due to OHSS. The doctor said it would be irresponsible for him to do the transfer with all the fluid in my abdomen and all the problems I have been having. I jumped up two pounds from yesterday and had an additional two inches around my waist. My blood pressure and hemoglobin are up making me short of breath and prone to fainting. I had to run from the shower with shampoo in my hair to lay down this morning because my eyesight starting going blurring and my ears were ringing. I think I would have passed out in the shower if I hadn't. I'm very miserable.

I had already taken my Valium at the doctor's office, so I'm feeling hung over from that. We were in the transfer room with my naked bottom half when they decided it wouldn't be a good idea. I can't describe my disappointment. We will do an frozen embryo transfer (FET) after I get my period, go on the BCP for two weeks, take lupron for ten days and take estrogen. He is estimating it will be May. I've cried, now I'm numb.

On a better note, we finally got our fertilization report. Of the 29 follies retrieved, 27 were mature and 25 fertilized. We had five blasts (last stage before implantation..aka awesome...one of which was beginning to hatch) as of today and they were still watching 19 (one isn't going to make for sure so far). They froze five today and we'll see what happens for the rest. I go back in tomorrow to see if I improve at all. If not, they will put me under and drain some of the fluid from my abdomen. I would post a photo so you could see how truly heinous my stomach is...but I'll spare you that.

I prayed to God last night. I thanked him for the patience he has given me through this process. I'm not exactly what you would consider a patient person. I've learned more about myself, Mark and our true priorities. I thanked Him for that. I guess I'm not done learning. All I know, is that by the end of this I will truly be a better person. Sigh. Until then, I think I'm going to go cry for awhile! Thanks for your thoughts and support!

Day Before Embryo Transfer (aka ET)

I had another ovarian hyper stimulation check (OHSS) today and got to talk to my doctor. I have lost two of the seven pounds I had gained per my weigh-in on Saturday. I have also lost two of the six inches I had gained per my girth check on Saturday. So, I'm feeling a little better. I actually have a pair of my jeans on right now!

The doctor said he doesn't think I'm suffering from OHSS...so that is good. He did say that I should expect to gain a little more girth if I do become pregnant. Of course I'll gain A LOT more girth if I become pregnant...but he means right away. The hormone HCG, present during pregnancy, causing the bloating to worsen before it gets better. Oh well, it's a small price to pay for an actual pregnancy!

That's about it for an update. My mom is my guardian for ET tomorrow. Mark took Thursday, Friday and this morning off so my mom volunteered to take the Tuesday shift. I haven't needed a babysitter for years, this is so humbling! ET is scheduled for 9:45 with another OHSS exam at 8:45. Then I will be on bedrest for two days. Fun, fun!

I'm now cramming to get everything done for the next three days today. I think I'll have it covered. I'll have my wireless internet and laptop in bed with me. I'm sure I'll get plenty of work done via email, the internet and phone. I just can't move. I'll also watch some shows online. I managed to occupy my time in bed after the egg retrieval, so I'm sure I'll do the same after ET. Yay!! We've gotten this far...let's just hope we can make it to the end. They will be transfering two embryos tomorrow. Please pray for our delicate little embryos to implant and make a home for the next 8.5 months!

Embryo Transfer Scheduled!

I went in to the RE's (reproductive endocrinologist) office this morning for my OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation) check. I have it, but all is going well. I mostly just have pain and bloating in my abdomen. They aren't concerned. I've gained 7 pounds since starting the stimulation drugs and my waist has gained about six inches. Wow, do I feel sexy! My hemoglobin was good, so they aren't concerned. I just have to stay on my Gatorade and protein diet.

At the appointment this morning I was also given the time for our embryo transfer! It is Tuesday at 9:45. So it is a five-day transfer. Like I mentioned in a previous post, there are two options for transfers: three day and five day. They generally have you do a three-day transfer if it is obvious which two embryos are the best right away. They usually do a five-day transfer when there are too many to decide which are the best two. With the number of eggs they were able to retrieve, I'm guessing there are at least a few that are doing well. We don't get our fertilization report until right before the transfer. That will tell us how many fertilized, how many are still going, the quality of those that are still progressing and how many they think we will have to freeze. Everyone is different, so it is hard to venture a guess...but we are hoping to be able to freeze some. An ideal situation would be to achieve a pregnancy this time around and have a few for our next pregnancy...but beggars can't be choosers.

Now back to watching more shows on abc.com. I feel pretty good as long as I don't move much!

Gatorade, My Saviour...Oh, and Mark too

Well, yesterday went from bad to worse. After my fainting episode I stayed in bed unless I had to use the rest room. I never passed out again, but the fluid in my abdomen started rising into my back. By the end of the night, my back was so full that when I laughed at something Mark said, there were shooting pains up my back and my back got stiff like a charlie horse.

I was instructed not to lay flat, and figured out why. Whenever I would start, all the fluid would float further up my back and the pain was paralyzing. I spent the night in my office chair that has an ottoman. It is an over-sized chair, so Mark stuffed pillows on either side of me so I was wedged in. He then moved everything close so that I wouldn't have to get up. He was so cute. I couldn't fall asleep right away so I was playing on the laptop, like I am right now. I set/threw the laptop on my side table when I was done. It sounded a bit like a crash because I didn't have any ab or back muscles to soften the landing. Mark came running in to see if I was OK. He is a good nursemaid. Luckily I was actually able to fall asleep last night, even though I was in pain. I woke up this morning feeling 50% better. Now the pain is just in my abdomen, as it should be!

The instructions on how to ward off ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome are: drink one liter of Gatorade per day, eat plenty of protein, and get lots of fluids. After two liters of Gatorade and a protein shake for dinner, my body started recovering. I've already started my two liters of Gatorade for today!

Successful Egg Retrieval!!

Our retrieval was a success today! They got 29 follicles! I was astounded and excited by that number! They put me under and the whole procedure only lasted about 15 minutes, according to Mark. He got to watch the whole thing. He said it was pretty cool. The doctor sucks the follicles out and there is a little window leading to the embryology lab. She just passes each one right through the window and the embryologist gets to work on separating the egg from the follicle. I guess I started to come to when they were wheeling me back to the recovery room. I was mumbling, "That's cool." Like I was drunk. As soon as we got back to the recovery room I asked Mark how many they got. He told me. I was still quite drugged, so I asked him again a half hour later. He said, "You seriously don't remember this conversation?". I remembered once he said that! :) Hopefully we get a good fertilization rate and get a couple really strong ones for our embryo transfer!

Because of the number they retrieved, they are concerned about ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). This happens when your ovaries fill with blood and fluid. Your abdomen gets large and you can get a fever, and worse. They are bringing me back in on Saturday to do an OHSS check. In the mean time, Mark and I have to watch out for signs like a fever, gaining more than two pounds a day (yes, less than two pounds is just fine...scary!), and some other things.

Right now I'm just feeling OK. My stomach is huge and I'm tired. Other than that I thought I was doing fine. I was laying on the couch and decided to go to the bathroom. I realized I was in some pain, so I decided to go upstairs to get some Tylenol, the only medicine I can have today. I got to the top of the stairs and my heart was pounding. By the time I got to the linen closet it felt like my heart was pounding in my throat. I stopped and braced myself on the closet door. I suddenly lost my hearing and got dizzy. Luckily Mark was there because I then collapsed and hit the floor. I would have hit my head on the bathtub if he hadn't caught me. I came to immediately and didn't want to move because my ovaries hurt and it hurts to use my abdominal muscles. Mark carried me into bed. By the time I reached the bed I was sweating profusely. It was just the strangest thing. Now I'm sitting in bed and doing just fine. I think I'll ask Mark to get things for me from now on!

Now we wait. We find out on Saturday whether our embryo transfer is on Sunday or Tuesday. They watch the eggs for fertilization (once they separated the egg from the follicle, they injected each with Mark's sperm). They then watch to see if they split. Once an egg is fertilized, it begins splitting into multiple cells. If it is evident on Saturday which two embryos are the best, they will do the transfer on Sunday. If there are still multiple embryos that are splitting well and of good quality, they will wait a couple more days to identify and transfer the best two. After transfer, they will watch the remaining embryos and they will freeze the viable ones. It really is amazing! I wish I could hang out in the embryology lab just to see what happens! I guess we'll find out in due time. What's a few more days after over two years? It's all rounding error, now.

Mark's First Shot is a Success!

I have to admit, I was VERY nervous for Mark to give me his first shot. When we went to our shot teaching with the nurse, he got to practice on a foam egg. Needless to say, it didn't go well and I was not sure how the real thing would go. Well...he was awesome! I mixed the meds, because he said "You have more experience.". All I asked was that he do it quickly. I then laid down on the bed and clenched my fists. It was over in a second and it was just a little poke. It was better than the nurses do when they draw my blood! There was a little pain afterward as the trigger shot worked its way into my system, but all in all it was much better than having to stab my self in the abdomen again last night. I had run out of spots that weren't tender and it had just become painful.

Egg retrieval is tomorrow at 10am. Hopefully I'll be home and recovering in the early afternoon. Mark is staying home to watch me. The doctor said there has to be a 'responsible adult' present to supervise. I guess Mark just has to watch me sleep?

Trigger Happy!!

My ultrasound went great this morning! My lining is 11.1C (which is great) and I had 27 folllies that they'll be going after during retrieval. Both the nurse today and the nurse yesterday wanted to be sure that I knew that not all of them will contain eggs. I'm actually relieved that they won't. We definitely don't need 27 babies! Not all will fertilize and split properly either, so it's good that we have some 'extras'.

We will trigger tonight at 10pm and have our egg retrieval at 10am on Thursday! Mark's part of the needle stabbing begins tonight. He has to give me the trigger in my backside. I'm not looking forward to this! He will then have to give my progesterone shots in the behind until we get our beta pregnancy test results in two weeks or so. I think it's going to be a looooong two weeks!

BLOATED!!

I forgot to post an update on Saturday. Everything was progressing well. My endometrial lining was 7.8C. They like to see it over 8mm for embryo transfer and C is the best grade, so it was right on schedule. I had 8 'measurable' (anything over 10mm) follicles on the right and 4 on the left. I had 18 others that were still under 10mm. They increased the dose of Bravelle I needed to take, just to move things along.

I just had another ultrasound this morning. I knew there was some action in there because I'm sooooo bloated! I had heard other women that have gone through IVF say that they were bloated, but now I know what they meant. It's beyond anything I would have ever imagined! The good news is...my ultrasound was great! My lining was 9.9C and I have 24 total measurable follicles. They range from 12.5 to 17 (they want them between 16mm and 22mm to give me the go ahead for the trigger shot). They think that I'll probably need one more day. My retrieval was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, but this would push be back to Thursday. The embryo transfer would then be either Saturday or Monday, depending on how the embryos look.

All in all this cycle is going great! I was hoping to not over stimulate, which I'm prone to do because of my PCOS. It turns out that I'll be a day or so slower than they anticipated, which is a good sign. It means I'm not over stimulating and that my follicles are growing slowly and steadily. Hopefully that means that the eggs will be of better quality too! Keep us in your prayers!

Stim Day Six...and counting.

Well, it's been six days since I've started poking myself with the extra long needles associated with the stimulation drugs and 16 days since I started lupron (using small insulin needles). I have a few more bruises to prove it, but all in all it hasn't been bad.

I had my first bloodwork drawn on Monday. My E2 (estrogen levels to determine how many follies I have cooking...the score needs to be 200 for every viable egg at the time of retrieval) was 20. Needless to say, I wasn't quite there. I had my first ultrasound today along with more bloodwork. I haven't gotten my E2 for today back, but the ultrasound was good. I'm right on target. I had 14 egg follicles on my right ovary and 10 on my left. They were all hovering around 10 (need to be between 16 and 22 to retrieve). I go in again on Saturday to see how they are growing.

Now, for all of you that just shuddered at the idea of 24 eggs, don't worry. Not all follicles actually contain an egg. Even out of the eggs that are present, not all will fertilize. Out of those that fertilize, they will only reimplant the best two embryos. If the others are still viable, they will freeze them for future use. Most women do not have any to freeze, and if they do, there usually are just a few. Also, with each cycle there is only about a 50% chance that I will become pregnant...so I may have the chance to use those frozen embryos sooner than I would like. I'm hoping for a pregnancy now and a few embryos for next time...but beggars can't be choosers!

Baseline Ultrasound...and IVF War Wounds

I had my baseline ultrasound this morning and everything is a go! My ovaries were 'quiet' and my lining looked good. I had a good antral follicle count (count of resting follicles which is a good indicator of possibility for success as well as an indicator of when you may expect to go through menopause...I have a long time). I start stimulation drugs on Saturday. I will keep taking lupron, but will be adding menopur and bravelle (used to grow my follicles). Hopefully I'll have some nice, juicy eggies come 3/19, my tentative retrieval date. I've added a photo to show you what I did to myself yesterday. I must have had bad aim, because I gave myself a bruise when shooting up! Ooops!

Infertility Fun!

Well, we are back from Naples and have started Lupron. I should say, I have started Lupron. I decided that once I started Lupron I would no longer have alcohol. I haven't been drinking caffeine since the beginning of the year, but alcohol was my new addition. The RE (reproductive endorcrinologist, fertility doctor) didn't say I had to cut it out, but I just don't like the idea of mixing drugs and alcohol. I guess, now that I think about it...a lot of pregnancies are caused by the combo of those two things. Ha! I don't think that's my luck though.

I go in on Thursday for a baseline ultrasound to make sure my ovaries are quiet and my lining is ready and I will start the real heavy drugs! I'm feeling confident that I'll be ready to go. My body feels good, with the exception of the headache and constipation (sorry, TMI) caused by the Lupron.

Jenny (sister-in-law) brought me a cute gift yesterday. We joke about cheering my egg follicles on and she joked that she would make a rally cap for them. Well, instead she made a bear with the "Go Follies" team gear. Here the bear is holding one of my many drugs on top of the container where I put all my used needles. I have him on the counter by all my drugs, to cheer me on as I shoot up! Isn't he cute?! I really do have to keep a sense of humor about this whole infertility journey. It gets really tough, and I've felt more down in the last year than I ever have, but having support and having fun have helped a great deal. If anyone else wants some team gear...just let me know!