And the first cycle is over :-(

I am devastated. After getting so many good news- 32 eggs retreived, 24 fertilized, all 24 making it to day 5, and 12 frozen, yesterday's call was a punch in the stomach. I went in for my beta test yesterday morning, and it came back negative, 2.2. Before getting the call, I was feeling very optimistic so I was in shock. The worse part was that I was home alone since my husband was at a conference. As soon as I hung up the phone with the nurse, I called my husband, and just started crying like a baby. I must admit that I was surprised by my reaction. I did not think that I was going to take it that hard, but I did, and it hurts, a lot.  To say the least, I cried on and off for the rest of the day.  I was feeling sorry for myself, trying to guess what is wrong with me, but the truth is no one knows what's going on.
What does the future hold? I don't know. I just know that after 3 failed IUIs and 1 failed IVF cycle, I am not ready to give up on having my baby. After all, my husband and I still have 12 precious frozen embryos on which we are not going to give up. I will keep you updated. Until next time. Good luck to everyone.

And then, there were 12 :-)

The embryologist called and informed me that they were able to freeze 12 embryos! 12! That's amazing! My husband and I are ecstatic that we have 12 embryos to work with in the future. :-)
Side note, when I went in for my transfer, the doctor told me that I had the best day 3 results that she has ever seen. That made me feel very happy.

No more Gatorade, please!

So I have to say that you will start to feel better after your egg retreival. I was miserable for five days after mine. The added stress of potentially getting hyper stimulated was no help. I have to say that I cannot stand lemon Gatorade, or Gatorade for that matter. My RE has me drinking 8 12oz glasses of Gatorade a day, no water. I started drinking Gatorade two days before my egg retreival, but it was allow to drink water then. Now, my RE wants me to stay hydrated, and is concerned that drinking all that water for so long would only do harm. I was drinking  8 12oz glasses of water a day when I started my stimulation shots.  Luckily, I stumbled upon Nuun tablets four days after my egg retrieval. I was introduced to these by my brother-in-law, a runner, about three months when I was dehydrated, and thought I was going to pass out. I was at Whole Foods trying to find something appetizing to eat, and I saw the Nuun tablets. I asked my husband if I could take these and he said to take 1 tablet a day, and do Gatorade as well. The good thing, is that I do not have to drink the 8 glasses of Gatorade, the Nuun tablets hydrate me pretty well. These tablets have more electrolytes and less sugar (1g) so it's easier on my stomach. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, that I started feeling much better the day after I started taking the Nuun tablets. Now, I am not nauseous. I was super nauseous day 3 and 4 after my egg retreival, now I am starting to think that those symptoms are due to the Endometrin 3x a day).  I was able to two meals without feeling nauseous; it was a great day!

Egg Retrieval

Yesterday was my egg retrieval.  I was scheduled to go in at 8:00am, and my procedure started around 8:50am. I must say that everything went well except that we do not know when we are doing the transfer. During my retrieval, the doctor retreived 32 eggs. There is a risk of hyper stimulation with that many eggs and the fact that my estrogen is on the higher end. Before my procedure, the doctor informed me that we may have to freeze all the eggs before moving on to a transfer. He said that this will allow my body to recover and time for all the meds to leave my body.  After the retrieval, my husband and I met with the doctor. We all agreed, since we are moving in August and are going away in July, that we would monitor my symptoms during the next couple of days and see if we do the transfer on day 5.  I am praying that my ovaries do not get hyperstimulated so that we can proceed with the embryo transfer on Day 5.  Plus, I do not want to get sick. I think it is enough with how I feel right now.  As of today, I continue to drink tons of Gatorade to stay hydrated, and trying to eat protein with every meal. Those were the recommendations from the IVF coordinator today.  As to how I feel, I feel very, very bloated. The pain from the egg retrieval has subsided, but I still feel a little bit of pain on my left side (the doctor said they had to go in multiple times on the left, so therefore to expect to be sore).  The good news, is that the embryologist called today and told us that 24 eggs fertilized! 24! I am super excited about that! Here is to keep taking care of myself and to praying that I do not get ovarian hyperstimulation. :-)

Steps after stimulation meds

After I went in for the lab and ultrasound today, I received a call from my IVF coordinator. It looks like there will be many follicles to remove, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. She told me that my retrieval will be on Monday at 8:45am. I need to take my Ovidrel shot tonight at 8:45pm. She also reminded me that I need to start taking a pill for eight days to prevent ovarian hyper stimulation. I will be starting those pills tonight right before I go to bed since she said people complain of feeling dizzy after taking it. In addition, I start the antibiotics tomorrow, and will be taking those twice daily for five days. She also reminded me of the importance of drinking water and recommended that I also get Gatorade to keep hydrated. I am currently drinking at least 96oz of water. This is lot of water for me especially since I weigh 122lbs. I am drinking almost 4/5 of my weight! The water keeps me feeling full so sometimes I forget to eat because I don't get hungry, not good! I am praying that my retrieval goes well, and not only for many follicles to be removed, but that most of them have good quality eggs in them, and that most of those eggs get fertilized properly. By the way, I have a date for the transfer! It is scheduled for Thursday, May 28th. I am super excited! :-)

Stimulation Meds

If you have been wondering what happened with my cycle, here is the update. The lupron shots were not bad at all (second time giving myself the Lupron shots because we had to cancel first cycle due to a death in the family). I am now well into my IVF cycle in terms of medication. I have to say that I was very nervous at the beginning, especially since I didn't want anything to go wrong. It is not as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, there are days when the shots hurt especially the Menopurt. I also have a few bruises, but mainly because I inserted the needle wrong. I didn't get my first bruise until day 6 of stimulation. I think so far so good. For those of you who are wondering which shots I take, I take Lupron (started with 10 units, but once I started the stimulation shots it went down to 5 units), Menopur (75 units), and Follistim (150 units).  I only took Follistim for 6 days because my Estraidol was where it needed to be after 6 shots. So yesterday and today I only did two shots. :-)  I have had to go in five times for ultrasounds and blood. I am doing great, so today will be my last day of stimulation, so all in all-- 8 days of stimulation meds. My retrieval will be on Monday, Memorial Day.

Back at it...

It has been three months since my last IVF attempt, and I am back at it again.  Right now, I am taking my contraceptive pills. I have to take them for three weeks. (By the way, after getting my period regularly every 32 days for the past 11 moths, after I took the last pills, my period did not come back until day 49 of my cycle.)  Then two weeks after taking the pills, I am going to start the Lupron shots again. I have to give myself the Lupron shots for 11 days, and then I go in for a baseline ultrasound and blood work. If everything is fine, I start giving myself three shots a night starting the day of my baseline ultrasound and blood work.  I must say that since this is going to be the second time that I will be giving myself the Lupron shots, I am not as nervous about the shots.  I know that in a few weeks I will be giving myself the three shots a night, but it doesn't scare me as much as it did when I first saw the big bag of medication. I just hope that this cycle goes smoother than the last one, and that I will be able to go through the entire protocol without any awful news.

Cancelled IVF

A cancelled IVF? Well, not really, but sort of.  I took my contraceptive pills for the time that I was supposed to and started the Lupron shots. I did eight days of shots, but then had to stop the cycle.  There was a death in my family and I needed the time to grief without having to look at the clock to give myself the next shot.