Where we have been...

Where have we been for the last couple of months??

I have been pretty private about what has been going on and I know there are a lot of people with very curious minds.  Now that things have calmed down and are back to normal, I decided to let all of you in on all of the fun we have been experiencing...

MAY

Jordan and I switched Doctors and found THE best Reproductive Endocrinologist (thanks to my friend Chelsea).  We met with Dr. Gurtcheff at the Utah Fertility Center and immediately fell in love.  She is the perfect Dr. for us and makes us feel SO comfortable!

Dr. Gurtcheff recommended that we jump right into IVF, being that our odds of conceiving a child any other way was below 1%.  It was a HUGE decision and crazy scary, but we decided to go big or go home!

In May I started a month of Birth Control.  Counter intuitive right?? I totally agree.  The BC is given to down regulate your body for what is in store.  My poor body had NO idea what it was in for...

I felt like it was by far the slowest month of my life.... just waiting (and getting crazy off of BC, poor Jordan).

In the end of May I received a HUGE box.  A little pharmacy delivered straight to my door...

Was I overwhelmed when I saw literally hundreds of needles?  Extremely is an understatement...

Especially because I had to give these shots to myself....

JUNE

The shots started, and I freaked out.

This is real.  Really happening!

I started 3 shots a day, shown below...

I became extremely comfortable with the disturbing idea that I was now a human pin cushion.

The shots continued, my stomach in turn became very bruised and sore.

I traveled down to Pleasant Grove almost everyday to have an ultrasound and to have my blood drawn. 

I know, swollen!

The morning of June 22 was an ordinary day, traveling down to PG for my follicle scan.  I arrived and the best nurse practitioner in the world, Brooke, started my ultrasound.  She was shocked to see that I had over 40 follicles.  The office loves to see around 10 in a GOOD IVF cycle.  I was super plumped up and ready for my egg retrieval!

The night of the 22nd I gave myself my trigger shot and waited.  The egg retrieval is exactly 36 hours after the trigger shot, which made my egg retrieval scheduled for Sunday, June 24th.

I was scared to death that morning.  We headed in and met with the Anesthesiologist.  Her name was MO and she was incredible.  She put me right at ease and assure that everything would be just fine.

I don't remember much that day.  Jordan took video of me in the recovery room, which I will NOT be sharing, how embarrassing!

Dr. Gurtcheff came in a few hours after the retrieval to let us know that we had 22 eggs!  22?? That is incredible!! They like to see around 10, like i said.  We left and immediately stopped by McDonalds for a bacon egg and cheese biscuit.  

Just as I thought the hard part was over, I was sorely mistaken.  

Because I had so many follicles, I was at a high risk for OHSS (Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome).

OHSS is extremely serious and can cause some serious side effects, including renal failure and heart damage.

I was in extreme pain starting about the day after my egg retrieval.  My ovaries had expanded to the size of large grapefruits, which in turn was pushing all of my organs up into my diaphragm, making it almost impossible to catch my breath.

My stomach swelled up so much with fluid that Dr. Grutcheff said I was the size of a 30 week pregnant woman (as seen below)

This picture doesn't even do it justice.  I was HUGE!

I had my paracentesis 3 times.  Each time they drained 2 liters of fluid from my abdominal cavity.  Worst experience of my life by far.

I was so dehydrated that they had to send me home with an IV

It took me 10 days and 3 drainings to feel normal again.  Because my body was so sick, we were uable 

to transfer our embryos.  I have been pretty depressed and low ever since.  Our embryos were frozen and will be transfered as soon as my body is healthy again.  The transfer is currently TBD.

A little bit more about our babies...

The day after our retrieval the lab called to let us know that 15 eggs were successfully fertilized!  Awesome news!  We were so excited!

On day 3 there were still 15!  These are crazy good numbers.  A lot of the time they were transfer them back in on day 3 because there are not very many eggs that have actually fertilized.  Our Dr. felt very confident that we were going to be able to let them go until day 5 until transfer.

On day 5 we had 3 perfect embryos that had turned into blastocysts.  We would have transfered them back into me, but because of my condition at the time it just wasn't possible.  Our 3 perfect little embryos were frozen on day 5 and are patiently waiting...

I want to thank all of you who knew we were going through this and so graciously offered up prayers and kind thoughts in our behalf.  We have felt the immense power of prayer and continue to feel it everyday!  We love you all!