If you read my last post, you know that Jordan and I did In-vitro Fertilization (IVF). Unfortunately, I was too sick and we had an unsuccessful cycle. I felt completely defeated and quite depressed.
We had 3 embryos from the cycle that we froze. We were anxiously awaiting to do a frozen transfer of one or two of those embryos as soon as my body was healthy again.
These are our 3 embryos we have frozen from our first cycle
A month later we went in to discuss with the Dr. what our plan should be, and we decided to do yet again another fresh IVF cycle. A frozen embryo transfer (FET) is much less invasive. No major drugs, no egg retrieval surgery, and most importantly it is only about 1/5 the cost of a fresh cycle.
Jordan and I decided it was best to go ahead with our fresh cycle, and thats where the real story begins...
The shots began... everyday.
The multitudes of Medicine
The daily set of injections
After about a month it was time for the egg retrieval. I was the most nervous about this part. Last time - I became extremely sick after the retrieval and ended up gaining 20 pounds of fluid in my abdomen, which was drained 3 times.
The egg retrieval went well! They had collected 18 healthy eggs and we were thrilled! I had mild OHSS this time with just a minimal amount of fluid build up. I felt a million times better and was excited about the fact that we would actually get to transfer our embryos this time around!
On day 3 we had 14 strong embryos. 7 were grade 1 embryos and 7 were grade 2. From what was explained to me, grade 1 embryos are rarely seen. When the embryologist called me on day 3 the first thing she said to me was "I just want you to know that you make beautiful babies!" We were thrilled and anxious for our day 5 transfer!
5 days after our eggs were fertilized we went into the office to have our embryos transfered. I was absolutely 100% set on transferring 2 embryos. I figured that I needed to give this my best shot in bringing home a baby and 2 would definitely help that situation...
When we walked into Dr. Gurtcheff's office she had let us know that 5 embryos had made it to day 5, which is also known as the blastocyst stage. A blastocyst is graded on 3 different parts. "A" being the best, then comes "B" "C" "D". With out last cycle, our best blastocyst was a BBB rating, which all of the staff were very impressed with. My Dr. told me that she had never seen an AAA blastocyst before so a BBB was excellent.
So to our surprise when we were discussing our blastocysts from this cycle she told us that 4 were almost perfect and that there was one that was an AAA!!!!!!! An AAA??? You mean you've never seen an AAA until ours??? I was blown away...
Dr. Gurtcheff was calling our embryo "textbook perfect" and strongly recommended because of the quality that we only transfer the one. It was a big decision for me but we decided that would be best.
An embryo is transfered back into your body by placing it into a catheter, threading the catheter through your cervix into your uterus and placed inside of the womb. We were able to watch the procedure on the ultrasound machine and it was awesome!!
I was on "princess day" for 3 days after the transfer. No getting out of bed except for to shower and go to the bathroom.
That was easily the longest 3 days of my life. I was going stir crazy wondering whether or not this little baby of mine decided to snuggle in nice and tight or not.
On day 4 Jordan and I made a last minute decision to go to Arizona on a house hunting trip. I decided it was a great way to get my mind off of things and to focus on something else for the next few days until we knew if we were pregnant or not.
6 days after the transfer I had a headache all day long and started wondering if it was a pregnancy sign or not. I secretly bought some pregnancy tests while we were out and hid them in my purse. When we had got back to the hotel i immediately went into the bathroom, peed on a pregnancy test and almost immediately saw this....
Ok Ok... I am fully aware that I was obsessed with peeing on pregnancy tests... Labeling them and all!
This is the little babe at 7 weeks. First time I heard and saw the heartbeat. It was magical!!
I went to my first ob appointment today. Besides the pap and pelvic exam, it was so exciting! We were able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. That little heart was beating away at 176 bpm.
I am 10 weeks PREGNANT and due may 2013!
I want to thank you all for the prayers and good vibes that were sent out in our behalf... We definitely felt them!!
The egg retrieval went well! They had collected 18 healthy eggs and we were thrilled! I had mild OHSS this time with just a minimal amount of fluid build up. I felt a million times better and was excited about the fact that we would actually get to transfer our embryos this time around!
On day 3 we had 14 strong embryos. 7 were grade 1 embryos and 7 were grade 2. From what was explained to me, grade 1 embryos are rarely seen. When the embryologist called me on day 3 the first thing she said to me was "I just want you to know that you make beautiful babies!" We were thrilled and anxious for our day 5 transfer!
5 days after our eggs were fertilized we went into the office to have our embryos transfered. I was absolutely 100% set on transferring 2 embryos. I figured that I needed to give this my best shot in bringing home a baby and 2 would definitely help that situation...
When we walked into Dr. Gurtcheff's office she had let us know that 5 embryos had made it to day 5, which is also known as the blastocyst stage. A blastocyst is graded on 3 different parts. "A" being the best, then comes "B" "C" "D". With out last cycle, our best blastocyst was a BBB rating, which all of the staff were very impressed with. My Dr. told me that she had never seen an AAA blastocyst before so a BBB was excellent.
So to our surprise when we were discussing our blastocysts from this cycle she told us that 4 were almost perfect and that there was one that was an AAA!!!!!!! An AAA??? You mean you've never seen an AAA until ours??? I was blown away...
Dr. Gurtcheff was calling our embryo "textbook perfect" and strongly recommended because of the quality that we only transfer the one. It was a big decision for me but we decided that would be best.
This is our "textbook perfect" AAA blastocyst. Compared to our BBB up at the beginning of the post you can see how much better this one looks!
I was on "princess day" for 3 days after the transfer. No getting out of bed except for to shower and go to the bathroom.
That was easily the longest 3 days of my life. I was going stir crazy wondering whether or not this little baby of mine decided to snuggle in nice and tight or not.
On day 4 Jordan and I made a last minute decision to go to Arizona on a house hunting trip. I decided it was a great way to get my mind off of things and to focus on something else for the next few days until we knew if we were pregnant or not.
6 days after the transfer I had a headache all day long and started wondering if it was a pregnancy sign or not. I secretly bought some pregnancy tests while we were out and hid them in my purse. When we had got back to the hotel i immediately went into the bathroom, peed on a pregnancy test and almost immediately saw this....
I never thought i'd EVER see those 2 pink lines!!
I went to my first ob appointment today. Besides the pap and pelvic exam, it was so exciting! We were able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. That little heart was beating away at 176 bpm.
I am 10 weeks PREGNANT and due may 2013!
I want to thank you all for the prayers and good vibes that were sent out in our behalf... We definitely felt them!!
No comments:
Post a Comment