We had a consultation with Dr. D this afternoon to get some of our questions answered and talk about how to move forward from here. We feel good about our meeting and our doctor remains hopeful that we can get pregnant. He feels better that we got pregnant and miscarried, than he would if we had not gotten pregnant at all. He told us that most miscarriages are a result of a random chromosomal abnormality in the baby, and have little to do with the mother. However, he did test me for an immune disorder that causes the mother's body to attack the embryo. If it turns out that I do have that disorder it can be easily fixed with medication. The only other thing that can be tested for is a chromosomal defect in either or us that is being passed on to the baby. Insurance won't test for this until you've had 3 miscarriages, and if we did test positive for the disorder there is nothing that can be done. It just means that we will have a greater chance for miscarriage than the average couple.
Dr. D told us that we can decide when we're ready to try again and transfer another embryo. (At the very least, I have to wait until I get my period, which should be about a month from now.) He also explained how our next embryo transfer will work since we won't be doing stimulation this time around. It's up to us to decide when we're ready and if we want to transfer one or both of our frozen embryos next time. We have a lot of decisions to make, but we're excited to be moving forward again.
At this point, we haven't decided how quickly we'll move forward and how early we'll share information about our next transfer. We've been doing fertility treatments for nine months now and we feel like we need a break from talking about it. We're so appreciative of your love, support and prayers. We hope that you understand that we're just mentally and emotionally exhausted. Our plan for now is to stay busy, travel, spend time with friends and family and enjoy lots and lots of Tarheel basketball!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Thank You
This has been a crappy week, but because of each of you, it's been a little less crappy. Throughout the week we've gotten the kindest voicemails, text messages, emails and e-cards. Homemade cookies, flowers and chocolate covered strawberries have appeared at our door. Offers for meals and hugs from co-workers have brightened our days. You have no idea how much your prayers, love and support mean to us. Thank you so much.
We'll have to take at least a month off from trying to get pregnant, maybe longer. It's always hard to take time off. It feels like we're wasting time, and after two years of trying to have a baby, that's a very frustrating feeling. However, we know deep down that we need to use this time to recover emotionally and physically. I have been on fertility drugs since June and my body has been through a lot this past month. I'm actually looking forward to a "no hormones added" cycle. We're hoping a mini vacation in March and our upcoming bathroom remodel will be fun distractions and will help the next month or two pass quickly.
Our meeting with Dr. D has been rescheduled for Monday, March 5. I'll post an update after that consult. Hopefully, we'll have a plan for moving forward that we feel good about.
We'll have to take at least a month off from trying to get pregnant, maybe longer. It's always hard to take time off. It feels like we're wasting time, and after two years of trying to have a baby, that's a very frustrating feeling. However, we know deep down that we need to use this time to recover emotionally and physically. I have been on fertility drugs since June and my body has been through a lot this past month. I'm actually looking forward to a "no hormones added" cycle. We're hoping a mini vacation in March and our upcoming bathroom remodel will be fun distractions and will help the next month or two pass quickly.
Our meeting with Dr. D has been rescheduled for Monday, March 5. I'll post an update after that consult. Hopefully, we'll have a plan for moving forward that we feel good about.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Another Loss
It's been a really hard weekend for us.
On Friday I started having severe abdominal pain on my right side and my lower back. We immediately called our fertility doctor, but because I wasn't spotting he didn't think I was miscarrying. We had no idea what was wrong. We thought it could be a pulled muscle, a kidney stone, or appendicitis. When I started to vomit from the pain, Jeff decided to take me to the ER. Once there, we found out that I had several really large ovarian cysts, mostly on my right ovary that were causing all of my pain. These are a result of my stimulation medicine and are really nothing more than very large follicles filled with fluid. My biggest was 7cm. They are extremely painful, but will go away on their own. There really isn't any treatment for them except pain medication.
While we were at the ER they checked my HCG level and we were extremely saddened to hear that it had dropped from 1,900 on Monday to 1,500. We knew what that meant. We went back to our fertility doctor today and my HCG had dropped all the way to 330, and they confirmed that I am having another miscarriage. I do not have any bleeding yet, but because my hormones are dropping on their own, they suspect that it will come soon. According to my doctor, this has nothing to do with my ovarian cysts. He said that many people have cysts while they are pregnant and it should not have effected my pregnancy.
To say that we are sad, disappointed, and confused doesn't even begin to cover what we are feeling. We go back to meet with Dr. D on the 29th to discuss everything and hopefully decide how to move forward from here. Please continue to pray for us.
On Friday I started having severe abdominal pain on my right side and my lower back. We immediately called our fertility doctor, but because I wasn't spotting he didn't think I was miscarrying. We had no idea what was wrong. We thought it could be a pulled muscle, a kidney stone, or appendicitis. When I started to vomit from the pain, Jeff decided to take me to the ER. Once there, we found out that I had several really large ovarian cysts, mostly on my right ovary that were causing all of my pain. These are a result of my stimulation medicine and are really nothing more than very large follicles filled with fluid. My biggest was 7cm. They are extremely painful, but will go away on their own. There really isn't any treatment for them except pain medication.
While we were at the ER they checked my HCG level and we were extremely saddened to hear that it had dropped from 1,900 on Monday to 1,500. We knew what that meant. We went back to our fertility doctor today and my HCG had dropped all the way to 330, and they confirmed that I am having another miscarriage. I do not have any bleeding yet, but because my hormones are dropping on their own, they suspect that it will come soon. According to my doctor, this has nothing to do with my ovarian cysts. He said that many people have cysts while they are pregnant and it should not have effected my pregnancy.
To say that we are sad, disappointed, and confused doesn't even begin to cover what we are feeling. We go back to meet with Dr. D on the 29th to discuss everything and hopefully decide how to move forward from here. Please continue to pray for us.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Exciting News!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After what seemed like the longest week, our doctor told us the good news last Monday. I waited until today to post anything to be sure that my HCG levels (pregnancy hormone) were rising as they should be. In normal, healthy pregnancies HCG should double every 24-48 hours. The first time I was pregnant I had low, slow-rising HCG levels, which was our first indication that the baby wasn't developing normally and I would likely miscarry. I wanted to be sure that wasn't the case again this time before I posted any news. I'm happy to say that my HCG increased from 153 to 1,948 over the past week. We go back for an ultrasound to (hopefully) confirm a heartbeat on February 29 at 8:30 and then I'll be released to my regular OB. In the meantime, I will continue taking 2 kinds of progesterone, estrogen and baby aspirin to support the pregnancy through the first trimester. Our due date is October 16.
We cannot express enough how much we have appreciated all of your prayers, emails, texts, phone calls, and cards over the last few weeks. We have felt so loved and supported. Thank you so much! We ask that you continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy, as it is still very early. While we are sharing the news with family and close friends who have kept up with our IVF journey, we are not sharing the news publicly. So no Facebook comments, please and thank you. :)
After what seemed like the longest week, our doctor told us the good news last Monday. I waited until today to post anything to be sure that my HCG levels (pregnancy hormone) were rising as they should be. In normal, healthy pregnancies HCG should double every 24-48 hours. The first time I was pregnant I had low, slow-rising HCG levels, which was our first indication that the baby wasn't developing normally and I would likely miscarry. I wanted to be sure that wasn't the case again this time before I posted any news. I'm happy to say that my HCG increased from 153 to 1,948 over the past week. We go back for an ultrasound to (hopefully) confirm a heartbeat on February 29 at 8:30 and then I'll be released to my regular OB. In the meantime, I will continue taking 2 kinds of progesterone, estrogen and baby aspirin to support the pregnancy through the first trimester. Our due date is October 16.
We cannot express enough how much we have appreciated all of your prayers, emails, texts, phone calls, and cards over the last few weeks. We have felt so loved and supported. Thank you so much! We ask that you continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy, as it is still very early. While we are sharing the news with family and close friends who have kept up with our IVF journey, we are not sharing the news publicly. So no Facebook comments, please and thank you. :)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Longest week ever
Throughout this month everything had gone very smoothly and we had been asking ourselves when things were going to get hard. This week it finally got hard. Really, really hard. Through all the waiting it was difficult to stay optimistic. This past week felt like it would never end. We appreciate all the support from our friends and family. It was comforting to know we had so many people thinking about us.
Tomorrow we will have blood testing that will hopefully tell us we are pregnant and have healthy hormone levels. Having everyone's support through this process has been wonderful and we can't wait to tell you all if we get good news. However, we expect that we will need some time to process the results whether they are good or bad. Please know that we will tell you how things turned out as soon as we are ready.
Tomorrow we will have blood testing that will hopefully tell us we are pregnant and have healthy hormone levels. Having everyone's support through this process has been wonderful and we can't wait to tell you all if we get good news. However, we expect that we will need some time to process the results whether they are good or bad. Please know that we will tell you how things turned out as soon as we are ready.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Embyro, Meet Womb
This morning we went to Dr D's for our scheduled embryo transfer. We were anxious because we didn't know how many embryos we would have remaining and still hadn't made a final decision on how many we would transfer. Once we arrived we got very good news. Of our 8 fertilized embryos, 6 were still viable. The cute grey blob you see above was the best one. The others are looking good but were not quite as advanced (likely because they weren't fertilized as quickly). Dr. D recommended based on our age and the quality of our embryos that we transfer only 1 but ultimately the decision was ours to do 1 or 2. Drum roll please....
We quickly decided we would only transfer 1 embryo. Dr. D said that he expects most of the 5 remaining will continue developing and be able to be frozen for later use. We will hear tomorrow how many fully developed and were frozen. If this cycle doesn't work we will skip a cycle and then be able to thaw an embryo for another shot in 2 months. Dr D's success rates suggest that we have a 53% chance that this cycle work. If it doesn't his success rate after thawing our frozen embryos is 50% per cycle.
After deciding on a single embryo we moved along to the procedure room as the staff prepared for our transfer. They did a test run with the catheter to make sure everything was in the right place and avoid any surprises. Then they loaded the catheter with our little embryo and injected it into my uterus. Once the catheter is removed, the walls of the uterus collapse around the embryo preventing it from escaping. If all goes well, the embryo will hatch from its protective shell today and implant into the uterine lining as early as tomorrow.
After the procedure we had a quick meeting with Dr D. He told us that he didn't like to give anyone false hope, but that hope was important and so far everything had gone as well as possible. It is a little surreal at this point to think we could finally be pregnant but we are excited and hopeful. We return in 8 days for a pregnancy test. Thank you for all the calls, texts and good wishes this past week. Keep hoping for the best this week!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Now We Wait
Our doctor called this morning to update us on our eggs. We were excited to hear that 8 out of the 10 eggs fertilized. The other 2 were not mature eggs, so it wasn't surprising that they didn't fertilize. We were also excited to learn that my eggs fertilized naturally when mixed with Jeff's sperm and they didn't have to use ICSI, which is a procedure where they manually insert the sperm into the egg.
Now we wait. We wait for our embryo transfer on Sunday morning at 9:00. Then we wait 8 long days for my pregnancy test on February 6th. And in the words of Tom Petty, "The waiting is the hardest part."
Now we wait. We wait for our embryo transfer on Sunday morning at 9:00. Then we wait 8 long days for my pregnancy test on February 6th. And in the words of Tom Petty, "The waiting is the hardest part."
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