FlowerWife
Positive Vibrations...
Member since 1/08 8423 total posts
Name:
|
FlowerWife's IVF Journey ~ A Crazy but Happy Ending!
Well here we are. I had a few minutes today so I figured it was a good time to start my IVF journal!
If you read all of this, thanks in advance! I tend to be long winded!!
For ease I copied the history from my last journal and updated it.
ME: 29
DH: 30
TTC: October 1 is one and a half years 
DIAGNOSES: PCOS (Main Symptom is High LH), Clotting Issue PAI-1 4G/5G Polymorphism, Immune Issue Elevated NK Cells, DH and I are also Partial HLA-C Matches, Recurrent Chemical Pregnancies
A Brief Cycle Timeline
5/09 - Went off BCP After 12 Years
7/09 - No AF since stopping BCP, given Provera
8/09 - First Ovulatory Cycle Post-BCP, O on CD32
10/09 - No O or AF Since 8/09, Went to Ob/Gyn, Given Clomid and Provera and No Further Instructions
11/09 - Started Seeing Dr. B, Officially D/x with PCOS, Continued Clomid Cycle from Ob/Gyn with Dr. B Monitoring, No O
12/09 - First Injectable Cycle - Timed Intercourse - Femara/Follistim (150us) - Hyperstim, 10+ mature Follies, Cycle Cancelled, Mild OHSS followed by 3 weeks of BCP
2/10 - Second Injectable Cycle - Timed Intercourse - Slow Stim, Did not respond to Femara/Gonal-F (37.5ius), repeated protocol at 75ius, no response. Switched back to follistim, 21 days of stimming finally got 2 mature follies. Ovidrel Trigger. Progesterone Supps. No AF. At 17DPO had a beta of 5, 2 days later beta of 2 and AF, Chemical Preganancy.
3/10 - Time off from Medicated Cycles (new job), Start Metformin, O CD36, AF CD46.
5/10 - Third Injectable Cycle - Timed Intercourse - Femara/Follistim 75ius also Metformin/Dexamethasone/Vitamin E - 2 Follies, Ovidrel Trigger, Crinone Progesterone, BFP at 12DPO. Beta 42 at 14DPO. Beta 46 at 16DPO, Pregnancy deemed not viable, Beta 41 at 17DPO. M/C and Beta 0 at 23 DPO.
7/10 - Fourth Injectable Cycle - No O or AF Since M/C. Sono and hysteroscopy all-clear. LH Still High, Ganirelix everyday to lower LH and Follistim 75ius starting CD3. Metoformin. Monitoring on CD9 - 1 23mm follie. Ovidrel Trigger CD9. Start Lovenox CD9. IV Intralipids CD10. Crinone CD12. BFN @ 12DPO, Beta BFN @ 13DPO. AF @ 17DPO.
8/10 - Fifth Injectable Cycle - Ganirelix Cd4-14, Follistim 100ius CD6-9, Dexmethasone. Metformin. Monitoring CD10 - lots of follies 9-11mm. Follistim down to 75ius CD10 and CD12. CD13, 2 mature follies and several more that are close behind. Coast one more day. Monitoring CD14, 2 18mm+ follies, at least 1-2 17mm, a few 15's... Novarel trigger shot 5000ius, intralipids infusion. CD15 lovenox. CD17 crinone. Beta at 13DPO was 2. Same the next day. Most likely a negative cycle although Dr. B suspects possible chemical due to my history. But he said to consider it a BFN cycle. AF at 16DPO.
By personal choice of DH and I, all cycles were timed intercourse.
So here we are on to IVF. For those curious, the reason we went to IVF instead of IUI or more injectable cycles is based on Dr. B's recommendation. He feels my stim is hard to control to end up with one or two good follies. He triggers me a little early than usually to avoid other smaller follies catching up and ending up an Octomom. This could lead to BFN's due to not fully mature follies. At this point, after so many cycles under our belts, he feels IVF is the safest way since he can stim my follies to maturity without having to worry about how many are going to fertilize. He said we could stay with what we were doing and he would work on my cycle, or we could move to IVF, which he thought was going to happen eventually anyway. We didn't want to waste anymore time, so here we are!
Here is the plan so far:
8.29-9.21
BCPs
9.25 & 9.26
Follistim 300iu - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Lovenox - am
Baby Aspirin
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
9.27
Follistim 225iu - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Lovenox - am
Baby Aspirin
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
9.28
Monitoring Day.
Absolutely nothing going on yet...
I'm def annoyed. I feel like my body is always sluggish on stims after BCP. Anyone else have that issue? I did BCP once before for hyperstimming (go figure  ) and when I started the stim again it took 21 days of meds to get like 2 eggs.. I hope this IVF cycle isn't like that, I'm on MUCH higher doses of meds for this...def would've liked to see at least SOME follies since stimming is not usually a problem for me..
Anyway.. so I can up my follistim back to 300iu tonight. Dr. B wants to see my e2 tomorrow (from today, I had a late appt) to then determine the further dose. I am supposed to go back Friday but I'm going to ask if I can wait til Saturday so I can go to Woodbury and not AFS..
MEDS:
Follistim 300iu - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Lovenox - am
Baby Aspirin
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
9.29
so i got my levels back from yesterdays blood and they were both low. e2 was only 62 and i dont know what LH was but it was LOW..
such irony since i have CHRONIC high LH due to PCOS... dr. B said its good we got it under control finally, now we can just add back what we need for the cycle. so i start luveris tonight.
i noticed, and pointed out to dr. B, that i tend to be a slow stimmer after BCP. he said something about the hypothalamus shutting off hormone production and that i have to be patient ...
anyway as usual dr. B made me feel better about everything about 100 emails and phone calls. here's the rest of my protocol til i go back for monitoring on saturday..
MEDS:
Follistim 300iu - pm
Luveris - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Lovenox - am
Baby Aspirin
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
9.30
Follistim 300iu - pm
Luveris - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
Intralipids Infusion
10.1
Follistim 300iu - pm
Luveris - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
10.2
Monitoring Day! Saw Dr. B this morning.
I'm excited, my body is catching up with the meds. I knew there would be something to see since I've had a lot of twinging follie cramps the last day or two.
Anyway so I had about 15 follies on each ovary, all around 10-12mm.
Best of all my lining was PERFECT so far!! It usually takes me a while for the lining to catch up - but it was already 9.7mm!!  My best EVER cycle it was only a 10 at trigger time, so I'm pretty excited that it's thickening this early.
I have to go to AFS for monitoring on Monday, but Dr. B said that he did want to see me in person (not through AFS) once more before the ER, so it will prob be the appointment after Monday. Right now we are looking at late next week most likely with a small possibility of next Monday for ER... I can't wait!!
Anyway I just got the phone call from Dr. B and my e2 is up to 1300 (it was only 62 on Tuesday) and my LH is perfect (which it's NEVER been). I am psyched that this is finally moving along
MEDS 10.2 & 10.3:
Follistim 225iu - pm
Luveris - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
10.4
Monitoring Day!
Went to AFS today. They sure do get you in and out FAST! I was in at 8:20 out at 8:45! Plus all the follie measurements stay on the screen so you can look after they leave the room!!
That being said, I had a lot of large measurable follies. Maybe 20-25 were measured with the smaller ones in the 12-14 range and a handful of 16-17s!! I spoke to Dr. B this evening and my e2 is up to 3100  . I have to go see him tomorrow. It's def looking like Thursday or Friday for ER!! I'm so excited and nervous (but more excited!!)!
MEDS 10.4:
Follistim 150iu - pm
Luveris - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
10.5
Monitoring Day!
Went to Dr. B this morning! He did a lot of measuring. I have a lot of follies. The largest was 21 and there were sooo many others between 14-18. I'll get a final count from him tomorrow but he seemed satisfied. He actually said I didn't have to come in for sono tomorrow but since I needed to go to him for blood anyway, it makes more sense to have one final look.
They scheduled my ER for Friday at 11am!! I am so thrilled that it's a Friday and I will have the whole weekend to recover. It really worked out well!
I trigger tomorrow night/Thursday morning at 12:30am!
My e2 was 4037 today so he lowered my follistim again, otherwise the protocol remains the same. My lining is great and he seems to think we shouldn't have a problem with a fresh transfer despite my high e2. So this is prob my last night of stims for this IVF!!
MEDS 10.5:
Follistim 75iu - pm
Luveris - pm
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
Cipro (both DH & I) - am & pm
10.6
Monitoring Day! Went for my last Dr. B before the ER. It was actually bittersweet knowing that I prob wont see him until after the beta!!
Anyway a lot of measuring again. Many follies are now in the 20mm range. I could have SWORN he said that I had 10 14-17's on one side and 15 on the other.. but I may be going crazy and it may have been 15 altogether!!
Anyway we are ready to trigger! There's a date between me & Lupron, Tonight (tomorrow really) at 12:30am!!  I'm glad the Yankees playoffs are on so I have something to keep me awake until then!!
So it was a bit overwhelming when Linda came in after Dr. B left and went over the meds schedule, everything I need to know for Friday and transfer day, and a demo on PIO (which I am more petrified about than anything else ). Now that it's been a few hours and I can process it all, it doesn't seem that bad.. so here's the next few days.. Dr. B wants to go to blast and do a 5 day transfer so I that's what I am hoping for. That would mean transfer on Wednesday 10.13... 
MEDS 10.6:
Ganirelix 125mcg - am
Lupron 20u - pm
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
Cipro (both DH & I) - am & pm
MEDS 10.7:
WOOHOO No Injects Today!!
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
Cipro (both DH & I) - am & pm
10.8
RETRIEVAL DAY!!
I'm back 
And I have to say it went as smooth as I could have hoped! We were scheduled for 11am but got there early, about 10:20. DH went in to do his part around 10:30, and was done by 10:33 
They called me in by like 10:50 and it was pretty quick. IV, some sort of sedative that was pretty amazing, then off to sleep. I had Dr. Karpenko. She seemed nice although our interchanges were short.
Soooooooooooo.................
18 EGGIES!!
At first I thought there was going to be like 30 for some reason!! Anyway I am totally happy with that number because as one PennyCat reminded me  in Jewish lore 18 = Chai = Life. So I'll take that as an excellent sign of whats to come!!
Not sure how many were mature but they said it was a great count. They are doing ICSI, so I'm hoping whatever matures will fertilize. Can't wait for them to call with the fert report tomorrow!!!
Now I'm home laying on the couch. I had a touch of spotting and I am a bit crampy. But I actually felt a lot worse this morning than I do now. I was so bloated that I must've slept weird and had a bad backache this morning. Now that those eggies are out I feel a lot better.
I also had to get an HCG booster after the ER. This was a good thing cause it was an IM shot. The nurse gave it to me but I'm glad DH got to watch since he will be doing my PIO later. The IM shot wasn't bad at all, and although I know DH's hand won't be as steady as the nurses was, I am A LOT less nervous about it than I was before.
So that's it for now. I guess I'll update again when I have a fert report tomorrow!! for my embies.
Thanks so much everyone for all of the support throughout this, I def couldn't have handled it mentally without knowing that all of you were rooting and for me. I hope I have a great report to share tomorrow!! 
MEDS 10.8 RETRIEVAL DAY:
HCG - 1500u administered at transfer
Vivelle Patch 3 applied every other day
PIO - 2cc - pm
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
Cipro (both DH & I) - am & pm
10.9
So I was going to wait to talk to Dr. B about it, he said he would call today.... but i just can't wait... the embryologist from AFS called around 9am, and with ICSI...............................................
ALL 18 FERTILIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I honestly can't believe it!! I can't believe they were all mature! The embryologist did say that he doesn't expect all 18 to thrive, and that if half arrested due to chromosomal abnormalities that would be completely normal. I told him that I expect all 18 to thrive and he said there's something to the power of positive thinking  .
Anyway I am waiting for Dr. B to call but I am thinking he will agree that as of now we will go to 5-day transfer. That's been the goal all along.
DH and I did the PIO last night and it wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life. All of the hormones and the fear of the PIO got to me, and I kinda broke down, which just made DH more nervous about it. He was so scared of hurting me that he actually stuck me twice with the tip of the needle but didn't go all the way in!! When he finally did it, the shot itself was not that bad. Today it is def feeling worse than yesterday - i feel like my whole cheek is bruised, even though it's not. I guess I should start getting used to it though.
I am also feeling significantly worse today than after the ER yesterday. I woke up feeling really sore between my ribs and my hips. Like I got hit by a car or was in a moderate car accident! I'm def trying to relax as much as possible and I'm waiting for Dr. B to call to let me know what I can take as far as pain relief.
Otherwise I am so super excited about the fert rate!! I know it's super early, but I am feeling so cautiously optimistically positive about this cycle right now!!
MEDS 10.9 Until TRANSFER DAY:
Vivelle Patch 3 applied every other day
PIO - 2cc - pm
Dexamethasone .75
Metformin
Cipro (both DH & I) - am & pm
10.11
They just called with today’s fert report
Out of 18 we have:
11 that are at least 8 cell grade 1 (2 of these are already impacting, one is actually a 14 cell already, while 3 are 10 cell already)
5 are at least 8 cell grade 1.5
One more is a 4 cell grade 2 and only one didn’t divide!!
Plus DH’s count POST-WASH was 41million!!!! for DH!!! I guess there’s something to 2 minutes in a small room with lesbian porn
I am so excited!! We are officially scheduled for ET Wedensday at 11am!
Haven’t spoken to Dr. B yet but I think we are still transferring 2.
I didn’t really understand how some could be 10 and 14 cells already on day 3, but she said it was OK that they were just growing quickly. Which I find interesting since these aren’t the ones that were impacting. I don’t understand it all, but I know it’s good so far, and there’s a great chance we have high quality frosties!! Go embies, GO!!!!!!! 
10.13
TRANSFER DAY!
So, I'm back from ET and I have to say, it was all really amazing .
We transferred 2 grade 4A blasts. We should have about 8 to freeze as well!!
The transfer went smoothly. My ovaries are enlarged but they didn't say it was a problem. I had to pee SO bad during the 20-30 minute wait afterwards!! But overall the procedure was nothing, just a speculum and a full bladder. It was cool watching it on ultrasound too!!
Anyway, so my embryos are in, and the wait begins!! DH and I knew we could get this far (based on prior experience), but now the toughest part for me begins, implantation. Oh yeah and also reminding my immune system that we WANT the embryos there! Here is a pic of my winners, #3 & #10.
Implant embies, IMPLANT!!!
10.21
Hey girls!! Sorry I couldn’t give a full length update last night, I was shaking and then I had to attempt to go to bed (which didn’t go well)!
Anyway here is how it went down… DH and I all day were trying to find a way to find out together from Dr. B after the beta. And no way seemed appropriate. Email wouldn’t work, text and phone calls wouldn’t work cause our schedules are really off today. So at like 10pm DH was like, lets just test. And I KNOW, its against everything I preach and everything I believe in to take an HPT at 10pm after eating and drinking and peeing all day . After much convincing from DH that even if it was negative it would be OK cause it could be from not using FMU and a million other reasons… I agreed to test. And against EVERYTHING I always preach and believe in… we decided it would be easier to go digital than FRER…
So we made a shrine with our two stuffed animals from when we were kids, my Love/Faith/Hope eternity necklace, and both our wedding bands and my engagement ring. Then I POAS, dipped, wrapped it up, put it in the shrine and we left the room for 5 minutes… When we were ready to go look I made DH feel my heart. It was beating so hard he said we didn’t have to look. We could just put it away and wait for the beta. But I couldn’t do that so I made him lift it out of the wrapper… I looked slowly glanced and I was so nervous that my eyes were blurred and all I could see was that the words did not go across the whole screen… so I knew the NOT was not there… I cried so loud. I don’t even know if it registered with DH that I was happy at that point. Then I looked again to be sure it was real and I saw that beautiful word “PREGNANT” and cried even louder….
About 10 minutes later I took the FRER. As soon as I dipped and pee went up the test I saw the line form. I can’t believe how dark the FRER was. The test line is actually darker than the control line. I emailed Dr. B last night and his response was classic – he wrote “Did ye ever lose faith!!” 
So I went for the beta this morning. For some reason he told me to go to Quest instead of AFS. I did but I hate Quest so I’m that the number comes back big. My last chemical my first beta was 42 which I was told was fine, but it never went up past 46.
So while I am incredibly excited, this is only step 1 for me. I need all the stickydust and prayers in the world that this one sticks…
I’ll update again this afternoon when I get the initial beta back. I know the first one doesn’t mean much but the dark line on the FRER got me optimistic. I did test again this morning with FMU and the line wasn’t quite as dark although still pretty dark.. but I’m not going to look into that… I’m just going to wait for the number….
Thank you so much everyone for your support throughout all of this. This group is like an amazing family. I am so psyched to have so many people reading this and supporting us. We aren’t telling the results to our families and friends until we at least confirm that the betas are normal. I wanted to wait for a sono but so many people know we are doing IVF that they have been asking every day and there’s no way we could wait that long to tell them. So it’s amazing that I get to tell all of you!!
I really hope that my story has helped someone!!
10.21 UPDATE
BETA #1 (8dp5dt).......................
197!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10.23
BETA #2 (10dp5dt)............................
479!!!!!!!! i cant begin to believe this is real. i wont have another beta. but i will have a sono two weeks from today!!
11.6
Well, it's looking very much like we are having one  ! We saw a very healthy heartbeat as soon as Dr. B started the sono. It didn't take any time at all to find! We did see another much smaller sac that was somewhat behind the larger sac, so he said we would have to wait for next week and take another look, but he was pretty sure it wasn't going to be anything.
Anyway, I suppose this really makes it real!!!
I added todays sono pic below for those who want to see what it looks like (its only the shot of the one sac and the heartbeat, not the second smaller sac since he didn't give us a picture of that). I forgot to ask Dr. B how far along we are, but by my own calculations its 6w1d with a due date of 7.1.11!! I did email him to confirm that, so we'll see.
Thanks so much everyone who reads this and has been following my story and for us. It really means the world to us. I will always be here and for everyone who has to go through the trial that is infertility. I'm not going to end this journal just yet, I know too well that things are still early and anything can happen. Anyway we may have another surprise at next weeks sono (although unlikely ), so I'll keep you all posted!!
11.13.10
I don't want to be annoying or insensitive and keep updating this, but several of you have asked so I just wanted to update that we had our second sono today and it's looking like we are having a singleton. The second sac is still there, but it didnt grow at all from last week and was def empty. I was a little sad but I am SO excited and grateful that we have one big healthy one. I guess that's why we transferred 2 embryos!! The heart rate was 127 which Dr. B said was fine. I am measuring EXACTLY what I expected based on my ER, which is 7w1d and I have an EDD of 7.1.11
I did find out that due to being on lovenox and having a thrombo issue that I am considered high risk and have to see a high risk doctor. I didn't know that and I kind of assumed that after everything it took to get here I'd get to have an uneventful pregnancy and join the "normal" ladies with just an ob/gyn. Although I won't lie, I'm excited that I'll def get to see the bean (actually looks more like a little sausage this week ) more often that normal.
Anyway I posted one more pic of this weeks sono, but I think this may be the end of this journal for now. I will always be around here answering questions. I hope this story helped someone and I hope it has a happy ending!!
7.1.11
on what was supposed to be my due date, im just dropping in to say hi and share my crazy birth story
so apparantly the worry doesnt end with the BFP - it only starts then!!
but seriously, everything we all go through - it IS all worth it in the end!! the first thing i do when i log in to LIF is check this board. you are all so strong, keep going and stay positive, one way or another there is a happy ending out there for each of you!! Image Attachment(s):
Message edited 11/18/2011 12:45:10 PM.
|
