Fertilization Report

UFC just called with my fert report.  I had my retrieval yesterday.  They retrieved 12 eggs.  When the doctor came in to tell me how many eggs they got I guess I got a look of disappointment and said "really, thats all?"  She said, "No don't be sad!  That's great!"  She said it's excellent to get anything between 10 and 20 eggs.  I told her I was just a little upset that they had seen 21 eggs and only retrieved 12.  She said that it just meant they didn't all continue to grow but to be very happy with 12.  She told me that they would call me today with the report and to NOT stress.  Ha easier said than done.  So I got the call at 1:05 pm.  As soon as I saw it was them, I answered and my heart plummeted to the bottom of my stomach.  I hadn't really been stressed all day, but as soon as I answered, it all hit me.  "Hi this is Patrick from Utah Fertility Center, is Ashley available?"  oh really this is UFC?  As if I didn't know their number by heart.
"Yep this is Ashley."
"I am calling with your fertilization report."
Ok, obviously you are calling with my fertilization report!  "Yep" I say.
"So we could only fertilize the mature eggs.  You had 12 retrieved yesterday but they weren't all mature."
I think I had a mini heart attack right then.... I stayed silent.
"10 of the 12 were mature and of those 10.................(drum roll please.........) 9 fertilized normally"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He didn't add the drum roll or the excitement I am portraying here but I am just floored!  I am so relieved and excited!  Just thinking about my nine little nuggets growing in their little incubator in Utah Valley has me so happy!! He told me that they won't bother them again until Friday and they will call me then to tell me how they are doing and give me instructions for the embryo transfer that we have scheduled for Sunday.  I am hoping that of the 9, at least 4 make it to blastocyst stage on Sunday and we can transfer one or two, and have two or three left over to freeze.  Ahh I am so happy!!!  Please pray for my little embryos to stay strong!  Here are a few pictures of the  process so far....

um this is how bloated I was before the transfer.  That looks about how I looked at 8 months pregnant with pars.  no joke.

the hcg trigger shot.  by far the most excited i was for a shot during this whole process.  it was actually happening..... we were really doing it.

my poor belly the day before retrieval.  i was ready for the 3 weeks of multiple shots a day to be over.

i didn't think in a million years i would ever have to go through ivf to get a baby.  at this moment, i am thankful for my trials.  i have grown so much this past year.

just getting off the phone.  i am so so so so so excited and happy and crying and ahhh i can't believe this!!

Trigger!

I trigger (give myself a shot of hcg) in 1 hour and 1 min!!! That means my egg retrieval is Tuesday at 11 am. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  I am so excited I can't stand it. Woot woot!!

My eggs are baking

So I had my first ultrasound today since starting the stimulating shots. Honestly, my cycle doing clomid and femara were worse than this one. During those cycles I had such awful cramps and felt like my ovaries were going to explode... Oh and I only had one mature egg.  So needless to say I have been EXTREMELEY nervous that I was going to go today and they were going to tell me that I only had one or two mature follicles (eggs) and they would covert this cycle to iui. Well I was pleasantly surprised. I had about 5 follicles that were 19mm and a bunch that were around 17mm. They like to give the trigger shot (shot of HCG that makes you ovulate about 36 hours later) when you have three lead follicles between 18 and 24 mm. So I am about there, and may be giving myself the trigger shot tonight. I am still waiting to hear back from my clinic. If I don't hear anything than I stay on my same dosages of stims and go for another ultrasound tomorrow morning. So far this has gone pretty smoothly. I have been having some side effects from the medication; exhaustion (much beyond just being a little tired), headaches, nausea, and achy joints.  I knew all of these thighs could be coming and honestly they haven't been too bad.... I am excited to trigger though, then I get to stop the stims and my egg retrieval will be scheduled for 36 hours after trigger.  The HCG trigger also helps speed up the maturation of the follicles that aren't as big, so hopefully I have all 21 that they saw at the first of my cycle removed.  It's finally happening and I feel calm... I mean it's stressful, but I feel more calm and more positive about the outcome than I thought I would. Things are good :) 

Shots

Took my first does of folistim and menopur today. I had heard the menopur shot was really painful so I was worried about it. Come to find out it only stung a little and wasn't too bad. It's been 15 hours since I took the first of my stimulation medicines and my ovaries already ache. As weird as that sounds, that's the best description. This does not make me excited for the next week and a half. Also, my back, wow.... Still in a lot of pain.  I am praying it doesn't interfere with ivf. I will call the fertility clinic first thing Monday morning and get their thoughts. I spoke with my orthopedic doctor and my brother in law, who is a physical therapist, and they think with the pain I'm in that I could benefit greatly from an epidural cortisone shot. I may have a ruptured disc and that is why I'm in such awful pain. Should I hurry and do the epidural cortisone shot before I get pregnant or will that lower my odds of the IVF working. If I don't do it, will I be kicking myself because they don't like to do them in pregnancy and I will be an invalid for 9 months.  Blah!!  So much going on all at once... Hopefully my next update is better than this one!

Ivf update

So I had my baseline ultrasound yesterday. I have 21 eggs!  Yeah!  I was so nervous that I would go and they would say I didn't have any and we would have to cancel this cycle. I told the doctor that, and she said not have any?! That's silly, of course you have eggs!  I know I know, but I was just expecting the worst. I start my two other shots tomorrow (follicle stimulating hormones) and hopefully a week from Monday I will do the egg retrieval. They hope out of the 21 eggs at least half will mature (10 ish) and half of those will fertilize (5) and half of those will be strong enough to transfer back to me (2-3). We will put one or two in depending on how healthy they are and then freeze any extra. I have had a strong feeling to put two in. I don't know how I would handle twins. It would be extremely overwhelming but very fun too. I am nervous about the 2% chance that each egg can split. That means I have a chance I could have quadruplets if I put two eggs in. Ahh!  God would sure have a funny sense of humor if that happened.  It's a lot to think about but hopefully we make the right decision. I would be so bummed if we only put one in and it didn't take. I would be kicking myself for not putting two.... On the other hand if I end up with 4 babies I might end up in a crazy hospital.  

Yesterday as I was at the doctors office I bent down to take my pants off and I had an electric shock go down my back and into my leg. I found out a few weeks ago I have 2 herniated discs. I know it probably doesn't sound like a good time to try to get pregnant.... Pray this pain goes away and it won't interfere with IVF.  I can't imagine having to cancel it and making these weeks of medicine and shots all worth nothing.