The last 22 months

Here is a breakdown of the last 22 months of our lives

IUD removed in June 2012

Failed Natural IUI with HCG trigger Sept 2012

Timed IC with OPK’s and BBT everyday Oct-Dec 2012... all BFN's

HSG showed clear tubes in Nov 2012

Dec 2012 - Surgery (hysteroscopy/laparoscopy) to remove endo, ovarian cysts, and uterine polyp

BFP Feb 2013, EDD Nov 2013

Heartbeat seen at 8 week ultrasound, but baby was measuring 5/6 days small

10.5 week ultrasound on April 11 to check baby's size, determined there was no longer a heartbeat
and the baby stopped growing at roughly 8 to 9 weeks

D&C same day I found out the baby was gone.  April 11, 2014

Hemorrhaged on April 19^th,, ER trip and ultrasound showed retained products of conception

Doctor wouldn’t consider retained products of conception because that had never happened in any other patient in his whole career.  Made me take medicine to induce cramping, which resulted in no bleeding whatsoever

Blood tests revealed I have a mutation on my MTHFR gene.  It’s complicated to explain.  Basically I take a baby aspirin everyday and take more natural folate (no folic acid) because of it.  Other than that, I’m fine.  The doctor, however, told me the pregnancy I lost was doomed from the beginning and I needed to take a shot of blood thinning medications everyday for any subsequent pregnancy.  He also informed me of elevated ANA levels in my blood that could indicate lupus or another autoimmune disease.  That was a fun appt.

Went to another doctor (my amazing doc in Utah) and received my second D&C May 14^th 2013.  Showed retained products of conception.  Lab test reveled it was part of the placenta.

Failed 100mg Clomid cycle with timed IC July 2013

OPK and BBT monitoring all with BFN’s Aug – Nov 2013

Nov 5 2013, another surgery, (hysteroscopy/laparoscopy) to remove endo, ovarian cysts, no polyps this time but blocked right tube

Saline U/S showed normal uterine space Dec 2013

Failed IUI with 2.5 mg of femara and HCG trigger shot in Dec 2013

January and February 2014 - BFN’s (natural attempts)

IVF #1 March 2014 –BCP, Lupron, Follistim, Menopur, HCG trigger shot.  Egg retrieval on Tue 3/25 – 12 eggs retrieved, 10 mature, 9 fertilized by ICSI.  All 9 looked great at three days, Embryo transfer scheduled on day 5 (3/30) selective single embryo transfer of a textbook perfect 5 day blastocyst.  3 other blastocysts looked great at day 5 and they were all frozen.  The remaining 5 embryos they let grow to day 6 to see if any others could be frozen.  I got the call on day 6 that of the remaining 5 embryos only 1 was strong enough to freeze.  I felt a little tug on my heartstrings for the 4 that didn’t make it, but it meant that I had 4 embryos frozen and waiting for me, plus the one that was growing inside of me.  4/9/2014 was my blood draw.  IVF #1 resulted in a BFN. 

Talked with the nurse today and they said they could start me on BCP and we can move forward with a frozen embryo transfer.  Not sure what we are going to do.  This has been a hell of a year and I’m a little tired.

KEY

IUI = intrauterine insemination

BFN = big fat negative (negative pregnancy test)

BFP = big fat positive (positive pregnancy test)

Endo = endometriosis

IC = intercourse

OPK = ovulation predictor kit

BBT = basal body temperature

HSG = A hysterosalpingogram is an x-ray test that looks at the inside of the uterus, fallopian tubes and the area around them.  They basically fill your uterus up with a colored dye or liquid then watch it move through your fallopian tubes to make sure you have no blockages.

EDD = Estimated Due Date

ICSI = Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection involves injecting a single sperm directly into an egg in order to fertilize it. The fertilized egg (embryo) is then transferred to the woman’s womb.  The major development of ICSI means that as long as some sperm can be obtained (even in very low numbers), fertilization is possible

BCP = Birth control pills 

People sometimes ask what the difference is between IUI and IVF.  With IUI, basically your husband provides a sample and then the lab washes it so only the strongest sperm survive.  They then put the sperm in a sugar solution to get them all amped up.  They put them in a catheter and thread it through your cervix to release them as close to the fallopian tubes as possible.  That way the sperm don't have such a long journey to find the egg, which is waiting in the fallopian tube for fertilization.

With IVF they give you a heap of medicine to hyper-stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple follices (fluid filled sacs that also contains your eggs) They then go in for the egg retrieval with a hollow needle and poke through the side of the uterus in order to enter the ovary to suck out all mature follicles.  They do this on both sides so they can get follicles from both your left and right ovaries.  They then fertalize the eggs either with traditional IVF where they wash the sperm as they do in an IUI cycle and place all the eggs and the sperm together in a dish.  Or, in our case with ICSI, an embryologist selects one single healthy sperm for each egg and injects it directly into the egg.  The eggs then grow in the lab and depending on how healthy they are, you will be scheduled for either a 3 day or a 5 day transfer (the embryo is considered a blastocyst on day 5).  My clinic likes to do 5 day transfers because they feel that if the embryo made it to blastocyst stage, then you have a more likely chance to have a successful pregnancy.  I am a good example of that.  All 9 of mine made it to day 3 and they all looked awesome.  When day 5 came around, 4 looked awesome and the other 5 needed to develop further to day 6 to show their full potential.  By day 6, only 1 of the 5 was healthy enough to freeze. 

Oh, and IVF is ridiculously more expensive than IUI.... for good reason though.  IVF is a miracle to me.  I am very grateful that the Lord has blessed people with this knowledge. It may be our only shot at adding another little nugget to our family.