This article is a great read, whether you are currently dealing with infertility, have dealt with it or are just trying to be there for a friend or family member who is dealing with it. Daron and I have been trying to conceive for almost 2.5 years and I think we can both say that everything in this article is accurate. If you are dealing or have dealt with infertility it validates all those feelings we have about the things people say. If you are simply trying to be there for someone with infertility it helps to give some insight into how those of us who are struggling interpret things.
http://www.resolve.org/support-and-services/for-family--friends/infertility-etiquette.html
On to Cycle #2
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Our WTF appointment went well. The Dr. thinks our major issue is sperm quality. The fact that we did have 2 good embryos though makes him think that a 2nd try is worth it. Since I responded well last cycle and nothing went wrong (other than me not being pregnant) everything will remain the same this cycle. The one thing that will be different is that we will be using something called assisted hatching, where they make a small opening in the "shell" of the embryo to allow it to hatch easier. I started birth control on Friday, start Lupron injections 11/17 and have a baseline ultrasound scheduled for 11/21. We are currently targeted for a December 9th retrieval.
I am also going to be trying acupuncture this cycle, as it is supposed to help improve IVF success rates. I hope that if nothing else it at least helps keep me relaxed.
The last week and particularly the last few days have been really hard on both Daron and I emotionally. It is really hard to get excited about putting ourselves through this again. We had so much hope for our last cycle and everything seemed perfect yet it still didn't work. I can't even start to explain all of the emotions we have both been feeling. It is hard to get our hopes up after this failure. I'm hoping once we get farther into the cycle things start to get better. I'm trying hard to stay positive, but I've never been the best at handling stress. I couldn't do this without Daron though, he helps me find strength when I think its not possible.
I am also going to be trying acupuncture this cycle, as it is supposed to help improve IVF success rates. I hope that if nothing else it at least helps keep me relaxed.
The last week and particularly the last few days have been really hard on both Daron and I emotionally. It is really hard to get excited about putting ourselves through this again. We had so much hope for our last cycle and everything seemed perfect yet it still didn't work. I can't even start to explain all of the emotions we have both been feeling. It is hard to get our hopes up after this failure. I'm hoping once we get farther into the cycle things start to get better. I'm trying hard to stay positive, but I've never been the best at handling stress. I couldn't do this without Daron though, he helps me find strength when I think its not possible.
post IVF consultation
Friday, October 21, 2011
Today is our Post IVF consultation that is offered to everyone who has a failed IVF cycle. It is also known as the WTF appointment. I am hoping we can get some good information from the Dr. today and hopefully he tells us we are good to go ahead and start our December cycle. I will update later with how the appointment went.
In other news we have been working on a lot of halloween decorations lately which hopefully I will get pics up of soon. I know I keep saying I'm going to post pictures and then I never seem to find the motivation to actually sit at the computer and upload them. I guess I just need to let Daron do that part :). We are both excited about helping out with a haunted hayride tomorrow night and that will definitely help take our mind off things. What can I say its fun to scare kids :).
In other news we have been working on a lot of halloween decorations lately which hopefully I will get pics up of soon. I know I keep saying I'm going to post pictures and then I never seem to find the motivation to actually sit at the computer and upload them. I guess I just need to let Daron do that part :). We are both excited about helping out with a haunted hayride tomorrow night and that will definitely help take our mind off things. What can I say its fun to scare kids :).
IVF # 1 Results
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Two week wait was torture, and it wasn't even a full two weeks, only 11 days. Daron and I were both going a little crazy by the end. Sadly I have to report that my blood test was negative and this IVF cycle didn't work. We go in for a consult with our doctor on Friday to talk about what went wrong and what we can do differently in a subsequent cycle to help make sure it works.
I am actually fairly certain that I had a chemical pregnancy(very very early miscarriage) as I tested with a home pregnancy test the Tuesday after transfer with a Negative test. For those of you who have minimal understanding of this process, the shot they give me to make me ovulate is HCG, which is also what a pregnancy test looks for. For this reason I was looking for a negative that Tuesday to make sure that trigger shot was out of my system. Wednesday I tested again and got a somewhat light but very definite positive. Thursday I tested and got an even lighter positive and Friday I tested and got a barely visible positive. Saturday's test was Negative. There is a chance that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the trigger shot but I have this gut feeling it was a chemical pregnancy.
The clinic can get us on their next cycle which is in December, so as long as our Dr. things it is worthwhile to try again that is what we are going to do. I believe we are better off than I originally thought we would be with our insurance right now. Hopefully we can also get better fertilization with a 2nd cycle and possibly have some embryos to freeze. I can't say I'm really looking forward to putting my body through this again, but in my opinion its better than taking time off when I know that we don't have even a slim chance of conceiving naturally.
I am actually fairly certain that I had a chemical pregnancy(very very early miscarriage) as I tested with a home pregnancy test the Tuesday after transfer with a Negative test. For those of you who have minimal understanding of this process, the shot they give me to make me ovulate is HCG, which is also what a pregnancy test looks for. For this reason I was looking for a negative that Tuesday to make sure that trigger shot was out of my system. Wednesday I tested again and got a somewhat light but very definite positive. Thursday I tested and got an even lighter positive and Friday I tested and got a barely visible positive. Saturday's test was Negative. There is a chance that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the trigger shot but I have this gut feeling it was a chemical pregnancy.
The clinic can get us on their next cycle which is in December, so as long as our Dr. things it is worthwhile to try again that is what we are going to do. I believe we are better off than I originally thought we would be with our insurance right now. Hopefully we can also get better fertilization with a 2nd cycle and possibly have some embryos to freeze. I can't say I'm really looking forward to putting my body through this again, but in my opinion its better than taking time off when I know that we don't have even a slim chance of conceiving naturally.
Transfer
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Transfer went well today. We transferred 2 perfect A quality embryos a 6 cell and an 8 cell. Sadly our other 2 embryos were C quality (worst for our clinic) and didn't meet freezing requirements so we are looking at another fresh attempt if one of these doesn't work. Now we wait. Daron is going to drive me insane over the next 2 weeks!
Results
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Both of our retrievals went well. Mine was about 20 minutes long and not bad at all. They retrieved 14 eggs from me! Daron's retrieval took between 45minutes and an hour and they retrieved enough sperm to do ICSI on the 14 eggs they got and freeze 6 vials for future use. YAY!
They called with my fertilization report yesterday and out of 14 eggs 4 fertilized normally. So we now have 4 babies growing in dishes. Transfer is tomorrow at 10am. Today I am trying to get some things done around the house and keep myself from calling the clinic to find out how my embryos are doing. We don't get an update on them until we go in tomorrow morning.
They called with my fertilization report yesterday and out of 14 eggs 4 fertilized normally. So we now have 4 babies growing in dishes. Transfer is tomorrow at 10am. Today I am trying to get some things done around the house and keep myself from calling the clinic to find out how my embryos are doing. We don't get an update on them until we go in tomorrow morning.
Retrieval
Sunday, October 2, 2011
This is going to be a short post but wanted to give an update for those following. Tomorrow is Retrieval day. It sounds like it will be a long day as we have to be there at 8:15am to get me prepped for my procedure and Daron's procedure isn't until 12:30pm. I'm excited and scared at the same time. Overall I have a good feeling about this though. Tomorrow will be both the end of something and the beginning of something. It will be the end in that we will know for sure whether Daron has sperm or not. Hopefully it will be the beginning of our babies. Hopefully soon we will have some little embryos growing in a dish :).
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