Denver Day 7 - Day 1 Fertilization Report

The embryologist called this morning with our fertilization report:

Yesterday they retrieved 12 eggs, 10 were mature. They fertilized all 10 eggs using MICSI, of those 6 fertilized normally. So currently we have 6 little embryos growing in the lab awaiting a Saturday check. On Saturday morning the doctor will decide if we will transfer them then or wait until Monday. We are still hoping to be able to transfer two and then have a few to freeze for in a year or two when we are ready for more little ones.

To occupy our time, we spent the day at the Castle Rock Outlet Mall. We were going to go to the zoo, but because of the weather decided to wait until tomorrow.

I will let you all know when I know more.

Denver Day 6 - Egg Retrieval

Today went perfectly! We were to the clinic at 6:10 am for Wayne’s sample, and although we still had a low sperm count, the lab said that it was much better than last week and that Wayne would not need surgery to retrieve a sample. This meant that we could go home and take a nap before egg retrieval.

Back to the clinic at 11:00 and into the OR at noon, the doctor did a great job. We ended up with one dozen beautiful eggs. After an hour in the recovery room, we were back out the door and off to the Chick-Fil-A, my favorite, for a late lunch. This afternoon the lab will do their magic, using a special microscope that magnifies sperm 400 times; they will pick the very best looking little guys and carefully inject them into our eggs. Tomorrow we will receive a report from the lab letting us know how many of the eggs fertilize, then we once again play the waiting game as our little embryos will spend the next three to five days growing in an incubator waiting to be placed back into their awaiting home.
We look forward to going to the zoo tomorrow and to the botanical gardens on Friday as we try to quickly pass the time. Thank you for your on-going thoughts, comments and calls. We really appreciate it!

Denver Day 5 - Egg Retrieval Eve

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

6:15 - "Sample" collection from Wayne, if we do not have enough little swimmers the urologist will be at the clinic to retrieve some "manually" (we are really hoping that it doesn't come to this!)

11:00 - Arrive for egg retrieval

Noon - Egg retrieval

Early Afternoon - Home with our feet up

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to let everyone know that the "trigger shot" last night really wasn't as bad as I had worked it up to be.... We did have to wake my dad up to hold my hand, but in the end I decided that it really wasn't so bad :)

Off to bed, big day tomorrow!

Denver Day 4

We went into the clinic early this morning for yet another ultra sound and blood draw. Everything looks great. We got a call this evening and we will be doing the trigger shot at 1:00 AM tonight, and then will have egg retrieval on Wednesday at Noon.

Because our sperm count is still really low, we will go in to see a urologist tomorrow to make sure that we have back up sperm in case we need them on Wednesday.

Keep all of those positive thoughts coming our way.

Denver Day 3 - Sunday Evening

When I talked to my nurse this afternoon the doctor has decided that he would like to continue to keep me on low doses of medication and wait to trigger and then egg retrieve for another couple of days. We are now looking at retrieval on Wednesday, maybe, we will wait to see how everything looks tomorrow. He did take me off of Lupron completely, this is one of the medications that I have taken twice a day for my entire cycle. Instead I took a newer drug called Cetrotide this afternoon and hopefully it will help to stabilize my hormone levels and give my little follicles a little bit longer to grow.

Denver Day 3 - Sunday Morning

As of right now we still do not know when we will be doing egg retrieval. My doctor has slowed my medication intake down a bunch in hopes of slowing my follicles from maturing so quickly. We went in for a blood test and ultra sound this morning and should hear from the nurse in the next few hours for further instructions. We were told that if my estrogen levels off today we should be able to take the “trigger” shot today and then do egg retrieval on Tuesday. The trigger shot is the big shot that will tell my body to go an ahead and finish maturing my eggs so that they are ready when the doctor goes into get them. I am a little nervous about this injection because this one will need to be given intramuscular rather than in my belly and the needle is about three times as big as the ones I have been taking. I have a feeling that my dad will need to hold me down while Wayne gives me this shot :)

Day 1 in Denver - Friday

We began the day at the clinic at 9:00 this morning where we had appointments for an ultra sound, blood work and a physical to make sure I we ready for surgery. After looking at my follicles they have decided that we will probably do egg retrieval on Monday. When they counted follicles they found 12 good sized ones, and some smaller ones. Typically they only count the good sized ones, because they usually don’t get mature eggs out of the smaller follicles. Because everything seems to be progressing so quickly the doctor told me to ease off of some of the medications that I am on in an effort to slow my progression down a little. We have another ultra sound appointment and blood work tomorrow and should know more after those appointments.

The Best Laid Plans

In the world of infertility I should have learned one thing by now, no matter how great your plans are, at any moment those plans could completely change.

Yesterday morning I went in for an ultra sound and blood work appointment in Billings. At my appointment the nurse told me that she could see 16 follicles (eggs) maturing nicely. Around 4:00 in the afternoon the Colorado clinic called and said that because my follicles have gotten so big and because my hormone levels in my blood are so high they wanted me at their clinic by 9:00 in the morning if at all possible….. So here is where all of our plans went out the window. In the car Wayne, Tony and I climbed, after packing like busy beavers, to head to Denver at 7:30 last night. We arrived in Denver around 4:30 and checked into the hotel that we planned on staying at early and got 2 hours of sleep. We are now up, if that’s what you can call our present state and are getting ready to go and see what the doctor has to say.

Shots Shots Shots

I have officially started all of the hormone medications for my IVF cycle (this is the third day that I have been taking all three medications). I am receiving two shots in the morning and two shots at night. I have yet to give myself any of the shots, I tried for about 30 minutes the very first time I needed one, and sense then have just had my family give them to me. I decided that I am doing my part in this process by holding still and my husband, dad or mom can each give me the shots as their part of the process :) It just made me so stressed out to even think about giving myself a shot, that this setup seems to be working out well. Really, the shots are not that bad, yet… I have read others experiences and although I had not seen many of the side effects, I do realize that could change quickly. I do feel a little bloated and my ovaries seem a little “achey”.

I have switched to a new acupuncturist. When talking to the acupuncturist who works with my doctor in Colorado I realized that the gal that I was going to in Billings was not following the procedure that I had asked her to. I have sense found a new guy in Billings who, even though he has never done this procedure before, is willing to follow the protocol that my doctor sent with me as to what treatment that he wanted me to receive. It seems to be going well, and he believes that my pulses are getting strong.

I get to go to the clinic on Thursday to find out how many follicles we have maturing. I am very excited for that appointment to find out what is going on inside my belly. My dad and I will then leave for Colorado on Friday.

Off and Running

We are off and running with our first (and hopefully only) IVF cycle. I started taking b.c. today, which I think is hilarious. I spent all of those years on it trying to not get pregnant, then quit taking it to get pregnant and now I am taking it again to get pregnant :) ! I have my first u/s on the 15th and will begin the injections on the 17th.

I feel like I am at a really good place right now - physically and mentally. The acupuncture sessions seem to be going well and the acupuncturist thinks that the blood flow to my uterus is improving. The plan is now rolling, with travel plans, medications and visions toward the future everything seems to be coming together.

My dad will be traveling to Denver with me on July 24th. Wayne and my mom will be following us down a few days later. We are lucky that we have family to stay with while in Denver and are very optimistic as we look forward to the procedures, egg retrieval on the 30th and then embryo transfer on the 4th of August.