Our Journey to Baby B❤️

We've finally reached the end of the big first half of IVF - we know many have been patiently waiting to see how our retrieval went!    After the egg retrieval the embryologists determine how many of the retrieved eggs are mature enough for fertilization. We gave a set number for them to fertilize and asked to have the rest of the mature eggs frozen for future use if needed. Of the 28 eggs retrieved, 18 were mature. We asked if they could fertilize 10 of the eggs since we knew the odds of the number fertilizing and forming into embabies (embryos) was likely lower, and in many cases around 50%. By Friday last week, we were told we had 8 eggs that were frozen, and of the 10 we had them fertilize 8 of them made it to the next stage as they successfully fertilized.  Then began the waiting game to find out how many of our embabies made it to the next stage to become viable. We were told we'd receive our report Thursday 6/26 but unfortunately we didn't hear anything. We continu...

Hello! We just returned to the hotel from the clinic. All went great for the retrieval! They were able to retrieve 28 eggs! We'll find out tomorrow how many matured enough and are frozen. We decided only a smaller amount be fertilized so we don't wind up with "too many" embryos. The remaining eggs will also be frozen should we ever need them. So far I'm feeling pretty good. Just some cramping but nothing I can't handle. They're prescribing me all the meds to try to prevent any side effects (ohss, blood clots, etc) so hopefully they all do their job and we continue to have a smooth recovery! Thanks to all who reached out today! We probably won't have much for blog updates for a little while as we won't be doing a transfer this trip. For now, today I'll be resting as much as possible, and hopefully tomorrow we can take 1 more day to enjoy Colorado before heading back home. ❤️

Late post tonight! We left home around 5:45 and arrived in Sioux City, IA at 10:30. My appointment this morning went really well. Everything is looking great! We are scheduled for retrieval on Thursday morning! We were told today that we officially won't be able to do a fresh transfer this trip, so we'll have to make another trip. We decided we wanted to take our time getting to Colorado, and maybe have a little fun before Thursday.  Tonight was officially the last dose of the stim meds! We have 1 more 5:45am shot in the morning, then 2 final shots before retrieval! 🥳 We have a little over 10 more hours of driving before we get there. We'll have some breakfast in the morning and make our way to Colorado Springs! Throughout every step we've taken this process I keep thinking "I can't believe we're at this point already" and again on the drive down we kept saying that. It's amazing how everything is falling into place and going so well. We'll up...

 I went in for labs today. Things are looking good still! They want me to continue the stims through the weekend and go back Monday morning for more labs and an ultrasound. If all is well Monday we will likely do the trigger shot some point Monday! After the trigger shot the retrieval needs to be done in 36 hours. So, fingers crossed we have a date Monday!  Unfortunately due to needing meds through the weekend we had to order a few more vials of meds. Also, my estrogen levels are REALLY high right now. It isn't to the point to worry about overstimulation quite yet, but I would be surprised if we're able to complete a transfer this month. Frozen transfers can have a better chance of being successful anyways, so if we have to wait we are okay with it.  Again, not a ton to update on! Just waiting for them to tell us when to do the trigger shot and we'll be on our way! 

Not a whole lot to update today. Tonight's dose makes 6! I went for a monitoring appointment today and my numbers are looking really good. The ultrasound showed that the follicles are growing and seem to be responding well to the meds. I go back again Friday for another set of bloodwork and ultrasound to see where we're at. Hopefully things will be right on schedule and we'll be heading to Colorado this weekend! They added in a 3rd shot that'll help prevent ovulation since things are heading in the right direction.   I'm starting to feel some side effects of the shots. A few headaches, lots of tiredness, bloating/belly soreness/swelling, and some nausea here and there. The nausea today has been persistent; I've had to force myself to eat throughout the day. Hopefully just a few more days of these meds!  The clinic I'm going to for monitoring has these for squeezing when they do blood draws, they also have egg shaped ones! Had to share, I thought they were fu...

Friday night was the first night of shots! It was much better than I was expecting. Thankfully the needles were really small! So far so good! Grateful to have nurses in the family! Chelsea came over to give the first ones to help walk us through what to do and that meds were drawn properly. I was at my parents house for the weekend so Mom helped with the Saturday night doses, then we're on our own the rest of the way.  Fun bandaids make it fun?! 😂 Frank helped with the shots tonight for the first time. It went way better than we both were expecting, and so far I have no side effects. I can feel some physical and "expected" things from the meds but so far I feel good! 3 down, hopefully 7 or less days to go! 🤞🏻

The meds came today! We are starting the stimulation meds on Friday! I'll be adding 6 medications and 2 shots to my daily med routine and will go back in on Wednesday the 11th for a lab monitoring appointment. There, they'll take more blood to check my hormones and do an ultrasound to see how my body is responding to the meds. Depending on how the tests come back I will continue taking the same meds until the 13th where they'll determine if more meds are needed, or if we're ready to head to Colorado. My lab appointment from Monday this week showed my body has been responding well to the meds they prescribed a few weeks ago to get me "primed" for the stimulation meds. Everything is looking really good so far. I called the clinic today to go over some final details for our retrieval which will be here before we know it. I'll post another update with how the first round of shots go Friday night! Send lots of prayers that the shots go well and aren't as ba...