IVF: Our IVF Cycle

As planned and explained in previous posts, we went through IVF this past summer. We were vague about the exact dates because we wanted the opportunity to go through it and share details on our terms and when we wanted, rather than feeling like we had to share. It gave us the ability to not have too many invasive questions during an incredibly emotionally and physically taxing process.

Overall things went well! For the process, see this post explaining it all. 

We started the shots on a weekend down in St. George and Dillon and I figured out a system that worked great for us. He would get the Follistim pen ready while I mixed up the Menopur in its little vial, then draw it out into the syringe. Then I pinched a section of my stomach around my belly button and we'd both do our shots at the same time. The Menopur stung a decent amount going in but I got used to it. Toward the end of shots there wasn't much room left on my stomach that didn't have a poke mark in it--it looked like a rash. Thankfully we shifted around in a strategic way so that I only bruised twice. 

When we went in for our first blood work appointment for monitoring levels on day three, we got a call that evening to reduce one of the medicines. Then every monitoring appointment after that they would call and tell us the same thing until finally I only did the Menopur and not the Follistim. Then they called and said that I would stop the shots and trigger a day early. That was really nice because by that point my ovaries were huge and made me really uncomfortable. But with how well I responded to the medicines, that left us with a vial of Menopur left, four days of Follistim left, and a high risk of Ovarian Hyper-stimulation Syndrome (OHSS). 

They had me trigger with half the dose needed in order to try to reduce the OHSS risk and then we went in 36 hours later for the egg retrieval. They knock you out so it's pretty fast and they tell you immediately how many eggs they got once you wake up. We got 33 eggs even though they were saying around 20-25 by the last monitoring ultrasound. That sounds like a lot (and that is a really good number) but with each step, from fertilization to day five, you can expect only about 1/4 to 1/3 to make it to day five. Out of those 33 eggs, 20 were mature and fertilized, then on day three 17 of those fertilized eggs had progressed to a stage of 6-8 cells, then on day five we had 7 good embryos. Day five was the day scheduled to be our transfer since we had so many embryos progressing along the way. 

The only worry about not being able to transfer that day was due to the OHSS, which I did develop. Technically it was only a mild case, but YIKES, I would have called it at least moderate ha. I was completely laid up for those five days and was so bloated and filled with fluid that I could only get up to go to the bathroom (which I did every two hours since there was so much fluid in me trying to get out). It was incredibly painful for the first three days but started easing up day four and was good enough by day five to do the transfer. And thank goodness because if not we would have had to have frozen our embryos and waited a month. 

We chose to transfer two embryos since our doctor told us that we could try for twins if we wanted. Since we wanted at least one baby out of this whole experience and we would be super happy with two, it felt like a good choice. 

Our transfer went as scheduled and included me taking a valium beforehand, which apparently acts fast and hits me hard! That was fun for Dillon to watch ha. The nurse had to help me move my legs and lay down since I had no major muscle control at that point. It was pretty comical. But the magic happened when they flipped on a screen and showed us our little embryos being sucked up into a tube and then an embryologist brought them into the room, they pushed them through the catheter and then bam, I had two little embryos put back in me that we were hopeful would stick! 

Science, it's amazing!