Tag Archives: balanced translocation

IVF: Season 3, Episode 1 & 2

Posted in TTC drama by

Date: 4.16.16 – 4.17.16

Starring: 75iu Menopur, 300iu Gonal-F, 5mg Melatonin, Ubiquinol, Pre-natal, Vit C, D, E, B12.

Synopsis: We’ve had a very full weekend. Day one of stims was actually yesterday but I was so tired I couldn’t be bothered jumping on the laptop. On Friday we went to see a Journey tribute band for N’s cousin’s birthday. I did drink and we got to bed after 2am so I was feeling a bit rough when we had to be up for a rehearsal for our friends’ daughter’s baptism and we spent most of the day with them. N and his friend bought Oculus Rifts but J’s came last week and N is still waiting for his so we spent most of the day playing with J’s. We got home just in time for shots. I actually had to set an alarm because I forgot that we had to be home for them. I’m glad about that. I’m not letting this round run shit. Shots were easy albeit burny. I was quite dizzy afterwards though. I’m feeling the same now. Dizzy and a weird metal taste at the back of my throat. But so far so good.

Today was the baptism. N is godfather. It was a good service and I even said a prayer for all of my ttc sisters out there. Especially my dear friend who I met on an IVF FB group. Today was her 6th transfer. They retrieved 11 eggs and immediately froze 9 fertilized embryos. She then prepared for an FET and they thawed her babies on Tuesday and thankfully she was able to transfer 3 beautiful embryos this morning. She’s been a rock for me since we were cycle buddies last year. I got a bfn and she got a bfp that, sadly, ended up being an ectopic. I’m really hoping that this is it for her. She’s been a real shining light in spite of going through so much. If you have a spare thought please use it on my friend K who is awesome and who I love very much :). Her beta is on my retrieval day. I’m hoping it’s going to be great days for both of us.

Okay, Fear the walking dead is on now. I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Food:
Yesterday
Breakfast: Skipped it. (whoops)
Lunch: Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
Dinner: Lamb sausage from Whole foods, fried egg and avocado.
Today
Breakfast: Leftover sausage and avocado
Lunch: Buffalo Chicken sandwich, Cake, chips, Prosecco
Dinner: See lunch.

Outakes:
She-wants-the-S

Baseline Appointment

Posted in TTC drama by

Well Hello! I’ve been thinking about how I want to document this new cycle. I find myself referring back to the other 2 and they are a mess. I’m very envious of Dani‘s documenting of her cycles. Very cool. I’m going to try to do it like the last cycle. There was at least some semblance of organization. We’ll start that on Saturday when stims start.

This morning I was up at 3 (which really should be illegal) because one of the cats was puking and the other was trying to get into the food cabinet. It was a great start to the day. I’m amazed at how many people drive up to Boston at 5 in the morning. That made me sad. Everyone looked grumpy and cold. Maybe I was just projecting. I was in such a haze waking up, I forgot my water so I knew the blood draw would be “fun”. Then when I was laying down with my legs in the stirrups I realized I hadn’t taken my underwear off just as she walked in. Silly.

She really struggled to find my right ovary again. She said that as the cycle progresses it would become easier to find. She said she found it eventually but I wonder if she just said that to make me feel better. I didn’t ask for the antral follicle count because I’m sure I fell asleep on the table. There’s a first time for everything.

The day progressed very slowly. I don’t think I didn’t any work. The nurse called and I’m to start meds on Saturday. 300iu Gonal F and 75ml of Menopur and then my first monitoring appointment is next Wednesday.

This day has been awfully long and I’m just waiting to finish this post so that I can go to bed and if the universe is listening it will let me sleep all the way to Saturday just in time for my first shot.

In closing, I’m so excited for everyone right now. Starting stims! Just finished retrieval! In the 2ww! Pregnant! Doing that mommy thing! You’re all doing wonderfully and I am so very proud of all of you! Here’s to April!!!

Okay, I sleeps now.

CD 1 for real this time

Posted in TTC drama by

Just a quickie update. CD 1 has arrived. No bells or whistles just very slowly, teasing me since Saturday afternoon. But nonetheless here it is.

My blood pregnancy test in on Saturday after which I’ll be on birth control until the 11th. Start stims on the 12th and tentative retrieval set for the 28th.

My endometrial biopsy is on Monday. I’m a little nervous about that but I’m trying to put it out of my mind for now.

I don’t have anything else to report. Sending you all loads of strength to get through tomorrow if you see any “I’m preggo” April fool’s jokes. Boycott Social media for the weekend I say. Safer that way.

Updates Updates Updates

Posted in TTC drama by

I went to the wtf appointment by myself yesterday. We had words about it but whatev’s, I’m over it now. I was doing really well when the doctor came to get me. We were chit chatting about the weather and stuff but when I sat down he got really serious and quiet and apologised for the negative and he can’t imagine the toll this is taking on us, blah blah blah. I was fine up until then, then I had to blink away tears and make an awkward joke. I can’t even remember what it was.

So he said a few things. It could be my lining so we’re going to do an endometrial biopsy and another hysteroscopy at the same time. Thankfully we’ll do this with the next cycle while I’m on bcp’s so there’ll not be a delay. Yay! He said it could also still be other genetic issues with the embryos that they can’t pick up in PGS. Bleh. We’ll try this next round with the biopsy and go from there. He keeps saying that all his translocation patients have to work a little harder and have to do more rounds than any other couple would so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for a long road.

I asked if there’s a chance I could have endometriosis and he said that from what he has on file and what I’ve told him that it’s not likely and if I did that it wouldn’t be worse than stage 1 or 2 and he wouldn’t want to do a laparoscopy out since it’s invasive. 20 bucks says by round 5 I’ll be booked for one, stat :).

What else did he say? Oh, I asked about egg quality and he checked his notes and said that the folks in the lab commented that they weren’t the prettiest and they weren’t jumping up and down about them but also that in his experience he’s seen women with the same comments go one to have successful pregnancies and we’re getting fertilization and blastocysts so he’s not worried about that.

3c34a1a41f153b74fd2d59eff440b0ff07164563574b38166e7ec758cb320dcd.jpg

As for protocol, my first round I was on a 75iu Menopur and Gonal F  and we slowly increased and triggered with HCG in the butt. I ended up with 14 eggs, 13 mature. The second I was on 150iu Menopur and Gonal F (I believe) and we slowly increased and triggered with HCG in the tummy. I ended up with 12 eggs, 7 mature. So he decided to do a mix of both rounds and use a Lupron trigger next time. So we’re doing 75iu Menopur and 150 Gonal F and we’ll go from there. Also, the clinic has switched from Ganirelix to Cetrotide for insurance purposes. Yay for no more blunt needles!

I also got to meet the new nurse D. He was really sweet. I feel bad for being mean to him now. But all in all it was a good appointment I think. I always forget to ask questions. But I think I covered everything. Whatever, can we just start? If my body plays along, we should be ready to kick things off in 16 days. Whoop! Let’s go!

minionsyay_meme-www.memegen.com

And some shitty insurance news of course… Because what IVF cycle would be complete without insurance woes. So they still haven’t paid my claim for the genetics testing. I called about a month ago and the young lady said that the claim was there but that it takes about 40 days. Okay, fine. It’s now been 2 months and I called again (I really should have called sooner) only to find out that some genius tagged the claim as Fitness & Wellness and not Medical so no one’s looked at it…for 2 months… 2 months.

553766372af43.image

Thankfully, the guy (another D.. his name is D. Not D as in, well, you know), gave me his email address and he said he’d have them expedite the claim and he’d get it sorted out asap. Yaaaa…What?  Nope, D found another issue. Apparently, I’d sent the wrong bill. It didn’t have any of the codes that were needed.

Captain-Picard-Facepalm

But again, D said to just call the genetics lab and have them send over the correct bill and to forward to him directly so that we can get it fixed up real quick. Great. I quickly hopped on the line with the genetics lab and very nice yet somewhat unsure-of-herself older woman told me that they should send me an itemized bill in about 5 business days. I have a feeling I’m going to have to follow up on this but for now we’ll leave it up to the infertility gods.

2vb7j2o

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. Life is going to be dull again for the next 16 days but I’ll find some stuff to blog about.

Time to catch up on what’s going on in your lives.

xx

I’m all alone

Posted in TTC drama by

It feels like every year around this time N has to work out of town. Always the same client and always rushed. So Monday evening started with me making dinner and by the end of dinner he had booked a flight and was gone by this morning at 3. I didn’t even really get a chance to come to terms with being alone for the rest of the week. But this happens every year so I really shouldn’t be surprised.

Now don’t get me wrong, I hate when he’s not here. I can’t sleep as well and I miss him terribly. But on the flip side, I get to not meal plan (no sense for just one). I get to watch what I want. I get to not watch anything and just read for 5 days. Besides for the lonely pit in my stomach there’s a part of me that just loves some time for myself.

I don’t even know where to start! So I’m obviously not doing anything and watching Friends on tv. I don’t even know what I’m going to eat. Eeek!

Anyway, in FET news. I had my last monitoring appointment this morning. My lining is at 8.28 and they want it above 8 so we’re right on track. New nurse said they’d call on Monday to let me know what time to go in for my FET on Tuesday!

I’m excited, but not as excited as I am for all this free time I have this week!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far. And thank you everyone for cheering us on thus far. I can totally feel the love from here!

xx

Half Way

Posted in TTC drama by

We’re on day 9 of 20! It’s really going quickly. I’m very happy about that.

Things are progressing nicely. I must say, I’ve been a bit cocky with this FET. I’m not sweating any of the results phone calls. It dawned on my today as I was listening to the voicemail after my 3rd blood draw this morning. I knew today is the day I increased the dosage so I had the pills in my hand ready to go while I listened to the voicemail and for a split second I imagined that this call would be bad news for some reason. How dare I just assume that things are going well? The nerve. I then imagined that my estrogen was too low/high and she was calling to cancel the cycle (my split seconds are really long).

Thankfully, all is well and I’m to increase estrogen to 2mg 3 times a day and 81mg baby aspirin once a day. My next and FINAL monitoring appointment is on Wednesday. Bloodwork and ultrasound.

We have been eating relatively well. No sugar and refined carbs. I’ve been sober for 3 weeks. I haven’t been yogaing because I’m super lazy but I decided to do acupuncture at least. I’m about as relaxed as I can be I suppose. The only thing that really stresses me out is one of our cats. I love these guys but he has been extremely annoying lately and it’s getting worse and worse.

We feed them twice a day. 8am and 8pm. Nothing has changed but for some reason this mofo, without fail, will meow incessantly from the time we get home from work until dinner time. Every time we walk in the direction of the kitchen he starts screaming and yelling and running to the kitchen. And lately he’s been seeking us out and yelling at us to get up and feed him. The other two are not like that. It’s just him. And he’s diabetic and needs meds every 12 hours so we give it to him when we feed him. I’m getting tense just writing this. I don’t know how to make him understand. *breathe*

Look at him! He’s been sitting there staring at me like this for the past half hour. (excuse the machinery we’re still remodelling). I’m a prisoner!

 

20160205_194839

We’re not starving our animals. This dude just has problems and it’s stressing me out.

Anyway, hubby is working all this weekend so it’s just me and these three crazies. And it really is 8pm now so I’d better go and feed the beast.

February 16th

Posted in TTC drama by

How can one be too busy to blog but not have any exciting updates when one has a second to sit down and type? Hmmm.

Of course I have an IVF update but nothing else exciting. On to business then, I suppose.

I thought Friday was cycle day 1. I even called the clinic and spoke to a brandy new nurse, D, to get instructions. I was to go for my baseline ultrasound and blood work on Sunday. I was a little nervous about that because N did not want us driving to far-away land in the snow storm. D assured me that they would be open because Bostonians laugh in the face of snow storms and that I should woman up be there.

But when I got home my period had mysteriously stopped. Well not too mysteriously because this has happened to me before and incidentally Amy M. from My Brain’s Escape (Shout out to you, girl!) had just written about this in her blog and it seemed I fell victim to breakthough bleeding as well *shakes fist in the air*.

All of Saturday nothing was happening down there and then Sunday morning she showed her face again, in a big way. I called again on Sunday already having missed my baseline appointment (truth be told, I was a little relieved because I didn’t want to shovel at 5am). D didn’t seem too thrilled that I missed my appointment and he kept questioning me about this apparent breakthrough bleed. “Are you sure you didn’t bleed at all yesterday?”… “Well, we’ll see if it’s a true baseline when you come in on Tuesday”… I miss my old nurse.

Today is Tuesday. My lining is thin, my ovaries are happy and the FET process has begun. I’m to start estrodiol tablets this evening (1 tablet twice a day and 81mg of asprin) and my next appointment for bloodwork only is on Monday and the estimated date of transfer is February 16th.

How am I feeling? I know Feb 16 is ‘around the corner’ but it feels like the longest corner in the history of corners. I’m feeling impatient. Very impatient.

But we are officially 3 weeks away from seeing our little fighter. I remember being annoyed that I had to wait 4 weeks for my period to start the FET and it really feels like that went by in a flash. So here’s hoping the trend continues. I’m going to need to plan something fun for us to do these next 3 weekends. Come on Groupon!

The End is Nigh

Posted in TTC drama by

Well, I did it. I am unstoppable! Haha. Took the shot in my car outside the clinic before the sun had come up. I felt like I was doing something shady and illegal. But I did it!

I’m to head back there tomorrow and hopefully that’ll be the last of it. They said I could potentially trigger tomorrow. Just in time. I’m actually okay with a trigger tomorrow or Thursday because if it’s tomorrow, I’ll get the day off on Friday. If it’s Thursday it’ll give my right ovary a bit more time to catch up. Still only 2 measurable follies.

They’re also lowering my dose for tonight’s shots. Part of me is like noooo! My right follie needs more love! But I must trust that they know what they’re doing. The doctor was also  talking about a Lupron trigger this time? I did an HCG trigger last time. Does anyone have any stories about a Lupron trigger, perhaps? I read that they use a Lupron trigger if you’re at risk for OHSS. My E2 is 2500+. Doesn’t seem risky to me yet but again. Trust. But yeah, if you have a Lupron story please share.

Here’s to my righty catching up! Come on girly!

Day 10, IVF 2:
200iu Gonal F
75iu Menopur
1 syringe Ganirelix

E2: 2500+
LH: Not given
Lefty: 8 the biggest is at 18.5
Righty: 2 fighters 12.5mm and 15mm

Physical:
Sore boobs today.
Nausea was at fever pitch this morning.

Emotional:
Nerves are kicking in. What if’s are everywhere. Sigh.

Food:
left over cottage pie

Moment of Zen:

12308257_10153723837988490_7790165895275785008_n

Come on Righty!

Posted in TTC drama by

Damn, I just got comfortable with my laptop and I forgot my notes from the phone call in my backpack. Oh well, time to wing it!

I knew my right ovary was going to be difficult. At my baseline appointment she was hiding away and I had to push on my tummy to help the nurse find her. And true to form, she was hiding again today. The nurse said she saw follicles but nothing measurable yet.

Lefty is rocking it, in my opinion. She counted 4 that were around 10 and a few other little ones. Well done lefty!

Next appointment is on Sunday. I’m glad things are moving along. I forgot how quickly this stimulation goes. We’re almost half way already.

Day 5, IVF 2:
300iu Gonal F
150iu Menopur

E2: 402.5
LH: 2.36
Lefty: 2 @10.5mm, 2@10mm, a few more @<11mm
Righty: a few @ <11mm

Physical:
Just feeling drained.

Emotional:
Getting to the top of the IVF wave where the sun is shining.

Food:
I threw a bunch of stuff in a pot and we ate it. I think there was meat and potatoes.

Moment of Zen:
IMG-20151203-WA0007