It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Tomorrow is the start of my favourite month!! I can’t wait! I go into complete holiday mode. I’m not the best employee in December. All urgency goes out the window. I have parties to look forward to. Gifts to buy. Eggs to grow!

As you can tell, I’m feeling a lot better today. I’m a little bummed that 1. I can’t put up decorations yet because we’re in the middle of the reno so there’s no place to put it and 2. since we’re in super saver mode, I can’t buy any Christmas gifts until mid December after we pay for the PGS.

But all that aside, I think the fact that this is the best month of the year is making the IVF stress a little easier to bear.  Today anyway.

Let’s see how we’re doing so far:

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

Physical:
Injection site sensitive
Slightly dizzy immediately after injection
Funny taste at the back of throat
Period still on full flow. Is that normal?

Emotional:
Excited. About Christmas
Thoughts of egg count still in the back of my mind.
Zita West CD helped a little with stress level.

Food (Just to keep track of what I’m eating in an attempt to shame myself into eating better):
Cheesy stuffed slowcooker meatballs with pasta
Last slice of cheesecake
Mango,pineapple,coconut water smoothie

Moment of Zen (unabashedly stolen from the Daily Show):
This video made me laugh out loud. Going to try to post something funny every day.

 

So Dizzy

Snuggled on the couch stroking the tender spot on my tummy where my first Menopur and Gonal F shots of this second cycle went in, trying to gauge my emotional state.

My physical state is..well.. dizzy, I have a funny chemical taste in the back of my throat and tenderness at the injection site.

All day I was trying to keep busy, cleaning out the bathroom and getting the trim ready for the dining room. I was excited. Mixing the meds I was almost giddy. And now I’m feeling a bit emotional. It might be because I started a full period this morning as a result of stopping the pill so I might be pmsing but I do feel like having a good cry. I’m nervous and my mind is racing. This is not how I wanted this to go.

The theme of this cycle is supposed to be CALM. When I got the antral follicle count on Wednesday (twelve). I spent all day googling antral follicle counts vs egg retrieval counts. That’s not what I wanted to do this cycle but I completely threw all my rules out of the window.

I’m going to try harder to be calmer. I will be calmer. I have yoga and my ivf cd’s. I can do this.

If you’re interested in the technical bits. Here’s what’s happening this cycle.

Day 1:
300iu Gonal F
150iu Menopur
250cc Strawberry Cheesecake

 

1 1 1

Well here we go. Cycle day 1 has arrived. And today also happens to be 1 year, 1 month and 1 day since my last cycle day one.

I started this post at work earlier and I was trying to gauge my feelings about this cycle. At the time I was deep in the throws of violent cramping, as I’d forgotten my pain killers at home, and I was not feeling excited at all. My exact words were that this cycle feels like I am getting back with an ex.

I still feel like that more than I am excited at this point. I feel like I’m waiting for something to fuck up so that I can admonish myself for getting my hopes up.

Things are going to be different this cycle however so it’s not like I’m getting back with the same old ex who “did me wrong”. I’ll be getting back with an ex who has shown proof that he’s changed, so there’s reason to hope that things will turn out differently this time.

For one, we’re doubling my dose of meds so that, in the words of my RE, we’re not playing catch up. I’m not doing acupuncture this time. I know it comes highly recommended but It’s a bit expensive and it didn’t work last time. I’ve opted instead for Zita West’s IVF relaxation and meditation cd that I got from a friend and yoga. And finally, N and I are all loaded up on 3+ months of fertility friendly vitamins.

None of this is a guarantee of anything but I feel a little more prepared I think. And I’m a little relieved that my nerves from before are replaced with this feeling of indifference. It’s helping me not crumble into a million pieces.

I spoke to the nurse today and I’m to do the blood pregnancy test on Thursday and start birth control pills the same day if the test comes back negative (rolls eyes). My baseline ultrasound is on the 25th and I’ll stop birth control on the same day. Then I’ll wait for instructions on when to start injections. Oh, the meds should be delivered on Friday.

Maybe when I see the meds I’ll get excited. Why am I not excited? Hmmm.

In the meantime, cheers to 1 1 1!! On to the next one!

I Survived

First things first, It hurt! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t do pain. I’m the one who takes pain killers as soon as she sees her period starts. That way I don’t have to deal with the pain when it comes. They told me to take 600mg of Ibuprofen, I took 800 and it was still unbearable. That being said, if you’re waiting to do a hysteroscopy, this is not the post to read. I am an outlier.

I arrived at the clinic and hour early of course and we got going almost right on time. Me, Dr G, new nurse and veteran nurse showing her the ropes. They were doing less nursing and more standing in the corner judging my loser behaviour. I did ask the doctor why we were just looking today and not going in there with a pair of scissors and lopping off whatever didn’t belong. He said that he’s not sure that there’s anything there in the first place and if it’s a fibroid they wouldn’t be able to “lop” it off anyway. The other procedure is like a surgery and it might not be necessary here. I guess he was right, so I let him continue.

The speculum didn’t hurt more than it normally does, the iodine (I think that’s what it was) was uncomfy. The camera going in was painless and then came the saline solution. Cue cramps and swearing. It just felt like really bad period cramps. But more sharp. Localized in my ass for some reason. Anyway, over the internal screams in my head, I kept hearing the doctor say “picture” … “you’re doing great, just 10 more seconds”… “picture” (10 seconds later) “just 8 more seconds” (what?!!) “you’re doing great”… “picture”… “picture”…”aand we’re done”. And that was it.

The pain went away immediately after he took everything out. There was a gush of saline solution. Awesome. And then he took his sweet time to tell me that he saw nothing. I was so relieved because there was a 10 second pause where he looked a bit worried. But there you have it. He said can start the next cycle with my next period. Woohoo!!

No not yet… there’s still the matter of payment. So it looks like we have to pay for PGD testing up front. It does get fully reimbursed which is great. So I really can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but we don’t have 5K lying around so we have to make a plan for that. Hopefully we can find a quick solution. But that also brings me to my next issue.

So, luckily my clinic opens at 6:30 for monitoring appointments and Monday I had to do a blood preggo test but work starts at 7 and I rolled in at 7:20. I’m not happy about that. My boss is cool about coming in late. He said coming in around 7:15 is fine but I really wasn’t happy and it doesn’t sit well with me that I’ll have to do this almost every day for 2 weeks without a good reason (I know this is best reason but it’s too soon to share this with him). Especially since it’s a new job and I’m still on probation.

I’m eager to start my next cycle. I’m so ready. I’m so very ready, but I also want to make a good impression because I really love this job. Where do I find a balance? I feel like I should sit out the next cycle and try for November (if we get the funds). I’ll be out of probation by then and I’ll find out if my boss even wants me to stay. And also, We may have to save up for a long time too so this could all be a moot point.

Sorry this was a long rambling post. I apologize for being all over the place. Thank you for keeping me in my thoughts and sending well wishes. They all seem to have worked.

Vitamins and Supplements for Him

As you know, we’re dealing with MFI and I feel like we may not be able to do much to get his count up we can at least do what we can to improve the quality. Again, I’ll just put out there that you shouldn’t take any of these without talking to your doctor first. Let’s begin shall we?

L-Arginine

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This stuff is supposed to be the bee’s knees. It’s attributed to help with sperm formation, maturation, count and motility. Right now he’s on 1000mg a day but I think we should be upping this.

L-Carnitine

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This is an antioxidant that protects against sperm damage and helps with motility. My only worry with this is that it’s said that motility drops sharply if you stop taking l-carnitine.

Ubiquinol

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This is another big dog. Helps with motility, morphology and sperm density. Yeah more of that! He’s taking 200mg

Vitamin D

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Helps with sperm cell development and maintains semen quality and it boosts testosterone. I have him on 2,000iu per day.

Vitamin E

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Said to be beneficial during ICSI for IVF. Uh, yes please.

Vitamin C

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Antioxidants yo!! This stops free radicals from destroying sperm.

Vitamin B12

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This is said to be good for DNA maturatioin and duplication and general sperm health. He’s on 100mg a day.

Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc

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Everywhere I look I see how important zinc is for fertility. I’ve also read that too much is bad. So I’ve got him on 25mg a day with this supplement. Calcium helps the sperm penetrate the egg and gives the sperm its energy. Magnesium helps you absorb calcium if I’m not mistaken so best to take them together.

Folate

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This one helps reduce sperm abnormalities. Read my previous post on why I’m choosing folate over folic acid. 400mcg a day.

Fish Oil

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This helps with general sperm quality. He’s taking 2,400mg as well.

I think that’s it for him. I’ve read that selenium is good for male and female infertility but I read that it’s toxic if you have too much and that enough of it can be found in brazil nuts and eggs so I’m a little wary to take a supplement for it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have anything you think I should add or remove or anything or if you have any other tips.

Here are some sites I found some info on.

http://www.fertilityafter40.com/vitamins-supplements–male-fertility.html

http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/daddydazemycoworkersweardiapers/preconception-advice-for-men–vitamins-that-can-he

Embaby on Board

I’m 1dp5dt (1 day past 5 day transfer)… Wow, I never thought I’d get to write that ever. I’m in shock. Again, one of the many things I’m feeling. Here’s the blow-by-blow.

We got to acupuncture at 8:30. Dr L is so great he came in especially for me since he doesn’t open that early so that was greatly appreciated. I was relatively relaxed and had a hell of a lot more needles put in. It was a good session but was subsequently ruined when I saw a voicemail from the clinic. My heart was racing when I listened back but it was just them saying they’re definitely doing the transfer but pushed my time up to 11:45. I’m very glad that I made us get a move on early. We were up there by 10:30 and faffed around until 11:15 when I had to do my nervous pee.

My transfer was set for 12:45 but I had to come an hour early to start drinking water and take a valium and sign paper work. She said do 2-3 cups of water and to space it out since we had a lot of time. I forgot that I have a toddler’s bladder and I only got through a cup and a bit and I was bursting… and we still have 30min to go. I don’t listen to instruction well when I’m nervous. I asked the nurse if she knew if my child survived the thaw and she was like “Yes, that’s the only reason you’re here.”. The morning phone call is to tell us to come in or not. That made me feel really good but she said that the day 5 embryos always thaw perfectly and they have it down to an art :). Dr G gave us and 80% thaw survival rate. That 20% still had me up at night.

I was given a wrist band with my details on it and we were ushered into the room where the magic happens. I only had to undress the bottom half and neither of us had to wear the bonnets or shoe covers some people wear. The old doctor with the high waisted scrubs who did my retrieval was doing the transfer which makes me wonder what our RE’s job is if he’s not doing retrievals or transfers.

My bladder was ridiculous at this point. I really could barely deal but I was brave. The nurse said it was perfect and didn’t want me to go empty it a little. So, it was a party of five in there. Me, N, ultrasound nurse, old man doctor and cheerleader clipboard nurse who had very complimentary things to say about my uterus. She had me confirm my name to her twice to make sure we don’t get any embie mix ups. Then it was speculum time.

ultrasound nurse was so gentle I wanted to kiss her. So I didn’t pee all over Oldie. The speculum was as it always was, terrible. He also cleaned my cervix with the cheerleader smiling at my vagina creepily. The catheter was a breeze, I saw it on the ultrasound but didn’t feel it go in. I did start shaking though. I was getting very cold. So they brought me a warm blanket and life made sense again.

Then Ultrasound opened a side door and said “We’re ready”. 2 embryologists (I assume that’s who they were) appeared in unison with another clipboard and asked my name and checked my wrist band, then left and closed the door…in unison. Cheerleader said they’re just prepping and I should see it pop on the screen. 5 seconds later there it was.

I let out a really loud gasp and Cheerleader and Ultrasound said “awww”… So tiny and perfect. They took a pic for us. They said it thawed perfectly. I still can’t put into words what I was thinking or feeling. The screen went back to the ultrasound and we waited until the embryologist twins came in with my baby in a tube and silently left and we watched Oldie do his thing. It was over before I knew it. I didn’t get a picture of the little white line in my uterus that was my baby but seeing it was priceless.

After that, our new friends wished us luck and we were given all the necessary instructions. No bed rest, just take it easy and that was that.

Back at acupuncture I couldn’t really relax when I was on my back. My mind was racing and it was colder than usual but when I was on my stomach I was out like a light. It was awesome until the heating lamp thing dinged and startled me. I twitched really hard and pulled something in my lower back and felt a twinge in my abdomen. I’m really scared about that, but trying to put it out of my mind.

When we eventually got home, I’d hired 3 movies (Catching Fire, Delivery Man and Big Hero 6). Catching Fire and Delivery Man were trrrrash. Don’t bother. Big Hero 6 was awesome. We had a really late lunch/early dinner and I had halloumi cheese and olives as a 9pm snack. I’m going to write a post about my love for halloumi cheese. It warrants it’s own post. And then we went to bed and as I was dozing off N put his hand on my tummy thus making a perfect day even more perfect.

This whole transfer experience was surreal and awesome. And even if it doesn’t work out for us this round, I highly recommend it… well, you know… if you have to.

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The Call

We’ve finally made it. It’s finally transfer day eve.

The call came at 3pm. Do they do that on purpose you think? Oh yes, let’s make them sweat until their about to snap and THEN call them *evil laugh*. I’m sure they have a process but man that’s a long wait. I took half of today off and went to get some socks to wear tomorrow. I was looking for ladybird socks but settled for cute pineapple ones. I also found very cute ladybird earrings. I also realised that I still have the t-shirt I wore on our first date, so I’m going to wear that too.

To say that I’m excited is beyond an understatement. Actually excited is one of the many emotions I’m feeling. I’m certainly not going to be sleeping tonight. I have my first acupuncture appointment at 8:30 then we take a long drive up to Lexington for noon. I’ll then drink water for an hour and take some yummy Valium. Transfer is set for 1pm after which I’ll go back to the second acupuncture appointment.

Unfortunately, I’ve taken no time off work. I have 2 weddings in July in South Africa and I have to save all my time off but depending on how I feel I may work from home.

So that’s it… 4 more hours til bed time. I’ve already cooked dinner. I made my favourite soup that should take us until Thursday. I don’t want to have to cook anything for a few days.  Now how am I going to kill 4 hours? Maybe I should do my hair…

I’ll leave you with some pics of the stuff I got for the transfer. And a little painted stone ladybird from our yard. N’s grandmother painted it a while back and I forgot we had it.

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