Waiting for lining check... and feeling pretty sick

I'm on day 4 of Estrogen pills and I'm feeling pretty crappy. I have headaches every day and terrible mood swings. I honestly think I feel worse in this cycle than I did in my IVF stim cycle. And to top it off, I have a bad cold/sinus infection, so I'm dealing with that as well. Not much is going on other than that, I'm just waiting for my lining check on Friday so we can book my transfer as long as all looks good. I'm really hoping my lining doesn't give us any problems.

I paid for my FET cycle and booked my flights this weekend. The only thing left to book is the hotel but I'm waiting until we have a for sure date before I do that since I use Priceline and it's non-refundable. My mom is going with me this time and my husband is staying at home. He really wanted to go but it was cheaper for just me since we have to fly. Cross your fingers for a good thick lining on Friday!!

FET #1 - Meds Have Started!

I got the call from the nurse today that my hormone levels look good and I can start my meds for my first FET! I'm currently on Estradiol 1 pill twice daily taken vaginally, Prednisone 1 pill twice daily, LDN 1 pill at bedtime, Baby Aspirin 1 pill once daily and Prenatal Vitamins. I go back to the doctor on Friday March 2 for a lining check. If all looks good we'll schedule my transfer! I'm starting to get so excited. I feel really positive about this transfer.

FET #1 - Baseline Appointment

I have horrible luck! I went in for my baseline ultrasound and blood work today, and of course I have cysts on both ovaries. I'm waiting on my blood work to come back, but if they're estrogen producing I'll have to most likely cancel my transfer and go on birth control which I despise. Birth control makes me a crazy person. Plus I just really REALLY hate waiting, and another set back is probably going to make me have another hormonal breakdown.

On the bright side, my period has finally slowed down to normal and my lining is under 5mm today which is good. Just waiting on the instruction phone call from CNY....

Update - the nurse called and said they won't get my results back until tomorrow (they close at 12 on Thursdays), but that the cysts are most likely not estrogen producing. She gave me instructions to start taking my meds tomorrow as long as all my blood work looks okay when they review it tomorrow morning. So I start Estradiol pills tomorrow and I go back for a lining check next Friday the 2nd.

FET #1 - It's Officially Started

My period arrived 4 days after stopping meds. I'm now on CD 2 and my baseline appointment is tomorrow morning at 7:45am. I'm expecting to start estrace tomorrow night and I'll go back in a week for a re-check before scheduling my transfer. I'm not looking forward to taking all the meds again, but it'll definitely be worth it if this cycle works.

On a side not the DH and I are going on a weekend trip with his brother and girlfriend next week, so I'm excited about that. I really need something to get my mind off everything.

FET #1 - Just waiting....

I did my last PIO shot on Thursday 2/15, and my last Progesterone and Estrogen suppositories on Friday 2/16 morning. I had some spotting last night but nothing today and no cramps yet. I'm so ready to get this cycle started. This is my cycle plan if all goes well:

CD 3: Baseline ultrasound and blood work. Start Estradiol suppositories that night if everything looks good. 2mg twice a day.

CD 10ish: Repeat ultrasound and blood work. If everything looks good (triple striped lining), I'll pick a day the next week to transfer. Most likely March 9th. I'll start PIO and Prometrium 5 days before the transfer.

I plan on transferring 2 5AA hatching blastocysts. My beta will probably be on 3/19. I really, really hope it works this time. If it doesn't I think I'll definitely have to take a break. This process is so hard mentally and physically.

IVF #1 - Beta Day

Well today is beta day for my first IVF fresh transfer. As of yesterday my HPT was still negative, so I'm of course expecting my beta to be negative as well. We are jumping right into a frozen transfer cycle when I get my period after stopping meds. Expected transfer will be the week of March 5. I'll update this post with my beta result once received.

Final count for this cycle:

Doctor Visits: 21  Ultrasounds: 7  Needle Sticks: 47

Update: The doctor just called and confirmed that our beta was negative. Stopping all meds and will call on cycle day 1 to start our first FET.

Last Update Before Beta - 9dp3dt

This cycle looks like it was officially a bust. Still no hint of a line even today at 9dp3dt. Yesterday was the worst. I had a complete emotional meltdown in my bathroom after seeing the negative again. Thankfully yesterday was Mardi Gras so I was able to sulk at home alone all day. I wanted these embryos to stick so badly.

The silver lining is that we do have 15 frozen embryos waiting for us in New York. I plan on jumping straight into a frozen transfer with my next period, which hopefully means transferring around the first week of March. We'' be transferring 2 5AA blasts. This makes me very hopeful that I'll have success with my next transfer since it'll be a frozen transfer and I have perfectly graded blastocysts.

Beta is Friday although I'm definitely expecting it to be negative. My "perfect" IVF cycle didn't have the happy ending we had hoped for.

I've been a little MIA... 7dp3dt Update

I've been off the radar for a few days now. The main reason being There's been nothing exciting to report. Plus, I've so far only had BFNs. I tested on 5dp3dt (too early I know) and it was of course BFN. But then I tested again today at 7dp3dt totally expecting/hoping to see a positive and it was BFN again. I'm really feeling like I'm out. I don't have any symptoms besides cramping and sore boobs but I know that's from the medicines I'm on. What sucks so much is my husband is really disappointed and upset. That hurts worse than anything. And everyone keeps asking me how I'm feeling and I just say "normal" and then they look disappointed too. This just sucks. 4 days until beta.

Day 5 Update

I spoke with embryology a few minutes ago and we have a total of THIRTEEN blastocysts frozen!!! They are watching the other 2 and they said they might be able to freeze them tomorrow. I'm just stunned! We were definitely not expecting that many embryos to make it to the blast stage and be able to be frozen. As far as numbers go, we had a great IVF cycle.

Now is just the waiting to test. My bets day isn't until 2/16, but I think I'll probably do my first at home test on 2/12 which is 7dp3dt (7 days past 3 day transfer). I'm just so excited! I really hope this round worked, but if not at least I know I have plenty of embryos waiting for me that I can use to try again.

Transfer Day!!

I'm a little late posting but yesterday was crazy! My transfer was almost an hour late, my first flight got delayed over an hour and we had to run to make our connection, plus stop at a family restroom to do my PIO shot! It was just crazy and we didn't get home until after 11pm last night.

My transfer went great! We transferred two beautiful 3 day embryos. One was actually already at the morula stage and the other was a grade 4 (excellent) 9 cell embryo which is the best they can be at day 3. The other 15 were still growing as of yesterday and almost all of them are good-excellent quality and all are 7-9 cells. We will get a call tomorrow with our final number of embryos that made it to freeze at the day 5 blast stage.

I go back to the doctor next Monday (12th) to recheck my Estradiol, Progesterone and TSH levels, and then my Beta Day is Friday (16th). I think I'll  probably test early at home, because I have 0 patience. I really think it's going to work..

Fertilization Report

We got the call this morning! 24 were retrieved, 19 were mature and 17 of those fertilized! So today we have 17 babies growing. We’re so excited! Transfer is scheduled for Monday at 10:15. We are putting in 2 3day embryos. I start PIO shots tonight and I’m so nervous.. here’s to hoping DH doesn’t get needle fear.

Egg Retrieval Is Done!

We had our egg Retrieval at 9:30am today. They retrieved 24 eggs from me! And for the absolute miracle...... DH had 3 million sperm in his sample which is more than he’s ever had even when on medicine! And his last test just a couple weeks ago was 0 sperm! We are so happy and shocked. They were able to use his sample for ICSI on my eggs and freeze his leftover sperm in case we need it in the future for any reason. We will get a call tomorrow with our fertilization information.

We pulled the trigger! Leaving for New York

I took my trigger shot at 9:30pm last night CST. I take another one today at 9:30am. We are leaving for the airport at 4:30pm today and our flight leaves at 6:50pm. It'll arrive at 12:45am EST. We are all so excited and ready to go!! My retrieval is tomorrow at 9:30am EST so I'll post an update after. Wish me luck!!

P.S. These Lupron trigger hot flashes are no joke!!!

Poke Count:

Arm: 5  Stomach: 25  Ultrasound: 5