Our son was due on July 13th, 2017. I’d like to point out that at 36 weeks pregnant our OB told me to take it easy to encourage him to stay in. We were afraid that he would arrive too soon! Well, it looks like our Little Bear took our pleas a little too seriously because he did not want to come out. We hit 40 weeks, and at the OB office we discussed induction. I was hoping I could go into labor on my own to avoid interventions, but – it didn’t quite work out that way. Dr. Lee...
Dearest Little Bear, This was originally going to be a sweet, sentimental letter to you (that I still plan on finishing) but for now, in the extreme heat and humidity I have dealt with the past week, I have one thing to say and one thing to say only. Please. Just. Come. Out. We want to meet you, and I am not above bribery. I will let you stay up all night and we can have a party at your crib if you just come out on your own. Consider this your official eviction notice because Mommy is very tired,...
Time to get uncomfortable. Ready to feel some feelings? Let’s talk about Mother’s Day. I’ve discussed this with a few other women in my support group who have struggled with infertility and have completed their journey – either through stopping treatment, or achieving success through IVF, adoption, or surrogacy. And a common thread among us is extreme difficulty reconciling your feelings about motherhood when you have closely identified (and lived) as an infertile person for a long time. You mark days like “Mother’s Day” and “Father’s Day” on your calendar and make a mental note about how that will be a day...
I had my lining check on 10/12, and everything looks great – 11mm like last time, which is great! I go back into the RE office on 10/19 for another ultrasound to check my lining, as well as a blood test to make sure that my estrogen still at a good level. If everything goes well, I start the PIO shots on 10/20. I am actually toying with the idea of filming one of these to document the truly fun part of this experience. I know that this is probably a weird idea, but I figure that there are way...
Like getting your period! It’s exciting because you can start a new cycle, begin your cycle meds, another chance at pregnancy, etc. But…real talk? It goes more like this: Thank you, Homer. During treatment, I really only have enough space for one feeling at a time, but every unique feeling decides it wants to push its way to the front, and ruin my day. Having a great day? Why not cry about IVF for 45 minutes? Feeling angry? Here’s some grateful feelings for how wonderful your friends and family can be! It’s really confusing to articulate, but it really is messy and...
No, this is not an album title…though now I feel like I should use it (so dont steal it!). This is something that has been on my mind to share for a few days, but it seems appropriate now because well… I had a little bit of a meltdown yesterday. Okay, okay…maybe it was a big, ugly crying breakdown. I have received a lot of compliments about how ‘strong’ I am, or remarks about how much courage it takes to write down our experiences like this. Truthfully, because I am terrible with compliments, I laugh or minimize these comments because...
Well there you have it – everything at my appointment was perfect! My lining is 11mm and my ovaries look great – i.e. I didn’t ovulate through the Estrogen that I have been taking. This is AWESOME news. With that said, our FET is scheduled for 8/16. I dont have an exact time yet because I will need to call Monday morning for an exact time. Dr. Cass is not available to do our transfer, but Dr. Yee is available and I have seen him quite a few times and trust him just as much. He has a very warm...
Hello again. Today was our post-ivf appointment with Dr. Cass, where we reviewed our IVF cycle, how I responded, and what the outcome was. But before I go into that, I wanted to give a quick summary of where we currently are in the IVF process as well as update you guys on what has been going on lately. So, here is what’s been going on – IVF #1 Cycle Status Update: 15 eggs retrieved 10 fertilized 6 grew (and developed normally) 1 embryo arrested, and 1 did not develop a center cell 1 embryo was implanted on 6/2 3 Blastocysts Frozen...
I’m sorry for the delay in this post, things have been a little insane! So, I heard from the clinic on Sunday where they gave us our Day 6 Blastocyst report. Remember that we still had 5 in play, as of the day of my embryo transfer (which was Day 3). Of the five embryos, two did not make it to the blastocyst stage. One arrested in its development and thus was not viable to be frozen. The other was of low quality (there was no center mass of cells to indicate that it was a healthy blastocyst). So we...
I’m still relaxing in bed, but wanted to get this post out while my memory is still fresh. So, I’m coming to you live from my bed and I am accompanied by my friend the heating pad. Yesterday, we left our house for the egg retrieval and made it there in amazing time because of the Memorial Day holiday. Once we arrived, we filled out the necessary paperwork and they quickly took us to the main procedure room for my pre-op. We go through all the normal questions (and over again what I had just filled out, as is customary)...
