Our In Vitro Journey

I have come to find out two things after doing in vitro. First, I have a greater respect for diabetics having to give themselves shots multiple times a day. I only had to do it twice a day for 3 weeks, and I felt like a pin cushion. Second, I am VERY sensitive to in vitro medications...which isn't a bad thing just uncomfortable for me. 

                                                        (My pin cushion stomach)

During our several ultrasounds, which were done by my doctor in St. George, after doing the medications my ovaries were producing eggs like crazy. Most women produce about 15-20 extra eggs on the medications, but like I said before, I learned that I am very sensitive to them. 

Day 1 Ultrasound- I had 60 eggs on my ovaries!

Day 2 Ultrasound- I still had 60 eggs, but 44 of them were maturing.

Day 3 Ultrasound- I had SO many that the doctor said I was ready for the egg retrieval. And my ovaries were so big they were touching.

So that night I did my trigger injection and 36 hours later would be the egg retrieval. We left our house at 2:00 AM to head to Pleasant Grove for the egg retrieval procedure. They put me to sleep during the procedure, so I can't tell you how that went, but when I woke up it was all over. Thank goodness cause they got a whopping 54 mature eggs!! Which is a GREAT number.

The embryo lab called us the next day to let us know that out of 45 eggs that were mature enough to be fertilized, 41 developed into embryos. Again those are EXTREMELY good numbers. An average number of eggs that fertilize are generally around 20.

                                                 (Our little embryos)

Then 5 days after egg retrieval was our transfer date. So once again, we got up bright and early to head to Pleasant Grove for our procedure. They gave me a Valium to help me stay relaxed and to prevent my uterus from contracting.The Valium helped me relax A LOT...I don't really remember a lot from that day. When the doctor told us that we have some very "beautiful" embryos he asked us how many we wanted to transfer. When we told him 4, he looked at us with shocked eyes and said with embryos as good as ours, he recommended we only transfer 1. After all the time and money we have spent into the procedure we wanted better odds than that. We asked him to put in 2 embryos. So once our 2 beautiful embryos were safely transferred, we headed for home!!!

                            (The circled white spec is the embryos after being placed)

The next 2-4 days for me were spent laying in bed with my legs elevated. I couldn't do ANYTHING, but shower and use the restroom. My bed was not comfortable to me for awhile after spending several days lying there watching Christmas movies and drinking Gatorade. But we wanted to take all precautions and do everything the doctor told us so I stayed put. Dusty was a HUGE help. He stayed home with me and waited on me hand and foot. He was my personal nurse and would bring me my medications when I needed them, cooked me ALL 3 meals, and cleaned the house. What an AMAZING husband I have. 

On Monday, 8 days after our embryo transfer I had to get some blood work to check my HCG levels. This blood work they would NOT call and tell us the results. Then 2 days after that blood draw, I had to go back and get my HCG levels checked again. This time they would call us with the results. Now these results would tell us if the in vitro procedure was a success. 

Well we waited and waited..Dusty was at work and he called me numerous times to see if the doctor's office had called with our results. He had been pacing the floor at work and we later found out we have to buy his work new carpet due to him wearing it out from all the pacing. But that phone call NEVER came...

Just Kidding!!

It finally came and the computers had been down at the doctors office, go figure, so that it why there was a delay on our results, but we got the news...So on November 28, 2012 we found out that we are.....