IVF Success

Our IVF experience the second time around was so much better than the first! I received Lupron shots for four months and then we began our IVF in July. I was having a hard time being ready to try again because I still felt so much disappointment and sadness from our negative result. Last time I was so emotionally involved- I would bounce back and forth between extreme excitement at our possible babies and extreme fear during shots and procedures. This time around I think I was too scared to think too much about what I was doing. In a way it really helped me. I didn't freak out about shots or surgery, just business as usual. It wasn't until one of my check ups a few weeks in that I finally allowed myself to hope again. We were doing one of the last routine check ups where they check to see how the meds are affecting me and how my egg production is doing. Last time I produced a total of 13 eggs and during this check up they saw 29! The wonderful result of being on Lupron for so long. It suddenly hit me that this time was different and that even if it didn't work this month we would most likely have enough embryos to try again! When I woke up from my egg retrieval Dr. Foulk came in to tell us how it went and I'll never forget how he smiled at us and said "Guess how many eggs we were able to get." I tentatively asked if there were 29 and he said 35! We were so relieved and Dr. Foulk was thrilled at our improvement. I'm so glad he was able to take our failed IVF and change things based on our need to help my body respond better. They fertilized the eggs and a few days later we came in for our embryo transfer. They told us we had eight embryos that had matured to the point they could be implanted! They cryogenically preserved six of them for future cycles and we used two. Last time we only had two embryos total so we are so happy that we can do more cycles without paying the full cycle fee. 

Our family photo with our two embryos shown on the ultrasound. 

Then came the dreaded two week wait where we hoped and prayed those embryos were sticking. We tried to stay positive and also enjoy being pregnant until proven other wise. On the anniversary of the day we got engaged I went in for a blood test and then we went home to wait for several hours for the news. When they finally called and told us the results were positive its was the biggest flood of relief and joy. We cried and laughed and hugged each other as we thought of our little baby. We had been waiting for this moment for so long. What surprised us is how quickly the fear came back. For years a positive pregnancy test seemed like the goal but immediately we realized this didn't guarantee a baby and the risk of miscarriage terrified us. We told our family the good news but didn't share it publicly for a few weeks while we hoped everyday that I was still be pregnant. On our wedding anniversary we had our ultrasound where we finally got to see our baby and hear the heartbeat. It was such a magical moment. We ended up losing one of our embryos but we are so grateful our baby was able to to stick around. We had another ultrasound two weeks later where we saw our little babe dancing around.  This was our last appointment at our fertility center as we "graduated" to our OBGYN for the remainder of the pregnancy.

It was pretty bittersweet leaving the fertility center- obviously this is what they want for all their patients but they have such an amazing staff that were so good to me during the scariest and hardest couple of months of my life. I would highly recommend their office to anyone needing help. It worked out okay though because our OBGYN is awesome and has had to go though infertility and IVF with his wife and knows exactly what we've been through so it makes the transition easier. Since then I have felt pretty consistently awful which isn't fun but also is a daily reassurance that little babe is still there making me sick. Its amazing how loved this baby is already. We are so excited to become parents and we can't wait until April. We're praying everything goes well over the next six months and that this sweet baby will be healthy and strong.