Spencer & Carolyn

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Results

We had our pregnancy test on Monday and the results came back negative. Its been a rough couple of days. We really appreciate all the love we have been shown. We met with Dr. Foulk today to talk about what went wrong and where to go from here. He said we got unlucky but that they were able to learn from this cycle and adjust my treatment. Apparently at my age and health I should have produced more than 13 eggs and more of them should have developed to the point that they could be used immediately or frozen. This means my endometriosis is affecting my ovaries as well as my Fallopian tubes. He suggested that I take Lupron for three months (yay more shots) which will essentially cause my body to stop creating estrogen. Since endometriosis feeds on estrogen this should kill it off for a year so we can try again within that time. We can't replace eggs that have been destroyed by the endometriosis but with it gone the eggs I do have should have more of a chance to develop fully. After three months we can try another IVF cycle. So, for now, we're trying to stay positive and save up money. Again, thank you for your kindness and for your prayers.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

IVF

First off, thank you so much to everyone who helped us with this IVF cycle! We were blown away with how much love and generosity we were shown after announcing our situation. We raised enough money for our IVF cycle very quickly, we had so many people send kind words, and we have felt the many prayers on our behalf. We wanted to post an update to show what has happened this past month and what the future looks like for us.

All my supplies delivered. I had to give myself 26 shots over a 10 day span.

We had our first appointment on January 10th for a baseline ultrasound and blood draw. Then every day after that I gave myself 2-4 shots every morning to stimulate my egg production. After the first five days, I went in everyday for another ultrasound and blood draw. They increased one of my doses halfway through, but other than that, they said my body was responding well.

Last day of shots and blood draws! Such a relief!

My last shot was to trigger ovulation. They then scheduled an egg retrieval procedure for 36 hours later. I was nervous about the procedure because my last surgery experience (laparoscopy) was awful. However, they took really good care of me at the fertility center and it went very smoothly.

All drugged up afterward.

Dr. Foulk came in after the surgery and told us they were able to get 13 eggs. They fertilized the eggs that day and then called the next morning to say that we had 7 embryos. I had a few days of rest as we waited for the embryos to mature for the implantation. Jan. 27th we went in for the embryo transfer. They gave us an update that 3 of the embryos had stopped developing. Out of the 4 remaining, 2 were looking really good. They weren't sure yet if the other 2 would be mature enough to freeze and use in further cycles. We decide we would transfer our 2 best embryos. During the transfer they had a monitor that connected to the lab and showed us the microscopic view of our embryos. We watched them get sucked into a syringe and then the lab workers brought them into the operation room. One of the nurses was preforming an ultrasound throughout the procedure so we were able to watch the embryos enter the uterus.

The embryos are microscopic so they put an air bubble before and after them. The circled white spots are the air bubbles.

The next few days were called my "princess days". I was suppose to do as little as possible to help the embryos implant while Spencer took care of me. Luckily my Mom flew out to help, so Spencer got to be taken care of a little too. Unfortunately the lab called the day after the embryo transfer and said that our last 2 embryos had stopped developing. This means we have no embryos to freeze for future cycles. If this cycle was unsuccessful we will have to go through the whole process again. We are, of course, very disappointed. It makes it even more important that this one works.

We don't go in for our pregnancy test for another week so for now we just have to wait and pray it works. They gave us a 50% possibility we would get one baby, 25% we would get twins, and 25% it will be unsuccessful. We are really hoping for twins! Please continue to pray for us!

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Our Infertility Journey

We got married the summer of 2013 and decided we wanted to start trying for a family right away.

We were both still in school and stressed about graduation, so when months passed and we hadn't gotten pregnant we weren't too worried.

Spencer's graduation April 2014

After Spencer graduated, we started to suspect something was wrong. We decided we needed to talk to our doctor and he referred us to a great OBGYN. I was in the midst of student teaching and so we scheduled an appointment in April when I would graduate.

Student teaching in the BYU Preschool.

At this point, we had been trying for a year and a half. However, since we were both young and healthy, our doctor wanted us to wait a few more months using ovulation tests to try and get pregnant naturally.

In the fall of 2015, we did our first round of intrauterine insemination. After three rounds were unsuccessful, we talked with the doctor about what could be wrong. We knew I was ovulating regularly, but since I have painful periods we suspected I had endometriosis. We chose to have a laparoscopy in April. It wasn't fun.

During the surgery they found endometriosis and a uterine cyst. They removed everything they could find. At this point, my OBGYN referred us to the Utah Fertility Center and we met with Dr. Foulk. He explained to us that endometriosis can affect my Fallopian tubes, preventing them from working properly. IVF is only way to bypass the Fallopian tubes but since it is so expensive he wanted us to try a few more rounds of IUI to see if the surgery helped enough for me to get pregnant.

We tried to get pregnant naturally after the surgery while we saved funds for the IUIs. We tried two more cycles and they were both unsuccessful.

Our next step is IVF. We are hoping to raise enough money to do a cycle in January. We had our initial IVF consultation with our doctor a few days ago along with a uterine exam and he said we are all good for the beginning of January. We have a plan of care appointment and a financial consultation this week so we will know more in a few days. We are so grateful for any help we can get. Please keep us in your prayers.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Our Story

October 2012

Our first date. We happened to wear matching green striped shirts. We went and saw Divine Comedy on campus and then got ice cream. I tried very hard to hide my interest.....


We went our second date to a corn maze which lead to a third date carving the pumpkin we got from the maze.

November 2012

Our first week of officially dating we made my first snowman, Charlie.

We are both really fashionable...

December 2012

Christmas ice skating date

March 2013


Picnics and feeding the ducks

Tandem bike rides all over the Provo river trail.

May 2013

Our summer of adventures started with bringing him home to meet my family and showing him around California

Spencer taking me to explore beautiful Georgia with its ridiculous humidity

July 2013

Intramural softball team with our friends

Being ridiculous and enjoying our summer together

Getting second place at the Johnson family date night

August 2013

and FINALLY getting engaged!!!

I am so lucky to get to marry this guy. We've been through a lot together these past nine months and it has been absolutely wonderful. He is the love of my life and I feel so blessed to get to keep him for eternity.

Where did that come from?

I've learned so much about life, love, agency, and happiness from Carolyn. She is one of the most loving people I have ever encountered. She makes me feel so special and lifts me up constantly. She is going to be a wonderful wife and mother. I'm so excited to have her for the rest of my life and onward. It's going to be quite an adventure...