And I thought I had a lot of meds last time! When I last left off talking about my upcoming procedures, I had to take birth control pills for 18 days before beginning my next round. This is the first step in the protocol for a long IVF cycle before starting the stimulating medications and egg retrieval. This is the second time I’ve had to do this, and it’s all leading up to getting as many embryos as we can in order to have the best outcome for the real reason why we’re doing all of this, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). I know it’s supposed to help the process and give us the best possible outcome, but it really feels counterproductive. So do the condoms we have to use to make sure we don’t “accidentally” get pregnant on our own while in the middle of all this. There have been so many moments in the past few months that I have just wanted to say to heck with all this and get pregnant on our own again and maybe, just maybe the next time we’ll catch a good egg and it will all work out, but with my track record,…Continue reading IVF with PGD: Egg Retrieval Part 2 – Update #2
Tag: In vitro fertilisation
IVF with PGD: Egg Retrieval Part 2 – Update
We are officially beginning our second round in the IVF and PGD process. I went in yesterday for an ultrasound and blood draw to test my estradiol levels. All was good, so Dr J gave me the go ahead to begin taking birth control pills again. I’ll take the pills for the next 17 days, then stop and get another period, then I’ll start injections again and my next egg retrieval is tentatively booked for Dec 1st or 2nd. If we get enough eggs and enough fertilize, then we’ll grow the new embryos and the 5 we have frozen to 5-day blast and on the 5th day, they’ll take a biopsy of each embryo and send it to the PGD lab for chromosomal testing. So we should know by around Dec 6th or 7th if we have any viable embryos. If we do, we’ll likely wait until the end of that cycle and one more before doing the transfer. So sometime in mid January we will hopefully be ready to transfer an embryo. I’m feeling a little more positive today. When I wrote my last post, I wasn’t feeling very positive about moving forward this time around, but I’m feeling…Continue reading IVF with PGD: Egg Retrieval Part 2 – Update
IVF with PGD: Egg Retrieval Part 2
Here We Go Again It has been a while since I last wrote. It is partly because I decided to take our forced break in the PGD process as an opportunity to take a long overdue trip home to Canada to see my family and friends. I had been putting off traveling because of my hysteroscopy last November that marked the end one pregnancy, then trying to conceive again, then another pregnancy, then another miscarriage and finally our decision to move forward with IVF and PGD. It just didn’t seem like a good time to travel or even think about being away in another country. So when Dr J told me we would need to wait a cycle and go another round, I didn’t even hesitate. I booked the flight a few days later and flew out the week after. I thought going home would rejuvenate me, and certainly seeing my family and friends did help boost my spirit, but I came back feeling depressed and lonely. I spend the week with my nieces and nephew, held my best friend’s new baby girl, played with her other daughter and other friends’ children. It was amazing, I missed them so much…Continue reading IVF with PGD: Egg Retrieval Part 2
Sharing the Love
A surprise package came in the mail today from a dear friend of mine that brought tears to my eyes. It was so thoughtful and touching, I simply had to share this gift. The best part is I don’t even know what it all is yet! The box included 14 different wrapped packages, one for each day of the 2 Week Wait. She sent it before we had made the decision to post-pone our transfer in order to do another round of meds and another egg retrieval. We made the decision to get as many eggs as possible so we’re now in a 2 Month Wait rather than a 2 Week Wait. However, I could not believe this amazing friend had take the time to collect 14 different items, wrap them all, and write an inspiring quote on each one. Each package has a number between 1-14 and is intended to inspire me and help me cope each day during the all too stressful 2 Week Wait. We all know how difficult that wait is! I know I’m going to especially need this after waiting two months to just get ready to do our transfer! To my dear friend (you…Continue reading Sharing the Love
Update 2: IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)
A Little Set Back But a Move in the Right Direction Yesterday I had my first milestone appointment in the IVF/PGD process, the egg retrieval. I was put under for the procedure and 20 minutes later I woke up with some cramping, but otherwise, I felt OK. So all in all, I would say the procedure was a success. However, it looks like we will be doing this step again, so it’s Phase 1: Egg Retrieval Part 1 of 2. The reason for doing this in 2 parts is we were a little short on the amount of embryos that Dr. J would like to have before proceeding with the next step. We retrieved 7 eggs, but only 6 were mature and of those 6 mature eggs, 5 fertilized. So we now have 5 embryos that are ready to go, but Dr. J has recommended freezing these, taking one cycle off and doing another cycle of fertility drugs and another egg retrieval to get a few more so we can have at least 8 embryos to start the next phase in this process. The Rationale for Doing Another Egg Retrieval Prior to PDG and Transfer Dr. J wants to give…Continue reading Update 2: IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)
Update: IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)
We are getting ready for the first big appointment in the IVF process! Egg retrieval! Our egg retrieval is planned for Friday, September 20th! A little recap… I have now been doing hormone injections for 10 days. I began with only Follistim injections in the evenings between 6-8 pm, but after the first 3 days, I also began Menapur injections. For those who are reading this and have had repeated IVF procedures, forgive my exclamation, as I’m sure this is old news to you, but 2 needles in my belly every night is not fun! Then on Sunday, I also began Ganirelix injections in the morning to prevent me from ovulating too soon. So that’s 3 injections per day! This is not enjoyable, but so far things are going smoothly. Well almost. The doctor had me a little worried last week because early in the process after the first few days of injections, there were only 6 follicles showing growth. The other 4 follicles that we saw at my baseline ultrasound were not growing at all. Dr. J said he wanted at least 9 or 10 follicles in order to have enough embryos to send for genetic testing. He said it’s…Continue reading Update: IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)
IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)
The Journey to Having a Family Continues After the loss of our son, Holdon, my biggest concern moving forward with trying to become pregnant again was being at high risk for a reoccurrence of preeclampsia. This is still a huge risk that lurks in the back of my mind, but after my 3 miscarriages since then, this fear has been overshadowed by other fears… fear of having another miscarriage, fear of not being able to have another baby, fear of moving forward with expensive fertility treatments that don’t have a guarantee, and could result in further heartache and disappointment. However, after giving it a lot of thought, we have decided to proceed with IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis). After 3 ½ years, four pregnancies, one baby in heaven and 3 miscarriages later, our journey with trying to have a baby has taken this surprising turn. It’s surprising because I always thought of IVF as a solution for infertility, and it didn’t initially occur to me that this was a solution for us because we get pregnant quickly and easily. However, the word infertility comes with different definitions and for us it means recurrent pregnancy loss. Why do IVF for…Continue reading IVF and PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis)