Archive for category balanced translocation
Last Shot!
Posted by genescramble in baby, balanced translocation, egg donor, embryos, FET, genes, genetics, infertility, IVF, pregnant, progesterone, translocation on July 18, 2012
For anyone who doesn’t know, when someone does IVF (with or without egg donor) the person has to take progesterone til there 10th week of pregnancy. Some women use suppositories and some give themselves a shot daily. Well, I started shots of progesterone to support the pregnancy back on May 26th (2 days before the transfer) and I am happy to report that today was the last one! At this point the placenta takes over and supports the baby with what it needs. …I will not miss my morning routine of sitting on a heating pad, heating both the progesterone in oil and the area I inject it into. I will not miss getting the needles ready, and I will definitely not miss sticking the needle in to my upper back hip every single day. I think it’s time to find a new normal.
In other news, I’ve been having crazy heartburn this morning but gladly have only had really, REALLY bad nausea once so far this pregnancy. Our next big appointment is July 31 when we do the nuchal translucency screening which tests for the possibility of down’s syndrome, spina bifida, and a few other things. This is a normal screening that most pregnant women have and should be completely fine since I used the egg of a 29 year old.
-H
A Long Overdue Update
Posted by genescramble in Acupuncture, baby, balanced translocation, blastocysts, egg donor, embryos, FET, frosties, hCG, infertility, insurance, IVF, miscarriage, PNW Fertility, pregnant, translocation on March 7, 2012
I have not updated in a LONG time. Partly I think because I have been so involved in trying to get pregnant, and partly because I have been feeling guilty and a little ashamed that we even have to go through what we go through.
To sum up the past few months….intimidating, sad, long, hard, hopeful, all time consuming, draining – mentally and physically. Since November it took us another 3 months to get my lining to thicken up. In December we did the same protocol as November but without the lupron shots. Apparently my ovaries were supposed to still be “quiet”, not producing my own eggs at that time. We started off with estrace (estrogen pills) again but they caused some fluid in my uterus (same as in November) almost immediately. I was also still doing Vivelle patches. 2-4 every day. Then I got the pleasure of injecting myself with estradiol in my hip/butt area every 3 days. I just called this practice for the progesterone injections that come with IVF/FET (frozen embryo transfer). Turned out my lining still didn’t get thick enough by the time it was supposed to be, in fact it was thinner at just 6.5mm in December.
Move on to January when we did a natural cycle. We decided my body doesn’t like being manipulated by the drugs—fake estrogen just wasn’t doing it for me. Go figure. I had mentioned to my doc that I read that follistim works for some women on the balanced translocation group forum I’m on so by day 4 or 5 of my cycle I started these injections. The follistim medication is interesting because it is expensive….my rounds with my insurance company is a whole other topic I could write about…, it has to be refridgerated, and it looks like you are sticking yourself with a big ink pen in the stomach, everyday. It really is amazing what we do to our bodies to try to get pregnant. Well, by day 12 of my cycle nothing…absolutely NOTHING …. was happening. My estrogen levels didn’t even perk up a little bit from blood draws that were taken day 9 to day 12. Canceled cycle, over and done. When this happens they put me on provera (another type of progesterone) to get a period. I think by this point this was the 3rd time I had to take this for 7 days. Aunt Flow came 2 days after I stopped provera.
Fast forward to February. Another natural cycle. We had a trip planned to Atlanta as a surprise for my brother-in-law at the end of the month and I was very worried that with the timing they gave me we might have to cancel. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but it would have been a little disappointing. Well, turns out I started the follistim on day 2 of my cycle, which started conveniently on day 1 for keeping track of things. I took follistim religiously for 10 days and guess what!..IT WORKED! I had blood draws on day 6—my lining was already almost 5mm, day 9—7mm, day 10—7.8mm (THICK ENOUGH), day 11—still thick enough and then I got to take my HCG trigger shot at 3pm that day. We were finally where we needed to be to get the FET on the road! I though this is it! Finally we’ve gotten over the hurdles and we can get pregnant. On February 17, we were able to transfer.
That week went great before the transfer. It’s funny to me how I got so used to going to the dr. that it’s weird when I don’t have to go. One week you go four times and the next you just wait for the end of the week with no checkups in between. So friday, the 17th came. By then I was doing progesterone injections everyday in the butt/hip area, which you continue til week 10 of a pregnancy after transfer. Let me tell you, they aren’t pleasant. I had to drink 1.5 liters of water before the transfer, take 2 valium at 1pm, got picked up by my husband at 1:30pm, check in at 2pm and the procedure was done at 2:30. We got a picture of our embryo that was taken 1 hour before transfer. It is a crazy think to see what we all look like at just 5 days old…just a big blob of cells, really, that could form in to a beautiful baby. The transfer went like clockwork…they showed us what they were going to do and we could see the embryo on the screen starting to hatch even before it was transferred, which is supposed to be a good sign. They put up the catheter, which looks like a long spaghetti noodle, position it in the uterus and inside goes the frosty, ready to attach in a few days and burrow in to momma. I laid there after the transfer for 15 minutes and then I was free to get up and finally use the restroom. My hubby took me to my acupuncture appointment I had scheduled after and I fell asleep and relaxed. Then went home and sat on the couch for two days, ready to get pregnant.
With the timing of the transfer we were able to go on our trip to Atlanta and had great time, surprised my husbands brother and stayed 5 days. I was peeing on sticks later in the week we were there and I was getting 2 lines! I also had sore boobs, a bit of nausea (only once), and was getting tired in the afternoons. I was pretty sure I was getting preggo but I didn’t want to get my hopes up or tell anyone til we came home and took the blood test at the dr. So Weds, 2/29 I went in and got a great beta of 227! We got preggo!
But before you get excited out there, I had another blood test on Friday, March 2 and my numbers only went up to 254. Not good because usually hCG numbers double in 48-72 hours. It was a long weekend and I tested again yesterday, 3/6. My numbers went down to 171 so the embryo stopped developing.:( I’m going to miscarry.
I’m angry that it didn’t work. I’m sad. I feel guilty that I may have done something wrong in the two weeks post transfer. I’m worried that maybe my body, with the 3 way translocation, is rejecting pregnancies. But sometimes it just happens. Embryos don’t always form into beautiful babies. We knew there was always a chance of this happening but after having to go through so many hurdles the past 4-5 months this had to work. IT HAD TO. It didn’t. And I’m bummed. So bummed. The amount of time, effort, thought, money, energy, medications, we’ve put into this is just exhausting, draining, disheartening. I feel guilty, like maybe I’m a bad person who doesn’t deserve a baby. Did I hurt the baby by traveling or hitting a few tennis balls in GA? Did I eat something wrong? I assure you, I relaxed, I slept, I ate well. I’ve done everything up to this point that I should have and yet it didn’t work out. And now all we can do is try again with our one remaining embryo.
Today I woke up angry and cried as my husband held me and then had to go to work. Since then I’ve chatted online with a few friends and called my mom (who is not the most comforting person in the world). But I’m feeling a bit better. I do think I will cry a little more before I start to get over this but the grieving has begun. I will start a new cycle in a few days and have a follow up with my dr. next week and see what is next, if there’s something we do differently next time and go from there. They say I have have to go through two cycles before we can start anew so we will probably not transfer again til at least June. Which I think is fine…it will give my body some time to get back to normal, take a vacation that we have planned and refresh. I don’t know what’s next but I hope this path we’re on straightens out soon.
-H
Here We Go…
Posted by genescramble in Acupuncture, baby, balanced translocation, egg donation, egg donor, embryos, infertility, IVF, Lupron, PNW Fertility, translocation on October 25, 2011
Well, today I started my first round of shots. This all didn’t seem real until about last Friday when I got the box of medications, syringes, sharps box, etc. from Walgreens delivered to my door. And today I took the box to my clinic’s office and met with our nurse, Resa. We sat in a little office room at a desk and poured everything out and went through what everything is. The big needles will be saved along with a vile of progesterone for the end of November, which my husband will have to give me every morning (up to the 10th week if we get preggo). So for now I am giving myself a small shot of lupron in the tummy each day. I got to do it right in front of the nurse and it really didn’t hurt at all—the size of these needles are very small. I continue to do this until next Thursday and go in then for my first ultrasound and blood work and get to halve the dose that day. After I get my results back later that day I start progesterone patches on my tummy or lower back and have to replace them every other day, plus add one up to four over time.
Everything doesn’t seem so bad so far. We will see how it goes. I’ve got my 5th acupuncture appointment tomorrow and lunch with a friend who has gone through a lot of this already and is now pregnant. I’m excited to hear how her pregnancy is going and see if she has any tips for me.
-H