Meds, meds and more meds

A lot has changed on the medicine front, yet nothing has changed.  I took my last birth control pill on Sunday January 25th and I noticed an immediate change in my attitude, I don't feel as grumpy as I was.  Birth control has always done that to me.  Thank goodness I will never have to be on it again.

On Wednesday January 28th I decreased my Lupron injections to 5u, which is so small it seems like it's not even worth it.  But it does work.  I also started my estrogen pills.  Half a pill in the morning and half a pill at night. I struggled with an estrogen headache for a few days, along with caffeine withdrawals, it's been tough.  I have been using my DoTerra Lavender oil to help though.

Just yesterday my estrogen intake changed.  I now take 3 pills in one day.  So far, I'm ok, since I am only on day 2.  I have noticed my body changing (just like it did on the other two rounds); I get a lot of cramping, headaches and I have no appetite.  I have lost more weight than I should and I have been drinking protein shakes and Gatorade to help my levels.  When we got pregnant with Weston, I found out that I have a sodium deficiency; I don't keep enough in my body.  That is where the headaches come into play.  So Gatorade is my friend.

We find out on Tuesday what day we will be doing the transfer.  It will be one day of  Feb 16-18. It all depends on the lining of my uterus and if it is ready to receive the embryos. It seems like we just started the process, yet it has taken so long.  January was a long month of waiting until the shots started.  Now it just seems to be flying by.

I did have a realization moment the other day.  This is it.  If it works, we will have another baby (or 2) and if it doesn't work, we will have Weston, who is enough.  The finality of it has become a reality.  We have talked about doing the process over from step 1 and we have decided that we have done enough.  We have done enough.  God as given us one little miracle that we love and adore.  Maybe we will look into other options like adoption; but for now.  We have done enough and we are grateful either way.  Baby or no baby.

Thanks for all the extra love and prayers.  Add some extra ones for a dear friend of ours who just completed their round of IVF and are doing the "waiting" process for the pregnancy test.  Medical science has come so far and I am grateful that God has allowed man to do it.

The Big Appointment

Yesterday, I had my big appointment.  The sonohystagram, trail transfer and endometrial biopsy.  I had a friend watch Weston for me, jumped on the train and headed south.  Chris picked me up at the train station and we headed to Daybreak for the doctors appointment.  Normally I go to the U or U clinic in Centerville or at the hospital; but this was the only appointment they had available to do all 3 procedures at the same time. 

The sonohystagram is pretty easy.  They flush out your uterus and tubes with salt water to make sure you that don't have any blockages and your good to go.  A little cramping, but nothing bad. 

The trial transfer. They use a catheter and do exactly what you think, do a mock trial transfer.  They want to double check and make everything is clear and to also mark how deep to go in with the catheter.  Easy peasy. 

Now, onto the endometrial biopsy.  Not fun.  They gave me some Ibuprofen to help with the discomfort and then they use a catheter and they poke at your uterus repeatedly.  They did this 3 different times; each time they went a bit deeper.  They want to get as much tissue sample as they can, along with damaging the uterus enough so the embryos can attach to the "scarring".  I had severe cramping during the procedure, but about 5 minutes after I was ok.  Its great to have this done because they check for precancerous cells.  If anyone know the celebrity, Giuliana Rancic, this is how she found out that she had precancerous cells for breast cancer; would have never known had they not started the IVF procedure.

Today I am feeling ok.  I had to stop all caffeine and alcohol intake on Sunday.  Alcohol has been easy to stop, I only drank occasionally anyways.  The caffeine on the other hand, I am struggling with.  I am having bad headaches, so I am having a small coke every other day to help.  Hopefully I can start going a lot longer.

Next Wednesday, I decrease the amount of Lupron I am injecting to 5 units, stop birth control and start estrogen; so if you see me crying, I'm fine.  100% fine, just on a hormone high.  We go back to the doctor on Feb 10th to check the lining of my uterus to make sure we are ready.  Or as Dr Peterson would say, check to see if the hamburger bun is ready for the meat, lol!  We will find out that day when we will transfer the embryos.  Right now we are pending Feb 16th , 17th or 18th; they will also let us know when we start the Progesterone shots, now be jealous.  We draw the medication out with a 22 gauge needle and put back in me with an 18 gauge needle.  The things we do for babies!

And big news also, we bought a house! Yes, we were originally going to build, but the house we found is going to be perfect for what we need.  We are under contract and scheduled to close the same time as the embryo transfer!! It's going to be a great week in February!

Thanks everyone for the love and support!!

Lupron

On Sunday, the injections started.  I have a picture of the meds, but my computer crashed, so I am blogging from one that is not mine.  The Lupron is 10 Units each day, and so far, so good.  I am still on the active birth control also.  This injection goes right into the abdomen, not very painful, feels like a tiny bee sting.

Easy peasy right! 

Appointments

It's that time, time to make all the appointments.  I have been on the phone all morning with the U of U trying to get all of our appointments scheduled and meds orders.  I am happy to report, the meds are ordered and I start the first injection 2 weeks from today, eeeeekk! I have made 1 out 2 appointments, on hold as I type for the second appointment.  And after, I get to make the full payment, only $2720.00.  I'll take it! When we paid for Weston, I remember swiping $9000.00! What a difference a frozen cycle can make.

I am still currently on birth control and it's driving me crazy.  My cycle and hormones are screwed up a little bit, so I have been on edge.  I am trying really hard to think before speaking.  I love Chris's face when I say something he doesn't like; he wants to get made, but laughs instead.  The birth control is also making me very queasy.  I never have to take the stuff, so when I do, it fights me.  Only three more weeks of the stuff, and then I will be explaining what the Estrogen does to me.  HAHA! We better stock up on chocolate! 

Judgment

I try really, really hard to not judge someone's situation.  But tonight, I was faced with being in a judgment position.  I am working retail right now to earn some extra cash for our future home, so I work with a bunch of young adults.  There is a young woman there, that on the first night I met her, she told me that she was pregnant.  I was excited for her and told her Congrats! I really don't get upset when other people are prego; it's not their fault that we have to go what we got thru.  But tonight, she told another co-worker that she has decided to have an abortion.  My heart stopped instantly and my hands started to shake.  This was my moment of judgment.  I don't know her situation; I don't know if she has support at home like I do; I just don't know.  But I instantly became angry.  There are so many families and couples that would love this little baby that she is going to just disregard; we are one of those couples.  How can people make that choice and be ok with it? I didn't say anything to her tonight.  I wasn't in the right place, and it really is none of my business, but it brings up so many questions.  Why would God allow this to happen? Because he gave all the gift of Choice and Accountability.  It will be her judgment day, not mine.  But that doesn't mean it still hurts.  So please, for me, please be grateful for a few minutes with the positive things in your life.  If you can get pregnant at the drop of a dime or if you are like us and you pay and pray for a baby; be grateful for what you get to experience and look at the positive side.  I know I will hold Weston a little bit tighter tonight knowing that I paid a lot of money, had crazy hormones and fought for his life at Primary Children.  Thank you to God for listening to us and guiding us thru this crazy battle.

The Cycle

The cycle has begun and here goes nothing! Who knew that wanting your "flow" to start would mean you could be having a baby; it's normally the other way around.  I start birth control on Sunday; I know this sounds bizarre, but for some reason, when you start the process on birth control, it kick starts your ovaries into doing what they are supposed to do.  It is going to take about 2 months to get he end result.  The best part, they have the embryo transfer scheduled for the week of February 16th, that is the same week we got pregnant with Weston in 2010! Let's hope that week stays lucky for us and we get another baby.  Here is a quick synopsis of the meds and when they will start.


1. Start birth control pills on 12/21/14, and continue to take active birth control pills daily until 1/24/15.
2. Sonohysterogram, trial transfer and endometrial biopsy with Dr. Peterson between 1/19/15 - 1/23/15 (the last week of birth control pills)
3. Start Lupron injections on 1/18/15. Your dose of Lupron will be 10 units daily.
4. On 1/28/15, you will decrease Lupron to 5 units daily, and start taking Estrace 1 mg (1/2 pill) 2 times daily.
5. On 2/4/15, you will continue Lupron to 5 units daily, and increase taking Estrace to 2 mg (1 pill) 3 times daily.
6. Screening ultrasound (to measure the uterine lining) needs to be scheduled for 2/10/15.
7.  Your Embryo Transfer is scheduled to occur the week of 2/16/15 with Dr. Johnstone.
8. Progesterone in olive oil 100mg/ml. (I had a reaction to the last round of progesterone that is made with a different oil.  This time, we have to pay a bit extra for progesterone made with olive oil, but I will only have to take a small amount instead of a large amount.  This is the worst shot of all and I take it until week 10 of pregnancy.)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  We are very excited, yet very anxious!

Baby #2 and/or #3???

Is baby #2 in the works? It sure is!   

Last September/October (2013) we did a cryo cycle of frozen embryos and we were unsuccessful.  It was very emotional and a very large eye opener, but we got thru it.  It made us stronger and ready to try again.

So here we are, trying again.

We have met with our doctors.  We are very excited.  The process is very similar, yet very different from the first and second rounds we have done.  The meds are basically the same, except throw in a lot of estrogen, and we are good to go.  We have 1 straw of 3 embryos left.  The doc is planning on transferring 2 of those 3 embryos, only if that many survive the thawing process. On our frozen round we did last year, on 2 of the 3 survived.

We are very excited and we ask for some extra prayers and some love.  This is essentially our last chance for babies.  And we are ok with that.  If we have another one or two we will be so happy! And if we have none, we will still be so happy.  God has blessed us with an amazing little boy that is full of fight and spunk.  We wouldn't have it any other way if that is what was meant for us.

Thanks for joining our journey with us, again! I will be documenting the process step by step and will be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.