end of a chapter, hopefully to begin a new one!

Well today I am fully back at work and back to my normal routine.  It is a sad but bittersweet day for me.  It means I am closer to finding out if I am pregnant but I am sad that the process of it has ended.  No more shots, daily appointments, being bored in the apartment with Milena, spending time with my Mom, having my Mom at my house to clean and cook because I am NOT ALLOWED TO DO ANYTHINGGGGG!  It's all over and I am sad.  This has been a fun journey I must say no matter what the outcome is from all of this! The days are creeping by until I can get my blood test done to find out if I am pregnant.  Yikes. Keep praying! xoxo 

embryo transfer pictures!

My pictures are not loading properly.... grrrr!  I can't move them either!  Sorry you may have to tilt your neck to look at them!



Mom and I after the transfer!





Our two almost perfect embryos!



Preparing for the transfer!

This is when they were trying to find the exact spot in my uterus where they wanted to drop them in!

The Embryologist bringing in my embryos for transfer!

Embryos!

Well on Wednesday we had two beautiful embryos transferred back in! Prayers are needed in hope that at least one attaches and we get a positive pregnancy test in just a couple short weeks! Maybe it will be twins! I will post some pics when I get my laptop hooked up! Xoxo

tonight

Yayyy my Mom and Dakota fly in tonight!  I can't wait!  I was so bored last night after Deuce had to go home and now I get more company.  My Mom will get to be here on one of the most important days in my life, and words can't describe what this means to me, truly.  The support everyone has given us has been great. xoxo

7 is the new lucky number

Well out of the 10 eggs that were retreived, 9 were mature, and 7 out of those 9 fertilized.  Praise the lord.  I have waited on this information for such a long time that I almost feel like I am in disbelief.  It is amazing!  Now we just wait a few more days and the embryologists watch the embryo's 24 hours a day.  Some may not make it out of the 7 but 7 is a great number!!!!!!!!! 

Yayyy!

Well surgery went well today.  They retrieved 10 eggs :)  That is 10 chances for fertilization and we only need one to get pregnant!  I will find out how many fertilized and how they are doing within the next 1-2 days! 

I am now trying to recover from surgery.  I am in quite a bit of pain but it's all worth it! My husband is doing a great job of taking care of me.

Everyone please continue with the prayers..... xoxo

Nervous!

Well I am heading to bed. We have to be at the hospital by 7am to be prepped for surgery and for Deuce to provide his fresh sperm! It's really happening.... I just hope after I wake up they tell me they were able to retrieve a high number of eggs!

It's time!

I am fifteen minutes away from doing my "trigger" shot!  I can't believe it's really almost time for the retrieval!  My surgery will be Sunday morning..... prayers are definitely needed and much appreciated!  xoxo

update from past couple days....

I have really been slacking on posting on here, sorry.  It has actually been a frustrating few days for me due to how slowly I am progressing.  I am slowly making progress, but I am making progress. I just anticipated already having my eggs removed and getting close to transfer time.  I originially told my employer that I would return to work on Thursday the 17th but that isn't going to happen, I am looking at not returning until Tuesday May 22nd, but of course they are supportive.

My estrogen levels are taking a longer time to increase and they like the estrogen level to be at 3000.  I have went in every single day to be monitored.  Every day they follicles have increased and so have my estrogen levels.  :)  Today my follicles were ranging from 14-21 and my estrogen level yesterday had greatly increased!  They are saying I may do my trigger shot tonight or tomorrow and I should know today which day it will be.  This means that retreival of the eggs will be Sunday or Monday! I am not going to lie I requested that it be done on Monday if possible because the two best doctors would be preforming the retreival if it is Monday.  They are going to try to see if they think I will be okay to wait one additional day, but my blood work will be able to tell them that!  I had a long conversation with one of the lead doctors today about my progress and he said that it is completely normal and that they decided to take it slow seeing my age and then the number of follicles that originally popped up.  They could have increased my medicine a long time ago but didn't want too.  If my ovaries went through to fast of stimulation they could have been damaged forever and they don't want that.

My amazing Mom is flying out to be with me on Tuesday night and she is bringing my little brother who everyone knows is the love of my life!  I am so excited for her to be able to enjoy this journey with me! My husband came in Wednesday night.  He has been able to make it to some of the appointments which we didn't expect so that is a good thing! I have still been working every single day trying to get this property in some type of order.  I decided to not work at all today though because I woke up in severe pain and I am having a lot of nausea.  The doctors said this is normal due to the size that my ovaries are becoming. He wants to drive around and site see today and I agreed as long as I am able to sit in the car, lol.  We are trying to treat this as a vacation so that we can relax and not think about all the technical stuff but it's hard for me considering I have worked every single day since I have been here.  I am also going to get a massage today because I haven't had one in a few days.  I think I may have to buy more now that everything has been pushed back because I only have two left.  But we will see.  Milena is at the hospital now preparing for retreival.... I am so excited for her!  I am sad though because she is going home for the weekend and then only coming back for the transfer so I really won't see her to much anymore.  We will stay in touch though because she lives so close to me.  I am so glad I had her because without her I don't know what I would have done when my husband wasn't here.  Everyone say a prayer for her to have an awesome retrieval rate and successful pregnancy of course..... and continue the prayers for me as well! 

I will be sure to update after we go "site-seeing" today. 

5/8/12

Doctor's appointments went good again.  Follicles are still growing and holy crap are they killing me today.  The pain gets more intense everyday of course but today, WOWWWWWW.  I can't even stand up straight to walk!  But as always, it is worth it!  Follicles were ranging in size from about 12-17.  :)  Milena's were ranging from 12-19 so they are telling her that they are going to have her do her trigger tomorrow which means she will have retrieval done on Friday!  I am hoping I will get the go ahead to trigger on Thursday which means retrieval will be Saturday.  I wonder if my Mom will comeeeeeee, she wanted to be here for the embryo transfer but if I have retreival Saturday then I won't have the transfer until Monday-Wednesday and she has to work :( 

Milena and I are getting ready to go for our massages so I have no time to write anymore!  xoxo

5/6-5/7

Well yesterday's doctors appointment went good..... I still have a large amount of follicles but they are growing slowly which is what they want.  This means that my egg retrieval will happen a couple of days later then originially planned.  But if they rushed it I could get "ovarian hyperstimulation" and that may require surgery and I will then have this entire thing cancelled before they did anything :( But I did confirm with the doctor that having a large number of eggs isn't a bad thing but I am just at increased chance for the ovarian stimulation.  Having more eggs means an increased rate of pregnancy!  

I worked for a bit yesterday and then Milena and I went for massages again!  We also went to Downtown Bethesda for dinner and I found Georgetown Cupcakes which is where DC cupcakes is filmed. Below are a bunch of pictures for everyone to enjoy!  It is so amazing here......  but I am missing my hubby and my puppies terribly.  

 

Today I had no appoointments but I have been working since 8am!  Trying to stay busy because lord knows this is a long process.....  We have appointments again tomorrow.  Milena's follicles are growing quite quickly so she will probably get the go ahead tomorrow to do her trigger shot and they will retreive her eggs 36 hours later!  I am so excited for her!  An update will come tomorrow on our progress!  xoxo

5/5/12

Happy Cinco De Mayo to all!  Milena and I went to the property I am working at and tried to do some organizing and cleaning there, but it didn't work out to well.  We are determined to be stress free so we did go get massages today, and they were wonderfullllll!  We ended up buying 10 so we can split them so we both have 4 more massages to use!  We got a great deal, granted I shouldn't have spent the money it was so worth it! But it can't hurt it can only help to get the blood flowing!  We have early morning appointments so I will be sure to update everyone on my follicles tomorrow! 

Here is Milena relaxing before they began our massages and reflexology!

Below is a picture of some of our medications..... 

change in medications

So I got a call from the nurse earlier and they have increased one of my medications. I am assuming they are wanting my follicles to come up to the correct size a little bit quicker then they are now..... Milena and myself have definitely been feeling the pain from our ovaries.  Our follicle sizes were ranging anywhere from 6-9ish today and they have to be between 18-21 to be removed for the fertilization.  We are scared to see how much pain we are going to be in as the eggs increase in size. Ughhh.  But it will all be worth it in the end! Milena and I enjoyed being lazy today.  We went to our appointments, came back to our apartment and slept, then ran a few errands and went to dinner!  We are considering getting massages tomorrow because we want to be in full relaxation for this entire time.  I want to also get a massage the day before egg retrieval and then again right before they put the egg back in but of course I have already spent a ton of money on everything else I am not sure I can afford all of that.  But again I think it will be worth it... literature all shows that getting massages or acupuncture are good for infertility because relaxation is key when dealing with it!  Anything is worth a try.....   

Here are a couple of shots from driving around!

5/4/12

My doctors appointment went good! They found 21 follicles, which I thought was great but my doctor said she only wants like 15. Having to many can cause them to not grow to the size needed etc. the follicle is what holds the eggs so it's a possibility that they will not all produce eggs. She assumes that some won't and we will know in the upcoming days if the follicles dont continue to grow! I am crossing my fingers that I end up with 15 :) if they all continue to produce eggs I am going to be in pretty severe pain, yikes! So far so good! Yayyy! Now I am heading back to sleep for a bit! Xoxo

5/3/12

Not much excitement today in my world! I am waiting on Milena to arrive and we will then get fully settled into our apartment! I did do some driving and discovered awesome stores and cute stuff! I also worked for a little bit today but that was short lived! My ovaries are not my friends right now.... They are causing a lot of discomfort but it's all worth it! Tomorrow Milena and I both have 6 am appointments for vaginal ultrasounds and bloodwork! This will be the first look at our ovaries since beginning the multiple injections so I am quite excited to see how many follicles they see! The more they see the higher the chances! Keeping my fingers crossed! Xoxo

The Thomas Family's Journey

So it begins.....

Today we started our IVF journey (which I am calling the first day of the rest of my life.)  A journey that is long awaited and very scary to say the least.  Dealing with infertility is something that many people deal with yet there are many people who know nothing about it.  The pain that it causes is sometimes unbearable but you learn to be strong and live through it. Those who have never experienced this have NO idea what it is like. I do a great job of hiding the hurt and pain it has caused and everyone should know that this is definitely a life changing experience for us.  It makes you really realize what you have and it makes you cherish it more then ever!  My husband and I have went through hard times in our marriage because of this (which was only due to the stress that infertility can cause.) But of course we are stronger and better then ever because of this. 

For those who may not know what IVF (in-vitro fertilization) is let me break it down for you easily.....I am currently going through ovarian stimulation which is where I am giving myself daily injections of certain hormones that are causing my ovaries to produce a larger number of eggs then usual.  I will be closely monitored on a day to day basis.  Once I am at the peak I will give myself what they call a "trigger" shot which induces ovulation. 36 hours later I will have my eggs surgically removed and my husband will have to ejaculate in a cup (all jokes aside) and the specialized doctors will then take the strongest of his sperm and individually inject one sperm into each one of my eggs that they remove (This is called ICSI.)  The more eggs that come up and they are able to get out the higher the chances are.  After they inject my eggs they were monitor them on a daily basis and "grade" them.  On the third day after removal I will go in and have sit down with them on how they are doing and if the embryo's don't seem very strong they will insert the best looking one that day, but if my embryo's are strong they will hold them out for another two days and make sure they fully fertilize. On the 5th day (if they are still monitoring them) they will insert the strongest embryo back into my uterus and then we just cross our fingers that it attaches :) 

I arrived in Bethesda, Maryland last night.  It was a tough day for me.  In the morning when I left my house I had an emotional break down because it's finally happening.... plus I have to leave my doggies and husband for up to two weeks. I have rented an adorable basement apartment with another women (Milena) that is under going the same thing as myself!  We met on Facebook and have become friends!  We are excited to have each other's backs through this entire thing considering our husband's can't be here the whole time! Milena will be arriving tomorrow....  The neighborhood we are staying in is so nice and we are really close to downtown Bethesda where there are lots of cool shops and dining choices!  We hope to get out and explore.  Today was an easier day appointment wise, all I had to do was go in for blood work.  They will do this daily to check my hormone levels to make sure they are increasing and this also lets them know if they need to adjust the amount of medication we are injecting in ourselves.  After my appointment I slept for a little bit considering I had to go in at 5:45am and then I headed off to work.  I have a great job that has provided me the opportunity to work while I am up here on a open door basis.  If I can go in then I will and if not I don't have too, I can just come and go as I please depending on my appointments and my body!  This has allowed me not to use all of my vacation time, thank gosh! 

Love this house!  Down a few houses from where I am staying!

a view down the street!

The kitchen of my apartment!

One of the many beautiful houses on the street

Right outside of my apartment door!

The only problem we are having at this point in time is picking out names that we both agree on. With trying to stay positive through out this entire thing we have went to stores and looked at stuff we want, we have purchased baby books and also baby name books etc.  I can deal with this being the only issue we are having right now!  :) 

On another note though Deuce and I would really like to extend our gratitude for the prayers and love during this time.  We are really excited for this time in our lives and we are so glad that we can share with those we love! Please continue with the prayers..... We love you all! <3