Sticky thoughts!

This morning we had our second embryo transfer, but first frozen embryo transfer. We left the house at about 5:20 so we could be in Pasadena by 7 and although traffic was horrible, we were only about 5 minutes late. By the time we got to the clinic I had to pee.... Bad. For embryo transfers they like you to have a full bladder and since my bladder is the size of a walnut and gets full after a sip of water, I was ready to burst. 

They didn't call us back until a little after 7:30 and the nurse checked my bladder via ultrasound to make sure it was full, despite me telling her I was ready to pee my pants. When she checked, she thought my bladder may have been too full and asked me if I would be able to release a little bit and then stop. I told her that was a negative, but if needed I would do whatever the doctor wanted. She decided to let Dr. Norian make the final decision. 

When Dr. Norian came in, he told us both embryos survived the thaw. They are both graded 4AB. I'm not exactly sure what that means other than the quality of the inner cells is A and the outer layer is B... I think. Anyway, they're good quality embryos and that's all I care about. We still have 3 frozen embryos that we can use at a later date and although they're not as good of quality, I'm still happy we have 3. 

Our two beautiful embryos ☺️ 

Despite my bladder being pushed on by the ultrasound and trying not to pee everywhere, the transfer was easy. Dr. Norian decided my bladder wasn't too full and said it would make it a bit easier. It was just like our fresh transfer back in July, except I decided to hold my bladder for the full 30 minutes afterwards so I could stay laying down. I think I asked Chris what time it was every few minutes cause I could not wait to go to the bathroom! 

Our babies are right where the arrow is. The black area above is my bursting bladder. It's so amazing to watch the transfer on the ultrasound. We could see the embryos, surrounded in the fluid they were kept in, shoot out of the catheter. Dr. Norian told me to think "sticky thoughts" and be on bed rest for the next 48 hours. After that, I can do light activity but nothing strenuous. I'm off work the rest of the week and won't go back until Monday. I have plenty of time to rest so our babies can get nice and comfy! I've spent the majority of the day in bed or in the recliner and not doing too much. 

We're praying these little babies decide to stick around and we get to see their beautiful faces in 9 months. Thank you all for your continued support, well wishes and prayers!!

Alissha 

What Infertility Has Cost Us

Lately I've been wondering how much we've spent on fertility treatments, tests and medications over the last year and a half. I decided to go through all our receipts and add up what we had and that's the number I got.... $21,383.51. That doesn't include the hundreds I've probably spent on pregnancy or ovulation predictor tests over the last 3 years and 9 months or what we will still be spending over the next month or so. 

I'm not surprised by how much we've spent. We've definitely felt the impact and even more so lately with the cost of IVF. Our health insurance doesn't cover any fertility treatments or any of the fertility medications, so pretty much everything has been spent out of pocket. We've paid for everything ourselves with the help of credit cards and try to pay cash as much as possible so we don't have to charge anything. It's hard. 

I know there are other couples out there that have spent way more than we have and for that, I feel blessed. I've seen some couples set up Go Fund Me accounts to get help paying for IVF and I really have mixed emotions about that. It's something I wouldn't do, but to each their own. 

We would spend ten times what we have already to have a baby of our own. We get asked if we've considered adoption and I get a little annoyed with that. People think it's so easy to adopt and if we can't have children of our own that's a logical alternative. What most don't understand is that it can be very expensive to adopt and it's a lengthy process. Until we've exhausted all efforts to have our own biological children, we won't be looking into adoption. 

Alissha 

It begins!

At our consultation last Friday, we were given a check list of things we needed to do before we could do IVF.  The list included lab work for the both of us, an updated semen analysis for Chris, a financial consultation, a saline ultrasound of my uterus to check for polyps and fibroids, a "mock" transfer to prepare for the real deal, a Pap smear and a highly suggested genetic test.

On Monday we had our financial consultation to discuss the cost of everything. Yes, IVF is expensive but it was never about the money for us. We would pay ten times the amount were going to in order to have our own baby. Yesterday, Chris completed everything he needed to and I sent out the genetic test. The genetic test is a saliva test that screens for several disorders that may affect our children. If I am a carrier for a recessive gene, Chris will need to complete the test too to see if he is a carrier for the same recessive gene. If we are both carriers for the same one, our children have a 1 in 4 chance of having the disorder. So, I think it is totally worth doing! 

During our consultation, I was told I would need to call on day 1 of my cycle to schedule the saline ultrasound and mock transfer.  I've been anxiously waiting for my period to start and have never been so excited to start! So, we have the saline ultrasound and mock transfer scheduled for June 25th! Then tomorrow I'll start birth control. Wait, what? Birth control? Doesn't that seem contradictory? I'm TRYING to get pregnant, not prevent pregnancy. So here's the deal with the birth control.... The birth control is started to regulate my hormones, prevent ovarian cysts and hyper stimulation of my ovaries during the IVF process. I'll be on it for a couple of weeks and then start injections to mature my follicles that will hopefully have nice, healthy eggs inside! 

On the 24th I'll have my pap done and blood work. Everything is moving along as it should and I should have a better idea of what the next step is on the 25th! Woohoo! 

The genetic test 

I forgot how to take these.....