May IVF Cycle

Alright, so its been a week and there are still a few people who are waiting to hear how the IVF went. In short, it didn’t work this time. We have four more frozen embryos, and we will do another transfer this summer. If you would like the details, keep reading...(its a LONG one my friends...so get a snack!).

So I just want to start by saying that even though we were devastated to know this first attempt didn’t work, we have also seen great blessings and answers to prayers through this process. It would be easy to revert back to our days of asking “Why us? Why aren’t we blessed with children when there are teenage girls, women who don’t want kids, people who don’t deserve kids...all having babies. So why not us?” But that’s just not our style. We had our time to be sorry for ourselves, and we simply will never go back to that place. It’s just not productive.

Let’s be realistic- we knew that there was about a 30% chance that this would not work the first try. We chose to hope for the best, but of course knew that there would also be a worst case scenario. So through all this we only spoke positively, and we did not play the “what if” game...a positive attitude can go a long way!

Our story is not unique. Not in any way. There are thousands of other couples sitting at home right now knowing that their May IVF cycle just failed. This is not a pity party...I just hope that someone else might read this and find comfort knowing a similar story.

PART ONE

It started with all of the meds- a month of shots. Two weeks of one shot a day and two weeks of three shots a day. Then post-IVF estrogen patches and progesterone suppositories 4 times a day for two weeks. Here is a pic of all the shots...and the sympathy flowers are courtesy of my sweet sis-in-law Michelle :) 

The daily shots...

Mark enjoyed this a little too much!

 

The last shot of the cycle...finally!

 

We were able to be up in Utah for a little more than two weeks (one week prior to the egg retrieval and one week after the embryo transfer)...which was AWESOME! The failed cycle was worth it just to spend uninterrupted quality time with our family and hang with the newest member of the Altmyer fam....little Graham! Oh how I love him :)

We also got to spend some time at the temple :)

And we can't forget the trip to the ER the same day as the egg retrieval...Mark hurt his foot. Don't worry, he is okay!
 

Okay so the meds were not pleasant, to say the least! You can just ask Mark about the first two weeks, I was a little emotional. haha Two of the funnier instances of craziness- there was one day where I was sobbing that Mark had to go to work...and another time I cried because I spilled a cup of water. It was kinda hilarious. I was super duper bloated...like I literally could not fit into my jeans for like 3 weeks. I didn’t really think about it before we started the cycle, but apparently when you have 15-20 eggies growing all at one time it makes you a little puffy :) But all in all Mark was AMAZING and he catered to my every need. He’s so sweet!

PART TWO

We loved loved loved our two doctors (and our two nurses Jennifer and Ashley!), they were so normal and personable. So unlike any other doctor we’ve met before, they really seem to care about us! They make us so comfortable and we will be happy to do another cycle with them. They were able to retrieve 16 eggs from me, successfully fertilize 11 of them...they let those 11 grow in an incubator for three days and chose the best two for embryo transfer...then on day 5 in the incubator there were 4 eggs still growing strong so they have those frozen for us for the next transfer. So that’s good news (because some people are not lucky enough to have extra embryos to freeze)!

I had blood drawn or an IV every other day...so both of my arms started to look like pin cushions.

Here is an attractive picture of me on the day of the egg retrieval LOL

Anywho. Everything went perfectly, and the docs were very very happy with the quality of our embryos and my uterus...they were hopeful that the transfer would be successful. The first week had no symptoms, issues, etc...the second week was going great until Friday morning (I was going in the following Monday for the pregnancy test) when I started to bleed a little. Let me tell you, I was not a pretty sight when this happened...

Call it hormones, but I literally fell down to the ground sobbing... “please don’t let this be happening....don’t let this happen....don’t let this happen...” Until this point, I had little-to-no doubt in my mind that the cycle was going to work. But at that moment I just knew, I had a feeling in my gut that it was done. Mark was not as convinced and tried his best to assure me (as did my nurse Jennifer) that bleeding can be normal in some pregnancies. But the bleeding continued until Sunday, and Monday came around and we got word that the test came back negative. I’ve never felt devastation like I did that day...and I cried for the next two days. But I have a good husband, and he stayed home with me.

PART THREE

So here we are today, I’m feeling much much better and I haven’t cried in a few days :) And we are moving forward with continued positive thinking! But really, this whole process has made me even more acutely aware of how miraculous pregnancy truly is. People say all the time “Oh my husband just has to look at me an I get pregnant!” or “I wasn’t even trying when I got pregnant”...all of which are just ridiculous to say. I obviously understand how complicated pregnancy truly is, but I really don’t think other people know. It’s not as simple as “Oh, the sperm just fertilizes the egg.”

To begin with, each normal cycle only releases one (on rare occasion two) eggs. That egg is released only on a specific day, at a specific time (ovulation), and if not fertilized soon enough will be discharged from the body. Roughly 100 Million of sperm have to make their way to the fallopian tubes (where only a few hundred will actually make it, simply because of the natural barriers and swimming upstream) and a single sperm has to fight for 24 hours to penetrate the egg. This alone is amazing.

Instantly the egg begins to divide- 2, 4, 8, 16 cells and so on. It continues to divide inside the fallopian tubes for 3-4 days and then the egg moves on to the uterus. If those cells divide unevenly, with cells being different shapes and sizes, or simply stop dividing all together- the fertilization has failed.

To realize how amazing this really is- think about this....I had 16 eggs (all you peeps out there with a normal, natural cycle- you only have ONE egg!). Only 11 of those 16 eggs matured properly (prior to the ovulation) to even be considered for fertilization. Of those 11 fertilized eggs only TWO had progressed to the required 8-10 cells needed by day 3 after fertilization. The remaining eggs were allowed to continue to grow, and of those 9 eggs only four continued to grow properly (and were frozen for the future). So to think that I had 16 chances with this one cycle, where everyone else has only one chance each cycle....think about how amazingly fantastic it is that someone can get pregnant so quickly.

And even if you do get a nice, pretty, prefect little fertilized egg- it still needs to implant in the uterus lining. This is obviously where our cycle failed. Just for fun, here are our two beautiful embryos that were implanted...and trust me, they are prefect!

I think I will end this post for now...there is so much that could be said, so many details...but those can be left for another time. Of course, if you do have more questions about some of those details- I am an open book :) Just email me.