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Thursday, September 29, 2016

HCG now and moving forward...

Sorry its been awhile since I had a chance to update. Life has been quite chaotic this last month and just busy. 

I took the last HCG level test on 9/16 and it was a 5 which Dr. Conway said 5 and below they consider zero.

I start Provera tomorrow to get me to have a period and we've decided to wait to do IVF #4 until December/January when Dr. Conway will be doing transfers here in Idaho Falls.

Some of our reasons are: it gives us more time to save up money it's about $5,000 for  the upcoming transfer and then saves us on travelling to Utah and lastly  we can enjoy the holidays without it all hanging over our heads and being anxious that I might miscarry .

We will be in touch with Dr. Conway office end of October beginning of November to get our schedule and start meds for the transfer.

Oh and our frozen little babies made it safe and sound! The embryo grade report Dr. Robins office sent about the grades of them (which we never knew) is 10 of them are grade 5AA and 1 is a 6AA (they say its subjective because it depends on person doing the grading) but that they will regrade them their way when they thaw for the transfer. 

Here's a little info on the grading scale

The grading scale is the Gardner Blastocyst.

There is a number, 1 – 6 to describe the stage and then 2 sets of letters (A,B,C) to describe first the Inner cell mass and second the tophectoderm.


So seems like we have some good little embabies according to the grade but that doesn't mean there aren't genetic issues like this last blighted ovum. I'm just praying the chances of that are slim in our case. 

We did find out  we actually can do genetic testing on the embryos but that would be another $5,000. So for now we are going to hold off. We don't have the money for both a transfer and the testing and I am turning my trust to Heavenly Father and that His will and way be done. But it's good to know it can be done if we choose to do so in the future. 

Can I just say how much I loved the General Women's Broadcast?! Elder Uchtdorf's talk spoke to my soul as he spoke of what faith is and what it isn't. 

He said" “Faith is powerful, and often it does result in miracles. But no matter how much faith we have, there are two things faith cannot do. For one, it cannot violate another person’s agency,” he said. “The second thing faith cannot do is force our will upon God,” President Uchtdorf said. “We cannot force God to comply with our desires—no matter how right we think we are or how sincerely we pray.”He said: “The purpose of faith is not to change God’s will but to empower us to act on God’s will. Faith is trust—trust that God sees what we cannot and that He knows what we do not. Sometimes, trusting our own vision and judgment is not enough.” 


So while we wait for our next transfer I'll be writing the stories of our experience with  IVF #1 and IVF #2 and the amazing adoption of our sweet boy. 

So stay tuned...




Thursday, September 8, 2016

Dr. Conway Appointment

So I met with Dr. Conway who is super sweet and had some ideas on stuff to try this next transfer to hopefully keep the baby in there long term.

Her plan is to have me do baby aspirin along with lovenox or heparin starting day of transfer in case I have a genetic clotting problem that is weird and not picked up on regular tests (since my mom and grandma both had clots while pregnant) ---I've done the most common work ups for recurrent loss and all have been normal.

Then she also suggested I try plaquenil (a medicine used for autoimmune like rheumatoid arthritis) in case I have some antibodies that attack the embryo/placenta.

She said these things are all more of an experiment but it's at least something to try that may help.
She recommended I still only transfer one embryo because of my weak cervix she said if you got pregnant with twins I'd be so scared your whole pregnancy. Plus sometimes if one twin is failing it pulls the other down and you can lose both.

Her PA Stephanie will call me in the next few days to schedule a day where we can coordinate the next FET (frozen embryo transfer) and calendar. Probably looking at 3rd week in November.

The plan is to get one more HCG level drawn next Friday the 16th to make sure its zero. Then wait 2 weeks and on 9/30 start provera to induce a period.

I'm to call their office on day one of period to schedule a saline u/s to make sure the uterine cavity is clear for transfer.

And our embabies are flying to Pleasant Grove RIGHT NOW! Praying they are safe and cozy.

Thanks for all your kind comments and love. Having all this support is more help than you will ever know.

I'll post more as I know.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Passing the BO (Blighted Ovum) and the last 2 weeks...

Sorry I've been MIA the last little while, just been dealing with passing the BO(sounds stinky because it has been) blighted ovum. And also been potty training my 3 year old. 

Please read at your own discretion... ;)

So went to my appointment on Monday the 22nd and did an ultrasound and that sac was still hanging out in there. So Dr. Denson prescribed me cytotec and said I could take it when I wanted to or not and wait it out. He told me to call on Friday and let him know how things were going. 

I came home from my appointment and planned to go out with my favorite boys that night and started cramping and bleeding heavily so we canceled our plans and I took some Tylenol and laid down and stayed close to the bathroom.

The next day was super heavy bleeding and clots and I was getting really light headed, short of breath and dizzy when I'd stand because of how much I was bleeding.

It was a tender mercy to not have to take the cytotec or wait any longer.

Wednesday was a little slower but still happening and I decided since I was stuck at home anyways I'd start potty training our 3 year old. He did awesome!

I'm still spotting and SO tired of it...just be done body...just be done already...ya know.

I had labs drawn Friday Sept 2 and my HCG has dropped to 152 so I definitely passed the sac. Now we wait until levels go to 0 to do another transfer.

I have an appointment with Dr. Conway tomorrow, she's the new IVF doctor here in Idaho Falls. It'll be nice to start new and fresh with a new doctor.

Our 11 little embryos get shipped off to Dr. Conway on Thursday too. So pray for them to have safe travels!

Can I just say how incredibly grateful I am for all the prayers for our family. They have held me together and I've seen God's hand and love throughout all of this. I can actually say emotionally I'm doing good and ready for another FET (it was easier knowing there was no baby and miscarrying then seeing the baby and heartbeat and losing them).

Sending hugs and heartfelt gratitude to all of you! <3 I'll keep you posted on what the plan is next.