Join with us in raising money and infertility awareness...

Footsteps for Fertility Foundation Idaho Falls 5K...

We have decided to create a "Neal and Angie Guymon" team for the 5K Fertility walk in hopes we can be lucky enough to be one of the grant receivers to alleviate the cost of IVF through the use of a gestational carrier to bring home a baby!

The more who join our team the greater our chances of getting the grant! It would mean the world to us if you would come walk or run with us! The more who join our team the greater our chances at receiving a grant!  

What I love about this is that the more money raised the more grants they can award, so even if we don't receive a grant, how wonderful that we can help another couple who is struggling with infertility receive a grant for IVF.

 ❤️❤️❤️

The walk is May 5, 2018 2-4PM @ Freeman Park: Cultural Circle, Idaho Falls Idaho 83402.

Cost: $35

Join our team: Click link below and when you get to the section "Team Information" search for "Neal and Angie Guymon" select our names and then continue with registration process. 

https://endurancecui.active.com/event-reg/select-race?e=51599651&rf=fae9d7ab9d4649058b906d08c94571ae

If you don't live near us or can't attend the actual event but still want to help, you can choose a "Sleep-In" for fertility option and still join our team! Everyone that registers gets a ticket to put a name of someone they want the grant to go to and then at the end of the event they draw different names depending on the amount raised and those names that are drawn get a grant for an IVF treatment. So the more on your team the greater your chances! 

We love you all and are grateful for all your prayers and support as we try to expand our family. 

Embryo testing...

We decided to go ahead and test our embryos ( Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS)) for any genetic issues since we are going to be using a gestational carrier we want the best odds and knowing if it's a good egg definitely helps. (Pun intended ;))

For our 10 Frozen Embryos it cost $1400 from the lab and another $2420 from Utah Fertility Clinic for biopsy, thaw, refreeze fees.

Out of our 10 embabies:
*6 came back normal (2 males, 4 females)-- CRAZY they can tell you the sex of the baby already!

*3 came back abnormal (one had an extra chromosome 9, one was missing chromosome 1 and the last one had 3 sex chromosomes, was missing chromosome 4, and had extra chromosomes 8, 16, 21)

*1 was limited amplification (not enough DNA to test) so they can retest at no extra fee if we decide we want/need too.

We are really glad we decided to go ahead and get them tested as that will give us extra peace of mind as we continue moving forward.

Here's just a little info about the testing if you're interested. The testing we had done only screens for chromosome abnormalities. 

1.  Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS)  Screens for Chromosome Abnormalities

PGS tests whether an embryo has the correct number of chromosomes and which chromosomes are present. Abnormalities like too few or too many chromosomes are known as aneuploidy. Chromosome abnormalities are responsible for Down syndrome and Edwards syndrome as well as 60  percent of miscarriages.  PGS can also detect translocations, a defect caused when an individual’s chromosomes are rearranged. A person can be a carrier for balanced translocations without having symptoms. If a patient is identified to be a carrier of a translocation, they are at higher risk for miscarriage or a failed IVF cycle.

2. PGS Does Not Screen for Specific Diseases; PGD Does

Another type of genetic testing, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) screens embryos for specific genetic diseases. This test is important if you or your partner have a history of a genetic disease in your family or are a carrier for a genetic disease and you want to diagnose the embryos for that condition.

Recent research has found that screening embryos with PGS and transferring only the ones that are chromosomally normal can increase IVF success rates by as much as 23 percent.

Abdominal cerclage...

Dr. Denson did some extra research and talked to an old colleague that does a lot of these and he said he thought we could do it and place it higher and use some of the lower uterine tissue instead of the upper cervix.

So since I had met my out of pocket max last year we decided to go ahead and place an abdominal cerclage since it'd be free. It was a just in case we get pregnant miraculously (not that that's likely) but if I did and didn't have it in place I'd feel awful.

I had it done on 12/19 and everything went smoothly for the most part. I was just sore and tired and had to limit my weight lifting to 10lbs for a couple weeks. I had to stay overnight because I was coughing up blood after I came too and my oxygen was low so they had me on oxygen. They said I bit down on the tube when I was waking up and it caused them to scrape my throat so they think that was what the blood was from.

It was done laproscopic and robot assisted. Honestly I was so nervous of the gas pain that comes in your shoulder after surgery especially because I had some MAJOR pain with that after my egg retrievals but I didn't have any and actually felt pretty good compared to that and was very grateful.

http://contemporaryobgyn.modernmedicine.com/contemporary-obgyn/news/modernmedicine/modern-medicine-now/prophylactic-laparoscopic-abdominal-cercl?page=full

This website is helpful to understand who may benefit from having one.