Making a Baby is Fun?

Making a baby is supposed to fun.  Or at least the practicing is supposed to be.  That’s what most people think, right?  This process has proven to be the exact opposite and today is no exception.

I had an appointment this morning for another ultrasound and more bloodwork to monitor my follicles and my hormone levels.  Everything is so scientific and timed perfectly so I’ve been going back for check-ups practically every other day so they can keep a close eye on me.  I can almost make the drive to and from Fargo with my eyes closed.

The medications that I’m on are really quite amazing to me.  The first week I was on two shots that encouraged multiple follicles with eggs to grow.  Like I said I was closely monitored so they could watch the progression and growth of said follicles.  Once a good number of them reached a substantial size, I added another shot to keep me from ovulating.  It was also around this time that you’re banned from…’practicing’…unless you want to risk having 8 eight kids.  To be honest, in the world of infertility when you are doctoring, there is a lot of NO SEX orders when you’re trying to make a baby.  Odd, right?

Our doctors had told me I was a model patient as they checked my ultrasounds and measurements and labs.  I was responding perfectly, textbook you might say.  I have about 24 follicles which is a great number.  But just because there is a follicle, doesn’t mean there is an egg inside of it and there’s no way of knowing that until my surgery on Friday when they take them out.  

At my appointment this morning the doctor mentioned I am at risk for something called OHSS, or Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation Syndrome.  Remember how I said I was such a good patient and responded so well which resulted in 24 follicles?  It’s kind of a blessing and a curse.  Obviously the more follicles you have, the greater chance that there will be a higher number of eggs giving you a better chance for a successful pregnancy, but it’s also causing my estradiol (estrogen) levels to sky rocket.  Usually that high estradiol number is an indicator there are a lot of mature eggs which is great news as well but it’s also an indicator that you’re at risk for OHSS. 

After getting back to work this morning, I received a phone call to tell me all of that^ and then was informed that I need to pick up two new medications at the pharmacy back in Fargo tonight.

When I ordered all of my meds a few weeks ago an HCG trigger shot was sent as well.  This trigger shot is to be taken at an EXACT time a day and a half before your egg retrieval surgery (not kidding, my order from the doctor says to take it at 11:59 PM exactly).  This shot ‘triggers’ ovulation so you ovulate right before the procedure occurs. HCG also happens to play a role in causing OHSS.  The doctor obviously doesn’t want to give me a surge of HCG under current circumstances so one of the new medications will do the job instead.  The second medication is to help reduce the effects of OHSS.

I’m not even sure I followed all of that so if you made it down to this point, kudos to you. 

Our egg retrieval surgery is scheduled for Friday morning.  Same rules apply to this procedure as to any other surgery i.e. no eating or drinking after midnight, no makeup, no contacts, can’t drive after, etc.  BUT for this surgery neither Joe, or myself, or any of the doctors or nurses are allowed to shower in the morning, wear deodorant, use lotions, perfumes, or anything scented.  The eggs and eventually embryos are EXTREMELY sensitive to smells (weird, right?!?) which can damage them so everyone in the clinic that day is au natural.  Gross.

Side notes I found interesting:

-It’s ‘IVF Week’ at the clinic this week.  I feel like we all should get t-shirts or something.  Each month our clinic services anywhere from 5-10 couples going through some aspect of IVF and it all culminates to procedures occurring during this ‘IVF Week’.  The limited number of couples each month also results in some pretty long waiting lists to start IVF.

-Our clinic has one Embryologist and one in training.  It takes roughly 6 years of additional training beyond your college degree to become a full-fledged Embryologist.

-With everything that occurs during IVF Week, an Embryologist flies in from Florida to assist in the lab for the week to help with the fertilization and growing of everyone’s embryos.

So here is a simplified timeline of what’s coming:

-Drive back to Fargo tonight and pick up new meds

-Take trigger shot tonight at 11:59 PM

-start additional med to combat OHSS

-keep fingers crossed OHSS doesn’t occur (it’s terribly painful and can have scary side-effects)

-Go in Friday morning for egg retrieval!!

-The lab will then fertilize the eggs and monitor them for five days

-After the five days see how many embryos made it to blastocysts and are healthy enough to freeze

-healthy blasts are frozen for a couple months

-After a couple months we go back and have two embryos put back in and PRAY AT LEAST ONE STICKS!  (We wait a couple months to let my body recover and give my hormones a chance to return to normal.  Success rates are higher when mama’s not crazy ;) )

We are able to freeze our embryos for pretty much as long as we want for when we’re ready to try for more children after or if this round doesn’t work.  There have been children born from embryos frozen for over 12 years!!!! That’s so crazy! If we have any embryos left after we are done having kids in the future, we are able to donate our embryos for adoption.  It works much like a normal adoption but I’ll go into that in a different post some other time.  This takes out the pressure of choosing a number to fertilize as Joe and I do not believe for moral and religious reasons in destroying the embryos.

For those of you who are willing to pray for us, here is what we need you to pray for right now:

1.     That Amanda does not develop OHSS

2.     That surgery is successful on Friday and the doctors are able to retrieve a good number of eggs

3.     That the eggs fertilize and that the perfect number grow to be healthy by Day 5 to freeze

Our heads are spinning, our minds are racing, and we’re trying to keep anxiety levels to a minimum as we take this one day at a time.  We so appreciate those of you who have offered support along the way and continue to do so.  This is a long and trying journey but we are hoping it’s all worth it when we are able to #BringHomeBirdie !

Joe and Amanda