Transfer Day is COMING!

Ok, so now that I have unleashed the sadness of what was a very dark moment in our lives, it is time to get excited!

Bryan and I received the AMAZING news on March 2nd that ALL THREE of our embryos are normal and recommended for transfer!  THEY SURVIVED GENETIC TESTING!  My nurse Samantha called us early in the morning to let us know.  I am so grateful for our team of doctors and nurses, they really go above and beyond for us.

She also left word in the voicemail that she knew the gender of all three embryos, and could give us that information if we wanted.  It was so odd because without even thinking about it we both agreed we wanted to know.  I always thought I would grapple with a choice like that a little more.  It seemed right to know.  We have, drumroll….

TWO BOYS AND A GIRL!  I teared up when we got the news.  How amazing is science?  We know that our embryos are normal, and we know what gender they are.  This process blows my mind every single day.

We then needed to wait until the insurance company gave us authorization to move forward with the transfer cycle.  This didn’t happen for another week, and while it was annoying at first I was ultimately glad that my body was able to calm down a bit longer following the retrieval.  You see, our first ultrasound after the retrieval showed cysts (which are apparently normal, despite our complete shock/horror/worry at hearing “cysts”) that were still measuring in the 20’s and so I had a lot of calming down to do!  In the meantime they put me on birth control to control my cycle.  None of this was going to bother me, we had THREE HEALTHY embryos!!

Once we got the approval from insurance (March 9th) I stopped taking birth control. My nurse warned me that I would bleed a little…for some reason I always get a monster period when I stop taking the birth control.  Bring on the diapers, opps I mean pads!  We ordered the meds right after getting authorization, and they arrived on the 13th.

This delivery was both more and less intimidating than all of our previous meds.  All I needed to do for the first week or so was take Estrogen pills, but we also got our gigantor needles, the progesterone, and a BUNCH of suppositories.  I am not kidding, there are like 3 boxes….

My doctor usually gives me notes step by step (instead of front loading information) and so Bryan and I had a dandy old time trying to figure out what all the suppositories were for.  The first day of morning monitoring after taking the pills my estrogen levels were rising, and the uterine lining was thickening nicely (thank you pills).  My doctor said I “should” be fine, but she was definitely not 100% sure my lining would be thick enough by our scheduled transfer date.

After this appointment I went a little IVF crazy, reading blogs…

http://www.rungiarun.com/2014/03/foods-for-fertility-and-implanation/

http://lifeabundant-blog.com/2013/11/01/possible-ways-to-thicken-your-uterine-lining-and-improve-implantation/

(thank you Nicole) and gathering information about foods that help your uterine lining thicken. We bought pomegranate juice, brazil nuts, red raspberry leaf tea, and tons of kale which I have been eating pretty routinely.  I don’t know if its a bunch of malarky but when we went back for monitoring 5 days later my doctor said my uterine lining looked BEAUTIFUL, and we got the go ahead for our transfer on MARCH 28th!!!

That appointment was this past Wednesday (the 21st of March). Today (Friday March 23rd) we started the progesterone injections.  I was EXTREMELY nervous about this injection because Bryan has to stab me with the inch and a half needle…the needle you always hear about when you begin IVF.  I was so nervous, in fact, that I barely slept last night before.  The injection needs to occur every morning between 6 and 8am (BUT NOT BEFORE 6!).  This morning Bryan watched all the instructional videos, and I set the mood with our milestone cards and a Tommy Bahama pineapple candle I found yesterday during my “snow day” off.

I also had my trusty buzzy in hand to take the sting away.  Truth be told, it wasn’t that bad!  Definitely hurt less than the menopure.  It wasn’t pleasant, don’t get me wrong, but it certainly wasn’t the horror I was anticipating when looking at the length of that needle!

As I sit writing this blog, and the injection site on my bum bum hits the chair, there is a soreness.  It feels like a rugby injury, like an area where some biatch kicked you.  All in all, I feel like a million bucks right now.

Transfer day is Wednesday…I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work. Luckily our sprint break starts that week and school is closed Friday.  I know it’s crazy because this is super important, but I HATE being away from school and my kiddos.  The spring break factor takes away so much of that stress and guilt.

It is GO TIME my friends.  By this time next week I will have a little Shanahan Embie on board!!!

#IVF Strong

#JOY in the process

#I know you aren’t supposed to have spaces in hashtags

# I’m in my 30’s I do what I want