33 weeks, 3 days – 3D Ultrasound Pictures and an Update!

Surprise! I bet you thought that you were done hearing from me…ha ha, you were wrong! So, I’m updating here because we’ve got 6ish weeks left over here. If it seems like time has flown by for you as the reader, it has over here too! For my video game nerds – you know how in Zelda: Majora’s Mask, you control the flow of time? Sometimes it feels like someone has played the “inverted song of time” (slow), and other times it feels like we’ve played the “song of double time”. It feels slower (to me) right now because the baby...

Over Halfway Done – Progress Report!

As a quick aside before I update everyone – the pregnancy comparisons to food are super weird. Last week it was a Mango, and now it’s an ear of corn? Okay, app. Whatever you say. I will be 24 weeks this Thursday, the 23rd and have my routine OB appointment the following day. According to both my pregnancy apps, his brain is continuing to develop and his lungs are developing the “branches” of his respiratory tree which will help him breathe in the outside world. Apparently, he is now considered ‘viable’, even though he would need intensive neonatal care. How am...

The Baby is the Size of What?

I told everyone that I would keep you posted, and look, here I am keeping my promises. We are officially 18 weeks pregnant – only two weeks off from the halfway mark! Crazy right? According to my two pregnancy apps, the baby is now the size of a sweet potato, or – a sugar glider. I’m not sure how I feel about our baby being compared to vegetables and animals, but sugar gliders are pretty adorable, so I’ll allow it. In my first trimester, I had some bloodwork done by Dr. Lee that indicated I may have hyperthyroidism caused by...

Cyst Be Gone

I’m sorry I left you all hanging and in suspense, it has been really busy for me lately and I haven’t had time to update. I had my appointment on Saturday October 1st, and that cyst is GONE. Thank you to everyone who kept me in their thoughts while we waited to hear. This cycle is going to proceed as normal! I have an appointment to check my lining on October 12th, and they will teach me how to give my PIO (progesterone in oil) injections. These are intramuscular injections, instead of subcutaneous. If you’re wondering what that means, it...

Roadblocks

Today was my Day 21 baseline appointment. This is generally a pretty routine appointment, you get an ultrasound, they count your AFC (Antral Follicle Count), and then you get your protocol that you will begin as soon as your period starts. …..Except, for when they discover a functional cyst. Some of you may remember this post, where I thought I had received my period but I had not. What I had was a functional cyst, as a direct result of stress in my body (stress, illness, professional, etc). This cyst is a direct cause of me not releasing an egg as I should. The...

Dents in Your Emotional Armor

No, this is not an album title…though now I feel like I should use it (so dont steal it!). This is something that has been on my mind to share for a few days, but it seems appropriate now because well… I had a little bit of a meltdown yesterday. Okay, okay…maybe it was a big, ugly crying breakdown. I have received a lot of compliments about how ‘strong’ I am, or remarks about how much courage it takes to write down our experiences like this. Truthfully, because I am terrible with compliments, I laugh or minimize these comments because...

WTF Appointment Part Deux

Hi everyone, As I mentioned in our previous blog, the infertility world refers to the appointment after a failed cycle as the “WTF” appointment. You discuss what happened in the cycle, how you would like to proceed, what your options are, how you are feeling etc. Let’s go in order, shall we? What happened this cycle?: We implanted our best 6AA blastocyst, my lining was 11mm, and everything looked textbook perfect. How would you like to proceed?: We are going to start another FET cycle with my next period, which should be towards the end of September or early October. My...

FET #1 Results – Negative

The title speaks for itself. There really is no concrete explanation of why this happened, other than what we all already know – IVF is never a sure thing. I began testing around 7 days after our transfer, and each home test was starkly negative. For a 6 day blast transfer, I should have received a positive around that time, or before. I generally prefer testing at home instead of waiting two weeks and going in for the beta and having my hopes come crashing down all at once. This way, when I test at home I prepare myself for the negative tests of...

Transfer Day!

We had our FET this morning and everything went great! Our highest quality blastocyst made it through the thaw and looked great, so that is what we transferred today. We opted to do the transfer at our IVF clinic itself instead of their surgical center in Redondo Beach, purely out of convenience. One of the things that I loved about this was that the nurses who prepped me were nurses that I see all the time. Patti (who taught us how to do our injections and has assisted on several ultrasounds) assisted Dr. Yee via ultrasound during the transfer. You know, there...

Finally Beginning our FET cycle!

Hi everyone, Sorry for the radio silence, but I haven’t actually had much to update you on until now. And WHY is that, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Ever since we began treatment – my cycle has decided to be ENTIRELY uncooperative. Go figure, right? Many years of tracking and constant reliability and as soon as we start treatment, my body goes, “Haha, NOPE.” This past cycle, my period was 13 days late. THIRTEEN. That’s almost a fortnight. I kept waiting and waiting for it to show up, and finally after about a week I broke down and took...