Part Four: Let the injecting begin!

It was the end of December. I was in the hunt for our "President's Circle of Excellence" incentive trip. We decided that we'd do all that we need to do to get my body ready for IVF while focusing on earning my spot on the PCE trip. I started Birth Control Pills and had blood work done along with two very painful tests. One in which they tested my uterus to make sure it was healthy using saline solution and one where they tested my fallopian tubes to make sure they weren’t blocked. The fallopian tube test was for insurance approval since with IVF you completely bypass these tubes. That test was awful. I was in a lot of pain and Grant nearly passed out in the room after seeing me in pain. I wonder how he is going to make it through delivery! Grant had to have a few tests done as well. After all the testing we got the insurance approval in January! What a relief and a blessing!

I was just a few weeks away from knowing if I had earned our incentive trip. I told my fertility clinic that we’d start IVF in February if I didn’t win our incentive trip and in May if I did win as the trip was in April.

I went to our national meeting in the end of January, hoping that the final numbers would come out that week. I knew I was so close! The numbers came out...well I actually hounded out Director of Analytics until he handed over his all-knowing Blackberry! According to my calculations I had lost by 109 pills...which is not much at all...<1%. I was so upset. That night at the meeting I went to the gym at the hotel and ran. I had to do something to get my mind off this narrow defeat. I had worked SO hard and came SO close.

I felt this was God telling me to jump into IVF head-first in February. That is exactly what we did. Having been a supportive friend through several IVF ups and downs I thought I knew what this all entailed...

I ordered my medications from a specialty pharmacy. They all arrived in a one BIG box. Syringes, needles, gauze pads, alcohol wipes, SHARPS container for used needles, and all of the medications. It was overwhelming. On my first appointment, when we started IVF, I brought the entire box. The nurse walked me and my mom through all of it. How to draw up and mix the medication, how to inject it, when to inject it. This was all becoming so real.

 Here is a photo of a few of the medications/supplies in my guest room/Walgreens.

The bill from our first round of medications.

From that point on I was told I couldn’t work out or enjoy even an occasional happy hour. I had to act as if I were pregnant. No more lunch meat, no unpasteurized cheeses, no sushi, no tuna. I was on at least one shot each day, and sometimes up to 3 shots in one day. All of the shots were time sensitive…so my schedule had already become ruled by my potentially unborn, and yet to be conceived, child. My mom did a lot of the initial injections until Grant felt comfortable helping. There were even a couple of times I had to do the injecting on my own. We all became quite proficient! I had to go in every third morning for appointments to check my blood and follicle growth and have dose adustments in my medications. It quite the process. 

A sample of the used needles from all of the shots.

Then, on February 20^th my eggs were ready. Grant took me in early that morning for the egg retrieval. At that point I felt so bloated and had a good amount of abdominal pain…I was ready to get those eggs out of me and stop all of those injections.

I was put under anesthesia for the first time in my life. It felt like I was out just 5 minutes when they woke me up. In the time a normal woman produces one egg I had produced 14! They retrieved all 14 eggs. I was thrilled since I wasn’t sure I’d be able to produce any eggs. Grant gave his donation to the cause and we were on our way home. I worked the very next day, but was definitely not feeling 100%. I was feeling so bad on Wednesday that I had to take the day off work. Sometimes you can get over stimulated and it can cause quite a lot of abdominal pain and in the worst cases, hospitalization. I couldn’t even bend over I was in so much pain, but I knew it was all worth it. I tried to stay as hydrated as possible and was told to drink excessive amounts of Gatorade and eat a salty diet…hello soup!

That following Saturday, February 25, our embryos were ready and I was feeling much better. Grant and I headed to the fertility clinic for embryo transfer. I was told to drink 16 oz. of fluid and not use the bathroom because the transfer worked best on a full bladder. That was not fun! We got to the office, consulted with the doctor about how many embryos to transfer and he said 2 would give us the best shot of a healthy pregnancy with minimal risk of multiples. So we took his advice and put in two. My friend had put in two each time and ended up with 2 successful transfers each with one baby. I remember meeting another couple that morning that desperately wanted multiples. They were begging the doctor to put in more and more embryos. Our clinic is very conservative. The goal is ONE healthy baby, not an octo-mom situation. We felt that 2 was the way to go. The remaining embryos were watched and the best were frozen. We now have 8 frozen baby Beckys/Grants for use to expand our family.

I went into the surgical room and it felt like I had to wait forever with a full bladder until the doctor came in to do the transfer. I got to see the embryos before they were put in. They each had 8-16 perfect little cells. The transfer only took a minute and felt kind of like a pap smear. Then, I had to lie on the bed with my hips elevated still with a full bladder for 30 more minutes. It seemed like a long time. I made it, quickly went to the restroom, and was sent home to be on bed rest for Saturday and take it easy on Sunday and then it was back to work on Monday.

I wouldn’t find out if they took or not until our next appointment…3/6. At that appointment they would do a blood test to see if my HCG levels were elevated.

To be continued…