Transplanted And Waiting........

The Dr. Successfully transplanted 2 "beautiful" embryo's inside Shell on Monday-which was the 5 day blasocyst transfer. The Dr. said that our in-vitro cycle was one of the best if not the best he has ever seen (its all b/c of Shell-I think she was made to make babies).

The transfer was really cool and only took a few minutes......we saw the catheter in Shell's uterus and then he put some liquid in the catheter to push the embabies out of the other end. Then we saw two little white lines on the screen land in her uterus..........Shell joked that it was like the embabies were on a rollercoaster ........it was really cool to see.

So.......We went home and Shell was on bedrest for 2 days. Oh...on Day 5, we had 8 of our embryos frozen........and on Day 6, we had 2 more frozen for a grand total of 10 frozen.

Shell is now off of bed rest-which is great because all of that lying down was hurting her back, not to mention really really boring.

The first 2 days after the transfer , Michelle had quite a bit of cramping......which we hear is good, because supposedly it means that the embabies are embedding themselves in her uteran lining.

Now she is still a little sore and still taking it easy, but she is able to get up and walk around. She picked up our son from school today. She has been complaining of feeling nauseated often, which although is not good for her, is also a good sign.

Shell says that she feels pregnant. I hope she is pregnant. I keep driving myself nuts by looking up our odds/chances/statistics online.

I feel like a kid before Christmas, wondering if I am going to get that 10-speed bike I have wanted for so long......

Well, only 6 more days, including the day of the PG test...........or 5 more days until the PG test day (not including today).

HHHMMMMMM..........how can I make time go by faster.......

oh well, guess I cant.......More to come..............

Going the Distance..........

We just got the call from the Dr. and all of the 17 eggs are still growing! 12 of the 17 have been graded at A+ (the best possible rating), 3 of the 17 are an A and the other 2 are slower in devlopment, but still good. One has good cell count by low grade and the other has low cell count but good grade. The Dr. said that our embryos are "beautiful".

We are going the distance ( we will be doing the 5 day transfer)-which is the best possible outcome. Right now Shell is concerned with what to do with the remaining embryos.

We are both really excited at the thought of us becoming pregnant. Just to be pregnant would be a dream come true and its seems so close.

Shell is keeping on the meds and is really really really sore. Each day, she is getting progressively less sore, but nonetheless, she is definetly uncomfortable.

More to come........

Myrtle.....

Oh my gosh! My wifes new name ( at least my name for her) is Fertile Myrtle......17 out of the 18 eggs fertilized.

So now, we are in waiting mode......we have to wait until Saturday to see the grade of the eggs. We will either do a Saturday or Monday transfer, but right now, its looking a lot more like Monday.....

More to come......

18

Yes, this is the day my wife was born on, its also the amount of eggs she had removed.

Ok.....So we have finished all of the shots-Shell handled them so easily. The worst shot was the Ovidrel which made Shell start crying. I felt so bad for her.

Wow.....Ok......so we went in for surgery today. Michelle has 18 eggs successfully removed. This is right inline with what our Dr. wanted to see. The doctor is fertilizing the eggs today and we will get a phone call tomorrow morning with the number of eggs that successfully fertilzed.

The next step is putting the embroyos back into Michelle. We will either do a 3 day transfer or a 5 day transfer.......5 day transfer is prefferable.

Back to Michelle........she is resting on the couch watching TV. Her symptoms include sore tummy, store hand (where IV was).....not to mention frustration b/c she cant drink water-her drink of choice.

More info to come.........

Catch up

Wow.......so much has happened over the last several days. Michelle began taking 2 shots in the evening-Lupron is #1 shot and Menopur and Follistim mixed together is #2. The #2 shots is painful and since taking it, she has become tired, taking naps whenever she can and her headaches have increased. We had a doctors appt today and they measured her follicles.........she had 26 follicles!! (i secretly think my wife may be the bionical woman) .Everything is on track-only 7 more days of shots left!!

Praise God

My family really feels blessed to have the resources available to go through the IVF process. I am thankful for God's provisions and the faithfulness he shows in every day life.

We have completed our third day of shots and everything seems to be going great. Today is the last day of the BCP for Michelle........our next doctors appt. is this Thursday where she will do another baseline sonogram and then begin taking menopur and follistim (2 shots a day) on Friday.

Done with the first day of shots.........

Thank goodness! Michelle and I went to the doctor around 4:30pm on Friday to practice giving/taking the shots one last time. Everything went smoothly and we were out of the office within 30 minutes. Before we knew it, the movie was over and we were on our way home to take the shots. Shell iced her tummy for about 5 minutes before I was to give her the injection. She prepped the medicine and gave me the go ahead to give her the shot. I pinched her tummy where I was going to give the shot, counted 1........2.......and on 3 I gently poked her skin with the needle. I let go of my pinch and then injected the medicine into her tummy, waited for a second or two, and then pulled the needle out........and waited...........Michelle said, " Is that it?" WWWWAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOO...........I was so happy that the shots werent too painful for her. We have officially begun our IVF journey! We could be pregnant in one month.........the thought of it is so exciting. I know that there is no guarantee, but I really feel like this is going to work.......I guess you could call it faith.

Beginning the Shots....

Yesterday my wife and I went to the doctors office and they did a sonogram to check my wife's ovaries and lining to ensure that everything looked right and there were no cysts. Her lining has thinned out since taking the BCP, which the nurse explained was normal. We are going to the doctors office again tonight to get our medicine dosage and to practice administering the shots. Today is the opening day of Dr. Suess's "Horton Hear a Who", so after our appointment, our family (Michelle, Nathan, Aunt Brie, me and Possibly Uncle Jon) are going to see the movie. After the movie, we are going home and I will give my wife her first shot @ 8:30. We decided on 8:30 because she has to have the shots at the same time each night, and with our son playing baseball in the evenings , 8:30 is the time that we know we can commit to. Michelle is nervous to take the shots, but she isnt showing it at all. I am convinced that I married the perfect woman.

And the Medicine Arrives......

I went home at lunch today to see if the medicine Michelle had ordered had arrived yet (and it did!). The box the medicines arrived in was larger than I would have expected, and some of the contents were to be refigerated immediately upon opening. I opened the box and took out the refrigerated pack of medicines and put it in the fridge. It is a bit eye opening to see how many medicine Shell has to consume over the next 30+ days. It is also kind of crazy to think that the contents of this box (plus God's will of course) could help us to become pregnant. I cant help but think good thoughts........I feel like this process is bringing our family closer together.
:)

Getting Started.....

My wife and I are starting the In-vitro process. She began taking the BCP on Saturday and ordered her medicine today. If all goes well, we should know that we are pregnant in mid-April. I am extremely excited about the possiblity of my wife becoming pregnant and us being blessed with another child/children. Currently, we have a 7-year old boy who is quite possibly the coolest kid in the world. Nathan loves sports, videogames (pokemon in particular), frogs, and his mommy. Nathan would make a great big brother. Regarding the IVF process, my wife is very nervous because she is afraid of needles, however she is very brave and willing to undergo the process anyways. We have our first doctors appointment thisThursday.