It's positive!

So far so good!! First hcg result is 70 on Sunday 9 days after transfer. Had some difficulty getting the result to CCRM and didn't get the result until late afternoon Monday!! Geesh! Not CCRM's fault but the local lab and it being Sunday I guess. Today I go in to see if the hCG has risen appropriately.  CCRM is also checking my TSH today. On Beta day, they checked my progesterone and E2, still awaiting those results as well.

Schoolcraft's current progesterone regimen is endometrin 3x/day and PIO once a day every other day.
I keep begging them to change me over to just PIO. I really do not like the suppositories…. so messy. And gosh… they are expensive! Insurance does not cover!! Coupons thru the pharmacy help…. but combined with the cost of vivelle patches… It's just $$$$! Plus I just prefer the PIO anyway!! I did PIO with my previous successful pregnancy at CCRM and it was fine!! I'm going to keep bugging them about it!!! Sounds like they might give in if all looks good today.

Transfer 8-7-15

We flew to Colorado Wednesday afternoon to visit our very good friends in Fort Collins. The grandparents watched the kids at home. On Thursday evening we drove down to Lone Tree (about an hr 15 min south of Fort Collins). We stayed at the Element by Westin Hotels this time. We liked it! They had a CCRM rate, so if anyone is making plans make sure to get the CCRM rate which also allows you to cancel with no penalties up to a day before. The Element rooms have a kitchen and a couch…. modern decor and different (in a good way!) then your average hotel in this price range. They also provide free breakfast each  morning which we took advantage of one day.
Speaking of breakfast places….anyone visiting Lone Tree needs to try Snooze restaurant. They have the yummiest food ever!!! Our friends took us there in Fort Collins…. soooo good!! We wanted to go again in Lone Tree but didn't get the chance to! I guess the wait can get very long on the weekends and they don't take reservations.

So transfer was on Friday at 11:15am. The embryo thawed 100% and Dr Schoolcraft and John the embryologist seemed positive about our little embryo.  Transfer went really smooth and quick!  My E2 was low at 203 (want 300) so I added estrace orally. We spent some more time with our friends Sat evening and Sunday and flew home late Sunday night. Took it easy post transfer so it was a nice relaxing visit!

I don't feel symptoms except the symptoms caused probably from the meds- progesterone and estrogen.
But I don't think I ever had any significant symptoms at this point with any transfers negative or positive. Overall… don't feel pregnant!! I remember feeling this way when I have gotten pregnant. It's so strange!! I think I will do an at home pregnancy test Sunday morning. I rather just know myself before I get the call. I am not good with surprises!!!

Transfer August 7!!

I was supposed to have my transfer on July 27. But my cycle was totally off last month and my period came 10days late. I had a feeling and confirmed this with the progesterone check to start the lupron. I was getting the fertile mucus that you get during ovulation so I had them check my LH and E2 along with the progesterone. Progesterone was very low, LH was surging and E2 was high. So I was surging and was not able to start the lupron. I was quite frustrated since my cycles are usually very on time but so glad I  had them check the other hormone levels and confirmed I was surging…. at least I could then get an idea of when my period would probably come rather then just knowing my progesterone was low. Ever since my period came… things have been on schedule. Started the lupron when my progesterone went up about a week after the surge…. period started pretty much on time after calculating from my surge. But it was a bit frustrating with all of the planning. Planning an FET is not easy but once you have children too it's a lot more complicated. We don't have family that live in town near us so it really complicated things. Thankfully it's all worked out now… I just prayed everything stays on track. Which so far… it is!! (Knock on wood)!!

My first E2 check was good about a week ago. Today I had the lining check and e2 and progesterone levels checked. I went to a local clinic to get the lining checked and it's 11mm triple stripe. Still waiting on the hormone levels and the go ahead from CCRM. But I feel pretty confident since the ultrasound looked good. One of the grandma's is flying in today to help while we are gone!! My husband and I are flying out Wednesday!! Some of our best friends live in CO so we are staying some extra time to visit.
Can't believe we are doing this again 5 years later!! So amazing and crazy!!!

FET update

We have a tentative transfer date set for July 27. It could vary based on my cycle… but within a day or so of this date most likely. I am on a FET protocol without BCP. I will start lupron day 21 of this cycle if lab work looks good (progesterone >5?).  I will start the estrogen patches day 1 of my next cycle. Hopefully everything stays on track cause there's a lot of planning involved…. flights, babysitters, work, etc!! Keeping my fingers crossed.

We celebrated our twins (via CCRM)  4th birthday yesterday. It's amazing to think about our one embryo left over that he/she was concieved the same day as our twins who are here with us now growing and loving life!! It will be pretty amazing if this works out too…. almost 5 years later!! We are excited to meet him/her if it's meant to be. 

In case anyone reads this who is doing the early process of CCRM… a heads up with the shipping kits!

We had to do the communicables for my husband via shipping kit. (I still don't understand why we need to do these communicables for frozen embryos?). But we just follow their rules. Anyway… be careful and read the instructions carefully! I followed everything so carefully…. I was so happy to get that kit shipped off.  I sent it out on a Thursday and it was supposed arrive Friday via overnight shipping. Unfortunately there was some weather delay and they didn't get the package until sunday!!

I was talking to them every single day.. Friday, Sat and Sunday about my package. We were all tracking it…. the CCRM lab and me. Everyone was very helpful. The lab was really kind about watching out for my package and doing there best to retrieve it. When they got the package on Sunday… the sample was at room temp :(. Thankfully communicables is the ONLY test that they will ok if it is no longer frozen. They did call me back to verify that I did indeed freeze the container (sarsedt) and freeze the sample separately and then put the sample inside the frozen sarsedt. They it will stay frozen at least 48 hrs if done correctly. So since I did freeze it correctly it was ok. So be really careful to follow the instructions in case your package has a delay. If you have a choice of when to send out. I would pick a day earlier in the week so if it is delayed a business day is probably better than a weekend. Also really good to call and check in on your package. The lab was very helpful and watched out for my package and tracked it themselves via fedex too. If I didn't call and assumed it would arrive it may have not been retrieved. Since it was delivered on a Sunday (and not many people were there) it was delivered across the street and they had to go find it there! I was so happy to hear they could use the sample. I was really dreading paying for that kit again and doing the whole process over!! The entire time I was thinking about someone's day 3 bloodwork…. and what a bummer that would be to have to redo that!!! I would definitely call the lab if you have any questions about the kit.

They were very helpful when I called just to double check I was doing it right!!! 

Something new that Schoolcraft does is-  changes in progesterone. When I did my FET 5 years ago he just ordered the suppositories. I hated those so I switched to PIO. Now he requires both!! Ughh. I really don't want to do both. I questioned the nurses about this but he feels he finds better results with both.

The suppositories are also very expensive and messy too! I argued that I had success with just PIO….  but oh well. I guess I'll follow their instructions.

Back to Colorado!!!

Wow it's been forever since I've posted. I couldn't remember how to log in to make a post!!! Just over a year ago I spoke with Schoolcraft about transferring our one remaining CCS normal embryo. We planned to transfer last spring/summer but we ended up moving to a city one hr north. Life just got busy and it didn't happen. Here we are about a year later and finally going to do it!!!

So I went to back Colorado for my ODWU this past Friday. The last couple of months I've been talking to a nurse at CCRM getting all of my labwork and required exams like Pap smear, physical and mammogram. I wanted to make sure all was good before spending the time and money to go for the work up.

I was in Colorado for just 24hrs. Flew in at 1130pm Denver time, got my rental car and headed to hotel in Lone Tree area. Didn't sleep well being alone and nerves I guess. Then got up fairly early at 8am to get ready for appt at 9:30am. I was done at about 1pm. Then I got to meet up with a friend for lunch. A fellow CCRM graduate and mommy of twins who lives nearby. Such a special treat! After that, I still had time to kill... So I shopped around at the mall and got dinner. Headed back to the airport at 7pm, my flight home was at 10pm.

It was strange to be at the clinic again!! Brought back lots of memories and just so glad we are past that sad place in our lives. The stakes aren't high like last time. It's not all or nothing. First, I had the u/s and Doppler which looked good. Normal blood flow even though I forgot to restrict the caffeine. Met with my nurse mostly about consents and the protocol I will be on for the FET.... Same protocol as last time. Had some required labwork done. Dr Schoolcraft did the hysteroscopy- uterus looks fine. Lastly, I met with Dr Schoolcraft in his office and we discussed the transfer. Not much to discuss. He was much more friendly and mostly we just chatted. I shared photos of the kids, we talked about my twin pregnancy. He asked about where I live and what I do for work, he was very friendly and kind. It was nice to not have to discuss tests results and success rates and be all emotional and worried. I thanked him for helping us conceive our twins. We had a nice talk :)  I tried one last time to ask him to reveal the gender of our embryo......he would not!!! Right now they reveal at 10wks pregnancy. It won't influence our decision, knowing would only make it more real.

So our plan is to transfer as early as my next cycle or within the next couple months!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!!

It's my Birthday today!! Today I was remembering my Birthday two years ago.... the day I received our CCS results!! What a special Birthday gift it was to find out we had 3/5 normal embryos. Two of those embryos are in their cribs napping right now!! Today I am thankful for these gifts.... the best Birthday gifts I could ask for. Gosh it's been forever since I've updated. The babies are now 14.5 months old! Their first Birthday party was so much fun... we had lots friends and family over to celebrate :) Layla has been walking since just after her first birthday. Alec is still not walking independently!! He has taken a few steps but still is not walking on his own completely. He uses the walker to get around. Here's a cute story...Layla steals the walker away from him (poor Alec!)... he'll cry since she took it and she'll see he's crying and pat him on the back to console him. He gets up and starts to use the walker again and she steals it away again. He cries again and then she stops to console him again. The cycle repeats itself. It's too funny! The twins are a lot of work. After having a singleton and now twins... I'd definitely say twins are more work and more exhaustion. But life is good. We really want to use all of our embryos so I guess it's better we got two out of the way at once anyway!! I noticed the blogger has new features and it looks like people actually do read or check my blog. Usually from ccrm journey or ivf flygirl's blog. I hope my blog is helpful to others and gives other's hope. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you ever have any questions about my cycle at CCRM or any IVF questions! It gives purpose to our IF struggle. Lately...I've had quite a few friends of friends contacting me for IF advice. IF is and will always be a part of me and I am more than happy to help anyone out.

Nine months!!

Today, our babies turned nine months. It's been way too long since I've updated!!!! Life is good, but super busy!! The twins are finally both sleeping thru the night in their own room....finally! They are also napping much better and more on a schedule now. I completely stopped nursing last month.. it's been a gradual weaning over the last 2 months or so. They aren't crawling yet... but I see it getting close! Gotta start baby proofing the house soon!! It will be interesting to see how life changes when they become mobile!!! I'm afraid I won't be getting out of the house as much with two mobile babies either... so I"m going to have to adjust my routines!! Probably lots more online grocery shopping and other shopping! Thank goodness for the internet, huh!?? Overall, life is good...busy and overwhelming at times, but soo good! And I'll add some pictures later. Or maybe start a new baby blog as a separate continuation of this blog. But maybe still blog here for topics like embryo donation below. I'd hate to upset anyone coming to my blog seeing pics of the babies. I hope my blog can give some help and inspiration to others if they come across it. I always found it helpful to find blogs with similar situations to mine and would read back from the start. Many of these blogs helped me decide to go to CCRM. I"m so thankful for that.

My friend, FLYGIRL, has a blog which I'm sure most of you know. She's donating her frosties to a wonderful family. What an amazing gift...... and I agree, can't think of a better gift you can give someone!! My husband and I are in a dilemma about what to do with our lone frostie left. If we had more than one... then we'd probably donate because we don't think we can manage 5+ kids. And I know many of you have TONS of frosties which would be impossible to use them all!! We can't handle twins again either! Since it is only one left we feel like we "could" handle one more kid! (it's crazy to even be in this dilemma after years of infertility!!). But when I look at our precious twins (2 of our 3 CCS normals) I think of our one left. We could donate him/her... but since she/he has no potential sibling... I feel bad just leaving him/her out....like he/she belongs with us. I often wonder if it is a boy or a girl. But knowing (if CCRM would tell us) would make it even harder to let he/she go. My husband keeps reminding me this embryo in the freezer is just 2 weeks away from a heartbeat. My heart aches to not give it life either by donation or to us. (not sure if we'd be able to donate just one CCS normal... I know CCRM has more strict criteria). We haven't decided what to do. And we could attempt an FET and it could not work.... but it's a high quality 5 day old CCS normal embryo... and I'm sure it has a VERY good chance. Thankfully, we don't have to decide just now. We have some time.