Our Journey to IVF Part 3 - The Process

So what exactly does IVF look like? Well, the answer is a little complicated because it is different for each woman. The doctor takes the information from your labs and ultrasounds and then comes up with a medication plan. Mine looked like this:

The shots were given at 9am and 9pm, daily. Initially the thought of giving myself daily shots was very scary, but in reality it wasn't that bad. The first set of shots are sub-cutaneous, meaning that they need to go just below the skin, so the needles were fairly short and thin. You also injected them into your tummy fat which really didn't hurt (at least for me). I was also pretty lucky and had no adverse reactions to the shots (bruising, rashes, cramping, fatigue, mood swings). In fact I actually felt really good during this time. I was making a really strong effort to get enough sleep, rest my body when it needed it, eat nourishing foods, and have a positive mindset.

I truly believe that taking good care of my physical and mental health during this crazy roller-coaster ride made all the positive difference.

Roughly every other day I had to go get lab work done (at 6am!!!!), and after about half of those appointments I had ultrasounds at 8am. The doctor would look at my results, give me updates on how things were looking, and adjust my med dosages if necessary (Once I had to switch dosages and once I had to add a second morning shot). Those days were always a little bit more stressful because, of course, I would have thoughts like "what if something is wrong? what if everything is messed up? what if I did something that messed up the process?" But I tried really hard not to focus on those thoughts, because really it wouldn't do me any good nor would it change any of the results.

Thankfully, those appointments and phone calls with the doctor always came with good news. Things were looking good and my body was responding exactly as they wanted it to (good work, body!). After 9 days of shots, I was told to take my trigger shot in preparation for my egg retrieval. The trigger shot has to be done exactly 36 hours before the egg retrieval because it signals to the follicles to release the eggs. My trigger shot was Tuesday night and my egg retrieval was scheduled for Thursday morning.

I was really excited for this part because it meant that Jimmy got to come to San Antonio and I had been missing him like crazy. This process is hard enough on its own, but having to do it without Jimmy physically by my side was very difficult. Luckily, I was staying with an amazing friend who made it so much easier. Jimmy came down on Wednesday and then suddenly it was Thursday and I was prepping for the procedure. The nurses hooked me up to an IV and I had to pee a bunch of times to really make sure that my bladder was empty. We went over some paperwork, the procedure was explained to me, and then it was time to say goodbye to Jimmy and head back to the procedure room.

I just wanna say how truly blessed we were in the doctor and nurses department. Our doctor was amazing, the nurses were so friendly and helpful, and the anesthetist was a hoot. I truly felt so cared for and safe in their hands. They got me all prepped on the table and then started the sedative in my IV. Right before I conked out the doctor asked me what playlist I wanted my eggs to be listening to as they came into the world. At first I was like "what do you mean?" and the doctor said "pick anything you like and that's what we will listen to while we do the procedure". I sleepily said "Ed Sheeran" and I was out within the first 30 seconds of "Thinking Out Loud".

(This if the gift basket I made for the staff at the infertility clinic. It was just a small token of our huge amount of appreciation for them. )

I woke up in a recovery room and the first things I did was ask for a kiss from Jimmy, say that I had been in this room before, and ask for a drink of water (and apparently I had already gone through this same series of sentences a fair few times because Jimmy said he gave me at least 12 kisses). Before I went in for the retrieval the nurse told me that they would write on my hand how many eggs they had retrieved because they knew I would ask a bunch of times and forget a bunch of times as I came back to full consciousness. So, after getting a kiss from Jimmy and having something to drink, I looked at my hand and saw a fantastic number: 20! They were able to retrieve 20 eggs. Typically they like any number greater than 10, so 20 was great.

After getting discharged all I wanted was food (I had had to fast for the egg retrieval), so we headed to Cheesecake Factory. I was feeling pretty good up to this point, but once my food came I took like 5 bites and then started falling asleep. We went back to the house we were staying at and I took a nice long nap. I continued to be blessed and felt really great after the egg retrieval. I didn't have to take any of my nausea medicine or pain medicine; just a little minor cramping and pelvic soreness.

(it was so nice to have Jimmy with me for a few days, and obviously the kids loved him too)

On Friday we got the call from the clinic to let us know that of the 20 eggs that were retrieved, 15 were mature and 9 fertilized (can you see now why they like any number greater than 10?). On Friday I also had to start daily progesterone shots and lemme tell ya, these shots are hard. Progesterone shots have to be given intramuscularly, meaning they have to go into the muscle. No more nice tummy fat shots, these go into the upper, outer part of the booty and the needle is much thicker and longer. And oh boy do they hurt. I would describe the pain like if you never worked out and then did 100 squats. Imagine how sore your butt would be and then add a little bit more. And these shots are done everyday until you reach 10 weeks gestation. The good news is, they have begun to hurt less as the days go on. If I warm up the oil in my hands first, then massage the area after the shot while doing some kind of weird high knee walk around my house, and then put a heater bag on it for about 20 minutes it feels like how you would feel after doing maybe only 20 squats.

Once the embryologist had the 9 fertilized eggs, it was time to watch them grow and decide when to do the transfer. Embryo transfers happen on either day 3 or day 5 after the egg retrieval day. The really try to reach day 5, but if none of the embryos are looking like they are going to make it that far, they will transfer on day 3 because sometimes, once the embryo is in its natural habitat of a uterus, it starts to grow again. On Sunday (day 3) I got a call from the doctor saying that 6 of the 9 eggs were considered good quality and we were going to have a day 5 transfer. So on Tuesday I got up nice and early, once again, and headed to the hospital for hopefully the last time. The doctor told me how all my embryos were doing and showed me a picture of the best embryo, the one they were going to transfer.

An embryo transfer is basically like getting a pap smear (you ladies can picture this I'm sure). I'm laying on the table and trying to ignore the poking, prodding, and pressure I'm feeling. I'm also trying really hard not to pee because this procedure is done with a full bladder. They insert a catheter needle and find the best spot in your uterus, then they call in the embryologist and in goes baby. After it was done the nurse showed me a little play-by-play on the ultrasound monitor and then I was handed something my heart has wanted for so long-an ultrasound picture with our little nugget in it.

There was a little more paperwork, I finally got to pee, and then it was all done. Now it was my body's time to take over and little nugget has to decide if he/she wants to attach itself to me and hang around for the next 9 months. I drove the 6 hours home that day because I was so anxious to be back with Jimmy and the waiting game began.

Tomorrow morning we get to go in for our first pregnancy test (it has to be a blood pregnancy test) and if it is positive then I will take another test on Saturday to make sure that my hCG levels are increasing. If it is negative, then we will discuss our options with our doctor. The most likely scenario if this happens is that I will do an embryo freeze cycle in June. Out of the 9 fertilized embryos (minus the one inside me), they were able to freeze 4 of them. So, in June I would go back to San Antonio and do a shortened version of this same process (fingers crossed that we don't have to go down that path, but it is nice to know that we have more chances).

I know I have been very open throughout this whole process, but the next few days I will be quite quiet. If the test tomorrow is positive we will share that happy news with a few close family and friends, if the second test is also positive, then we will announce it publicly. If the test is negative we will take as much time as needed to process the news, and then share as we feel prompted to.

We are so incredibly grateful for all the thoughts and prayers that have been said in our behalf, we truly feel them. I have had such a feeling of peace and hope throughout this whole process and I know that part of that is because of the community of love and support that we have built up around us. You all have played such a positive and uplifting role in this journey for us and we can't thank you enough. We kindly ask they you continue to send prayers and good vibes our way as we enter this next phase of our IVF journey.

Much Love,

Messi Jessi