Week 1 - Complete

We have  officially completed our first week of IVF!! 

I feel like I need to rewind real quick to finish getting everyone update before I really dive into week 1. In my last blog post I talked about how we came to the point of finding out that IVF would be the option we needed to use to bring a baby into this world. Since that 1st appointment in December with the IVF clinic, the wheels have been turning trying to get everything in line to start the process.

I went for an appointment in January to see whether or not I could get into the January IVF cycle, but I was too far along in my menstrual cycle and had to be moved back to the February Cycle. That gave the IVF clinic time to create the right protocol for my specific situation. On January 24, my proctol was emailed to me and I began the vitamin regiment of IVF. Minus the 2 bottles on the right of this picture below.  I have been taking theses pills everyday since January 25. The pills are taken at certain times a day. I don't know how they help in the process, but as long as the clinic tells me to take them, I will continue to take them. I should tell yall, I am not good at taking pills.  I rather do the shot portion of this process than take theses pill, but I do take them one by one. I am up to 20 pills a day.

  

Daily  I take:

• Prental is 1 vitamin a day 
• CO-Q 10  is 3 vitamins a day (chewable)
• Royal Jelly is 4 vitamins 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening
• Maca Root is 5 vitamins a day 
• DHEA is 3 vitamins a day, 1 in the morning and 2 in the evening
• Baby Asprin  is 1 pill (chewable)
• I was on Birth Control for a little over 2 weeks, but that one has ended now and 2 more prescriptions where added on 2/10/17
• Letrazole is 2 pills a day 
• Dexamethasone is 1 pill at bedtime.

  On 2/6/17 I started a 4 day series of wearing a patch called Androderm. I applied the patch to my thigh for 24 hours and then stopped the patches on 2/10/17. This has been the  easiest part of the process so far. I wish more of the process was this easy.

Our Baseline Appointment was on 2/7/16. I call this the official start of the IVF process. The appointment took about 4 hours.

• It started with an ultrasound to determine how many eggs I currently have and the size of them. This information will be used as a baseline to determine, if the eggs are growing based on the medicine prescribed. 
• Next was blood work. I am not exaggerating when I type they took 10-15 vials of blood from me and only 2 from my husband. The blood work was called IVF LABS which checked to see if my husband and/or I are carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene. I know many other things where checked as well but I can't remember all the things the nurse said they where checking for. We both did the IVF labs, but I had to do a metformin labs as well. This is the reason I had so many more vials of blood compared to my husband. I have been trying to research the blood test on line to be able to provide you with more details but I am not having any luck.
•  After blood work, we met with the clinical team who went over the new protocol prescribed and how to administer the shot medication, etc. 
• Next was a meeting with the embryologist who went over lots of paperwork that we had to sign. Making sure we fully understood the process and the risk associated with this process. We even had to make decisions on what to do with eggs/embroyos that  can't be used. We choose to donate them to research. 
• The last meeting was with the finance department to pay for the process. I am choosing not to share the actual cost we are paying for IVF, because honestly it is way more than we had planned to spend. I should of said no we are not paying that much but truthfully I am so emotionally invested in the idea of having a child that I can't seem to walk away. With all that written we will just say the price is an INSANE amount. My husband is very supportive and has graciously allowed me to spend this crazy amount of money on this option.

The shot portion of the IVF process began on 2/8/17 with a medicine called Micro Lupron. This medicine suppress ovulation.  I have to take 2 shots a day every 12 hours on the dot. I take one at 7:05 am and 7:05pm every day. The training video from my clinic talks about how you have to be exact with the time. Being more than 3 minutes late could cause you to ovulate to early and the IVF cycle could be cancelled. For that reason I have 3 alarms set on my phone every 12 hours - a notice at 7:00 am & 7:00pm to inform me that I have 5 minutes till its time to give a shot. Then I have a one minute warning set at 7:04 am and 7:04 pm, then lastly is the 7:05 am and 7:05 pm alarm to let me know its time to administer the shot. I give the shots in to my belly and it does not hurt. Below is a picture of my shots already pre-filled,so that it will be easier to take them on time.

On 2/10/17 I added 2 additional prescriptions that are administered through shots. Both prescriptions are used to help produce multiple follicles (eggs) and to help them mature to a walnut size (16 millimeters).

• The first prescription is Follistim AQ (follitropin beta injection) which contains follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), a naturally occurring hormone and is used to stimulate a follicle (egg) to develop and mature. I take 450 IU's in the morning and 150 IU's in the evening. Below is a picture of Micro Luperon and Follistim that I take each morning.

• The second prescription is Menopur. Menopur (menotropins) injection is an equal mixture of the naturally occurring follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) used to stimulate the development of multiple eggs. This prescription has to be mixed before it can be injected. It starts with extracting sodium chloride with the big syringe using the Q cap and then injecting the sodium chloride into the Menopur (white powder substance) slowly swirling the mixture. Since my prescription calls for 2 vials of Menopur each evening. I have to inject the mixture into an additional bottle to mix the 1st bottle solution with the 2nd bottle solution then attach the smaller needle to do the injection. Below is a picture of the shots and everything needed for the shots that I give myself each evening.

This is what the first week of IVF has looked like for us. Next week will be filled with continuing the medication prescribed and more doctor visits. Check back for Week 2 coming soon.