Pins and Needles

So we are ready to try, try again- I have done 5 days of femara followed by 3 days of follistim injections, with the hope of having multiple eggs that can be released this cycle. We went in today and found out I have 2 "ripe" eggs- since we started out conservative on the drugs for this round I think that it's probably good, and about what we could have expected.

So I'll do my trigger shot on Thursday and then go back next week....so countdown of about 2 weeks to see if i get pregnant.

The injections were not really bad to do, but I was surprised by how nervous in was to do it each time. And, for the record, 2 out of 3 airport screening locations did not question the needles/ ice packs at all. I'm not sure if that makes me feel like they are reasonable, or incompetent....

Also in the meantime I did my first acupuncture session last week, I found it to be fairly relaxing and enjoyable and while not totally sold on it's healing powers figure I'll give it a shot for a bit. He told me that if/ when I get pregnant we would do more "intensive" sessions in the first trimester- not exactly sure what that means so stay tuned!

Update 10.16.14- Damn Bees!

It has been a long time since I have written! I think I partly needed a break from writing, partly got busy, and was also somewhat frustrated in how I was feeling the past few weeks.

So for the summary:

- went back to Shah for my post op session where we were given options to do either full blown IVF, controlled ovulation (chance to fertilize multiple eggs on one cycle) or of course do nothing (always an option).

- decided to do IVF with the preimplantation embryo screening......then changed our minds right before my appointment this past monday, the 13th. So we are going to do the controlled ovulation. Right now I am not on anything really special, I am a few weeks in on my thyroid medication and also taking prenatal vitamins and selenium, and will shortly be starting Co-Q 10 and then on sunday Femara, followed by follicule stimulation injections. We will go back to the Drs office on the 28th to see how many follicles (eggs) have developed and whether to go forward with an ovulation trigger shot.

- in the meantime I had a bad allergic reaction to a bee sting (which I got just sitting in my backyard) and for the past week had gotten 2 epinepherine injections, was on prednisone for 7 days, and am finishing off a 10 day regimen of antibiotics (just to be on the safe side).....WHEW

I feel like my body hardly knows what I am throwing at it anymore.....and in between that, throw in travel for work, not always sleeping well (or not sleeping at all for several nights with prednisone) and I almost feel like I need a few weeks of some sort of healthy living cleanse to get a clean slate. Either that, or a full regimen of fertility drugs!

In the meantime, the Dr also said he wants me to go to a guy he partners with on acupuncture/ herbal supplements, so I start that next week. Have I said that I feel fortunate not only to have a job with a schedule flexible enough for me to make all these appts, but with good health insurance? Well if I haven't, then I am....and am reminded every time that I go to an appt that for some people it is much, much harder.

All for now-

Flip a Coin?

Went back to the Dr again Thursday for my post-op and to discuss what we're going to do. Here's the recap:

- TPO (thyroid antibodies)- still significantly elevated in latest blood work, so we will treat with synthroid starting now so I can get used to the medication
- anticardiolipids- borderline elevated. Will definitely treat with at least baby aspirin, and he will make a call about using the other meds once I get pregnant

So here's our choice:

- do IVF, where we could also do genetic screening and get as close as possible to "ensuring" that things will go ok, considering that we can never make anything absolutely 100%

- do a less invasive version of controlled egg release, where we would essentially try to play a numbers game and have 2 or 3 embryos develop in one cycle, assuming that if 1-2 of them have genetic issues that we would get 1 that comes out ok

We are seriously leaning towards the IVF for this round. We are very fortunate that my employer will pay a large portion of the costs for it for a round so figure we don't have too much to lose in trying.

We do have a debate underway though and I asked Jacob what he thought about just flipping a coin to decide :)

Coexistence

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I can have different emotions about a particular subject coexist, even if they are seemingly in complete conflict with each other. For instance, I recently learned that a good friend is newly pregnant. One part of me wants to feel so happy for her, while another part is jealous and wishes that I could just get pregnant and have things be easy. But this morning I thought, why not just be both? I feel like I put pressure on myself to feel just one way or consistent, when in reality, who says I can't be both? In an ideal world, sure, I'd just be happy for her and that would be it. But it's not how things are, so why not just accept that and go on. I feel like mentally I have a hard time thinking that that is "ok" but hopefully it will get easier over time.

On the update front, my repeat blood work came back with essentially the same thing as before, elevated TPO and borderline elevated anticardiolipids, so we'll discuss treating both with the doc next week when we go in. I'm feeling a bit more settled in our decision about IVF but am still hoping that once we really start it I will feel more at peace with deciding to do it.

Procedure updates

Went in yesterday for my hysteroscopy, which was a relatively short procedure. But I hope I don't have to sit around a hospital again for a while!! For someone who was never seriously ill before, 4 surgeries in just over a year feels like a lot. And maybe I'm a wuss, but getting the IV is about the worst part. This time it took 5 tries for them to get mine started....ouch.

Anyways, yesterday the doc found that there was some tissue left from my last pregnancy, which he then cleaned up so hopefully I have a clean slate going forward.

We will go back in 2 weeks for a post-op and also to plan moving forward- I think we are mostly decided on doing IVF. Unlike people who use it because they have trouble getting pregnant we would do it primarily for the genetic embryo screening. I have struggled a lot with whether or not to do it; do we go the very invasive route, or just try again naturally and see what happens?

The only thing I keep coming back to is that going into the third pregnancy I decided that the third time was going to be it- after that I wanted to do anything we possibly could to test, fix, and take every chance to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

More tests and more tests- Update 9.5.14

So I am starting to feel a bit like a human pincushion. We went back to our specialist yesterday and have a few new results to report:

- genetics- Jacob and I both have normal karyotypes (which does not mean that we act normal!) but is good news. Means that we *should* be able to combine our genes to form a good embryo
- saline sonogram- had this done in office yesterday, looked mostly normal but did have a polyp which is going to require a hysteroscopy to remove. Oh good, another surgery! Kidding. It is relatively minor but certainly kind of annoying that we have to do yet another procedure. I am scheduled to go next week and at least this time we can go to Jacob's hospital to have it done.

We also got blood drawn for a prep screen testing for other rare diseases we might be carriers for. That one will take a few weeks to come back.

In the meantime, I'll go Monday to have blood drawn to re-test my antibody levels from the testing in August. Talk about maxing out the insurance this year.....

Also, before we left we did talk a bit with him about next steps, where Jacob and I always like to ask for the doc's real opinion, what they would do, as long as it seems like we trust them. So when asked, he said that if it was his wife in this situation, and if they had the money, they would do IVF. The only real thing that it does for us is eliminate the question of the genetics of the embryo being ok, but given that there really doesn't seem to be too much else we can do and that I REALLY don't want to have another miscarriage, it may be the route we end up going.

In short- we're lucky that all the tests have come back fairly normal and have not revealed any additional serious problems. On the downside, it hasn't pointed to any definite reason for all the miscarriages. So....wish us luck with the next round of tests!

Sweet Kiddos

I got to spend the last 2 nights with one of my coworkers, and since we've been friends for a while she invited me to stay at her family's house outside of Boston.

She has 2 sons, ages 3 and 6, who are just adorable bundles of energy. I always think it's so cute to see how kids can be shy at first, because you're a stranger, but after a few hours of hanging out with them will be snuggled up with you by the end of the night. The boys seemed to have endless energy- jumping in the pool over and over, racing each other back and forth around the house to fetch toys, and bouncing up and down on the sofa. To me, it was adorable, but I'm sure for them dealing with it every day is a handful!!

I am grateful I got to spend time with them and it makes me very much look forward to the day when Jacob and I will hopefully have our own rascals running around.