IVF Phase II: Frozen Embryo Transfer

While my pregnancy from my frozen embryo transfer, unfortunately ended in a miscarriage, it was still technically a successful transfer which gives me so much hope that we will get our rainbow baby with the next one! :)

I shared my story for Phase I of the IVF process, so here is my story for Phase II: The Frozen Embryo Transfer!

 

Because I have PCOS and had a little Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome from my egg retrieval, my doctor decided that freezing all of my embryos would be the best bet to give my body some time to heal. My egg retrieval was on January 10th, I got my period about a week later, and then started birth control so that I would be ready for the embryo transfer cycle to begin. Normally, birth control is only prescribed for about 10 days, but I had to be on it for 3 weeks because of the way it worked out with my doctor's scheduling. It was a long 3 weeks waiting to start hormone shots to prepare for the cycle, but I had faith that it would all work out! Finally, on February 9th I was able to take my last BC pill, and on February 14th (yep happy Valentine's Day to me!) I had my first intramuscular shot of estrogen.

I was so terrified of the intramuscular shots, but to be honest they weren't bad at all! (At least in the beginning.) My trick was to lean against the dining room table, slightly lift my leg on the side I was getting the shot in, and to have Brian just go for it. I tensed up whenever he counted or warned me, so it was just better for it to be unexpected. Sometimes the meds burned a little, so rubbing it and sitting on a heating pad really helped. I started with the estrogen shot every 3 days as well as a daily estrogen suppository (so much yuck!). Two weeks later, I started nightly progesterone shots and suppositories along with the estrogen every 3 days. It definitely started to hurt a lot more with the nightly shots. I got big knots on each hip and a lot of red splotches and bruising. There were nights when I thought I couldn't take one more shot, but I knew I would do anything to make a comfy home for the little babe that was on the way. 

During this time, I had regular ultrasounds to check the thickness of my uterine lining. Once it is at a prime thickness for implantation, the doctor can give the "go ahead" to do the transfer. In order to help it along, I drank red raspberry leaf tea and pomegranate juice daily as well as ate almonds daily. It must have helped, because my doctor was very happy with the way my lining looked, and we proceeded with our transfer on March 6th! The best "day after my birthday" present ever! :)

We had about an hour and a half drive to the clinic where the transfer was happening, so we started our day bright at early at 3:30am! I was so nervous, but so excited and ready to have my little chosen embryo inside me again.

We got to the clinic and they showed Brian and I to our room. I kept telling Brian how crazy it was to me that we were going to leave the clinic within an hour pregnant until proven otherwise, or PUPO in the IVF world. :)

 I proudly wore my "Think Positive" socks, and took a deep breath when I heard footsteps coming toward the door. 

The nurse did an abdominal ultrasound on me to make sure that my bladder was full enough to push my uterus forward so that it could be seen well on the screen. As my luck would have it, my bladder was too full so I had to go to the bathroom to "let a little out". I don't think I can even explain the torture, but I managed, and when I came back we were ready to proceed. 

My doctor came in with one of the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen. Our beautiful little embryo's first picture! It had matured from a 4AA to a 6AA just during the time it was thawing out. (Embryos are graded and a 6AA is a perfect embryo.)

The room was dark and our doctor had calming music on to relax me as he did the procedure. Within about 2 minutes he was done, and he pointed to a little white dot on the screen and said "Congratulations guys, you're pregnant." Brian and I both started crying happy tears. We had waited so long for this moment. 

 I had to stay laying down for 10 minutes to let the embryo settle in and start doing it's thing. Brian and I talked about how excited we were and that we both had good vibes that this was really going to work for us!

 

We got to the car and took the picture I had been waiting so very long to take...we were officially PUPO!!!

 

I spent the next 3 days on full bed rest, and then switched up to modified bed rest for the following week. It was definitely hard to not be able to pick up and take care of Baylee the way I normally do, but my family was an amazing support system! I started feeling some pregnancy symptoms about a week in, and at 9 days past my transfer I couldn't take it anymore. I just knew if I tested it would be positive! At 4:00am I snuck out of bed to test, and sure enough "pregnant" appeared on the digital screen almost immediately. Brian woke up to this little sight on the dining room table that morning:

 

We sobbed and held each other in the kitchen. Finally a positive. It was something we thought we might never see again. Two days later I had my first official blood test and my HCG level came back sky high! I had my second test a week later, and my level increased beautifully. This pregnancy was perfection so far. A week after that, I had my first ultrasound and we saw our little nugget's heartbeat for the first and last time, as he or she passed away days later. Losing this tiny angel was so hard, but I know we can do it again. The IVF process is no cake walk, but I just know that our rainbow is going to happen from one of the 14 embryos we have left. 

 RIP Angel Baby, we miss you every day.

If you have any questions about IVF or FETs please feel free to contact me! 

Good luck and baby dust to any of you who are going through this process as well! 

Until next time! XoXoXo

 

 

  

Our San Diego Mini Vacation

Life has been so crazy lately, and Brian has some time off this week, so we decided we needed to have a little get-away for just the 3 of us. Thanks to IVF racking up our credit cards (insert eye roll here) we had a lot of points to turn in to use for a hotel stay. Silver linings. ;) We decided to go to San Diego, and I had the idea to take Baylee to the San Diego Zoo since both her and Brian had never been, and I used to love going there as a kid.

We checked in to our hotel on Monday afternoon and Baylee immediately made herself comfortable. :)

 

Our hotel was walking distance from Seaport Village, so we walked down there for dinner our first night. I was craving a margarita, so we decided to have Mexican food at the little cantina there. Our food was amazing and the margaritas were 32 ounces! Yes. Please. :)

 

We walked around all the shops and Brian took Baylee for a ride on the carousel that was built in 1895. (So cool!) Once the sun started to set, we took a walk by the ocean for some pictures. A woman walked by and asked if we wanted a picture of the three of us, and we cracked up when we looked later on and realized Baylee had her finger up her nose in every picture. Toddlers! 

 Seaport Village is the cutest little place and I am so glad we went. We ended the night with cupcakes from Frost Me Gourmet, which were some of the most delicious cupcakes I've ever had!

 

 

 

It wouldn't be a true Tibbetts' vacation without some craziness, so of course, we had a little mishap at 1:30am in our hotel. :( Baylee is still sleeping in a crib, so she's not used to sleeping in a big bed at all. I slept in the hotel bed with her, but in the middle of the night she rolled off the other side. It was seriously the scariest sound ever hearing her "thud" out of the bed and start crying. I had put pillows down on the floor for her just in case, but she rolled just right to smack her face on the foot of the desk that was about a foot away from the bed and gave herself a black eye. I felt soooo bad! Brian ran to the ice machine and we put ice on it for a while, but she really just wanted to go back to sleep. When she woke up in the morning, it wasn't a pretty sight. :( She broke my heart! Thank goodness it was a bright, sunny day, because we had her wear sunglasses for most of the pictures at the zoo. My poor little thing!

 

Despite Baylee's little incident, she had an absolute blast at the zoo! She got to see just about every single animal, and told us that the lion and the sheep were her favorites. We had lunch at the full service restaurant there, Albert's, where we used to go when I was a kid, and it was soooo delicious.

 

My favorite animals were definitely the elephants, giraffes, and a sweet polar bear who plunged in the water right where we were standing to eat his honeydew melon. So cute! We got to ride on the skyway and do a tour on the double decker bus, which were both so fun! It was absolutely a trip we will never forget. :) Baylee picked out a stuffed lion as her souvenir, and he didn't leave her side the rest of our time there.

 

The zoo closed at 6:00, so we decided to venture out to find a place we had never been to for dinner. I googled "kid friendly dinner in San Diego" and the Corvette Diner popped up. It was an absolute blast, and soooo kid friendly! If you go to San Diego with your kiddos, I highly recommend checking this place out. It's a 50's themed diner where all the servers are super nice and fun. There's a DJ, dancing, an arcade and a full bar! The food and desserts are incredible. I got a grilled cheese made with two pieces of garlic bread and a chocolate peanut butter banana shake, and I'm still dreaming about them! :) Baylee even got to have her very first Shirley Temple!

 

Night number two was much less eventful, and Baylee slept great, thank God! :) That morning, we went to Old Town San Diego for a few hours before it was time to head home. We had fun looking in all the old shops and mini museums. We ate lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant ever, Fred's, and then got on the road. We were all exhausted from all the fun we had, but I am so glad we did it. Now that Baylee is getting older, it has been more fun than ever to make memories like this with her! I will hold her first little trip with just Mommy and Daddy close to my heart forever. :)

 

Now we need a vacation from our vacation. ;)

 

Until next time! XoXoXo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter 2017!

Hi friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! This year was our most fun yet, because Baylee is finally old enough to really "get" the Easter Bunny and dyeing Easter Eggs side of Easter. (We will definitely start working more on the true reason for Easter next year when she has a better understanding of Jesus :) She's not quite there yet.) We really had such a blast with her!

We dyed our Easter eggs on Friday morning, and Baylee did great. She didn't make the slightest mess at all, and had so much fun picking what color would come next. Blue is her favorite color currently, so of course, her "Baylee" egg had to be blue!

On Saturday, we went to a local, little town known for their orchards of apple trees where we go apple picking in the Fall. In the Spring they host their annual "Apple Blossom Festival". We had never gone before, so we decided to check it out this year. It was so cute and quaint, and we had a great time! Baylee got to ride a pony and meet the Easter Bunny, and we got to do some shopping, sample hard cider, learn how to throw a tomahawk, and eat apple donuts. I wish I had brought a nicer camera than my phone, because the land alone there is just so beautiful!  

On Easter Sunday, we woke up a little earlier than normal because Baylee has a little cold so her nose was bothering her, but it didn't stop her from having a magical morning. She loved going through all the fun stuff that the Easter Bunny brought her in her Easter Basket, and then running all around our living room to find her eggs! I'm pretty sure she ate at least 10 jelly beans when I wasn't looking, and within an hour of opening everything had all of us covered in baby chick and ladybug stickers. For breakfast, we made French toast with Nutella and strawberries. Soooo bad but sooo good! :)

In the evening, we went to my Dad's house for a ribeye roast, roasted carrots, and mashed potatoes. It was a delicious, "homey" meal with the family, and I enjoyed it so much! After dinner we had some wine with angel food cake, cool whip, and strawberries. A perfect way to end a perfect Easter Sunday. :)

I am so very blessed! 

He is risen!

Until next time! XoXoXo