IVF Journey
If you're new to this blog post then you may want to start with this blog post first. It details our infertility journey leading up to IVF.
On January 20th I had an SGH ultrasound to check out my uterus and ovaries. This procedure is done to ensure one's body is ready for the IVF process and healthy enough to carry a pregnancy (no cysts, fibroids, polyps, etc.). I found out that my uterus tilts downwards, but otherwise everything looks great and we can move forward with IVF.
I started stims on February 10th after a quick trip to Victoria for an ultrasound. I would end up going to Victoria again the following Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to check on follicle growth. At my Friday ultrasound I had everything crossed that I would be told I could trigger. I was SOOO exhausted from the fertility drugs. The doctor said one more day... just one more day! I spent a lot of time in bed with raging headaches and the worst fatigue I've ever experienced. I am SO glad that part is done!
In total, I did 9 days of stims - gonal f, menopur, and orgalutran - which were all injections. I did my trigger shot (HCG) on Saturday the 19th. The trigger shot helps the ovaries release the mature follicles (eggs) for retrieval. It is typically taken 36 hours prior to retrieval.
My egg retrieval was scheduled for Monday February 21st at 10am. We had to head to Burnaby the day before to ensure we would be there. We stayed at the Delta hotel and it was way fancier than I thought! We had a delicious, somewhat expensive dinner at Atlas Steak + Fish (highly recommend!!! You need a reservation) and then checked out the casino. I am not a gambler and Jason had never been in a casino. It was chaos in there!!! We retired to our room where we binged Love is Blind season 2!
I got little to no sleep due to my nerves. I knew the retrieval would be uncomfortable, but I was also anxious about how many eggs they would actually retrieve. A lot was at risk and I just wanted everything to go smoothly.
I got dressed up in the super cute hospital-esque gown with the hair cap and a rob to cover my behind. The nurses brought me back and got me hooked up to fluids and gave me a super warm blanket! It felt like FOREVER waiting for the nurse to come bring me into the operating room. Thankfully they administered two drugs pretty soon after getting into the operating room. One was to calm my nerves and the other was for pain.
I honestly don't remember the retrieval or the first 15 minutes after. I even posted a video to my stories (on @tinytotpropshop) high out of my mind. I have no recollection of recording this 😆 I had a good laugh when I saw it later on!
We ended up with 22 eggs, 18 were mature and they were able to fertilize 11 of those 18 eggs. By day 5 we had one perfectly graded (4AA) embryo for our fresh embryo transfer and 2 3AB embryos were frozen the following day.
The recovery from the egg retrieval was absolutely horrible. I couldn't stand up straight, couldn't sleep on my back or my sides, and everything hurt. I was at risk of OHSS so I was told to drink 1.5 litres of Gatorade a day for the electrolytes. I was also told to eat all of the salty things! I was thankfully feeling better by Thursday and was ready for the fresh embryo transfer on Saturday February 26th!
The embryo transfer was a breeze! The easiest part of this whole journey. They transferred our perfect little embryo and then we wait... and wait... and wait some more! I was scheduled for bloodwork on Monday March 7th (9 days after the transfer), but knew people were getting positive pregnancy tests are 5 days post transfer (5dp5dt in IVF terms).
I couldn't wait... I wanted to. It was my goal to not test early... but I couldn't. On Thursday March 3rd I took a pregnancy test... and there it was, that second line. I'm pregnant!
I kept testing to make sure the lines were getting darker. Suddenly Monday felt weeks away! Thankfully the line continued to get darker and the bloodwork on Monday came back with a beta of 108 which was awesome! The clinic wanted to see it go up by at least 60% within 48 hours and it did! My repeat beta on Wednesday was 193. Everything is looking great!!!
I cannot believe it. I have to keep saying it! It is so surreal 🥰
UPDATE!
I had a 15 week ultrasound on Tuesday May 24th and there was no fetal heartbeat. My midwife thinks the baby stopped growing shortly after my last ultrasound 2 weeks prior (around 13 weeks gestation). This is a 1-3% chance of happening, so quite rare. We are absolutely devastated 
The worst part of this horrible nightmare is that we cannot even afford a frozen embryo transfer... and the thought of going back to "trying to conceive" is agonizing because I know we can't do it naturally. If you would like to donate to our GoFundMe you can do so here:
All funds will go towards a frozen embryo transfer in the future. This is our original GoFundMe, but I changed the title and added an update. A frozen embryo transfer is $2,300 + meds. This sucks. Sooo fucking badly.