Team Baby - Unexpected

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Team Baby - The Ugly Truth

This post is a little too personal, but whatever. 

Me and fertility drugs do not mix well together.  My body overreacts to medications.  After my egg retrieval, my ovaries went into hyperstimulation.  Your ovaries become swollen and leak fluid into your abdomen.

My stomach got crazy huge and uncomfortable.

Then my face freaks out.  Ugh. So pretty huh.  The hCG trigger shot does not like my face.

My stomach is almost back to normal, but my face will take a while to calm down.  You do what ya gotta do right? 

Team Baby - Embryo Transfer

Update:

We had our embryo transfer yesterday and everything went great.  "Perfect" was the word of the day.  Dr. Marrs walked in and said, "You get the Heisman Trophy Award for the best embryos."  I didn't really know what he meant at first but he said that our embryos couldn't have ranked any higher - they were perfect!  :) I instantly got the chills!  I think embryo transfer is the most nerve wrecking day (well...besides the day of the pregnancy test).  I was so worried about how our embryos were growing and how many good ones we would have.  Jamie had a quick ultrasound to check how full her bladder was.  She had to have it super full so they can better visualize her uterus - which is really uncomfortable for her. They said her uterine lining measured 12mm - which is perfectly fluffy!  We ended up implanting 2 embryos and freezing 9!!  Hopefully this transfer works and we can use the frozen embryos in a couple years for some siblings!  :) 

I had to get another picture of all the special tools haha.. 

Our embryo incubator.

Dr. Richards getting our embryos from the petri dish to implant in Jamie.

Watching the ultrasound machine - seeing my future babies being implanted.  They stick a small straw through Jamie's cervix and into her uterus so they can implant  the embryos exactly where they want them.

Embryo A.

Embryo B.

The outer layer creates the placenta and the inner cluster creates the baby!  Dr. Marrs said there are already over 130 cells!  :)

Curtis was out of town in Arizona for work - so he wasn't there.  Which is kind of hilarious to think about - My husband wasn't even in the same state when our babies were conceived haha..  How is that even possible?!  However, my mom got to be there, which was so awesome!  

When Dr. Marrs walked in he said, "Wow, we have the whole family here - Grandma, Mom, Aunt, & Uncle." :)  My mom didn't get it at first.  I had to explain that she's the grandma, I'm the mom, Jamie's the aunt, and Tyler's the uncle.  Then she laughed out loud.  :)

 She's my hero.  Truly.  I can't think of anything more selfless than what Jamie is doing for us.  Amazing.    

After the transfer, my mom and I went up to Jamie's house to watch her kids while she was on bed rest. 

 Just the cutest thing.

 Yay!

 My mom is definitely the best grandma EVER! 

 Hugging her Mickey Mouse.

 We rented a movie for the kids and got some treats!  :) 

It is seriously crazy how much you can love your nieces and nephews.  I can't even imagine how it feels with your own child.  Hopefully we get to experience that soon! 

Team Baby - Fertilization

Update: 

I found out yesterday that 25 of my 28 eggs fertilized!  We had 33 eggs retrieved, 28 were mature and 25 fertilized!  Our Dr. said the average is about 50% so anything above that is great!  We are so excited!!  He is going to call me on Sunday and give me an update on how the embryos are growing.

For some reason yesterday I had a "moment" when I started to wonder - What if this doesn't work? What would we do next?  Would we go straight into adoption?  I was kind of freaking out, so I called Curtis and told him I was going to the temple.  He told me to wait until he got home so he could come with me.

I felt so much better afterwards!  I felt way more calm and confident.  Hopefully that's a good sign haha..  :)  My job is done...now it's all up to Jamie and her "fluffy" uterus!  Here's to hoping for embryo attachment!
I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth last night.  Curtis walks in - and here's the conversation we had:
Curtis: "Holy Shi*!"
Kim: "What?!"
Curtis: "Your stomach is HUGE!"
Kim: "I told you."
Curtis: "That's crazy!"
Kim: "I know."
Curtis: "Like, super crazy."
Kim: "I know."
My stomach is still enormous and uncomfortable.  I think I overexerted myself yesterday by walking around the mall while Curtis was at work.  I probably should have stayed home and put my feet up.  :)   It's getting a little bit better - slowly but surely.

Team Baby - Egg Retrieval

Update:

Today was the big egg retrieval day!  Curtis and I showed up to Utah Fertility Partners at 7:15am.  They brought me back to the pre-op room where I changed into a gown and the nurse started my IV.  I was talking to her about egg retrievals and what their average number of eggs were.  She said every girl is different but they have had any where from 6 to 30.  The average egg retrieval is 10-12 eggs.  For some reason I thought I'd have about 17 eggs.  They gave me an antibiotic, put my legs in some stirrups, then I started counting back from 10 and was out!  I started waking up at about 9ish and immediately asked "How many eggs did you get?"  They extracted 33 eggs!!!  That is my personal best!  Last time we did invitro we got 27.  Yay for huge ovaries right?!  I was so excited to hear such good results!  

Soon after retrieval they take Curtis' little spermies and inject them into each and every egg - called ICSI.  He provided his "sample" last month.  Usually you just provide a fresh sample the day of retrieval, but when you use a gestational carrier the FDA has different rules and regulations.  They make you provide the sample in advance - then get your infectious disease blood screenings a month later to ensure that the sperm sample is cleared from all diseases.  So they defrosted his sample today and picked out the very best ones to inject into all my eggs.  We find out tomorrow how many eggs fertilized. 

ICSI

I got home from surgery to a 20 pack of "recovery" Diet Mountain Dew from a friend.  Haha.. So sweet!  

Wheat Thins and a heating pad were my lifesaver today, along with some pain meds haha.. You are definitely bloated and uncomfortable after surgery.  I mean...you have ovaries the size of oranges/grape fruits being poked and prodded with needles...and you're going to have a sore tummy afterwards.  But 33 eggs makes it all worth it!  :)  

Team Baby - Trigger Shot

Update:

Last night I went out to dinner with a group of girls from my ward.  It was so much fun!  We seriously have such a great ward. At exactly 9:00pm I had to give myself my "trigger shot"...so I snuck away to the bathroom to shoot up  :)  Exactly 36 hours later - you go in for egg retrieval. 

There was a worker in the bathroom with me that had this weird face like "What the heck is this girl doing?"  It was pretty funny. 

The Novarel shot helps make your eggs get plump and healthy and also triggers the release of mature eggs from the follicles.  You have to be careful to have the retrieval done before the 36 hour mark, or else this shot will make you ovulate all these eggs and there will be nothing left to show for all your blood, sweat, and tears. (Literally, you will give all of these things.) 

I had my last blood draw today to make sure the "trigger shot" worked correctly.  Usually there would be one more blood draw in a couple weeks to confirm pregnancy - but that one will be ALL Jamie!  :)     

These eggs are getting Cafe Rio tonight as their last meal with their mama haha..  I can't eat anything after midnight tonight - in preparation for surgery tomorrow morning to have them all removed.

I found this heads up penny today - which I thought was a good sign right?! :)  Wish us all luck! 

Team Baby - Kissing Ovaries

Update:

I had another blood draw and ultrasound today.  I was scheduled to work from 5am-5pm, so I had to find someone to come cover me for a couple hours.  I think that has been one of the most stressful things - just figuring out my work schedule and fitting it in with the whole invitro schedule.  Last minute, I found an amazing nurse to come in on Labor Day and cover my patients for an hour and a half.  It worked out perfectly!
My eggs continue to grow and grow.  My left ovary is pretty much ready to go.  Most the eggs measure 19-21mm.  My right ovary has more eggs, but they measure a little smaller.  My doctor wants to stop the Follistim and just do Lupron and Menopur tonight.  The plan is trigger shot tomorrow, blood draw Wednesday, and egg retrieval Thursday!  Things are looking great.
My ovaries are HUGE!  They are so full of eggs and swollen that they are touching!  If you are a boy this might not mean much since all your junk just hangs together all the time - but girl ovaries do not touch - not ever.  One is supposed to be on the right side and one of the left.  "Kissing ovaries" sounds so cute right?!  WRONG!  Yea, mine are like the size of oranges and are totally making out now.  They are squishing into each other and making me feel SUPER bloated and uncomfortable.  I'm so thankful for stretchy scrubs!  I don't think I could fit into my jeans unless I unbutton them in secret :)  It is so crazy what your body can do!  I'm thankful to have growing eggs/ovaries - even if it makes me look like Kate Gosselin prior to delivering her small nation.

Team Baby - Growing Eggs

Update:

I had another blood draw and ultrasound today.  My eggs are growing well.  Most of them measure approximately 12-14mm.  Our doctor wants them greater than 18mm prior to egg retrieval.  My eggs are overfilling my ovaries and causing them to grow and grow - now they are actually touching.  It's called "kissing ovaries".  Crazy!  I have a whole population of eggs on my ovaries and I definitely feel it.  I'm super happy, excited, and bloated!  Our doctor lowered my Follistim dose to 100 units tonight then 75 units Sunday night...and back for another blood draw/ultrasound Monday morning.  Things are looking good!  

Team Baby - Infectious Disease Screening

Update: 

Today was the BIG blood draw day for Curtis and I where they test for every disease you can imagine, just to make sure we don't have anything crazy that can be passed on to Jamie.

 Curtis had 5 vials taken.  His blood was drawing slow for some reason, so it took him a while.

Kimmy had 6 vials, a pee sample, and an ultrasound.  They called a couple hours after and said everything is coming along as planned.  My eggs are growing great!  My ovaries went from the size of walnuts to about the size of a lemon/baseball.  They want me to stay on all the same doses and see me back Saturday morning!

I'm starting to get some cool bruises from all the pokes at night  :)

Team Baby - Stimulation

Update:

I started my stimulation medications today...which means more injections every night! Yay!  I'm still on the 10 units of Lupron, but now we have added 150 units of Follistim and 75 IU of Menopur. The Follistim and Menopur help stimulate egg production and help the eggs mature. 

My supplies.

Follistim. 

You put the ampule into the injection pen and screw the needle on.

Dial back to 150 units. 

Inject the Follistim into the Menopur powder vial. 

Then you draw up 1cc of normal saline and add that the the Menopur vial as well.

Draw up the entire thing. That's injection one.  You can mix the Follistim with the Menopur into one injection, which is so nice!

The second injection is still the 10 units of Lupron (which I have been doing for the last 11 days).  That can't be mixed with the Follistim/Menopur mixture. 

My two nightly injections. 

I inject one in my stomach and one in my side. It's really fun. 

Dispose of all the needles in a safe container. Haha.  :)

Still on all my oral medications as well. 

4 Metformin, Prenatal Vitamin, and a baby Aspirin.  

I have a blood draw and an ultrasound Wednesday to see how all my little eggs are growing.  :)  Yay for growing eggs!  I feel like a little chicken. 

Team Baby - Baseline

Update:

I had to go in today for a blood draw and ultrasound.  The blood had to be drawn at Utah Fertility Partners between 7:30am-10:30am.  The ultrasound was done in Provo afterwards since Dr. Marrs and his team are still in California.

Only one vial of blood to test all my baseline hormone levels.  They called me later that day and said all my levels were perfect.  

I think they blew my vein.  At least they got me on the first stick.

All the fun tools. 

Ultrasound machine.

The big screen - so I can see what they are doing during the ultrasound.  I have a big cyst on my right side that is always there.  They don't want any prominent follicles at this point so they were concerned at first, but I reminded them that I always have that on my right side.  They looked over all my old ultrasounds and saw it there too.  So everything is all good.  I start my stimulation medications tomorrow! 

I stopped birth control on Sunday but have continued my nightly Lupron injection. Still going strong.  Oh...and my Burger King ice cream on the side haha.. I haven't really noticed any side effects yet - except that my stomach is sore from all the needle sticks.