I will start way back from the beginning as I know a lot of my TTC sisters want to know all the details, but the one thing I hope you take away from this, is all the things we did to advocate for ourselves before the transfer. Trust YOURSELF! Do research, read other stories and ask questions!
TWW (two-week-wait): Honestly I hated reading this answer but I felt NOTHING!! I really did not believe it had worked at all. I had sore boobs, but I had that from the hormones before the transfer. I tried to stay positive, but I really wasn't deep in my heart. I was fully prepared for the worst phone call of my life, which turned out to be the best phone call of my life! So hang in there, do whatever feels right, feel whatever you need to, just get through the wait.
May 30th was the day we got the call to say we were pregnant, our transfer was a success. My beta number was 63, not the greatest, so even though I was so happy, I was terrified of what would happen next. It was hard to let myself feel all this joy, when I knew there was a good chance the beta could go down in 2 days. But it didn't, it almost doubled to 118. Still I was cautious... but very happy. The next beta was 3 days and we jumped to almost 500 and then the last one was over 1,000. We officially made it through the beta hell. I finally started to believe this may actually be happening.
Then on 6/11, a Monday, I was at work feeling great. I went to the bathroom around 11:45 am and there was a lot of bright red blood when I wiped. I instantly lost my breathe and began to freak out. I ran back to the classroom I was in, grabbed my stuff and tried to tell anyone what happened, but at this point I was already hysterical. I ran out the door and called Chris- he answered immediately and I couldn't even get any words out, just blood. He just went into panic mode but did his best to calm me down, he helped me start breathing and we both left work and drove right to the Dr. It was a 45 minute drive of terror, I cried hysterical and begged for this to not be happening, while Chris just told me over and over again how much he loved me. When we got to the Dr I didn't even want to go in but Chris forced me, I didn't want to face what I thought I knew. In all my times going to the Fertility clinic, I have never cried there like this. Luckily, they are amazing and took me right back with lots of hug and consoling. They told me to try and relax and get on the table. The PA came in and immediately did an emergency scan, and there was our little guy. Honestly, I couldn't even look, but she and Chris kept telling me to look they could see his little heart fluttering!!! I finally looked, he was there, he was sooo tiny, but strong. His heartbeat was 108 at only 6weeks. It was amazing. She didn't see anything else going on in the uterus, no cause for bleeding. When she took the wand out there was barely any blood. What a relief. I took the next day off of work and nothing happened. I went back to work on Wednesday and right around the same time it happened again. This time I stayed much calmer but still left work. I want to be clear, a lot of people spot in their pregnancies and it is totally normal, however it is typically brown or prink blood and just a tiny bit. This was more than that and bright red- like a period. However, there was no obvious cause for mine. We decided to stop baby aspirin as I was also on a blood thinner to see if that would help. I also put myself on a modified bed rest for the rest of the week and weekend. It never happened again. My gut tells me it has something to do with work, I sit in very small chairs with preschool children, I believe that I was basically doing 100 squats every morning which may have been just too much for my body at that time. There is no scientific evidence for this, but when I went back to work I sat in adult chairs, preferably more comfortable ones and I was feeling much better.
On 6/20 we went for our regular scheduled sonogram. I couldn't believe how much our little guy had grown! He was still so strong with a heart beat of 146. He measured perfectly and I was falling more and more in love with him. We were now 7w2d pregnant and due in February 2019.
We waited another 2 weeks to see our little guy. He was so much bigger and moving all around. He even waved his hands in the sonogram. His heartbeat was fast at 188 but he was just perfect. I was and am still feeling great. No illness and really no symptoms at all. Still have sore boobs and the only noticeable difference is the amount I am hungry. I wake up early from my stomach growling and need to eat much more during the day, but I am able to eat all things and mostly keeping it healthy. At this time we were 9w2d pregnant with our son. Our RE recommended that we start weening off hormones and meds at this time, but we just weren't ready. We asked for more time, basically we were terrified to change anything.
During week 10 we saw an MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) Dr. She was very nice, but to the point. She did a sonogram and told us our little guy was doing great, strong heart beat, active and measuring perfectly. She confirmed that it was ok to start weening off the supplements. She recommended staying on the blood thinner, since I was already on it and it will be no harm to me or baby. After meeting with her, we decided to stop the PIO shots at night and increase to 3 a day progesterone inserts, this was the RE's recommendation.
This week I am honored to say that I am 11 weeks pregnant. We had one last sonogram at our fertility clinic. Our son is just perfect. He was dancing around the whole time. He is super active and strong. He is still measuring perfect and has a fast heartbeat of 180. We have officially graduated, meaning that we are moving forward and seeing a regular obgyn next week. We have stopped all estrogen supplementation, decreed progesterone to 2 pills a day and weening off the dexamethasone by taking it every other day. By next week, I will be off all these hormones and medicine. The only thing I will continue to take is the blood thinner. I will also be having another intralipid infusion in August.
It is a very bittersweet feeling. I am so grateful for everyone at our clinic and for how far we have come. I never knew what this would feel like, I'm full of love, hope, and joy. I wish everyone could experience this, but I know that is not always the case, I am very aware that we are crossing over to the "lucky" side.
Here are all the specific details of what we did this cycle ( you can also read more details in previous posts) I will star the things that are different this cycle. I do not believe it was one particular thing that made this cycle successful, but I do feel that my surgery to remove my infected tube played a large role, as well as being patient with my body and trying some new medicines that wouldn't hurt.
Things I did the entire cycle:
*Chiropractor (fertility)- saw her 1 times a week
Acupuncture- 2 times a week and before and after transfer
*Took a prenatal with FOLATE- Emerald Laboratory is the brand I chose.
*Took DHA Omega gummies
Protocol:
Estrogen for 6 weeks- was increased to 3 patches a day and 3 vaginal inserts (read other posts)
*dexamethasone 0.5mg beginning with Estrogen
baby aspirin starting with Estrogen
PIO shots, 2 inserts a day and *Lovenox (blood thiner) beginning 5 days before transfer
*Intralipid infusion 1 month before transfer and 1 week before transfer
doxycycline for 5 days leading up to transfer
I continued all of the above meds (except doxy) until beta day and then after.
Other things during the TWW:
I was on bed rest for 2 days- I did walk around the house, but nothing crazy.
I ate only warm foods, including room temperature drinks for 5 days. And after that tried to avoid freezing cold things until beta.
I drank a pineapple core crushed up with warm water for the day of transfer and 2 days after.
I know I said above that I felt nothing during the tww and its true but I did have 2 bizarre things. 2 days after the transfer I wet the bed in the middle of the night- never have I done this. Turns out I had my first ever UTI, I ended up having to take antibiotics. When they tested for it again right around the beta, I now had a yeast infection... so I have no clue if this was all related, but it was new and unusual for me!
My weening progress:
10 weeks stopped PIO cold turkey, but increased to 3 vaginal supplements a day.
11 weeks stopped estrogen cold turkey, decreased to 2 progesterone inserts a day, and dexamethasone every other day.
13 weeks last intralipids infusion
staying on Lovenox until some times later in pregnancy
***Sensitive***
Here is a picture of our little guy. I truly hope you get to experience this. If you are struggling the best advice I can give is, don't give up on yourself. Stay open minded, get help, research, try new things and remember to try and love yourself through the hard times.
