It has been a while since I last posted. This last week we were able to start our transfer cycle. I initially called the nurse and said we're ready to start. It's cycle day one! ( I was way nervous.) The nurse called me back the next evening and told me she was talking with the doctor about starting as he usually has people wait for 2 full cycles and not just 2 periods. (you have a period after they retireve which is not considered a cycle.) We would have had to wait another month, which isn't bad in the whole scheme of things, but you get pretty antsy to start! The doctor had me go in for an ultrasound to make sure my ovaries were back to their normal size. Also just to make sure we were ready to safely start a transfer cycle. Luckily for us we were ready! The nurse had me start birth control and sent me a calendar of what our transfer cycle would look like. I never realized how much went into a transfer cycle! I thought you had a period, implanted embryos two weeks later and BAM! You were pregnant...if it worked. I was wrong! Let me walk you through the process, as I know it, that one goes through in order to implant an embryo.
First you are on birth control for 2 weeks. (perma-grumpy face for 2 weeks) During the second week you will likely start a shot, lupron and such, that will essentially put your reproductive organs to "sleep"...at least that is how I see it. You do these shots at a higher dosage that will decrease a bit and stop once you start progesterone shots or suppositories later...gross . Anyways. You stop you birth control after two weeks, have a mini cycle and go in for a suppression ultrasound to make sure there are no cysts on your ovaries as well as a blood draw to check other important hormones. You will then decrease the amount in your "sleeping" shots by about half and start taking some form of the hormone Estrodiol (estrogen). This you will start with a smaller amount that gets bigger as you progress through your cycle. These steps all happen in the same day. Four days later you will go in for a blood test to check your estrodiol levels...likely to make sure they are going up and doing what they should be. After one week on estrodiol you will increase the amount you take from about 1 milligram every 12 hours to 2 mg's three times a day. On day 11 of your cycle, just shy of one month after starting birth control in the first place, you will go in for your final monitoring or ultrasound to check the lining of your uterus. If the lining is thick enough you will start your progesterone shots or suppositories and stop your "sleeping" shots completely. You will continue with your estrodiol and prenatal vitamins. Less than a week later...5 days in our case, you will implant the embryos.
According to our situation they will defrost the embryos the morning of our implantation date. If the embryo doesn't survive the defrost they will call to see if we want to defrost another embryo. The nurses told me for at least 2 weeks you are considered pregnant. Two weeks after you implantation they do a blood HCG test to make sure the numbers look good and are going up. They may do a couple blood tests spaced out with a day or two in between as HCG is supposed to double every few days in early pregnancy. They don't suggest doing a home pregnancy test in the mean time as there are some things they give you that can give you false results. Such as the HCG trigger shot if you are doing a fresh cycle. Unfortunately with fertility stuff it doesn't eliminate the two week waiting period. It does eliminate all the other stuff though!
Don't be afraid to ask the doctor his professional opinion at any time during this process. He is there to guide you through these decisions. It is better to ask than to make an expensive mistake because you thought your question was stupid. Keep in mind they answer a bazillion questions daily. I can guarantee your question has been asked before. Once again when making decisions during this time, follow the peace. If in the end things didn't work out, at least you can say I followed the peace and maybe there is something else out there for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment