IVF Round 2

 Wow. I have so much to write and I wish I had done a better job at writing as things were happening. Obviously, COVID hit. Although our clinic was shut down for awhile, after the miscarriage, we had to take several months off from trying anyway. 

In April 2020, I got to start taking my prenatals and vitamins again. Although this is something so small, it felt so good to be able to do something again to begin moving forward. 

On May 5, 2020, we had our consult with Dr. Jarrett. We discussed how we felt about our previous cycle, how we were doing, and how we could move forward. Our doctor was so wonderful and just wanted to make sure we were doing what was best for us both physically and mentally. He reminded us that there were positives that came from that difficult cycle. The clinic was getting ready to reopen and we could begin preparing for cycle two. 

To prevent OHSS again, we would do a frozen cycle, meaning that any viable embryos would be frozen, I would take a month or so for my body to recover, and then we would transfer the embryo. We discussed diet changes to make and vitamins I could add on in addition to my protocol. Although a freeze-all cycle is difficult just because it means more waiting, we knew this was what was best for my body and the baby. 

May 26, 2020 was cycle day 1. This means phone calls, ordering medicines, and beginning to prepare for the cycle. 

June 25, 2020 - baseline appointment and ordering additional meds. 

June 30, 2020 - meds arrived! 

July 6, 2020 - First day of Stims

July 10, 2020 - First monitoring appointment. The really difficult thing for me about doing this all again was comparing every single number to the last round. Of course we had been disappointed after round 1 that we hadn't had more embryos, so this time was so difficult because I was constantly going back and forth to see what numbers I had before. At this point I had 10 measurable follicles and 15 more under 10mm. 

July 13, 2020 - Monitoring two - Here is where my comparisons led to disappointment. I was so anxious about getting more follicles. At this appointment I had 12 measuring and 12 more under 10mm. 

July 15, 2020 - Follicle count was up! 17 measurable and 20+ more under 10mm. 

July 16, 2020 - We pulled the trigger and packed for the egg retrieval in Indy! 

July 18, 2020 - Egg retrieval. Of course this time hit differently because I had do go in for the procedure by myself. Everything went very smoothly (except maybe all of the awkward selfies I was taking as I came out of the anesthesia). They got 13 eggs! I was so excited!

July 19, 2020 - We got our first update from the embryologist. Of the 13 eggs, they were able to perform ICSI on 10 and of those, 7 had fertilized. We were feeling so blessed and like prayers had been working. 

July 23, 2020 - The day 5 update came and only 1 of the 7 embryos was strong and developed enough to be frozen. They said they would watch five of the others still to potentially freeze a day 6 embryo, but at least we had one. We were pretty disappointed. I prayed and prayed for those other embryos because I couldn't imagine going through this again. 

July 24, 2020 - I was waiting for the phone call and I took an afternoon nap. While I was sleeping, I dreamed that God told me that we would only have the one embryo, but that was all we needed. I woke up and told Dan and he said, "What do you think that means?" I said, "I don't know, but we need to trust in Him." Sure enough, the embryologist called me shortly after and none of the other embryos had developed. It is such a weird thing to mourn the loss of these embryos that hadn't even developed to blastocysts, but that's what we did. I had planned to take a fun balloon photo to share how many embryos we had and I almost cancelled it, but then I decided, you know what, God told me this was all we needed that that miracle embryo needs to be celebrated just as much as if we had more. 

At this point we got to schedule our frozen transfer and begin preparing for the next round of medications that prepared for that. 

Here's where I wish I would have written this down a long time ago. We were headed back to school and coaching in a COVID-19 world and I honestly can't remember all of my protocol. However, on September 10, we headed back to Indy to transfer our one frozen embryo. 

My biggest fear was that the embryo wouldn't survive the thaw. That can happen. They can go to thaw it and the embryo doesn't begin moving again like it should and the transfer would be cancelled. Again, I had to go into this alone with Dan waiting in the car, so I was pretty nervous. When I got upstairs, I remember the embryologist was already waiting for me and my heart dropped. However, she immediately told me that our embryo had survived the thaw and was re-expanding exactly like they wanted! We were going to be transferring that little one!!

Then came the two week wait, where we prayed and prayed and continued shots until we went for the blood test to see if our miracle was coming.