Our Battle With Infertility

Hi! Glad you decided to come visit this page, it's my 6yr journey in a nutshell.  It's definitely one roller coaster of a ride and I'm thrilled to be able to share with you what the Lord has and is doing in my life.

Six years ago during a camping trip, when I forgot my birth control pills, my husband and I decided to stop taking the pills and leave it up to God's will for us to have children. I have a beautiful daughter named Taylor, from my husband, who I call my own...but I really desired to have one myself, to experience pregnancy and all the joys that come with it.

Some of you might not know the TTC (trying to conceive) lingo, so here are is a brief summary of the words or letters you might see in this post.

Endo- Endometriosis which is a female health disorder that occurs when cells from the lining of the womb (uterus) grow in other areas of the body. This can lead to pain, irregular bleeding, and problems getting pregnant (infertility).

HSG- HysteroSalpingoGram – basically an X-ray of the uterus and fallopian tubes used to determine if fluid can move freely through the tubes, and to visualize the interior of the uterus to check for abnormal structure / growths.

Laparoscopy- is a modern surgical technique in which operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) as opposed to the larger incisions needed in laparotomy.

 

IUI- Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of semen into a female or oviduct for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through fertilization by means other than copulation.

IVF- In Vitro Fertilisation is a process by which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body: in vitro. IVF is a major treatment for infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman's ovulatory process, removing eggs from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilize them in a fluid medium in a laboratory. The fertilized egg is cultured for 2–6 days in a growth medium and is then transferred to the mother's uterus with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

BFP- Big Fat Positive, which refers to getting a positive on a pregnancy test.

Here is a timeline of my journey...

Aug 2007- Prayed and believed God's will be done in our family.

Jan 2009- Went for a pap smear and told the Dr our concern of not conceiving. She went on to say a healthy couple will conceive within a year, well it was past a year for us and we didn't really have a clue what to do next.

Apr 2009- I woke up with a sharp pain on my right side, it hurt so bad it brought me to tears. I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment. She did an ultrasound and found a big cyst on my right ovary and believed the pain was from one that possibly popped. From there she believed I had endometriosis, but said they couldn't diagnose it until they did a laparoscopy. So for now she wanted to run other tests.

May 2009- A lot of blood work, which came back normal.

June 2009- Semen analysis, normal

April-Sep 2009- Charting and ovulation kits, normal

Sep 2009- HSG, tubes were clear

Oct 2009- Laparoscopy, found out I had stage 2 endometriosis and cysts on my right ovary.

Nov 2009- Recovering from surgery and Dr said she cleared out all the endo and took out the cysts and we should start trying again.

Dec 2009-Jan 2011- Tried a year on our own with ovulation kits with no luck. I've read so many success stories of women getting pregnant within the year after having a laparoscopy, but I didn't.

Apr 2011- First visit with a Fertility Specialist. He went over my chart and didn't really understand why I couldn't conceive when reading over my medical history, stated everything looked fine. We decided to do 2 IUI's before doing another laparoscopy.

Jun 2011- IUI, not pregnant

Jul 2011- IUI, not pregnant

Oct 2011- Laparoscopy, slight endometriosis, scar tissue and little cyst on right ovary. Dr said everything was cleaned out, looks great and doesn't see why I wouldn't conceive in the next couple of months.

Dec 2011- IUI with Clomid, not pregnant

Jan 2012- IUI with Clomid, not pregnant and also the day I started the "Christian ladies TTC" thread.

Feb 2012- IUI with Clomid, not pregnant

Mar 2012- IUI with Femara, not pregnant

Apr-Jun 2012- Decided to take a break, was getting costly as my insurance only covered 50%. Also, Dr recommended IVF but insurance didn't cover it. It would cost between 15-20K.

Jul 2012- One last IUI with Femara, not pregnant.

Aug-Oct 2012- Cried out to God, wondering why this isn't working. Hubby and I decided we were not going to go back to the fertility clinic.

Nov 2012- Received my husband’s health benefit package from his work and found out that they cover 3 cycles of IVF with all the medications Also, got a letter from my Fertility Specialist that he was retiring.

Jan 2013- 1st consult at the IVF Clinic. Dr said with my age and with putting back 2 embryos, my chances of conceiving was around 40%.

Feb 2013- Had to start off my IVF cycle on birth control pills.

March 2013- Started the stimulation medication,

March 13th- Egg retrieval day (17 eggs retrieved, 12 of them good quality)

March 16th- Embryo transfer (only 2 were good enough to transfer, which I like to think of it as God hand picking them for me).

March 27th- First pregnancy test, BFP! IVF Coordinator called at 1:50pm stating I was 4 weeks pregnant and was a little worried since my beta # was 38 and wanted me to re-test in 2 days.

March 29th- Another pregnancy test, beta came back at 98!

March 31st- Last pregnancy test, beta was 266!

April 10th- 6 week ultrasound, We have 1 baby on board. Everything looks normal at this stage.

I’m still in shock that I’m pregnant and randomly poas (peed on a stick) to see those 2 beautiful lines I’ve never seen in the 6 years of trying. God is good and I’m so blessed to have this miracle growing in my womb.

God has given us so much peace during this process and I give Him all the praise, glory and honor.

I will use this journal to update those who would like to follow me along on this amazing journey.

UPDATE: Sadly I ended up miscarrying this pregnancy at 9 weeks due to a sub chorionic hemorage. I have hope that one day I will become pregnant again and see it all the way through to the delivery of a healthy baby.

On to cycle #2

Aug 2013- Started Stims

Aug 22- Egg retrieval (26 eggs retrieved, 18 fertilized)

Aug 27- Embryo transfer (transferred 2 Grade A Blastocyst embryos)

Sept 5- (Day after my 34th birthday) Pregnancy test- BFP!!! Beta# 184

Sept 7- Beta# 455

Sept 19- 6 week ultrasound showed 2 pregnancy sacs, one was smaller than the other. Dr gave the small one 50% chance of making it.

Oct 3- 8 week ultrasound. We found out that the small one did not make it and the other baby had a heartbeat of 112 and is measuring a week behind. We will go in on Oct 10th to see how the baby progresses

Oct 10- 9 week ultrasound. We lost our precious baby **found out later the baby had a chromosomal abnormality and that's why it stopped developing.

Dec 1st- We had our 3rd egg retrieval. Retrieved 18 eggs and 9 were fertilized.

Dec 4th- We transferred 3 beautiful embryos

Dec 15th- BFP, 1st beta #'s came back at 370, 2nd beta was 970.

Dec 30th- We go in for our 6 week scan and find out all 3 have implanted and have heart beats. This was also our last visit with our IVF clinic, as we had to switch insurance.

Jan 9, 2014- Have been so sick, can't keep anything down and had to go to the Dr's to see if they could prescribe me some meds.  Dr. gave me a prescription for Promethazine and also recommended I stay and get an IV to rehydrate me.

Jan 18, 2014- 9 weeks along and I started bleeding.  Not just a little spot, a gush of blood came streaming out and I felt so helpless.  We ended up going to the ER and 5hrs later found out all 3 were still there and hearts beating strong.

Jan 26, 2014- 10 weeks along and the 1st time we have EVER heard a baby's heartbeat.  I had bought a fetal doppler when I was pregnant the 1st time, but never had the chance to use it.  The package says you will hear the heartbeat between 14-16 weeks, what can I say...we were a little impatient..lol!  Lawrence put the cold gel on my tummy, turned on the doppler and started listening.  Thankfully the monitor has 2 headphone jacks, so we both got to hear at the same time.  There it was...boom, boom, boom...so fast!  It was AMAZING!!!