Our Fertility Journey & Updates

Sharing the rough & tumblin' road we're on

[forevertheyoungs]

Can’t wait to see what he looks like Tuesday!!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Since this is only shared with family and friends!! Here’s Bodhi’s first real picture! He’s growing on pace, we saw the yolk sac and all. Next scan is in 2 weeks... and we should be able to hear the cherished thump thump thump of his little heart!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Day 5 after transfer, and I’ve had some dizziness, & queasiness... all these IVF hormones are intense!!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Amazing gift from my amazingly creative friend!!!

Transfer is Monday, 1/25 at 12:30pm!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Had lots of questions lately... so wanted to boil down IVF in an easy to understand way.

IVF - stimulate as many eggs as possible to grow, & retrieve them, allow sperm to fertilize same day... they grow to blastocyst stage in a dish (5-6 days) are biopsied (if doing PGS testing) and frozen

FET - second stage of IVF if using freezing... prepare the womb for implantation, unfreeze embryo, transfer, blood work 9 days later to confirm if it stuck

[forevertheyoungs]

Transfer is set for end of January! Fun to do... poll results

Our embryo is...

A girl - 7

A boy - 4

The reasons have ranged from, “baby senses tell me” to “because you are the strongest woman I’ve met and you need to bring another woman into the fold and show her the ways.

It’s fun to day dream again 💭

[forevertheyoungs]

Endometrial receptivity analysis underway!

This will tell our doc precisely what day is best to transfer our one waiting embryo... should have results in about 2 weeks or so, with a transfer in early January.

Bless bubbas heart, somehow when I said “this is our only shot until we can afford another ivf cycle” that meant I was out of eggs after this... Long story short, that’s definitely not the case. Doc said I definitely have diminished reserves, as I required a lot more medication to produce viable eggs, it’s on the low grade side - which is great! So long story short — no, 😂 they did not harvest all of my remaining eggs, and thank goodness men don’t have to live with the complexities of womanhood we’d have gone extinct a while back

[forevertheyoungs]

I just realized.... our babies were call conceived on the 3rd anniversary of me meeting Bubba... 11/12/2017 and confirmed fertilized 11/12/2020!

How cosmic is that?

The odds of that happening during a batched IVF cycle is astronomical.

Plus my due date would be near mine and my bro’s shared bday, which I’ve always hoped for!! Based on a 12/14 transfer, I’d be due around 09/02/2021.

It’s meant to be. Our dreams are coming true, and our hope has been restored after a long, dark 2 years of no progress. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude, and peace. Somehow I found my soulmate, and we’re on the cusp of forming the family we’ve both dreamed of all of our lives. I don’t know what I did for that kind of karma, but I cannot wait to pay it forward every chance I get & teach our babies to do the same.

[forevertheyoungs]

Halftime recap:

16 follicles —> 13 eggs retrieved —>

12 fertilized —> 8 glowing 🌈 made it to right growth stage —> TBD genetic analysis = Final tally

Egg retrieval + semen sample ✅

And now... the wait!!! For 2 years it’s been a 16 day wait for results, this one time we’ll hear tomorrow!! The eggs have a coating that is there for about 4 hours after retrieval, then they’ll evaluate maturity. Only fully mature eggs will be viable, so those will be placed with bubba’s sample... and we’ll hear tomorrow the results!!! I’m nervous and hopeful, pained and blissed out... it’s a roller coaster for sure!

Thank you for your prayers, good vibes, and anything else positive you’ve sent our way!!! We love you all!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Final stretch of IVF Part 1! Did my last shots this morning.

I’ve got 8 mature eggs ready to harvest! He said he’s confident we can perhaps get two babies out of this (one at a time of course).

Surgery is Wednesday, and we’ll hear fertilization results Thursday!!! Eekk it’s happening!!

Side note, first pleasant appointment I’ve had with this doc... maybe I did change his outlook.

[forevertheyoungs]

After a lil rumble in the jungle with my doctor over the way the course of treatment/bedside manner has gone... I feel better.

We’re a little behind schedule on growth, so I’m continuing stimulation. The earliest retrieval day will be Wednesday, and won’t know till Monday afternoon if that’s the case.

Opted to turn my spine stimulator off, see if that doesn’t boost the growth the last bit to the finish line.

I broke my toe running to vomit after one of my shots, so I’m in extra pain. Hanging strong 💪 on my minuscule pain management routine... we’re nearly there!!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Yep, I’ve gotten there. Running out of stomach space, and had a bit upset stomach since starting them. It’s all worth it!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Ultrasound + bloodwork went well! Still have 12-16 on deck, and they’re slightly smaller than the size they’d need to be to start the morning injection (stops premature ovulation).

They said it’s too soon to know if my eggs will be cooked by 11/10, time will tell.

He said I had an amazing spike in estrogen right out of the gate, and my lining is nice and thick already.. dunno what that really means for the process but any positive is a positive at this point!

Start morning shot tomorrow, back for bloodwork Saturday!

[forevertheyoungs]

Shots have gone great so far!! I’ll have an ultrasound Wednesday morning, and then we’ll add in a morning injection too.

Tentative egg retrieval is 11/10, 🤞🤞🐣🐣

[forevertheyoungs]

Don’t mind my weekend attire 😉

1st shot ✅

Tomorrow will be smoother, and another step closer!!

[forevertheyoungs]

Organizing for Shot-day Friday!

I decided to organize things sequentially... I have 1 week of my stimulation regimen organized/measured out so this caboodle style organizer will take me all the way to egg retrieval. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS SET! MyVitro has it all covered, and it’s so flexible I know I’ll be able to do this again for the next leg of the journey.

I packed up my travel sterile board set with 2 evenings out... Just in case we decide to have a dinner out always have to remember IVF shots still have to go down!

Repurposed a bathroom organizer holding old makeup (ew, right? time to pitch anyhow) to hold the rest of the large stockpile. Tray 1 features extra gauze and alcohol pads, syringes/needles for stimulation shots, qtips for mixing the compounds, & the pain meds for the retrieval. Venturing over to Tray 2, we have the oh-so-enormous progesterone needles/syringes (yes they’re so big they need their own drawer). Lastly, we arrive at the tray I’m most excited about, here we will find all the medications needed for the embryo transfer portion of the cycle!!!

I’m ready for it to be Friday at 7PM already, let’s do this!!!

Next check in is Monday for blood work <3

[forevertheyoungs]

What an ordeal getting the meds was... no matter they arrived at 7:45 am today after about 16 changes to the schedule. I have some MAJOR organizing to do this evening!!

Baseline ultrasound done & injections begin tomorrow night. We are working with SIXTEEN immature follicles!!! 8 on each side!