ttc timeline

December 2015

Liddy Rose was born at 36.5 weeks on December 11th, 2015 completing our family and weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces via c-section.

July 2015

Boys were born at 33 weeks on July 16, 2015. Casey Harrison 3 pounds 12 ounces and Britton Michael 3 pounds 15 ounces. They spent 26 and 23 days in the NICU at Driscoll Children's Hospital. They are beyond perfect.

June 2015 

The boys have entered the 3rd trimester and I'm wrapping up the 1st trimester with our little girl!

May 2015

Boys are doing great and the little one I'm carrying is moving right along.

April 2015

And now that we've gotten used to the fact that we're going to have 2 babies by August...I found out that I'm expecting against all odds with a natural and completely surprise pregnancy

March 2015

Twin BOYS!

February 2015

It's twins!

January 2015

First ultrasound...heartbeat was in the 120's and measuring right on track!

December 2014

K's lining was amazing at every appointment. We traveled to Denver and were so blessed to have gotten to spend several days with her. Our transfer was on December 16th and was one of the most special days of my life. A day I'll likely never forget.

On December 21st we got our BFP. On Christmas Eve, it was confirmed with an awesome beta.

November 2014

After a brief antibody scare, K was medically cleared to be our surrogate. She started Lupron and we were officially given our FET calendar.

October 2014

We traveled to Denver for my GC's ODWU. Her uterus looked way better than mine, so all things are full steam ahead! Gestational Carrier Agreements were signed!!

September 2014

My GC's IUD was removed and her medical records were sent to CCRM (and approved!).

July 2014

Even with the good results with our IUI, we are still moving forward with our GC plan. We were able to meet our (hopeful) GC and her family and I absolutely loved her. We know this is the best way to begin our family and as I continue to say, hopefully, my uterus can allow that family to grow later on...

June 2014

On May 30th, we transferred our 4AA embryo. Transfer went great. Our lining was thin, only reaching about 6mm, but the fluid had disappeared a few days before transfer. We still felt like we had a shot. Sadly, it didn't work.

We made the decision at that point, that we couldn't risk losing anymore of our embryos in my uterus.  At least, not until we had a baby...even if that meant, I wouldn't carry. Our doctor did not believe my lining would ever get thicker than 6mm. So we moved on to the Gestational Carrier process.

At the same time, I made the decision to do a few local IUI's in Indianapolis. During our June IUI cycle, on low dose Menopur and Gonal F, my lining reached a 7.8mm!! The cycle didn't work, but my hope was restored.

May 2014

Our FET cycle is a go. We're doing an aggressive "all guns blazing" protocol from Dr. Charles March (asherman's syndrome specialist). We're heading out to CCRM on May 22nd with a tentative transfer date of May 29th.

April 2014

Regroup with Dr. G. We can move on to a FET knowing the chances of success are very low. If it's unsuccessful we can move on to a gestational carrier.

March 2014 

Mock cycle bust. Again. My lining only reached thickness of 5.7mm. There was also fluid in my uterus making it look "cystic". Did the Beta-3 Integrin biopsy and the results were POSITIVE! At least a little bit of good news. We do not need to do the Depolupron.

February 2014

Office hysteroscopy confirms the scar tissue is gone and the structure of my uterus is normal. My lining is still thin. Mock cycle begins on 2/27/14 with Vivelle Patches, Estrace, Viagra, Trental & Vitamin E.

January 2014

Surgery to remove scar tissue went very "easy" according to my doctor. Started estrogen therapy right away that will last for 3 weeks followed by 10 days of progesterone. Hopefully at the end of that I'll have a period. We'll then see what a mock cycle will bring. Hopefully a thick lining.

December 2013 

Ultrasounds continue to show a lining of <3mm. A trip to CCRM confirms via office hysteroscopy that my cervix is scarred shut and I have scar tissue in my uterus. Next step is surgery.

November 2013

Mock cycle cancelled due to horribly thin lining after 3 weeks of Estrace and Vivelle patches (2.1mm). Administered another PIO shot to hopefully induce some sort of a period in order to start from scratch.

Will anything ever be easy with this?

October 2013

After a lot of "will she or won't she" Goose finally triggered on Sunday, October 6th. Her retrieval was Tuesday, October 8th. T flew out to Denver for his "contribution as I waited back home.

We officially have 6 perfect blasts!! They were graded as 2 - AA blasts, 3 AB blasts & 1 BA blast.

I'm currently doing my mock cycle. Hopefully in the very near future we can move onto our FET!


September 2013

This was just a month of me getting poked with needles on a weekly basis begging each time for a negative beta. It's been dropping, but slowly. Once it's zero, we'll be able to move onto our mock cycle. Depending on those results we'll be able to move onto my transfer as early as November.

"Goose" our donor, will start her stims on the 22nd and her progress was super slow, but continued.

August 2013

With hCG levels that continued to bounce around, we ultimately had to move forward with a D&C. That confirmed there was no pregnancy in my uterus and we followed that up with a shot of Methotrexate. What I was really hoping to avoid.

Good news is, we chose our donor at CCRM and will be moving forward with a freeze all cycle in late September/early October.

July 2013

After going on vacation and waiting for my next period to arrive to start our mock DE cycle, I received a BFP.

Unfortunately it was short lived. I started miscarrying at 5 weeks...two weeks later, we're still waiting for my hCG levels to drop to negative.

June 2013

Stims only produced 3 follicles. Fluid in my uterus and elevated progesterone levels made for a less than ideal cycle. We proceeded forward hoping to freeze any eggs retrieved.

At ER we got 2 eggs. Unfortunately, 1 was not mature and the other degenerated in culture. We were not even able to get to the point of attempting ICSI.

We are now considering what's next. Whether we move forward with one more IVF cycle or we start the process of donor eggs.

One day work up at CCRM went well. We are moving forward with DE. I'll do a mock cycle in July to test out my lining on the meds and also have a uterine biopsy done to make sure I have the beta-3 integrin present for implantation. Once we have those results we'll choose a donor and move forward. Hopefully planning for a fall donor IVF cycle!

May 2013

Birth control pills did not suppress me as they should have. Waiting out this cycle to hopefully get better baseline hormone levels.

Cycle day 1 on 5/21. Rough start. CD 3 still had elevated levels, but on CD 5 I was given the go ahead to begin stims.

April 2013

4/18 - Last day of birth control pills
4/24 - Start Gonal-f, Menopur, hGH and Ganirelix to prepare for egg retrieval. Go team ovaries!!

March 2013

While waiting on my cycle to begin to start the BCP, I found a lot of research regarding the high stim protocol on DOR patients. Decided to do one more consult before our first round of IVF...with CCRM. Scheduled for March 22. Will then decide when and where we'll do treatment.

Found out we had a chemical pregnancy. Took a while for my HCG numbers to drop from 11 to 5! Ugh. Started Birth Control Pills on 3/29!

February 2013

Laporoscopy showed Stage III Endometriosis. Left ovary was twisted and attached because of a endo cyst. Endo was on my uterus, ovaries and bladder. Hysteroscopy was normal other than a tilted uterus. Plan for IVF is birth control pills in March, egg retrieval and transfer in April.


January 2013

New year, time for a new doctor and a new plan. Saw 3 new RE's this month for opinions, two in Indianapolis and one in Chicago. One doctor said we could try one or two more IUI's and maybe and IVF, but overall seemed like the clinic wasn't really into working with DOR patients.

The Chicago clinic was great. They recommended IVF with high stims.

Last clinic recommended a laporoscopy/hysteroscopy before treatments. Scheduled surgery for February.

December 2012

Finally demanded an FSH test after months of asking for it and my RE saying I didn't need it based on my responses to the Femara and Gonal-f. They finally agreed to "ease my mind" and run the test. Low and behold it was 15.5. They then rushed me in the office, did an AFC, which wasn't great. Maybe 5 on the right side, not much going on the left. Ran an AMH, level was <.16. The RE told me donor eggs was my only option.

Officially diagnosed with DOR (diminished ovarian reserve)

Moving on and good riddance.

November 2012

IUI Cycle #2. We'll be doing almost the same protocol that we did for the 1st IUI. The only difference is we're planning on doing two back to back IUI's rather than just one. The baseline u/s showed a cyst, but luckily it was just barely small enough that we get to continue on this month.

Being a year since our miscarriage I could really go for a little something extra to be thankful for this month.

Went in for mid-cycle ultrasound on cycle day 9. Big surprise. I had 3 follies that were ready to go! Sizes were 29, 23 & 22. I triggered that afternoon.

On Thanksgiving day we did IUI #1. IUI #2 was on Black Friday. At 10 dpiui my progesterone was 13.3. Trying to stay hopeful...but looks like it's no dice.

October 2012

My RE likes to skip months between injectibles/IUI, so this is our off month. I'm still taking the Femara, but we'll just be winging it on our own.

BFN.


September 2012

Big month for us!! We are getting down to business!

Treatment plan:
Femara 5mg on cd 2-6
Baseline u/s on cd 3 showed no cysts and lining at 4mm
Gonal F 75iu on cd 6-10
Midcycle u/s on cd 10 showed 4 follicles, 2 large and 2 small on both sides
Ovidrel trigger on cd 11 at 10 pm
IUI on cd 13

RE said it was a perfect cycle...just not perfect enough for a BFP.

August 2012

This month we're going back to the basics. No meds and no triggers. Just plain old baby dancing with help from OPK's. Wanted to take this month to let my body (specifically my lining) rebound from the Clomid. I have my first visit with my RE on August 23rd and want to be ready for it. I made this appointment in mid-May,  so it's been a long summer of waiting. Hopefully he'll give us the extra boost we need to finally get that sticky BFP!

August Update: Lining was still very thin from the Clomid. Ovulated super late (cd 28) and had a very long 42 day cycle.

July 2012

Third round of Clomid 50mg CD 3-7, temping, Ovacue monitor and OPK's. Finally talked my OBGYN into a mid-cycle ultrasound to see what was going on. Had 2 nice big follicles, but my lining was only at a 5. Took an estrogen supplement, an HCG trigger shot and wished for a miracle.

Progesterone was 24, not as strong as previous months, but still good, unfortunately the cycle still didn't bring us a BFP.

June 2012

Second round of Clomid 50mg CD 3-7, temping, Ovacue monitor and OPK's.

Progesterone was 48, still great, but another BFN

May 2012

First round of Clomid CD 3-7, temping, Ovacue monitor and OPK's. Fingers crossed.

Progesterone was 47, great number, but BFN


April 2012: 

Second cycle using the monitor. My husband had all his counts and hormone levels checked with an RE, everything looked great. We have a follow up scheduled next month to validate results. I saw my OBGYN for my annual and we discussed my short cycles. The short luteal phase is concerning. We're going to test progesterone levels with blood tests going forward and if this cycle doesn't work, we'll be starting Clomid in May.

March 2012:

Bought the Ovacue Fertility Monitor in hopes of getting more information about my cycles. Still temping daily and doing OPK's. Unfortunately I had another short cycle. (24 days)

February 2012:

Decided to try the Femara that I still had from October that I never took. Obviously not a good cycle as it was only 23 days long. Felt a little defeated.

January 2012:

9.5 weeks after the 2nd D&C I finally got AF and better yet, it was a 27 day cycle. Super excited about this and though we didn't actively try, we didn't not try either that cycle. But after this healthy cycle, I'm ready to start again!


December 2011:



Weekly HCG tests to confirm my levels return to zero--never imagined it would take this long and this would be so hard. 



November 2011: 

HCG levels rising perfectly! Excited, but nervous. No pregnancy symptoms at all other than brown spotting.

11/10 - First ultrasound. Just a sac, but very early.

11/18 - 3rd Anniversary of Mom's death - second ultrasound. Still just a sac. Should have seen growth at this point. A low point for me.

11/21 - D&C performed.

11/24 - Traveled to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

11/25 - Got a call from the on-call doctor. Pathology report showed no sign of pregnancy. Immediate concern of another ectopic. Was told to go to a lab for a HCG blood work.

11/26 - HCG was 39,000. Sent to the emergency room. ER doctors couldn't confirm a pregnancy in the tubes or uterus. Was then taken into surgery for a D&C under ultrasound with a pathologist in the OR. If nothing in the uterus, they would check the tube and remove it. Pregnancy was in the uterus, first D&C missed it due to a tilted uterus. Guess it was the best option considering...I definitely did not want an ectopic pregnancy or to lose my tube! Overall after the week I've had, I'm pretty numb.


October 2011:



Saw my OBGYN to discuss my cycle issues. Decided I would start Femara in November (I was already on cycle day 10 at this point.



No need for Femara! BFP on 10/27!!



September 2011:

40 day cycle, but AF finally came on her own.


August 2011:



After 45 days no period. Took provera to start next cycle.



July 2011:

First month of TTC!


June 2011:



Married at last after a decade of dating!!


April 2011:

4/18 - After irregular bleeding on my Mirena IUD for several weeks, a HPT confirmed pregnancy.

4/22 - Ultrasound confirmed ectopic pregnancy due to the IUD. Must wait 3 months to try again due to metrotrexate.




4 comments:

  1. Wow, you've really been on a roller coaster too. Hugs.

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  2. I just stumbled on your blog today, but you sure do get pregnant easily for someone with DOR. I'm going to spend the next few hours reading the rest of your blog. Good luck!

    --Lorraine

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  3. Thanks for sharing your story. I just started reading your blog, I truly admire you. Sending you lots of prayers and baby dust!

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  4. I saw you had iuis done in indianapolis. I just moved to Indy and would love to know which doctors you recommend or suggest to stay away from! We have been on a break since we moved here but will be moving forward with infertility treatments in the future. Good luck to you!!

    ReplyDelete