Well, most of you thought tomorrow was when we would find out if we're pregnant. That would be because I told you that. :) When, actually today(Tues. 2.8.11) was the day. We have chosen to let the world follow our in-vitro journey through this blog & facebook which means you know all our appointments, procedures, etc. We feel that since we're going through these trials maybe it will help others by following our journey. That being said, it also takes away the element of surprise by allowing "the world" to peek into our lives. Doing IVF & posting it all on here means you know when I find out if I'm pregnant etc. To have a little fun & hopefully get that element of surprise as a normal fertile couple would we chose to tell you a false date for when our pregnancy lab was. So, it was today.
Ryan & I went in at 8:45am for me to get my beta HCG level drawn to show if I was pregnant from those 3 embryos. It's not by any means instant results, we had to wait 4 hours for the Dr. to call. We didn't know exactly when he would call so to keep from going stir crazy we shopped! We left the Dr's office & went to Belk, Old Navy, Childrens Place etc :) We were keeping our eye out for Big Brother shirts so if we got good news we could buy Colt one.
While in Belk shopping I got a call from my friend & former boss, Stephanie Whitaker. She had NO CLUE we were finding out our pregnancy results today, I had told her it was tomorrow. She called to say I was on her heart. She had read a passage this morning that made her think about me. She wanted to read me the passage & pray over the phone together about this. I told her I was actually awaiting my results & was at Belk shopping so her timing was impecable! God's providence if you ask me! So I went into the dressing room to get in a quieter place where she & I could pray over the phone together. She prayed the below passage to God & that we would be able to accept whatever answer we were given today. She cried, I cried, it was so touching.
The passage:
Matthew 18: 18-20 "Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there."
God knew I needed to hear this passage. I believe I was on Stephanie's heart this morning for the simple fact that God knew what we were about to face & I needed a reminder that He is always with us but it may not be exactly the answer we want. But HE is in control. THANK YOU Stephanie for getting to work late :)because you took the time to share your heart with me. If you only knew at the time how much peace it would truly give me later in the day. Love you girl!
After killing time shopping we ate at the BEST burger joint in town BOHO Burger for a Bella Blue Cheese burger & fries!!! Then, we went to Barnes & Noble to kill MORE time b/c Dr. Bates still had not called with our results. It was almost 1:00 & Ryan had a sales appointment at 1:30 so he had to leave me, which HE DID NOT want to do. He wasn't gone 5 minutes when Dr. Bates called as I was meandering around Barnes & Noble. He said, "unfortunately your test was negative." Surprisingly, I didn't cry, I just said, "Ok, well I had a feeling I wasn't pregnant" (I had told Ryan that, this morning as we waited...for some reason I just didn't feel good about it) Then, I asked what do you think went wrong? Dr. B said well of course they would have loved to have had more embryos to choose from (since I had like 8 with Coltons cycle & only 3 with this one) BUT the ones they did have he was very pleased with & they had really high hopes of me getting pregnant (keep in mind my success rate is only 60% & will never be higher than that). Dr. B said there is only so much they can do once the embryos are in me it's left to my body to do the rest. So...there it was! I FINALLY had the news I had anticipated all day. I think I was just relieved to have an answer one way or the other. I rushed out of B&N b/c I felt the tears coming on . I called Ryan before he reached his appointment & balled as I told him. He being my "Rock" said encouraging words but expressed his disappointment at the same time. He HATED he wasn't with me. He did keep repeating that part :) I decided to go on home. I was debating whether I should go see my lil' man, Colt, at Mimi & PawPaws house b/c I was really missing him even more so after getting this news. I just wanted to see his smiling face & hear that adorable laugh of his! I decided to go home & lay in bed which was the other thing I wanted to do. My sister told me not to do that but to go do something that makes me happy...like go get a starbucks! But, I couldn't. I didn't want one. (If you know me you know that's just CRAZY!) Since Ryan had another appointment after his 1:30 I knew he wouldn't be home until 4:00 so I laid in bed & fell asleep. My adorable husband got home with an awesome card for me & a picture frame that said Family-Memories of a Lifetime & it had a picture of a family of 3 in it. I knew exactly what he meant with that present, a reminder to thank God for the family of 3 we have. So I'll be putting a picture in there of Ryan, Colt & I. Then, I called my family & we went to Ryan's folks house to tell them & had some dinner at Cracker Barrel with them. I haven't cried since that one time with Ryan over the phone. I can't explain the peace I feel over all this. I DID NOT expect this peace at all. I KNOW to give credit to GOD for the peace that passes all understanding though. (Philippians 4:7) I don't know why I was able to get pregnant with Colton the first time I did IVF in 2009 with 2 embryos & now in 2011 with 3 embryos I didn't...but I do know I'll be able to ask God one day. Until then, we'll press on...we have an appointment tomorrow morning with Dr. Bates to discuss the future...what we should do...what he would do differently etc. I feel I need to go ahead & discuss this & "get it over with" I guess :)
Thank you to ALL OF YOU who have followed us through needle prick after needle prick! For your words of encouragement & most importantly your prayers. I still have hopes of being a mom to 2 or more children...whether they're biological or not...only God knows for now. We'll just keep praying for another blessing.
~Kelly
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
I'm NOT pregnant :(
Posted by Kelly Key at 10:20 PM 16 comments
Thursday, January 27, 2011
I HAVE 3 Embryos IN ME!!!
Posted by Kelly Key at 6:36 PM 7 comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Embryo Transfer is Tomorrow!!!
Posted by Kelly Key at 11:01 PM 4 comments
Recuperating from Egg Retrieval & Embryo Status
Just a quick note to give y'all an update. Egg Retrieval on Monday went just great. I had a great support team that day with my Dad, Ryan & my brother Jeremy in the waiting room, & Mimi at my house watching Colt for us. I was supposed to be under conscious sedation but I was completely knocked out! And continued to be completely knocked out until really today. Yesterday I was still in some pain & felt like my mind was in a fog. Today though, I feel really normal again. I'm still hurting off & on but that's to be expected. Dr. Bates called me yesterday to let me know that out of 9 eggs retrieved I had 3 embryos. The majority of my eggs were immature (meaning not ready to be fertilized). So the ones that were ready to be fertilized actually formed embryos the rest did not. 3 is less than I expected but as long as I have 2 for embryo transfer tomorrow (thursday) that is great with us. Any remainders will be frozen as we believe life begins at conception & conception for us is in the petry dish. So whatever is not transferred will be used at a later date. We also feel that just leaving an embryo in the freezer is the same as throwing it away so we WILL use whatever is remaining in the freezer at some point. I have already gone to acupuncture today & will also go tomorrow. Right now I am just waiting on a final call from Dr. Bates on the status of my embryos & what time embryo transfer will be tomorrow (thursday 1/27/11). Can't believe we're already to this point! Thank you to so many who have been so helpful this week with watching Colt as I have been on bed rest & had lots of dr's appointments. Mimi (Bev Key) who came early Monday morning to our house to watch Colt then took him home with her that night & let him stay the night at her house with she & Paw Paw. Paw Paw (Butch Key) took Colt to Mimi's PET Scan appt on Tuesday (which had great results! No Cancer!) then Butchly took Colt him with him all by himself & watched him the remainder of the day (Mimi had to go to Tuscaloosa to see about her Daddy, Velt Dollar, who sadly passed away Tuesday night). Ryan picked Colt up that eve & thanks to him for watching Colt & getting him to bed that night! And that brings us to today when I realized I had an acupuncture appointment & needed a sitter! So...my good ole' friend Brookie Wookie Williams saved the day by letting me drop Colt off for a couple hours to play with Caroline. And she will also save the day tomorrow as I have acupuncture, embryo transfer, acupuncture again then bed rest for the remainder of the day! Thank you friends & family! I'll post an update later today when I hear from the Dr.!
Posted by Kelly Key at 2:28 PM 0 comments
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Egg Retrieval HAS ARRIVED!!!
I went this morning to see my IVF doctor, Dr. Bates, & after seeing my egg follicles he declared Monday, January 24th, as my Egg Retrieval Day!!! That's a day earlier than they originally had planned. Which means my egg follicles have gotten close to the necessary size (2 centimeters) & are ready to mature & be taken out. After seeing my progress today he thinks they will get 8-10 eggs out of this retrieval. Which is the same amount they predicted they would get when I did this in 2009 with Colt. He said he was glad they doubled my egg production meds (Follistim & Menopur) this go around b/c if they hadn't I would have probably only gotten 5 eggs. So you just never know how your body will respond, double the meds didn't turn out to be double the result. Just a little tidbit of info....my estrogen level is also something they look at to determine when I will have egg retrieval & today my estrogen level was 1200! On this past Tuesday it was just 249...so it increased a lot! I no longer take my Follistim & Menopur injections!!! Yay!!! Starting tomorrow (sunday) I'll be back to 2 shots a day & that's just my blood thinner! 7 shots a day for a week has mostly made me late to everything! :) I had to tack on an extra 30 minutes in the mornings just to get my shots done! Tonight is my hCG Injection (human chorionic gonadotrophin). I was told to do this at precisely 9:30 pm. OH MY WORD! It's 9:30 right now! (seriously this ironic...pause...I'll be right back!) Okay :) 9:42pm & I've done my injection! :) That shot is to help the egg follicles mature so they can be ready for departure on Monday.
Specific prayer request regarding this procedure. This is the most risky part for me due to my 3 blood clotting disorders, being on blood thinner & this being a surgical procedure. Too retrieve my eggs they take a long needle & insert it through my "female parts". That needle gets inserted into each egg follicle (8-10) & draws the fluid off the follicle & the egg is in that fluid. The risk to this process is that they can nick me with the needle & cause internal bleeding. In case that did happen to me they take preventative measures by having me NOT do my blood thinner (Lovenox) injection the night before nor the morning of the procedure. And of course the risk to that is I could develop a blood clot from not having my medicine. Obviously, none of this scary stuff happened...our prayers were answered & everything went great! So, we are doing everything the same as last time. If it ain't broke...don't fix it right?! But we would still appreciate the prayers.
Posted by Kelly Key at 9:45 PM 1 comments
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Egg Follicles, Egg Follicles, where art thou Egg Follicles????
Posted by Kelly Key at 10:10 AM 4 comments
Friday, January 14, 2011
Let the INJECTIONS begin!!!
Posted by Kelly Key at 1:44 AM 4 comments