As we prepare for our second frozen embryo transfer, I’ve been spending a lot of time reminiscing on what we have gone through so far to get here. After 3 failed IUIs (check out the blog about our IUIs here), we decided to move forward with our first round of IVF (in vitro fertilization) in August 2018.
IVF is one of the most known types of assisted reproductive technology (ART) that uses medicine and surgical procedures to help with fertilization and implantation. The very first step in IVF is a process called ovarian stimulation or stimming. This is my look-back on my stimming journey.
To start, you do what every normal person who is trying to conceive does, and you start taking birth control. I know, it’s so backwards right? Here you are trying to have a baby and you have to take birth control pills! After your period has begun you will start taking birth control pills on cycle day 2 to 4 for approximately 2 weeks. The birth control will help to control your ovaries and reduce the risk of any ovarian cysts forming. By controlling the ovaries, the doctors can sync the timing of follicular growth (a.k.a. the eggs!) with your fertility treatment plan. While I was still on birth control, I had a SHG done (learn more about that procedure here) where they were able to confirm my uterus looked normal and they saw about 17 follicles in my ovaries (so in theory, the possibility of 17 eggs).
I stopped taking birth control on August 27 and started with a baseline ultrasound on August 28 (done vaginally) to make sure everything was good and ready for this next step. During my baseline, they saw about 13 resting follicles (which means ready to grow) in my right ovary and about 7 in my left. I was cleared for stimming! We had a couple of days to collect all of the medicine and supplies we would need and get them organized. Of course, that meant Disney princess band-aids!
On September 1, we began the daily injections of hormones to assist in the growth and development of multiple eggs from my ovaries. It was a big day for us. We were scared, excited, anxious, overwhelmed, worried....just feeling all of the emotions!
To start, I was told to inject 225 IU of Gonal-F and 75 IU of Menopur. Both of these are follicle stimulating hormones to assist my body in growing and developing as many eggs as possible. Throughout the stimming process, I was constantly being monitored by my clinic (via blood work and vaginal ultrasounds) to see how my eggs were responding to the hormones.
September 5: Ultrasound showed not a lot of progress yet and my largest follicle was in my right ovary and was about 10 mm. Because of the lack of progress seen, the clinic decided to increase my Gonal-F dosage to 300 IU.
September 7: Ultrasound showed at least 4 follicles in my left ovary and 11 in the right. One of the follicles on the right-hand side was approximately 13 mm big with the majority of the other follicles around 10 mm. They also checked my uterine lining which was at 7 mm and a triple line pattern (this means the uterine lining is developing correctly). To help increase the growth of my follicles, they increased my Menopur dosage to 150 IU.
September 8: I added in a third injection of Cetrotide (a hormone used to block ovulation from happening). Because we are growing eggs to be retrieved, we don’t want my body to ovulate on its own because then we would lose everything and have to start over.
September 10: Ultrasound showed my lining was still a triple line pattern and measuring around 9 mm. Ultrasound showed the largest follicle I had was in my right ovary at 18mm (we’re getting there!).
September 12: Ultrasound showed my lining was still a triple line pattern and measuring around 9 mm. Most of my follicles were all reaching 18+ mm (with the largest one measuring over 25 mm!) so I was ready for the next step. That night, I took my last injections of Gonal-F and Menopur! Finally!
September 13: Along with the cetrotide shot that morning, I added in a trigger shot of Lupron (usually given about 36 hours prior to egg retrieval - mine was on September 15 and I’ll share more about that experience in a future blog post). And that was it….stims were done!
13 days…..that was how long my stimming journey lasted. But those 13 days were HARD. I felt like a prisoner to all of the monitoring appointments and timed injections. I constantly felt awful between the headaches, the extreme fatigue and the overall pressure I was feeling to do/eat/drink whatever it took to make sure I grew the best eggs possible. And speaking of pressure….holy grapefruit-sized ovaries! In a matter of 13 days I went from looking like my normal self to 4 months pregnant (check out the photo slider below to see the crazy progression of my body in such a short period of time). I couldn’t do any sort of movement without feeling my ovaries. Speed bumps were the worst thing ever! So on September 14 I enjoyed my first day of no injections in a couple week, but if I'm telling the truth there was no celebration because I could barely move. We were so ready for the next step in our journey and at this point, all we could do was think positive and hope that our egg retrieval went well. Fingers crossed!
**This is not meant to be medical advice. Be sure to consult your doctor with any medical concerns. This is the account of my personal journey through infertility**
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