Today is officially considered “day 1” of our frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle. This morning I inserted my first estridol vaginal pill and applied my first two estrace patches on my stomach. Between daily doses of these two sources of estrogen, in the days to come my uterine lining should begin to build up in preparation for our little embryo which will be transferred 20 days from now on Thursday, October 11.
I had my “baseline” appointment at our RE’s office on Friday including blood work and an ultrasound. Despite some miscommunication that led me to believe I was only suppose to be injecting 5 units of Lupron every night, instead of the 10 units I was actually suppose to be doing, the Lupron still managed to suppress my left ovary enough to keep me from ovulating and/or any cysts from forming. So we got the green light to begin the patches and pills today! My next appointment will be this Wednesday, September 26 for blood work only to check my estrogen level. I will be able to go to the appointment while Sean is at preschool, which will be nice and convenient. In the meantime, I will continue to do one pill every morning and evening, switch my patches every three days, do a Lupron shot every night and take one Baby Aspirin per day.
Recently I had the opportunity to help out some our relatives by caring for their three children (two of whom are close in age to Sean), including their youngest who is an infant. I told Bob later that how I spent that day, watching multiple children and a baby, was always how I imagined my life would be now. I always thought at this point in our marriage, that we would have at least two children and then either a baby or one on the way. Surprisingly though, I did not have the feelings of jealousy that I sometimes have, taking care of Sean and the other children. I just felt happy to be able to spend time with all of them and be of help out our relatives who are going through a difficult time. Remembering what it is like to care for a baby that young, was nostalgic for me, of when Sean was that age and gave me hope that I may one day get to do that again for another child of my own.
The past few days have been busy for a variety of reasons, all of which I won’t get into, however I am happy to report that my spirits have lifted! As predicted, getting started on building my uterine lining for this cycle, seems to have sparked some hope in me that this cycle could be successful! Sometimes the waiting, the cycles I spend on the pill, can get me down, but when I am able to begin the more tangible phases of our treatment, that include medications and doctor appointments that directly effect the possibility of our getting pregnant, I find myself getting excited and more optimistic!
I also got an email the other day from an old online friend, it may sound a little weird to actually have a friend that I met over five years ago on the Internet, but it’s true. We met on a website called Fertility Friend when we were both trying to conceive (TTC) our first child. There is actually a group of six women, that I still keep in touch with off and on, of which this friend is a part of and we all met TTC#1. We were all so excited to have our first child at the time and though none of us had initially been trying for very long, when you decide you want to have a child, if it takes even a month longer than you hoped it would to work, it seems like a long time… We found a great deal of support in sharing our TTC struggles and triumphs with each other at the time and over the years have continued to be there for each other, through other difficult life experiences and wonderful celebrations.
Anyway, since then everyone in our little group went on to have at least one child, most of the group has even had two or more, through a combination of natural conception, assisted reproductive technology (ART) and adoption. This friend, who emailed me, was diagnosed with primary infertility back then and was one of the last two women in our group to be able to have a child. Though I always felt for her at the time, I certainly wasn’t able to fully grasp what she was going through. And though I know secondary and primary infertility are different, they are both difficult journeys. I have thought of her and her journey, since we began ours using ART TTC#2 and recalled that she needed ART TTC#1, and even thought she did IVF, ultimately to have her now three year old daughter, but I did not remember the details. Well, she told me in her email that her daughter is actually an FET baby! As with running into my neighborhood friend earlier this week, who shared about her FET babies, the more success stories I find out about people I know who have children born through FET, the more my hope rises that we may too have a child this way! So thank you my friend, for following my blog and reminding me how you got the miracle of your little girl! You sharing your story has given me yet another reason to believe this could work for us!
Today is my mom’s birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! 🙂 We will be celebrating with her and my side of the family tomorrow at brunch, which I look forward to! Also, when I finish this post I am off to make her birthday cake!
Tomorrow is Bob and my 7th wedding anniversary! 🙂 So after brunch, my parents are going to watch Sean while we celebrate by go to a matinee at a local theater of the show “Hizzoner,” based on the life of the late Mayor Daley Sr., followed by dinner a one of our yummy neighborhood restaurants! So I am also really looking forward to that! Bob already brought me 14 beautiful multi-colored roses this morning, which he said I can then enjoy all weekend, instead of waiting until tomorrow! 😉
This morning I taught my first group exercise class since May and it felt great! It was a lot of fun and I got a lot of positive feedback from the participants in the class! Though I only plan to substitute teach fitness classes here and there for now, as I did this morning, in light of our infertility treatments, it was still awesome to experience teaching again for the first time in four months! Later this afternoon, when Sean wakes up from his nap, we plan to take him to a local model railroad show, as he LOVES all things trains! Then we are going to pick up Bob’s maternal grandma and take her to dinner, which should be fun! We feel so blessed and lucky that Sean has gotten to know/have a relationship with one of his Great-Grandmother’s! Both of my grandmother’s died before Sean was born, actually the year we were married, but before our wedding (maternal in March and paternal in May respectively). Bob’s paternal grandmother passed away last year in April, so Sean did also know her and got to spend time with her, which we are grateful for.
This was another long and somewhat rambling post, so if you stayed with me, thank you! I really appreciate your support and continued positive thoughts and prayers! I will check in after my appointment on Wednesday, if not before. Take care and God bless.
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