D&C

The D&C was performed yesterday at Shady Grove in Rockville, MD. Outside of a couple of minor complications, things went well. I have low blood pressure to start with (was 105/70 after being hooked up to my IV), and my heart rate has a new tendency of dropping fairly low during surgical procedures. Such was the case yesterday, so they gave me some extra juice in my IV to start the party back up. Also, my uterus is supposed to contract following the procedure in order to control any bleeding. Mine, unfortunately, was just not in the mood. They had to give additional juices in the IV to get my uterus to cooperate, and I was sent home with more meds to keep things controlled. I had to take a pill at 6pm, midnight, 6am, and I have one more left to take at noon today. These pills will keep any additional bleeding in check, and I should be just fine after that. I have to take it easy for a few days while I begin to recuperate. Next week I will have to go in for blood work to make sure that my beta HCG levels are going down. They will follow them down to zero again. So, that is my story, and I am sticking to it.

D&C Scheduled

My D&C has been scheduled for 1:45pm on Wednesday, February 28th (today). I will have to arrive at 12:15pm to get settled into my lovely hospital garb and get hooked up to some juice. My gracious neighbor Angela has arranged to drive me there and back. (So no one is left out....my equally gracious mother-in-law had offered to fly out to be with me, but I certainly did not want to ruin a perfectly planned trip to Florida.) Batman will be at home waiting to take good care of me when I return later in the day. What a nice boy.

I have not received any results from our labs yet, but I will update the page as they come in.

Final Ultrasound - Next Steps

We had our final ultrasound appointment today, and it did confirm what we already knew...that this is another non-viable pregnancy. Due to the fact that the gestational sac and yolk sac are still growing, and the sac is not collapsing, I am going to have to be scheduled for a D&C next week. So, this will be the second surgery due to miscarriage in the past year. Not fun, but at least it will get this all over with quickly. That helps...

Matt and I both went and had our blood drawn today. We are trying to find any answers for why we suffer from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Matt had one vial of blood drawn for karyotyping (checking for chromosomal abnormalities). I, on the other hand, had 14 vials of blood drawn to check for chromosomal abnormalities, clotting disorders or issues, and autoimmune disorders. We are almost hoping that they don't find anything wrong...chromosomal problems would be bad for sure. Anything else they could probably treat. If they don't find anything, it will just be left as unexplained, and we would still have a 60% chance of having a healthy pregnancy at some point (although we could still go through a few more miscarriages before getting there).

Anyway, that is the general state of the union. Not much else to report for now. Thanks again to everyone who has supported us during these difficult times. It is greatly appreciated.

Ultrasound Results - Very Discouraging

The ultrasound did not go well today. Although there was some blood flow activity, it might have just been from the uterus where the placenta is trying to attach. There was no obvious fetal cardiac activity, which you would definitely expect to have by this point. My yolk sac is now measuring far behind. I have to go back a week from tomorrow for one more scan, but my RE is very discouraged. It is more than likely that I am going to suffer another miscarriage. I will probably find out next week if I will have to have another D&C. At this point my RE wants to get lab orders to do chromosomal testing on Matt and me. She also wants to run labs to see if I have any type of clotting disorder. These tests could lend insight into why I suffer from recurrent miscarriages. I am holding off for right now because I am not sure that our COBRA insurance will cover it, and I am not sure if the new insurance will cover it either. I think those tests have to be expensive, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, that is the news. Thanks for all of your support.

Weather Delay

Due to the fact that we received 3.5 inches of SLEET overnight, my ultrasound has been postponed until 11:45 am tomorrow. My RE called me personally to say that she didn't want me to drive in all the way from Warrenton today. The whole metro DC area is basically shut down. So, check in again tomorrow afternoon for the results.

Sonogram Results

I had my sonogram today at 6 weeks and 1 day into my pregnancy. I was hoping to see the heart beat today, but unfortunately that did not happen. I asked my RE if that meant we should prepare for the worst, and she said no. She said that there is no clinical reason for her to be concerned at this point. With frozen embryo transfers the development can sometimes be a little bit slower than with a fresh cycle. She reassured me that I am NOT measuring behind this time (which brings some relief). The gestational sac increased from 7mm last week to 15mm this week. I also now have a visible yolk sac and the start of a fetal pole (which will eventually have the heart beat in it, we hope). So, we remain on pins and needles until next Wednesday. It is basically a must for us to see a heart beat by that point in time. I figure it was meant to happen this way...my appointment is set for Valentine's Day, which is all about the heart. Right? Ok, maybe I am digging here...but I am trying to see things from a positive perspective. Given my past history, I will continue to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Keep praying or thinking happy thoughts for us!

Another little victory...

The ultrasound today went well. We only have one visible pregnancy sac, but it is there. The RE apologized for causing us any anxiety, but with my numbers he wanted to make sure that the pregnancy was in the right place. Well, the sac is in the appropriate place and is the appropriate size for this point in my pregnancy. The slower rise in my number could mean that another one or two of the embryos were trying to "stick" and started giving off pregnancy hormones initially, then stopped after not making it. We are scheduled for our first "real" ultrasound next Wednesday, February 7th. At that ultrasound we hope to see a yolk sac, fetal pole, and a heartbeat. These would all indicate a viable pregnancy. So, in another six days we hope to celebrate yet another little victory on this journey.

Note: after tomorrow, we will definitely be without a computer until at least February 7th. If you need to contact us, please use the numbers listed in a previous post. If not, we will update once the new computer arrives next week!

Hoping for the best, yet preparing for the worst

I had my final beta test today, and my HCG levels came back lower than they would have liked. My previous number was 5533, and my number today was 7203. They would have liked a 50 to 60% increase, and I fell about 1000 short of that. They are bringing me in early for an ultrasound. My appointment is scheduled for 8:45am tomorrow. The RE says that sometimes such high initial numbers means that more than one embryo implanted. If that happened, one of them might be lagging behind and might not make it, which could explain the less than perfect increase in my numbers. That would be a nice scenario, as one embryo could still possibly be ok. The other scenario would be that we could lose the entire pregnancy again. All we can do is wait and see what tomorrow brings. Continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers....every little bit helps.

Just kidding...for now...

Ok - so, we will have a computer at least through Friday afternoon now. After that, our new home computer will be here around the 7th or so of February. We will be offline for a short period of time in between.

Getting to the point of the matter, my beta number came back yesterday at 5533. After the levels hit 1200 it takes between 72 and 96 hours for the numbers to double. Mine a little more than doubled in 72 hours, so that was good. My nurse said the rise in level was a good rise, and my number is a strong number.

My final beta test will be tomorrow morning. I will update the blog in the afternoon. I should be scheduled for my first ultrasound following tomorrow's beta results.

Thanks to all of our faithful supporters, lurkers, and fans!

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After today, we may not be able to update the blog for a couple / few weeks. Matt will be giving his computer back to Porsche, so we will be without internet access until our new home computer arrives. Please feel free to call us to get updates!

Home: 540-349-9251
Megan cell: 440-281-1473

Thanks for all of your support and prayers!

The OFFICIAL Results!!!

So, now the "real" results are in. I am PREGNANT once again. Our HCG number came back at 2615 this time, which is a really strong number. As one of the nurses told us to do....celebrate the little victories. This is the first step, and at least it was a good first step for us. I will go back on Monday for another blood draw to make sure that the numbers are rising appropriately. I will more than likely have a total of three beta tests prior to scheduling my first ultrasound. The ultrasound will be scheduled for my six week mark, which will be about 1.5 weeks from now. Stay tuned and continue with the positive thoughts and prayers for us! We appreciate it.

The UNOFFICIAL Results

For anyone who is still checking the blog page religiously, or even sporadically, you get to know the unofficial results before anyone else. Hopefully you can tell what the tests above mean, but for those of you who cannot...it means that I am pregnant. So, the total rollercoaster ride begins for Matt and I once again. I have had spotting and cramping for two days(both have all but ceased today), but more than likely this can be attributed to implantation (feel free to look up information on the web regarding this phenomenon). It is too early for it to mean much of anything else. Scary, still...but my nurse says not to worry about it. I have my OFFICIAL beta hCG test this coming Friday, January 26th. We will keep you all posted while we are on this terrifying ride for the third time. Keep thinking very happy thoughts for us!

FET Update

(note: this picture, taken from AFC of Chicago's website, shows a hatching blastocyst)

Transfer took place yesterday, January 12th. Our regular RE surprised us by showing up to do the transfer herself. You never know who you are going to get, and she wasn't scheduled to be there, but she really wanted to do the transfer for us....so she did. There.

Anyway, everything went really well. All three remaining embryos made the thaw, so we put back all three minis. Our RE said they looked like fresh blastocysts! Two of them were graded at 100% (perfect), and one was graded at 80% (not great, but not horrible). One of our "perfect" embryos was already starting to hatch which is a very promising sign. The embryos hatch from their shell (zona pallucida) in order to be able to implant into the uterine lining. This is the first time we have had one hatching prior to transfer, so it does give us some hope.

Our beta (pregnancy) test will be done on January 26th, so we will keep you informed...good, bad, or otherwise. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Transfer

We are scheduled for the FET at 3:30pm in the Rockville, MD office. I have to arrive at 3pm with a full bladder, as usual. We apparently drew the short straw for transfer times because going home we will be stuck right in the middle of DC rush-hour traffic on a Friday evening. Lovely! Oh well. I will update again after my 24 hours of bedrest.....wish us luck!

If at first you don't conceive....try, try again!

I had my lining and estrogen check this morning. Per the usual, all went well. My levels came back fine, and my lining was "8.6, beautiful, with a three-layer effect". This is exactly what they want going into transfer-time. I start my PIO IM injections this evening (1cc daily) which goes along with my del estrogen IM shots (every third day). One of the nurses will call on Thursday to let us know what time the transfer will take place Friday afternoon. As agreed upon earlier, we will be thawing the remaining three frozen M&M minins. We will "put back" however many make the thaw. I will reamin on bedrest for 24 hours, so I will post again sometime after Saturday afternoon.

Thanksgiving 2006

Here is a pic of Matt, my two nieces, and myself on Thanksgiving day. We are so cool!

Christmas 2006

Here is a pic of my mom and I while decorating my parent's Christmas tree. Batman was kind enough to pee on the tree for them. It was a live tree that was still balled because my parents were going to plant it in their yard after the holidays. Batman thought that was cool!

Little over a week to go...

I have had three del estrogen injections so far. My lining check is scheduled for Monday, and I will begin the PIO shots that night if all is clear. Totally uneventful as usual. I am ready for transfer on Jan. 12th, so it can't get here soon enough!

Cycle Day One...come and gone

Well, cycle day one hit on December 26th. I went in this morning for my cycle day 2 baseline ultrasound and blood work. Everything was fine, as usual. I will begin the del estrogen IM injections this evening, and I will get one every three days. I have to go back on January 8th for my lining check, which is also the day that I will begin the PIO IM shots. I am still scheduled for a January 12th transfer.

3 BCPs to go...after Sunday will be done!

I can't hardly wait to be done with the BCPs. They are making me miserable, and I will spare everyone the intimate details of my actual misery. After Sunday I will be all done with them, and I will have my ultrasound and blood work on the 28th as scheduled. The del estrogen shots will begin that day, and our countdown to the FET on January 12th will truly start. I still can't wait until the day prior to transfer when I have my 1 hour and 20 minute Swedish massage....aaaahhhhh!