After the fourth miscarriage, our doctor suggested us to consider IVF option as I have gone through 6 cycles of oral ovulation medication, 6 IUI sessions and 4 nature pregnancies, none of them were successful. The total trying period is also reaching 5 years, which means I am not as young anymore and clock is ticking…
Hawaii State is one of a few states in US mandate insurance to cover one cycle of IVF for the patience and the patience’s partner must have a five-year history with infertility and the patient must have been unable to achieve pregnancy or carry a successful pregnancy. For details, you can simply google for the information.
Our OB specialist is also an infertility specialist who is one of the best infertility doctors in the state. We of course decide to go with him and his IVF center for the treatment as he knows my medical history and situation the best.
I was on birth control pills for 3 months in order to let uterus have good rest and prepare for the upcoming treatment. There are many different theories about how many months you should be on birth control pills. It really depends on your situation and your infertility specialist. There is no right or wrong, just depends on what the best is for you.
Hubby and I went a short trip to visit family. The cancer treatment for hubby continues and we simply try to enjoy our time together. We didn’t think about baby topic for the whole trip as well as the 3-month birth control pill period.
We had our first IVF center visit on early March. The staff did all the initial requirement checkup as well as assisted us with the health insurance coverage paperwork. It’s also a standard procedure to do blood test you and your partner to make sure you don’t have HIV infection. I was also already scheduled to do laparoscopic hysteroscopy with my OB and infertility doctor. This is to check and ensure uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes are all clear and clean for the upcoming IVF procedures. It is also to increase the successful rate for IVF. Laparoscopic makes very minimum incision through the belly button. Heal time is pretty fast for me and I actually went to do my eyelash 3 days later.
Doctor found couple small polypus in my uterus and he removed them. My ovaries and fallopian tubes are all clear and clean. I was instructed continue taking birth control pill until the schedule start date for the IVF session.
There were many medications and shots during the whole process. Every person’s health condition and reaction to the needed medications is different; the best practice is to follow your doctor’s instruction clearly and made sure not to skip any medication as well as making sure to have a balance diet and not over exercise. As for me, my infertility doctor specifically instructed me not to exercise at all.
Some examples of different medications I was taking. Please note that everyone’s situation is different and please follow instructions from your IVF center and doctor.
My whole cycle for stimulate more eggs were 11 days and each day had multiple different medications to inject. Every other day had blood tests at IVF center to kept close eyes on all the numbers in order for doctor to decide if any dosage adjusting for any medications. There were so much information to remember and not to miss any injection. I used an online form to help me track all the medications, dosage, time of taken…etc. to help me to keep in order as well as able to access the files immediately.
On the day 12th of the treatment cycle, I went on for egg retrieval procedures as well as “create” embryo(s). Doctor was able to retravel 9 eggs and 5 eggs were successfully fertilized. Egg retrieval procedure was pretty fast and safe. I was sent home couple hours after the procedure to rest. 3 days later, I was scheduled to for embryo transfer. 4 out of 5 fertilized embryos were successfully grow into 8 cells. Due to my age and the miscarriage history, my doctor suggests us to put transfer all 4 embryos to increase the chance of pregnancy. We took his suggestion and transfer all four 8 cells embryos.
It was an amazing experience when you saw your little ones were brought from the lab and transfer into you. We pray that at least one baby would be successfully growing up and be safe.
I was then sent home to rest at least for 3 days of not carrying any items but just resting.
I returned to work one week later. After implanting, there were more medications to take and inject daily. The hardest part was probably injecting progesterone on the butt. It’s oil base medication and the muscle gets hard after injection. However, no matter how painful it is, as long as we can keep the baby healthy and safe, we are always happy to endure any pain.
10 days after the transfer, I went back for blood work to find out the HCG level. Generally, you will need to do 2 blood works about 2 to 3 days apart to see if the HCG level double up. If it is, most likely, you are pregnant. I was told that I am positive; therefore, continue with all the medications and will have ultrasound about 6 weeks to make sure baby is in uterus as well confirming heartbeat. Some people say each day of counting down to the moment of heartbeat confirmation is hard; you should look at each milestone as an accomplishment.
When the day of heartbeat checking arrived, we walked in the IVF center with a strong deep breath. We saw one baby in the uterus but a bit small and can’t confirm with heartbeat yet. As it’s confirming that I am pregnant, I am then sent back to my original OB for all the following checkups. We wait one more week and did another ultrasound to try to find heartbeat. Unfortunately, heartbeat still is still not able to be confirmed. My OB asked me to wait for 1 more week to see if any bleeding and if not, a D&C will be required.
One week later, I had super heavy bleeding and lots of tissues came out. When I see it, I know right away, baby is saying goodbye to me. However, I am still very thankful of the baby stop by shortly and didn’t let me go on surgery table.
The IVF session provides us a great experience even though baby was not able to stay with us.
We are thankful of all the people has been around to help us.
As hubby also needs more relaxing schedule for his treatments, we decide to take a very long break and temporary switch our focus.
NOTE: all information and experiences share here is based on personal experience. For any medical consolation, please contact your health provider for professional guidance.