This is news that we have known for about a week now. I had been taking home pregnancy tests since day 4 after my transfer.
We had our official blood test on Tuesday July 6th and the results came back as a blaring negative.
Even though this is not the outcome we had prayed for, we feel confident in our plan going forward.
Eric and I have decided to interview a new doctor over at Houston Fertility Institute. We have a consultation with Dr. Griffith at the Willowbrook location next week.
We are hoping that this doctor will be a good match for us. We hear that he is very aggressive in his protocols and that fact is, he gets couples their babies.
So although, we are heartbroken that our transfer didn’t work, we are feeling more optimistic than ever in what possibilities are to come.
We will have to start from scratch with another egg retrieval and honestly I’m ok with that too because I’m feeling strong and I know I can do anything with Eric by my side. He’s truly the best ❤️
Thank you all for continuing to pray for us. This blog has turned into something that is so special to me. I appreciate every one of you for following along on our infertility journey. It makes me feel like I’m not fighting this alone!
Xoxo, Jess
Heard this at church last weekend and it really has resonated with me
I so wish that I was writing a different blog post but here we are.
I had a pretty strong feeling that this transfer didn’t work, last week while we were camping. I had been taking home pregnancy tests every day since day 5 after the transfer.
All the tests were coming back negative, not even a faint line was showing up.
I went in to the doctor yesterday morning, 14 days after transfer, to do some bloodwork so they could measure the exact amount of HCG in my body.
I got the call at 2:30pm yesterday that my HCG was less than 5, which is a negative in the pregnancy world.
To say that we are devastated is an understatement. It feels like we are just walking down this road that doesn’t have an end in sight.
I keep telling myself that this HAS to be God’s plan. Why would he put us through all this if there isn’t a light at the end?
I’ll get back up again and keep trying because that’s what I do.
I wouldn’t even be able to get back up again and keep trying if it wasn’t for the support of my husband. Eric, I will continue to walk with you down this road and any other road for that matter because I know that if I’m holding your hand along the way, everything will be ok. I love you.
Hi guys! This is definitely a long overdue IVF update. We have lots to catch up on.
Our egg retrieval in October went excellent! We got 28 eggs.
This time around I had no OHSS (bloating or pain). My first retrieval I got OHSS and it was terrible. I was expecting to get it the second time too BUT I started drinking gatorade and eating salty foods the day before retrieval so I think that helped a ton.
Out of the 28 eggs, we had 5 make it to blastocyst (embryo). We sent off the 5 embryos to be genetically tested and 2 of them came back normal. 2 normal GIRLS!
So quick recap, we have 1 normal girl from my first egg retrieval and 2 normal girls from my second egg retrieval.
Eric and I have decided to transfer the embryo that is graded the best, which is one of the girls from my second egg retrieval. We are so hopeful.
After my egg retrieval, we decided to take 2 months off. We could have gone straight into the next transfer, but I really needed some time to decompress.
We have been trying to grow our family since September of 2018. My body needed a break after 2 years and i’m SO glad we did. November and December was the first time I have felt like myself in a LONG time.
Today, I feel a calmness around me. This transfer so far has been less dramatic in a way. The shots don’t hurt as bad and the meds all seem routine.
I will be going into tomorrow with a hopeful heart and knowing that this all has to be God’s plan.
If you could pray for us, that would be amazing.
Let’s all pray that my next update is POSITIVE in more ways than one.
Hello everyone! Is it me or is this the slowest year ever?
I have taken the last couple months to really work on myself and experience all the emotions.
It feels like ages since we lost our baby boy, even though it was just in July. I can honestly say that I am in a much better headspace than I was then. I’m not saying I will ever totally be healed but what I have learned is that grief doesn’t really go away. You have to acknowledge it instead of letting it hold you back from your dreams.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of our sweet boy. After all, he is the reason we have some answers regarding the future, and for that I am thankful.
I had my ERA (Endometrial Receptivity Analysis) Test on Monday September 28th. It was a quick procedure with just a little discomfort (nothing I can’t handle anymore lol). It took about 2 weeks to get results and it turns out that I am Pre-Receptive. This means that we transferred our baby boy a little late.
The test results told me that I need specifically 133 hours of progesterone before we can transfer. When we transferred last time I was at approximately 140 hours of progesterone. This could be part of the reason why we never got to see his heartbeat. We just transferred too late.
I’m extremely happy to have these insights for the future. At least now we know EXACTLY when to transfer our next embryo.
After I started my period after the ERA, we started stimulation meds again for another egg retrieval. I started injections on Friday Oct 16th.
So far everything has been much better than the last retrieval. I went in for my last ultrasound today and all my follicles are much bigger than they were for my retrieval in March.
I have been cleared to do my trigger shot tonight and we are scheduled for egg retrieval on Wednesday, 10/28.
Any and all prayers would be so greatly appreciated.
I feel more calm this time around because I feel like this is the exact path that we need to be on. I keep telling myself that this is God’s plan and everything happens for a reason. So, i’m just going to put on my seatbelt and hang on for the ride.
Xoxo,
Jess
First night of shots! Follistim, Menopur and Ganirelix injectionsThe doctor joked and said that the 4 follicles in my ovary made it look like Pi. And yes, you’re probably thinking wow that probably hurts, those look huge, and YES you would be right! lolThis morning after finding out we can finally schedule the egg retrieval!
Wow. The last month has been a whirlwind for me. It has taken me a month to sit down and force myself to write this post.
I feel like I have gone through so many life changes in such a short amount of time. I have been trying so hard to take it day by day but some days I find that the sadness of it all catches up to me. I know that sounds so depressing but when I started this blog I told myself I wanted to be honest. I didn’t want this to be a “highlight reel”.
Let’s start with my career.
There were lots of changes happening at my company due to the Oil and Gas climate. I got laid off on July 20th.
Most people would take that as a major financial and emotional hit to their family but Eric and I looked at it as a new opportunity for me. I am now able to stay at home with Brynn and soak up all the time with her and keep the house running!
This was one of our big goals as a family for a long time so we honestly couldn’t be happier with the situation!
The day after I got laid off, I had the miscarriage at home. It started at about 11:30am and ended around 3:30pm.
I had never gone through one before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was graphic and traumatic for me AND Eric. I’m just so glad I have Eric as my partner in life because he was there for me through it all. I wish someone would have warned me because it’s the closest thing to childbirth that I have come to. Brynn was a c-section baby so I never felt any contractions or anything like that with her.
In the last 3 weeks I have gone to the doctor 3 times to do hcg blood draws to confirm that my hcg was decreasing to less than 5.
I’m finally hcg free and just taking this month off basically. We have to wait for my period to start and then I can call my doctor to start the next steps.
The big question I have been getting is, What’s Next?
The answer to that is, my doctor wants us to do what is called an ERA test. An Endometrial Receptivity Array. It’s basically a mock transfer cycle. I will be taking all the stimulation injections and meds just like I did for my last transfer, except on my transfer day instead of transferring an embryo, he will be taking a biopsy of my lining.
This test will tell me if we transferred too early, too late or on the correct day. Nonetheless, it was a hard decision to make because that will be pushing back any chance of baby for another month. It will definitely give us some answers as to why my transfer didn’t work and what we can do to fix it in the future.
Mentally, it’s been a rough month for me. I think a lot of it has to do with stopping all the hormones cold turkey and then having to go through that miscarriage. BUT I keep telling myself it’s all going to work out in the way God wants it to be.
I’m going to do better about writing posts on here in the future. It’s almost like therapy for me to just get my thoughts out on the Internet. I feel better after lol.
Thank you again to every single person that has reached out to us the past few weeks. We can only go up from here right? 🙂
Another update soon.
Xo, Jess
I like to believe that’s our baby boy shining down on us in the top right corner <3
I can’t believe I actually get to type these words!!!! WE ARE PREGNANT!
654 days since we started trying again, we got a positive test!!
Today is day 14 since our frozen embryo transfer, so I went for my bloodwork appointment this morning. Everything was so quick and easy, was in and out in about 15 minutes.
My doctor called me at about 11:15am and said that the bloodwork came back POSITIVE and that my hcg level is at 53.
He said anything greater than 5 is a good start. We have another appointment on Monday to confirm that the numbers are doubling.
He also said I’m supposed to stay on the PIO injections, the estrogen and prometrium! So we will see if and when I get to stop taking those!
We still have some more hoops to jump through to make sure that baby boy is in there for the long haul BUT we are going to continue doing our best to live in the moment and just be so happy and excited about TODAY!
This is truly a miracle and I am so honored and happy that God has given us this little blessing. Even if it was with a little bit of science 😉
Thank you guys so much for the kind messages we have received the past couple weeks.
Happy Saturday guys! We had our transfer on Thursday and it went really well (or so we hope)!
We got to the doctor’s office at about 11:15am and got all checked in. They called us back and had the procedure done all by 12:30pm.
I was told I had to come with a FULL bladder and honestly that was the hardest part of the whole procedure.
Laying down in a pretty cold room all while having to pee was just great lol
Other than that, everything went smoothly. We have to continue all the hormone pills and shots for 2 weeks until we have our blood test appointment on June 18th to confirm if we are pregnant or not.
We are praying that our little boy sticks. Brynn said the cutest thing Thursday night, she kissed my belly and said in the sweetest little voice “please stay with us, I kiss you!” 😭😭😭😭😭😭 If I wasn’t already emotional well…….. LOL
Hopefully I have a good update for you guys soon! God Willing!
Love , Jess
This was right after the transfer! It was so cool seeing our sweet embryo on the ultrasound monitor! So surreal!This was right before they took me to the transfer room. I wore my Gma’s cross necklace and her ring for good luck. Eric wasn’t allowed in the transfer room due to Covid so it was nice feeling like she was there with me and I wasn’t alone <3 Eric was of course allowed in the recovery room with me so that was a relief!We were waiting to be called in!
I am literally sobbing happy tears as I’m writing this.
We got a call from the doctor today with the results of the genetic testing.
Out of the 4 embryos we sent off, 2 of them tested NORMAL!!!!
This means we have 2 healthy embryos available for transfer. Eric and I are so excited and happy about this news.
We also opted to find out the gender of the 2 embryos!
We have 1 BOY and 1 GIRL!
Today is such a happy day for us!! We could not be more excited!
Once this coronavirus calms down and we can start going in public again, the doctor will schedule us to start the transfer phase. As of now, it’s looking like we may be able to start in May/June all things considered. As always, timelines may change but we are happy to wait knowing we have 2 healthy embryos waiting for us!
Thanks for all the prayers and messages we have received.
Out of our 12 fertilized eggs, we have 4 embryos that made it to the blastocyst stage! This means that we have 4 that can be sent off for genetic testing!
We are so thankful that 4 of them have made it this far. We are just praying so hard we get some more good news from the genetic testing.
Of course the best case scenario would be that all 4 come back completely normal so please pray for the best!
Last week I had some mild OHSS symptoms but they finally subsided by Friday! Like I said in my last post, I didn’t realize how bad the bloating was going to be but I’m much better now! Taking everything day by day!
The genetic testing takes about 7-10 days so expect another update around that time. Until then, I hope you guys are all staying safe and healthy out there!
Love, Jess
Enjoying some fresh air outside amidst this quarantine!
