Denis and I were married in July 2005 and went off birth control in November of that year.<\/p>\n
By November 2006 we still hadn’t conceived, so we went to the RE for the first time. There were some clomid\/IUI cycles, an HSG, a laparoscopy. Nothing obviously wrong, no problems… no success. So we started on our IVF journey.<\/p>\n
April\/May 2007 was IVF#1<\/a>. Normal luteal lupron protocol, 150iu follistim with 75iu menopur. 24 eggs retrieved, but only 2 of them fertilized. The doctors were stunned and puzzled. We felt blindsided. We transferred both embryos on day 3. They said it looked “good” but I did not get pregnant.<\/p>\n June\/July 07 was IVF#2<\/a>. Normal luteal lupron protocol, 125iu follistim with 75iu menopur. 13 eggs retrieved, but only 1 was mature enough to ICSI. Again, the doctors were stunned and puzzled. We were really freaking angry. We transferred the one embryo on day 3, expecting nothing… and got pregnant.<\/p>\n I was pregnant<\/a> for 35 weeks of pure bliss. Textbook pregnancy, slight anemia, everything perfect. On March 6 2008 we found out our baby boy had passed away in utero. I was induced and delivered Devin Alin the same day.<\/p>\n We started trying again right away, with no success. In November 2008 my new insurance kicked in that covered more IVF cycles and we jumped right back in.<\/p>\n November\/December 2008 was IVF#3<\/a>. Again luteal lupron with 125iu follistim and 75iu menopur. Despite this being the exact same dose as last time, I majorly overstimmed and ended up with 38 eggs and a mild case of OHSS. We triggered at 38h before retrieval instead of 36h, but it didn’t change the maturity rate – only 3 mature eggs, all ICSI’d, 2 fertilized. We transferred one of them on day 3, and cultured the other for freezing. I ended up not pregnant and with nothing frozen.<\/p>\n January\/February 2009 was IVF#4<\/a>. Luteal lupron but stimming with 225iu menopur, no follistim, and triggering with an IM shot instead of sub-q. They retrieved 25 eggs – 8 were mature and able to be ICSI’d, 6 of which fertilized! All six were cultured to blast, 1 transferred on day 5, 2 frozen on day 6. Truly amazing. Did not result in pregnancy, but we have 2 frozen…<\/p>\n March 2009 was FET#1<\/a> – the first chance we have ever had at a frozen transfer. It felt so much easier than a stims cycle… and I got pregnant! But it never felt quite right to me, I was a paranoid wreck the entire time. 2 weeks later I had back pain, bloating, and really bad “gas” pain, and my first ultrasound revealed it was ectopic<\/a>. I had a laparoscopy to remove my entire right tube.<\/p>\n We had to wait a cycle for my body to heal, then in June 2009 did FET#2<\/a> with our last frozen embryo. No reason for it not to work, but it didn’t. We were crushed.<\/p>\n Because of scheduling we had to take a couple months off before IVF#5<\/a> in August 2009. This time I pursued acupuncture as a supporting therapy, booked massages throughout, and planned a small get-away between transfer and beta. Ended up with 4 embryos, transferred 2, and 1 was frozen. I had spotting at 11dpr, the same as when I got pregnant with Devin. The day before my beta I tested positive. I was pregnant<\/a> with our daughter, Kate. She was born in May of 2010, healthy and beautiful.<\/p>\n