Appointments- Feb/March 2020

The next week was my baseline appointment. This is the appointment where they check my uterine lining and do blood work to see where everything is at before I begin my medications. I drove down by myself this time while Randy stayed home with our boys. I stayed at my in-laws house and we are so grateful that they live close enough to be able to do that. 

Clear roads this trip!

My baselines looked great! And I was okay-ed to begin  my medications as scheduled the next day. Now a frozen embryo transfer (FET) is a lot different than doing a whole IVF cycle. I had a lot fewer appointments with the FET, about 1 a week, compared to the every other day or every day appointments I had with our IVF cycle. It was so much better!

At this appointment all our consent forms and money that we owed was due. Remember when I said that we hadn't wanted to take out another loan? Another miracle occurred and we were able to pay everything without a loan!

I began 2 of my medications the next day. Estrace and Baby Aspirin. The Estrace really affected me! I was extremely cranky for about the first week I was on it. Until my body got used to it. Think of PMS on extreme steroids. 

My next appointment was about a week and a half later. I again drove down to this appointment by myself. This appointment was just a check to see how my body was responding to the Estrace. If it wasn't responding well then they would increase my dose. Thankfully I was responding perfectly! My uterine lining was looking great and my estrogen levels were perfect as well! So, I continued my current dose.

The next appointment was my last one before my transfer! My friend ended up coming with me again which was good because the roads were again not the best. I picked her up and we hit the road. Not even 10 minutes later my Escape started shaking really bad and my check engine light began flashing along with the flat tire notification. So we pulled over and I checked the tires. They were all fine. My friend called her dad and her husband and they both said that it should be ok to drive to the next town which was about another 10 minutes away and go straight to get the code read. So that's what we did. After going to one place and being told they couldn't come out to read the code we rushed over to another place and got there 5 minutes before they closed. They thankfully were able to read the code and it came back as ignition coil 2 was bad. They unfortunately did not have the one we needed in stock but they said we should be fine to make it to my parents house a couple hours away as long as we didn't push it too hard. So we drove going about 60mph when the roads were dry.

The snow looked like water!

It was so shiny!

Thankfully, my parents were willing to let us borrow their car to drive the rest of the way to my in-laws where we were staying that night. After we had switched vehicles, we got on our way again. Then another unfortunate mishap occurred about 10 minutes out from their house. The headlight on their vehicle went out! We weren't positive that had happened so we pulled over in the next town and checked it. And, yes, it was out. I did not want to turn around to switch vehicles again and so we continued on with me using the brights when there weren't any other vehicles in front of me or coming towards me.

This all turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. About 45 minutes later, at a time when my brights were on, there was a large herd of deer crossing the interstate! Because I had my brights on I was able to see them with plenty of time to stop. I honked my horn as there were no other vehicles and they ran off and we continued on our way again. The next morning, the headlight was working again. Which further confirms to me that it was a blessing.

We finally made it to my appointment. This was just a quick appointment, a blood draw to check my hormone levels. They would be checking my estrogen again, as well as, my progesterone. The progesterone had to be low indicating that I hadn't ovulated otherwise the whole cycle would be canceled. Thankfully, everything was right where they wanted it to be! And I was given the go ahead to begin my next 2 medications!

Til next time!

Becca 

Surgery Feb. 2020

Finally, the day came for my surgery. We traveled down the night before to Randy's parents house and they were going to watch our boys so that Randy could come with me to my surgery. 

What the roads looked like for most 

of our drive, down and back.

Early the morning of my surgery we headed to the office where my surgery would take place. On the way down I was feeling a little anxious even though I knew everything was going to be fine. Then another miracle happened, out of nowhere I caught the smell of something familiar. I couldn't place it for a minute but when I did I knew I had angels around me to help me to relax. It was the smell of my Grandparents, who have both passed on. For those in my family who know this smell, it was like walking into their house after not being there for a long time. I don't even know how to describe it, it was just them. I immediately told Randy and asked if he could smell it, he said no. So I knew they were there for me.

Then another miracle occurred. I had to take my birth control pill at a certain time every day. So I had to take one about an hour before my scheduled surgery. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my pills! Then we remembered, the day before on the drive to Randy's parents house, I had gone to take my pill but dropped it. So I took another from a different day as I wouldn't need the whole pack before stopping. The Lord knew me and provided a way for me to take my pill! We got out of the car and searched the floor under the seat until we found it. 

Talking to the anesthesiologist before my surgery, he and the nurse asked if I had any allergies. I told them fentanyl, as I have had some poor reactions to it in the past. They said that it's what they use as pain control after every surgery but that they would use something else in my case. He got me all hooked up to the IV and then my doctor came in and talked for a second before I was out. 

After the surgery, I recovered much faster from the anesthesia than I had compared to my last surgery with them. I knew it was because they hadn't used the fentanyl on me. Randy was allowed to come back to the recovery area to sit with me and after a little bit the doctor came in to let me know how it all went. My ultrasound showed 2 polyps, she said that they had removed a few which told us there was more than just the 2 we originally saw. This wasn't surprising as my first surgery was described as extremely bumpy and we knew that there was a possibility that they could grow back. It was nice that only a few grew back compared to many! She also told me to expect some light bleeding and cramping.

Once I was allowed to leave we got some food and headed back to Randy's parents house.The recovery from this surgery compared to my first was actually a little rougher. I had pain and cramping for about a week compared to only a couple of days. This may have been because my last dose of birth control I took a couple days later and I had no break in the bleeding as we believe that my scheduled period overlapped. 

We traveled almost all the way home that day, racing a snowstorm and trying to beat it before roads closed. Unfortunately, we didn't make it. We got to where we were about an hour and a half from home and they had closed all roads going out of this town. We were hopeful that we'd be able to head home later that day but after checking the predicted reopening time, we knew we were stuck for the night. With our boys, and our 2 dogs. Thankfully, Randy's parents offered to get us a hotel room which was a huge blessing! My sister also offered but Randy's mom had already beat her to it. 

Two boys playing, and one dog. 

The other dog was elsewhere in the room.

 Hopefully, never again.

The next morning the roads reopened around 10am and we were able to head home! The first little bit we understood why they had closed them. They were still pretty nasty. We just took our time and we made it home safe!

Now it was time to prepare for the real game to begin. My first baseline appointment was that next week.

Til next time!

Becca

Initial Appointment January 2020

About a week before my initial appointment, I began birth control. This was so they could line up my cycle with their timeline. I was to stay on it until told to stop which they would tell me at my initial appointment.

My initial appointment came up really quickly. One of my friends was able to come with me so Randy could stay home with our boys and our dogs which I was grateful for since it's not fun driving alone. Especially when the roads aren't the greatest due to snow and ice!

A truck we saw that had slid off the road,

my friend took the picture.

The water ultrasound was first and was really easy but they had a little bit of trouble getting the upper part of my uterus to stay open so they could check it. I unfortunately had some polyps show up on the ultrasound which immediately told us that I would need surgery. They told me their lady who schedules the surgeries would call me within a couple of days.

Giving blood was super easy and it's what I did next. I got results later that day from them over the phone and they told me that my thyroid levels were a little low and that they wanted to start me on a medication. They said they had called it in to my pharmacy and that I could pick it up once ready. All my other levels were normal.

Next up was meeting with my coordinator. I was super excited for this because she would lay out all of my appointments and I would know for sure when the transfer was scheduled for! I also had to go over all of the consent forms and she told me how to sign them online and that they would then be able to send my husband a link so he could sign them as well. She asked about if I needed surgery and I told her that yes I would. She said that's just fine! They had scheduled it out far enough so that I could have surgery if needed. Which turned out to be a blessing as my surgery wasn't able to be scheduled until the week before I began my meds. Once finished, I met with their scheduler and we scheduled out my appointments so that way I knew what time each was going to be at!

It took about a week until I finally got a phone call to get my surgery scheduled. And that was after emailing my coordinator about not receiving the phone call when they told me to expect it a couple days after my initial appointment. She was just as confused about why they hadn't called me and told me she'd send them a message about it. Once it was finally scheduled, all I had to do was wait until that day. Which was scheduled about a week after that phone call.

Til next time!
Becca