Hello and welcome back to my blog! I’ve been quiet on here the last few months and for good reason. In case the title of this post didn’t give it away, SURPRISE, we did another embryo transfer. I wrote all about our IVF journey the first time and this time was no different. I have been writing down my thoughts over the last several months and will share those in the next few blog posts. This post is focused on the months leading up to our embryo transfer. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks!
Chris and I always knew we wanted 3 children. When we found out we were having twins, that plan never changed. We love our girls so much but we just knew our family wasn’t complete yet. And so began our journey to baby #3…
The week after Meredith and Natalie turned 1, unknown to our family and friends, we had a consultation with our fertility doctor to talk about doing another transfer! We weren’t sure exactly what the timing looked like and we wanted to be able to get our ducks in a row. Talking to our fertility doctor was like talking to an old friend! He has such a special place in our hearts for giving us our girls and it was so nice to talk to him again. Via Zoom of course, since this was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that I should stop any birth control as soon as possible so I could start having normal cycles again. Once my periods were regulated, I would come into the office for blood work and a saline ultrasound, which I’d had done before. (You can read about the fertility testing I had before our first transfer HERE). He wanted to see what my hormone levels were and get a good look at my uterus since I had been pregnant before and make sure everything looked ok. Once that all (hopefully) checked out, we could start medication and do a transfer anytime we were ready!
Chris and I talked many times about when we wanted to do another transfer. I was more torn than he was, to be honest. Chris was ready to get the ball rolling as soon as the girls turned 1. On the other hand, I was more hesitant. Were we ready for another baby? What about the girls? Would it work the first time or would we need to do multiple transfers? Would people think we were crazy? Chris and I thought long and hard and decided to do a transfer when the girls were about 1 1/2. That would put the age difference at a little over 2 years if the transfer worked the first time. We wanted our kids to be close in age and that seemed like a good age gap. We also didn’t want to get too far out of the baby stage before having another baby. You get used to sleeping through the night after awhile! In the end we decided to shoot for an October transfer.
When I got my period in July, I called the doctor’s office and scheduled my fertility testing.
7/15/20: Appointment for blood work. It was so strange being back in the office. I felt optimistic, excited, and anxious.
7/22/20: Saline ultrasound appointment. I don’t remember my saline ultrasound being so painful last time. But man, I should have taken some ibuprofen before that test. My doctor was out of the office that week, so another doctor did my test. She was very nice and talked me through it, but it was painful. I had some spotting and a lot of cramping the rest of the day. But the good news is my uterus looked great! She said my doctor will confirm but we should be able to start medications when I get my next period in August! The office also called me this week about payment. Chris and I had been saving so we were prepared to pay for our transfer in cash (read more about our financial journey HERE). But that week was kind of my “oh shit” moment. We were really moving full steam ahead with trying to get pregnant with baby #3! I was excited, anxious, nervous, and hopeful. Part of me thought we were crazy for trying to have another baby with young twins at home. But the other part of me wants another baby and knows there will never be a “right” time. So, here we go!
7/30/20: I got the official ok from my nurse that all of my testing looked good and we could start medications when I started my next period! Woo hoo! I did have to go into the office the following week for more blood work and to give a urine sample because the state is mandating additional testing for fertility patients during the pandemic. But I’m just thankful we are still able to proceed with a transfer right now.
8/3/20: We made the payment for our transfer. Fun fact: All fertility treatment at our clinic has to be paid upfront or you cannot start medications. So that was fun to have a giant chunk of our savings leave the bank account in a total act of faith that this will work and we’ll have another baby.
And, that was the last thing to cross off the list before we officially started preparing for our embryo transfer! As you can see, it was a four month process just to get ready to start medications and monitoring for our embryo transfer. Stay tuned because next week I will share all about my reunion with my old friends: fertility injections, as well as all about the preparation for our transfer.
[…] to the next post in my IVF Round 2 series! When I last left off, I had finished all of my fertility testing and gotten the official ok to start medications and […]