Egg retrieval, recovery and embryo transfer, this is the most exciting week yet in the In Vitro Fertilization process!  We are so excited to share all the in’s and out’s of our IVF journey with you all!
Dear Babies, this is our last update until we found out if we are pregnant! I am assuming I am pregnant going to be pregnant because we know you are so ready to come to our home, and we are so ready to be your parents! This process is so exciting right now because it is all going so fast! We have so much to look forward to this week! What I am most excited about is to see your little embryo pictures and see how you are growing!
Your dad and I are focusing on staying positive and enjoying this process together. We never knew how much doing IVF would bring us so close together, but it has really broadened our love for each other. We can’t wait to be your parents and love you so much already!
IVF Day 49- January 20, 2019 (Trigger Shot)
We got exciting news from our coordinator that Dr. Faulk said it was time to do our trigger shot tonight at 7pm. The trigger shot is super crucial in the Stim process. It’s so exciting to think this is our last shot! The trigger shot has to be done right at the time the doctor tells you because it releases your eggs exactly 36 hours from injection. This is the money shot! Literally and figuratively 🙂 The exciting thing about the trigger shot is knowing that our egg retrieval is only 36 hours away! So soon!
Jake did such a great job getting the shot ready, mixing up the powder and giving me the injection. We had to take a picture to document the moment that is was our last shot! Wahoo! Don’t get me wrong, the injections were not bad at all, but it’s nice to have them out of the way and move on to the exciting stuff!
IVF Day 50- January 21, 2019 (Egg Retrieval Prep)
Today we spent the day prepping for the egg retrieval surgery tomorrow! There were a couple things I needed to do (like a vinegar douche) that I didn’t have the supplies for, so needed to run to Walmart to pick those up. I had heard those sting really bad, but luckily it ended up being no big deal! This entire process of IVF has really had me doing some very interesting things! hahaha There are a lot of things that go on in the infertility process that people don’t talk about…sooo…. I am talking about it! It’s important to know it’s no big deal and just part of the process!
Jake took a pill to prepare for the sperm collection called Cipro (for short). That was easy peasy 🙂 In the evening we packed up and got everything ready to go for surgery the next morning. We wanted to get a good nights rest and went to be by 10:00pm so we would feel rested in the morning.
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IVF Day 51- January 22, 2019 (Egg Retrieval)
Jake and I woke up so excited today! I had to do another vinegar douche and took a shower so I had no scents/smells on me. We grabbed the Neupogen out of the fridge and arrived at the clinic at 6:30am for the egg retrieval. With the egg retrieval, the eggs are super sensitive to any smells/scents, so I asked Jake not to wear hairspray that morning. I love when he wears a baseball cap and think he looks so dang cute! Especially in his Angels hat representing! It’s crazy how bonding this experience has been for us! I have always loved Jake since the day I first said “I love you” 9 years ago, but this experience has brought us together more than I ever expected! He is the best husband in the entire world and I love him sooo much!
Ready For Surgery
All ready for surgery! You wear just a gown for the procedure, so that is where cute cozy socks come into play! I had gotten these fun Pusheen socks and had been saving them for a special day! They are now my lucky socks and I plan on wearing them again for my embryo transfer later this week. Or maybe I’ll order another pair of fuzzy Pusheen socks and start a Pusheen sock collection….
It was great to catch up with Dr. Faulk before the procedure. He is such an amazing doctor and we know we are in good hands! His entire team rocks! I felt very comfortable with everyone and felt well taken care of. The procedure is pretty short so you are not under anesthesia too long. Overall we were in and out of the office within 2 hours.
Jake was able to help me get ready for surgery, and then went off to do the sperm collection.
At the end of the procedure the doctor administered the Neupogen we brought with us. The Neupogen is an “extra” you can do with IVF and sounded like a great idea to us so we went for it! It supposed to act like a velcro in the uterus lining during an embryo transfer for the embryos to attach to. It needs to be administered by a doctor or nurse 5 days before the transfer, so today was the day!
After the procedure I got to spend some time in the recovery room on a cozy lazy boy wrapped in heat pads and a blanket. The nurse got me a water and some snacks. It was nice to drink some water and get some fluids in me since I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink this morning to prepare for surgery.
Jake was able to come meet up with me in the recovery room. While we were in their, the nurse came in and walked us through our next steps for the week. In addition to instructions to prepare for our fresh embryo transfer coming up.
Then the Dr. Faulk came in and let us know how many eggs he was able to retrieve. Guess what/!?!? We got 31 eggs! How incredible is that?!!? I started crying with excitement and my heart felt so full of gratitude. Jake and I feel very blessed! I am not sure what an average number is for a retrieval but 31 sounded awesome to us!
Jake helped me get dressed and put on my comfy pjs we brought. Then I wobbled out of the office and into the car 🙂 I was surprised how good I was feeling, but tired as well.
Recovery Time!
All I could think of on the drive home was snuggling with Zeke and playing Mario Kart! I was so excited about 31 eggs I texted all my fam and friends with the update and then we were home! When we went to Walmart yesterday we picked up a new Mario game for the Switch and some racing wheels for Mario Kart! I got cozy in bed and thought I would take a nap, but I was so excited to play Mario Kart that is what I did.
The doctor ordered a Z-pack for me to start taking, so Jake got me settled in at home with my heat pad and game on, then he headed to the pharmacy. Since we are doing a fresh transfer soon I needed to take another z-pack to prepare that.
Jake was so sweet and came back with some Jamba Juice (protein bowl), Chick-fil-a, the z-pack and another heat pad so I could have one on my belly as well as my back. I was so grateful! The heat pads are working hard and were on all day and night long! I am a little obsessed with them! It was so nice Jake was able to work from home today too so he could take care of me! He is such a loving and great care taker.
Fun Visitors Came Over
In the evening we had a few visitors stop by. Jakes parents were so kind and surprised us with dinner and fresh flowers. They brought all the supplies to make dinner and made us big salads. I was tired so I spent most of the time relaxing. Zeke was cute and kept me company. He really is so great having around and such a empathetic dog. I did make it down stairs for a little bit to visit with Jakes parents and then we had another visitor stop by too!
My cute friend Melissa and her daughter Scarlett popped in! They were so sweet and brought me a new succulent, a bath bomb and a marshmallow kitty! She knows me so well 🙂 It was great to visit with her a little bit and catch up! Zeke was cracking us up with little Scarlett. Scarlett had gone behind the couch walking around and you could only see the top of her cute little head, and Zeke could not figure out what was going on. It was pretty funny and entertaining watching him try to figure out what was happening.
Later in the evening my cute friend Brittany (who has done IVF twice with my same doctor/success each time) had Chip cookies delivered to our door. She was so sweet to think of Jake and I! It has been really nice having friends that have been through the same experience cheering us on.
Jake and I ended the night by playing our new Mario game together. It’s kind of a hard game! I was surprised, but we had fun playing it. At bed time I of course I slept with my new marshmallow kitty and both my heat pads on! Today was pretty awesome and I am so excited to hear from the lab tomorrow about the fertilization of our eggs and sperm!
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IVF Day 52- January 23, 2019 (Fertilization Report)
Woke up feeling pretty great! I am surprised how well I am feeling considering yesterday! My stomach is pretty swollen, but luckily today I went to the bathroom (number 2…) a few times and that really helped! I was super worried about being constipated from the anesthesia, so I have been taking a few DigestZen softgels with every meal. Luckily those helped out big time today!
Today I started a new medication called Endometrin. These are progesterone tablets that insert similar to a tampon. I will be taking these 3 times a day for the next few weeks. The nice thing about these is it’s easy and no need for injection shot 😉
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Fertilization Report
Around noon the lab called me with the fertilization report! Wahoo! I was so excited. The guy on the other line (Ammon) was so sweet and really took the time to explain everything to me and I left the call feeling very happy and hopefully! So the results?!?!? Out of our 31 eggs they retrieved from the egg retrieval, 21 of the eggs were mature. Out of those 21 mature eggs, 15 were able to fertilize with the sperm and make it to the first steps of the fertilization process. Wahoo! We did an extra step with our eggs called ICSI where they inject the sperm into the egg. They can only inject mature eggs so we are so grateful we started off with a big number of great eggs.
I asked out of the 15 eggs, what the likelihood of those making it to blastocyst stage where they can be implanted or frozen. The average is around 53%. So in other words, hopefully by the end of this week we will have 5-9 awesome embryos! Isn’t that awesome news?!! I am feel so feeling so grateful right now!
It’s 1:30 in the afternoon right now and I can’t keep my eyes open! I am a little sleepy and tired, so I am going to take the rest of the day easy and relax catching up on some fun TV series! Maybe some more Mario Kart too because that was really fun yesterday!
IVF Day 54- January 25, 2019 (Day 3 Assessment of Embryos)
Here is a picture of some of our little babies in the making! Aren’t they sooooo cute?!? I had no idea I would be so obsessed and think little blobs are so cute! Dying over cuteness over here! Ammon sent us these pictures today, and it was the best present ever! They don’t normally send you pictures at 3 days, so if you want them, make sure to ask for them! In my opinion they are a treasure! With the embryos they split into tons of little circles and you want them to keep splitting into tons and tons of little circles until they hit the blastula stage. That stage usually happens around 5 days from the egg retrieval.
We also got our Day 3 assessment of our embryos from our coordinator. 12 of our 15 embryos are doing good and are still viable! Wahoo!
Our coordinator also gave us our transfer instructions today! OMG!!!!! Embryo transfer instructions!!! We are over the moon excited! I can’t wait to get my babies back inside me where they belong! This is going to be the best day out of them all!
IVF Day 56- January 27, 2019 (Transfer Day)
The day has finally come!! Time to put some babies in me!! Our embryo transfer was at 10:00 (supposed to be there at 9:30am) but started the day off with acupuncture. Bea the acupuncturist was so awesome and came in early at 8am on a Sunday for us! She was so kind and the best. It was so nice doing some acupuncture before the retrieval because it really relaxed me and made me prepared to relax for the embryo transfer.
After our appointment we hoped in the car and headed to the fertility clinic. On the way I needed to drink a lot of water. For the transfer you are supposed to have a semi full bladder.
We arrived at the clinic and they put on me a bright orange wristband that had my info on it. I was supposed to bring with me a valium, and was instructed to take it when I arrived at the doctors office. The valium is supposed to help relax any anxiety and muscle tension. And then I kept drinking more water… 🙂
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The Procedure Room
An assistant walked us back to the procedure room. I was instructed to undress from the waist down, and put on my cozy socks. They were so sweet and had some gray socks for me there too. I put on the gray socks, but was super cold, so also put on my cozy moo moo socks I brought too. Jake was cute and put his jacket on me as I laid in the bed too so I could stay warm. They have you hang out in the procedure room for about 20 minutes relaxing until the valium kicks in. Jake was quite entertained and he said he really liked me on valium! hahah I guess I was singing songs and talking about funny things about food. (You can see it all in our vlog above.)
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Our Little Embryo Babies!
Dr. Faulk came in and gave us a print out of all our little embryo babies that survived and made it to the blastus stage! It was so crazy to see how just over 2 days how much different the embryos look! We have 5 that made it, and potential 3 more that could be ready tomorrow to freeze.
The doctor asked us if we wanted to put in 1 or 2 embryos. We asked what we could do to bribe him to put in 3 embryos but he wouldn’t go for it! hahahah So we went with 2! The two embryos on the top of our print are are the 2 babies the Dr. put in! Luckily we had a lot of really great embryos!
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Time To Put Some Babies In Me!
I have never been more confident and excited for a moment in my life! Dr. Faulk and his team are amazing and we feel so grateful they are on our side cheering us on! They were all so excited for us, and thought our chances were really great for success so that made us happy!
For the procedure, the embryologist went and got the 2 embryos ready for the doctor. It was so neat because they had all the action going on a tv screen for Jake and I to see. It was such a special moment for us. The doctor put in the 2 embryos and just like that we were done! Dr. Faulk said goodbye and said come bring the babies to visit in 9 months, which made us happy and smile!
Then I was instructed to relax and hang out for a few mins until a timer went off. Jake and I just kept looking at each other smiling and so happy! It was all so magical for us!
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The Babies Are Home!
See that green circle on the top right??! In that circle there is a thick white line and there is 2 little bumps on it. Those are our embryo babies! The babies are officially home where they belong! Jake was so cute and looked over and me and said, “How does it feel to be pregnant?” I smiled so big because even though we won’t find out for 10 days or so if we are pregnant, we have a good feeling about this all! From here on out I am telling myself that I am pregnant and this is all going to work out. We did a special wash called Neupogen that is like a velcro for the embryos to attach to, and I just know that is going to be some extra special sticky glue for the babies!
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2nd Round of Acupuncture
After our embryo transfer we headed to the second round of acupuncture for the day! To be honest I don’t remember it so much…… I was so relaxed and a little tired from the valium. Bea put some little tags in my ear that I am supposed to tap on a few times a day. I can take them out on Wednesday morning. They are pretty cool, I am not sure that they are for but I will tap on them and go for it!
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Lunch at Spitz
Jake and I were of course hungry by this time because it was 2 in the afternoon and we hadn’t had a chance to eat since 7am when we left the house, so we wanted a big yummy lunch! We went to one of our favorite places called Spitz! They have the best greek salads and sweet potato waffle fries of all time! They load everything up with tons of feta cheese, olives, tomatoes, purple onions and sauce and it is just pure heaven!!! It was fun to sit down and enjoy a yummy meal together, and just smile knowing our babies are home!!!
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Home To Relax and Take It Easy
When we got home Jake tucked me in bed and turned on a show for me to watch! Jake had gotten me a new Pendleton blanket to snuggle with for my egg retrieval and princess days, so I was oh so cozy! I thought I would be able to sleep but I was just so excited and feeling so amazing I stayed up watching shows.
In the evening my cute friend Emily stopped by with the cutest gift basket ever! She has done IVF with Dr. Faulk and has cute twins! Emily has done IVF 4 times and had success each time. 3 times for herself and 1 time as a surrogate. She is one cool lady. You can read about her fertility and IVF journey here.
Emily and I had fun talking the night away! I have felt so blessed to have friends that have gone through this same experience and be able to get lots of tips and advice from them! In the gift basket Emily brought over she made me a special juice and she wrote for the label “triplet juice.” How cute is that?!? Emily knows how much I would love to have triplets so she was sending all those positive vibes!
Jakes parent’s were cute and had dinner delivered for us tonight via door dash! It was awesome!
Today was such an amazing day and I am feeling so great and beyond happy!!
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IVF Day 57- January 28, 2019 (Princess Day 1)
Today “Princess Day” aka relax, take it easy and don’t do much of anything! I am feeling super great and my body seems so so happy! The embryologist called today with some great news! Out of the 3 embryos that were still fertilizing 2 made it and were able to be frozen! That means we have 5 frozen embryos! Isn’t that so cool?!?! Jake and I have always thought about having 2-3 kids, but knowing we have frozen embryos really changes that. I think we are going to LOVE being parents, so who knows, maybe well go for having 7 kids!
IVF Day 58- January 29, 2019 (Princess Day 2)
Today we got a very exciting call from the fertility clinic! We get to find out in 5 days if we are pregnant!! We already know we are…. (positive thinking here) but it will be awesome to find out for sure! Normally when you do an Embryo Transfer after 10 days you go in to get your blood drawn to find out if you are pregnant.
I have a doTERRA work trip to Puerto Vallarta over our 10 day mark so the clinic is awesome and going to check my blood a few days early. Wahoo!!!! P.S. If you are pregnant or want to get pregnant you are not supposed to travel to Mexico because of potential Zica virus. We already had the trip planned from way back and felt ok about it, so we decided to just go for it.
The Clinic will do another blood test when we get home from our trip to double check results as well! With IVF you can do an at home pregnancy test, but it is not recommend. From taking HCG it’s possible to get a false positive test so blood work is the best option. Our next appointment is on Sunday morning Feburary 3, 9:30am!!! OOOOH I am sooo excited! Babies here we comes!
I have been loving Princess Days and having so much fun! TV shows and Mario Kart all day long is the best! Jake and I went out for sushi tonight! I know I am supposed to be taking it easy, we we parked really close to the restaurant, I wore my pants unbuttoned and we took it easy. It was really nice to get out of the house and enjoy a good meal! Jake and I went a little overboard and got 5 sushi rolls! We thought it would be to much food but somehow…we ate it all! At the restaurant we ran into a group of my neighborhood girlfriends and they were sooo excited to hear that we find out in a few days in we are pregnant! It has been so amazing having such an amazing support system during this process cheering us on!
Thanks for Stopping By!
Well thats a wrap for our blog post today! Thank you so much for stopping by! We can’t wait to share more updates with you on our In Vitro Fertilization journey, especially the next update! 🙂 To see more of our infertility journey you can check out our past posts here:
If you are going through IVF or infertility, let us know! We would love to support you and cheer you on your journey!
Elegant Duchess
February 16, 2019Guys I so look forward to your next update – We are pregnant!! Believe xxxxxxxxxxxx
Kathrine Eldridge
February 16, 2019Praying for you and your hubby that you are successful! Thanks so much for sharing your journey.
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
February 16, 2019You seem so excited about all of this and I am excited for you as well! I love how thorough you are, I’ve always been interested in this entire process.
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Soph
February 16, 2019I absolutely love this post and all of the positivity that you guys are feeling right now. I’ve heard so many things about IVF being really difficult so to hear that you guys are finding it so exciting and are so close throughout the process is so heartwarming. Its amazing to hear that you have so many fantastic and supportive people around you too- I’m sending you all the positive vibes and can’t wait to hear your news!
Soph – http://sophhearts.com x
Sam | Violet Hollow
February 17, 2019Aw wow I’m so excited for you! what a journey I just know you will be parents xx
Violethollow.com
Jessica
February 18, 2019This is so beautiful dear, I’m so happy for you guys! Wishing you all the best!
Jessica | notjessfashion.com
wendee
February 18, 2019That’s so lovely of you to create that welcoming post for the baby. It will have something to remember always.
The Glossychic
Wonder Cottage
Didier
February 18, 2019This is so exciting! You’re going to be such a wonderful mother!
-Didier
http://www.didieryhc.com
Alyssa Sessions
July 27, 2020I am in Utah at the same clinic with Dr Foulk!! We are doing a transfer soon! I am wondering where you got the acupuncture done? I think I want to get that done before the transfer! Thanks for all the positive info.
Shawna
September 14, 2020Hi there! We are preparing for our embryo transfer next week and I was wondering how many days your clinic recommended you rest after your transfer? Thank you! Shawna
Carrie
January 1, 2021I’m loving reading these blog posts! I am currently going through IVF – day 2 of stims! If your offer of support still stands, I’d like to take you up on it!