The Monthly Bumpdate - IVF details through 8 weeks

Ever since I started this blog I have dreamed of writing Bumpdates!! And here I am nearly 10 years later and I finally get to post my very first one.  In case you missed it I announced our very first uterine pregnancy here on Friday and be sure to follow me on Instagram for quick updates.

week 8

For this very first Bumpdate I'm going to go into a little bit more detail since I have to cover 8 weeks.  With IVF I actually had to start on Birth Control since we had a vacation planned and we weren't quite ready to start with all the injections.  After about 2 weeks of BC I then started my nightly injections of Gonal F and Menopur, after about a week I then added in my morning injection of Cetrotide.  Meanwhile I had to go in for multiple blood tests and Follicle Study Ultrasounds.  I actually had to go one extra day of injections so I had to call in for a same day delivery of my meds and then go in again the next day for another ultrasound before I got the go ahead to give myself my trigger shot of Novarel which is an intramuscular shot you inject into your butt.  That was the shot I was most anxious and nervous about and in reality it was the easiest and least painful of all the injections I had to self administer.

 nightly injections

minimal bruising

one of many blood draws

trigger shot location

trigger shot

36 hours after my trigger shot we went in bright and early for me to have surgery for the egg retrieval.  We got to the surgery center super early so we got to wait and go about the whole thing at a relatively leisurely pace (which was such a stark contrast from my two previous emergency surgeries due to ectopic ruptures) until it was time to get things moving.  As far as I know the retrieval went smoothly and they were able to get 7 eggs!  Of the seven, 6 were mature and were fertilized via ICSI and all 6 of them continued to mature.  Five days later we returned (me with an extremely full bladder) for our Embryo Transfer on November 1st.  One of our embryo's was an extremely high achiever getting the highest rating they give out (which is very rare) so that is who we transferred. The transfer was so surreal and getting to watch the whole thing on the TV monitor was pretty cool!
So as of November 1st, I was officially pregnant until told otherwise.

Egg Retrieval

Day of Transfer

(Three of our other embryos were developing well so they were put into the freezer and we had two more that they felt needed an extra day.  Unfortunately one of the two didn't make it to the freezer, so of the 6 fertilized we transferred one and have 4 in the freezer.)

Weeks 2 - 8:

Symptoms: sore and swollen boobs, occasional nausea, strong hunger, and extreme tiredness.  I've also experienced some mood swings and a great discharge thanks to my progesterone supppositories I have to take as part of the IVF process.

Weight Gain: like I mentioned on Friday I had finally reached my goal weight of 105 (and even got below it) but it was fluctuating because of all my hormones.  So I'll say that I started off pregnancy at 106 pounds and since then I've probably gained a solid 2lbs.

Baby's Gender: we don't know yet and honestly can't tell you which we would rather have.  We'll be excited for either and a bit disappointed either way...but we have 4 more in the freezer so I guess we have a few more chances should we decided to be crazy and go for it 😉.  Although we do already have middle names picked out for either gender so that's really exciting!

Emotions: I don't think that my emotions have been too crazy as of yet...but I can't help but think about our very first pregnancy just because this one is shadowing it so much via the timeline.  Our first pregnancy finally happened after some medical intervention of an HSG and then a round of Clomid, Follicle Studies, and a Trigger Shot - but it resulted in a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.  However, the timeline is crazy because this babe that is growing in my uterus is due 3 days later (and 7 years) than our very first pregnancy!! How crazy is that?  So our very first due date was July 17 and our current due date is July 20!!

♥ Ashley