TTC History


We began this unpredictable "Plan B" journey in June of 2007. We innocently just "started trying" thinking it would take maybe a few months to a year to get pregnant. Little did we know those few months would turn into four years and counting. At about the 6 month mark I began doing some research just to see what "could" go wrong in the world of TTC which lead to our first SA and urologist visit. DH was found to have mildly low count, motility and morphology, but not horrible. My levels were tested and all looked fine. I should preface this by saying I had a complex cyst on my right ovary in the fall of 2005 that was supposed to be removed by lap, but ended up bursting a couple of weeks before the surgery. I've have had three burst since then, all on the same ovary. I've also been diagnosed with three endometriomas. Since then all have been resolved either by BCPs or on their own. With that in mind, I firmly believe I have endometriosis, but have never had a doctor be very willing to do a lap to confirm it. Anyway, below is listed the treatments we've had done over the years.

IUI #1 w/o Clomid, 50mg  6/08~BFN
IUI #2 w/Clomid, 50mg 9/08~BFN
IUI #3 w/Clomid, 50mg1/09~BFN
IUI #4 w/Femera,HCG & Prog. 9/09~BFN
IUI #5 w/Femera HCG & Prog. 10/09~BFN

IUIs 1-3 were with my OB/GYN. The gaps in time were due to scheduling issues and office errors. A VERY frustrating experience. We began seeing the local RE (and by that I mean the ONLY one in town). We scheduled to do the first IUI in May '09, but baseline indicated an endometrioma so the RE put me on BCPs for 6 weeks to get rid of it.  In the mean time he ordered a uterine biopsy (OUCH) to check for integrins. The results were inconclusive. One lab said they were normal the other said my lining was off by three days??? After the 2nd failed IUI he began pushing for IVF so we decided to try TCM for a year before going that route. TCM helped get me to a healthier place, but still no success with getting pregnant. Continuing to use ACUP every couple of weeks to help with stress and balance.

TCM and ACUP since 11/09

A friend helped me find a clinical trial for IVF. During the consult, the "new" RE saw that I had a septum in my uterus by looking at the HSG report I had done in April '08 (neither my OB nor my first RE thought there was anything that needed to be done about that). He suggested I have surgery to remove it so I could possibly have natural success and be part of the study if we needed to. We tried for four cycles with no success. On to IVF we went!

Septum removal 10/11/10
Started 1st IVF cycle 3/11/11

IVF #1: It looked promising, but turned into a Beta nightmare. I got a BFP with a beta of 109. The second beta dropped and from there ALL hell broke loose. For the next six weeks it decided to go back up and down with the highest one being in the 500's. I ended up getting countless ultrasounds and blood work done as well as 2 metho.trexate shots. Six weeks after my first beta we were finally able to lay the loss down to rest. It was the most heartbreaking, frustrating, maddening experience we've ever gone through. It's a relief to have it behind us and we've moved forward onto the next steps.

Started 2nd IVF 7/16/11
IVF#2: After taking a month off we didn't want to waste any time getting to the next step since both of us were off for the summer. We decided to go with a 2 cycle package since it seemed financially more sensible and we had agreed to try 2 more times with ART before finally closing the door on treatment. Hopefully it won't come to that. :)

They had me begin with Gani.relix and stimmed with Bra.vell and Meno.pur. All went well, but over time I was over the shots! At the first follicle check Dr. F found a polyp that definitely wasn't there at the baseline. He did a sonohystogram to confirm and sure enough it was definitely there. All 2cm of it. So we had to take a different route than otherwise planned. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The new plan was to keep stimming one or two more days pending my E2 levels. Trigger and have the ER while at the same time removing the polyp.  Dr. F got 14 eggies ALL mature! 10 of them fertilized w/o ICSI (yay Mr. Bags!). They did an all freeze at 2 cells. The plan was then to move on to FET when we are ready.

FET #1: started process 8/10/11 (CD1)

I started taking estrogen on CD3 and progesterone on CD 20. Had a lining check on 8/26/11 and all looked good to go. They began thawing 5 embabies on 8/31/11. We got the report on the morning of 9/2/11 that everyone survived: 1- 2 cell frag; 1-6 cell with 30% frag; 2-7 cell with mild fragmenting and 1-beautiful 8 cell!! With some convincing we decided to put back 3; the 2-7 cell embryos and 1-8 cell embryo. I only wanted to do 2, but with our stats and my age Dr. F and the PA convinced me 3 was the way to go. It worked yielding one perfect bean and now we at waiting to meet this miracle in May of 2012!