Yesterday, I had my second ultrasound for my FET. We once again woke up early and made it to our clinic a little earlier. Their office was open when we arrived at 8:20, so we were able to walk right in and have a seat. We were called back very quickly, doing the ultrasound first. My daughter held my hand again as I got ready for the examination of my uterus. I love that tradition that my husband started. It's so sweet.
The ultrasound only took a few minutes. The tech measured my largest follicles on each side to check for cysts and measured my lining. The lining is split into three sections which is what you want your lining to look like when you have an embryo implanted. The thickness was 9 mm. That is just about perfect for the measurement.
I did the blood draw and we paid on the way out. I was very glad we arrived early when we saw the waiting room. The clinic doing our outside monitoring instructs all the girls doing a monitoring ultrasound to show up at 8:30 and it's first come, first served. They had pulled back another girl while we were doing an ultrasound. In the waiting room, we saw around six other ladies. They all showed up by 8:45. If we have to do another FET soon, I am definitely showing up before 8:30 again/
Last night, we received the call from our own RE clinic. My E2 (estrogen) levels were not as high as they wanted at this point in the process. I was only measuring at 176. My facilitator asked me to up my dosage of estrace to 3 pills twice a day. We had guests, so I did not get into a discussion about what the ideal level of E2 would be right now. As soon as our guests left, I pulled out my phone and started madly Googling. It sounds as though clinics are all over the place in terms of where they want the E2 level to be at the time of implantation. Some want to level to be above 250. Apparently there was a study done that showed the greatest success of a FET was when the E2 level was at around 300. (I have yet to read that specific study myself.) Some clinics want the E2 level to be 400-500.
I panicked slightly until I read that there are other types of estrogen (vaginal suppositories and patches) that can also increase your estrogen levels more quickly. Once I read that, I calmed down. I also took comfort in the fact that my clinic did not ask me to do a blood draw between now and my next one (the last one before the transfer).
I did ask my facilitator to send a letter from my RE giving permission to travel with needles on the plane. I have traveled once before with needles and the TSA agents did not even care about the syringes I had. I carefully pulled them out of my luggage with the note from the doctor on top, but they didn't even glance at them.
Next step? My little family flies to my home state. We have one last blood draw in six days and the FET in thirteen days! Our flight home is four days after the transfer, so we have a bit of wiggle room if they need to change to date slightly.
27 July, 2019
17 July, 2019
Baseline Ultrasound
Yesterday, my family and I were out the door at 6:45 to embark on the ninety minute drive to our RE's clinic for the baseline ultrasound. It started getting exciting for me! I was stoked that this is the first official ultrasound for my FET. One of two.
We munched on our breakfast of peanut butter and honey sandwiches as we drove on meandering country roads, small country highways, and large interstates.
We arrived at the clinic's door at exactly 8:30. We were the first ones there and arrived moments before they opened the office. I was slightly surprised; these ultrasounds are first come, first served. They tell all the girls who need an ultrasound to show up at 8:30 and you wait until your turn comes up. I was very glad that we did not have to wait. It sounds as though this is not always the case. We happened to come on an off day. Usually, there are several girls that need ultrasounds. Next time, I think we will show up earlier.
We were summoned quickly.
I did the blood work first. I was handed a sperm-shaped stress ball to squeeze as they drew the blood. My daughter was more concerned about the bandage than the blood draw itself. From there, we moved to the ultrasound room.
As I sat on the examination table, my daughter automatically grabbed my hand in support. My husband taught her to hold my hand whenever I am receiving an ultrasound. I like this tradition. She takes her assignment very seriously. I held her on my lap for a minute so we could take pictures of the momentous occasion. She knew that something would appear on the monitor and was pointing out where it was before the technician came in.
I really like this technician. We chatted throughout the scan. She measured my lining (looks nice and thin-what I want right now) and looked at each ovary. I have some pretty nice looking follicles on both sides. "Too bad those probably won't ever become your brothers and sisters." I mentioned to my daughter. The technician told us that she did not see any cysts. (I asked if there was a chance one would grow after this point so that we would have to cancel this round. She said no.)
It was around twenty minutes after we sat down in the waiting room that we paid our money and left.
We stopped at Trader Joe's to buy airplane snack and headed back home. As we drove home, I thought to myself that I needed to keep an eye on my phone all day. I assumed that I would receive a call from my clinic.
I quickly forgot that thought. We had some good friends over that evening. They have a couple of children that are pretty close in age to our daughter and the wife is due any day now with their third. It was exciting to talk to her and watch the kids play fairly independently.
I checked my phone after they left and saw two missed calls! The messages were from my IVF coordinator. She told me that she did not see the ultrasounds results anywhere. She asked if they had given it to me or if I was not able to make it to the scan. Yikes! The other missed call was an hour later. She said that the results looked great and I was given a thumbs up to start on Estrace today.
I will be taking two estrogen pills twice a day. It starts now and then if the pregnancy sticks, I will continue to take them for ten weeks post positive pregnancy test. I was told that they do not need to be spaced exactly 12 hours apart, but I do need to be pretty regular in the time I take them at morning at night. Because we are taking a trip that is two time zones away soon, I also need to take that into account.
On another happy note, I am done with birth control! Just like last month when I completed the active pills and started on the placebo, I feel so much better. Even being cognizant of the fact that I was a grump, I still struggled. Two days after I took my last pill, I felt great. I do not have to force myself to be happy anymore. I just feel automatically happy! I greatly enjoy being around people again. I don't have to bite my tongue all the time. I feel terrific.
We munched on our breakfast of peanut butter and honey sandwiches as we drove on meandering country roads, small country highways, and large interstates.
We arrived at the clinic's door at exactly 8:30. We were the first ones there and arrived moments before they opened the office. I was slightly surprised; these ultrasounds are first come, first served. They tell all the girls who need an ultrasound to show up at 8:30 and you wait until your turn comes up. I was very glad that we did not have to wait. It sounds as though this is not always the case. We happened to come on an off day. Usually, there are several girls that need ultrasounds. Next time, I think we will show up earlier.
We were summoned quickly.
I did the blood work first. I was handed a sperm-shaped stress ball to squeeze as they drew the blood. My daughter was more concerned about the bandage than the blood draw itself. From there, we moved to the ultrasound room.
As I sat on the examination table, my daughter automatically grabbed my hand in support. My husband taught her to hold my hand whenever I am receiving an ultrasound. I like this tradition. She takes her assignment very seriously. I held her on my lap for a minute so we could take pictures of the momentous occasion. She knew that something would appear on the monitor and was pointing out where it was before the technician came in.
I really like this technician. We chatted throughout the scan. She measured my lining (looks nice and thin-what I want right now) and looked at each ovary. I have some pretty nice looking follicles on both sides. "Too bad those probably won't ever become your brothers and sisters." I mentioned to my daughter. The technician told us that she did not see any cysts. (I asked if there was a chance one would grow after this point so that we would have to cancel this round. She said no.)
It was around twenty minutes after we sat down in the waiting room that we paid our money and left.
We stopped at Trader Joe's to buy airplane snack and headed back home. As we drove home, I thought to myself that I needed to keep an eye on my phone all day. I assumed that I would receive a call from my clinic.
I quickly forgot that thought. We had some good friends over that evening. They have a couple of children that are pretty close in age to our daughter and the wife is due any day now with their third. It was exciting to talk to her and watch the kids play fairly independently.
I checked my phone after they left and saw two missed calls! The messages were from my IVF coordinator. She told me that she did not see the ultrasounds results anywhere. She asked if they had given it to me or if I was not able to make it to the scan. Yikes! The other missed call was an hour later. She said that the results looked great and I was given a thumbs up to start on Estrace today.
I will be taking two estrogen pills twice a day. It starts now and then if the pregnancy sticks, I will continue to take them for ten weeks post positive pregnancy test. I was told that they do not need to be spaced exactly 12 hours apart, but I do need to be pretty regular in the time I take them at morning at night. Because we are taking a trip that is two time zones away soon, I also need to take that into account.
On another happy note, I am done with birth control! Just like last month when I completed the active pills and started on the placebo, I feel so much better. Even being cognizant of the fact that I was a grump, I still struggled. Two days after I took my last pill, I felt great. I do not have to force myself to be happy anymore. I just feel automatically happy! I greatly enjoy being around people again. I don't have to bite my tongue all the time. I feel terrific.
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