Got the clear from the doctor: everything looks great so we are ready to start our frozen embryo cycle (or FET)! Day 1 is Saturday! In a nutshell, over the next few weeks I’ll be taking medicine to stimulate my uterus lining to get it thick enough to hold the embryos. Once it’s at the right thickness (the nurse said they’re picky little guys) we’ll do the embryo transfer, just like in the IVF cycle. This means I still need to take meds but not as many as during IVF.
Here’s a look at my very organized medication calendar:
It might seem OCD but I don’t want to miss any medication and possibly throw off the whole cycle! lol The calendar really helped us stay organized during IVF so I’m hoping it does the same thing this time around. The more organized I feel the less overwhelming the whole process seems to me.
I only need to take one shot this time around– HOORAY!! Ok wait, that’s a lie. I also need to take the dreaded progesterone shots but that’s not for another few weeks. It’s called Lupron. What it does is it temporarily tells my body to stop ovulating which also stops my body from producing any hormones related to that ie; progesterone, estrogen, etc. They don’t want my body producing any of these hormones or they can’t put our little embies in me. And we don’t want that.
Since that shot shuts everything off, they’re also giving me Estrogen to make my lining thick. It’s just a pill that I take every night, sometimes I need to take 2 or 3, just depends on the day.
And then there’s these big ol’ boys again. Yes, I need to take the progesterone shot again. But honestly, it’s really not that bad. My butt is still bruised from last time, but hey the only person who sees it is Laryen and if he doesn’t care, then I don’t care!! LOL! These shots will start close to transfer time.
Just like in IVF I also need to take Medrol. It’s a steroid I take around transfer time to make sure no infections happen in the lining which could result in my body rejecting the embryos, and we don’t want that do we?!
Oh and last but not least (how could I forget!) — more money for us to try and get our future kiddos. (I really hope they get a full ride scholarship for college!)
Everyone I talked to and a lot of the infertility blogs I’ve read say FET is a lot easier of a cycle and a lot less stressful. Fewer medication, fewer visits to the doctor, which I’m happy about. I didn’t feel stressed during IVF, but I know it’s a lot on my body- so who knows! My body could have been stressed because there was so much going on and maybe that’s why it didn’t work! Unfortunately we’ll never know.
I feel better about the whole thing now that we talked to the nurses, learned more about the FET cycle and got the all clear. I know we have to get our little embies! They can’t hang out in the lab forever! 😉 And we pray and pray and pray that this is the time God wants us to become parents. But if it’s not, that’s ok too. I keep telling myself over and over again what Laryen always tells me: “We will be parents.” And yes, we will.
If you have room in your prayer list, please include us over the next month or so. We’ll take all the prayers, hopes, and well wishes you can send our way. ❤
The Infertility Game of Life 