Part 3: IVF #1

August 2018. A backyard barbecue. A chance meeting.

I chatted for probably an hour with a new friend who was in her second trimester with an IVF baby. She told me about a third clinic where the pricing was much more affordable. We made an appointment for 8 days later.

At that appointment, we met with doctor number four. He made us feel at ease and that IVF was the right next step for us. I started birth control that night.

September 2018.

This photo is worth $2,460.

I took shots for 11 days. Then I had surgery to get those lil eggies outta me. They were able to get 30 eggs!
Of those 30, 25 were mature enough to be fertilized.
Of those 25, 19 were fertilized normally.
Of those 19, 15 continued growing to day 5 and were able to be frozen.

15 embryos. 15 potential babies. 15 little children.

We were in heaven. That was SUCH a magical time, full of so much hope and planning. We were certain we'd have more than enough for our entire family, and talked frequently about what we would do with all of the leftover embryos (we were excited, but not about to try to have 15 kids). Even if I could go back and tell myself what was about to happen, I hope I would still feel the tangible joy of that moment and allow myself to revel in it.

Now, the not-so-pretty side: egg retrieval recovery. We opted not to do a fresh transfer because of the large number of eggs retrieved, and the very real risk for developing OHSS (which super happened).

OHSS stands for ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome. It happens when you retrieve a relatively large number of eggs. It causes fluid to spill into your abdomen, and can cause a bunch of problems. I had to live on pure salt (Gatorade and top ramen) for a week to dehydrate myself. It sucked.

The worst part, though, was my now top-heavy ovaries. One night, one of them...flipped. It's called ovarian torsion and it's the worst thing ever. We went to the ER and waited in agony for hourssss while they struggled to understand what I'd just put my body through. When you do an egg retrieval, sometimes you have to take a shot of HCG (the pregnancy hormone). So when they drew my blood at the ER, my pregnancy test came back positive, and they couldn't be convinced otherwise. The ultrasound tech kept seeing my ovaries when she was trying to look for my kidneys, and she told us "I usually try to keep a poker face, but this is insane." Anyway, my left ovary had flipped and it was excruciating, but still had minimal blood flow so I didn't lose it. A little Percocet and 24 hours later, it had reversed and all was good.