So What's Happening with this IVF Thing?
I can hear crickets chirping in this vast open space of the interwebs right now.
Sorry I have been a bit MIA. Things are moving right along to my Hysteroscopy (surgery on my uterus to repair the shape) and eventually IVF, but just at a snails pace. I am currently 8 days past ovulation (DPO). So, just about one week to go until Cycle Day (CD) 1! Woo Hoo!!
On CD 1, I am to call my RE and go in for blood work, baseline ultrasound, and get my prescription filled for birth control. I can hear the tires screeching right now, Hold up, BIRTH CONTROL??? Say what??? Only in the world of infertility and RE's does it make sense to go on birth control to actually get pregnant. LOL! My RE will place me on birth control pills just before my Hysteroscopy in order to keep my ovaries nice an quiet during surgery. Then the good news is that he will just keep me on birth control afterwards, and I would be able to start IVF Stimulation Meds (Stims) shortly after the surgery. So, I am possibly 4-6 weeks away from starting my IVF Stims!! :) For IVF, the birth control will allow my RE to prevent my body from naturally producing follicles (eggs), and ovulating. He will want to do all that through a cocktail of hormones and medications I will be injecting myself with. The goal is to help me to produce as many eggs as we can (without over stimulating me), and to suppress ovulation from occurring so that we can retrieve those eggs to be fertilized, and the embryos sent off for genetic screening. So, things are slowly progressing right now, but once we get going, things will hopefully happen pretty quickly. :)
My RE confirmed that he will be freezing the embryos immediately while we wait on the genetic report to come back on how many embryos are found to be genetically normal and capable of becoming a take home baby. Once the embryos are frozen, they can remain "on ice" for a LONG time. Good news for me since I have a thyroid condition to contend with.
I have been diagnosed with Postpartum Thyroiditis. It is a condition that only occurs after a pregnancy or pregnancy loss. It is an autoimmune response in which my thyroid becomes inflamed, and goes through a period of instability. First being over active (HypERthyroidism), and then becoming under active (HyPOthyroidism). The condition can correct itself over time, but can come back with every subsequent pregnancy or pregnancy loss. Right now, I am in the hyPO phase from my first round of it, and might always remain hypo due to it. However, my Endocrinologist (thyroid doctor) has placed me on Synthetic Thyroid hormones to make up for my under active thyroid. Therefore, my thyroid is currently stable while I am on medications. We all hope it continues to remain stable, and that by the grace of God, my Postpartum Thyroiditis doesn't return (also a slim possibility). As long as it remains stable, I can proceed with Embryo transfer in Sept or Oct.
If it's going to go hyper, it should by Oct. It usually takes 1-3 months after giving birth or experiencing a miscarriage for it to surface. So, if my blood work comes back stable by October, then it means I most likely won't experience it again. However, if my thyroid hormones are found to be unstable in Sept or Oct., we will not proceed with embryo transfer until it recovers back to a stable state. Unfortunately, hyperthyroid meds are not found to be effective for treating the hyper over active phase of Postpartum Thyroiditis for some reason. It turns out that only hypo meds are found to be effective in treating the hypo under active phase. So, if my thyroid were to go hyper again, I would just simply need to wait it out until my thyroid falls back into a phase of under activity, and then I can be placed back on my thyroid medications to be stabilized again. Confusing and annoying stuff, huh?!? Welcome to just a slice of my world! Confusing and complicated are my middle name it seems.
So, all this means frequent blood draws to closely monitor what my thyroid hormones are up to. I am getting my blood draws done every 5 weeks right now. My next blood draw is next Wednesday June 25, and my appointment with my Endocrinologist to discuss the results and how to proceed is a week later on July 2.
That's my latest update as of now. :)
Thanks again to all of you who have followed me over from YouTube, BBC, and FB for some of you! You ladies are great, and your support means the world to me. Thank you for your love and support, and for following my journey! <3