On Thursday, April 4th we signed the consents to start IVF. Signing consents wasn't just here's the papers and here's where you sign. No, it was more in depth than that. There were three separate consents that we had to go over.
First, we talked about the fact that giving my body excess hormones can make it go into overdrive. Don't get me wrong, this is want we want to happen, but controlled. Sometimes the hormones can make you go into ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). This syndrome consists of cyst formation which in turn can rupture requiring surgery. Another thing that can come from this syndrome is fluid shifts. The high levels of estrogen can pull fluid to the abdomen or around the lungs. Sometimes this can require hospitalization as well. Multiple pregnancy and ovarian cancer are also risks with superovulation therapy.
The second consent was actually for the IVF retrieval and embryo transfer. This was an 11 page document that went into detail about the process. It talked about how my body was going to be prepared, the fact that there is no guarantee that the process was going to work, the fact that we need to do ICSI ( see April 7th post), selective assisted hatching, and watch to do with excess embryos. Selective assisted hatching is a process that helps the embryo to implant in the uterine wall. This is done when you've had a failed IVF cycle in the past or you are of advanced maternal age. Hopefully we won't need this!
Third, we talked about specifically what to do with the excess embryos that may be produced through the superovulation therapy. We chose to have them cryopreserved. When we are ready to have more children we can thaw the embryos and use those to try to get pregnant. Because things happen in life, we had to decide what to do with the embryos in case we both were to die, get a divorce, the IVF lab were to not be in business anymore and they couldn't get a hold of us, or we don't want the embryos any more. In all of the cases we chose to donate the eggs. I know what I've been though so far to have a baby and I couldn't imagine destroying them when someone else could use them.
The next step of our visit that day was to talk about what to do next. I was told to stop taking my birth control that day and that I would come into the office for a baseline ultrasound and estrogen level on April 8th (today). Then we would start the injections the next night (tomorrow). I would take the injections for 4 nights and then go for another ultrasound on Saturday and Monday. Well, things didn't go as planned today. I went in for my ultrasound and they found that I have a cyst on my right ovary. Dr. Moretuzzo told me that they get better results when there aren't any cysts. So, I would have to go back on the birth control. The only question was for how long. They drew an estrogen level to determine that. Mine came back at 36, which is on the low end. They think that the cyst is going away since its not secreting too much estrogen.
I start the birth control again tonight. I will be on the birth control until April 20th when I go in for another ultrasound to see if the cyst is gone. If it is, we can continue on course. How did I feel about this today? THIS SUCKS!! It seems that my body can't get anything right even when its told what to do. Nothing goes according to plan. If it did, I'd already have a one year old on my hands. I'm a little bitter today, but I want to do this right so that we get the best chance.
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