Pulling the trigger

Today was another day of monitoring. So here we see my two ovaries almost touching each other (they aren't really suppose to do that in real life) and in the middle, the shadowy ball is my uterus. Fun huh? The ultrasound tech said she wasn't sure what they were going to do with me since I had a batch of follies in the 18ish mm range and then a bunch in the 15-16mm range (we need 19-22mm). I finally got the call today at 4pm, as I was beginning to freak out about being forgotten about...
Turns out they wanted me to trigger!!! WOOOOO!!! So what a trigger shot does, is it tells the body to release the eggs, basically I take HCG to make me ovulate. I HAD to take it at 8:30 on the dot, 36 hours later (wednesday 8:30am) I need to be in the OR to have my retrieval  

Here is my trigger shot!

I have to draw up 1cc of diluent and mix it with the powdered HCG with that giantass needle you see there. Then I get to unscrew said godzilla needle and put on the little subq one. Way easier! However this time the needle caps wouldn't come off and I was afraid of yanking them and stabbing my finger so I ended up bending one of the little subq needles, good thing they send 2!

So if you happen to take a moment on wednesday morning, just send a little prayer my way for an easy surgery. Also that they can get the IV set on the first shot, without blowing out multiple veins and me having a crying hysterical moment when they cant do it but keep trying. Honestly, getting an IV is the worst part of this whole entire process. Needles in my belly all day erry day is no big deal its blood work and stupid IVs that are the big problem.

Until next time!

So shall we start at the beginning?

When we started trying to have a baby we knew I didn't ovulate, I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). It has a whole bunch of awesome side effects, one of them being anovulation. My amazing OB started me on Clomid. An awesome drug that made me throw dishes, cry, yell at Bill and have hot flashes. Bill calls it either "the clomid crazies" or "clomidia". As soon as I went off of my birth control, I started temping and charting. I had 90+ day cycles which ended in meds. Hence the need for the Clomid. This is my second cycle on clomid, what a chart should look like. Except mine kept ending in my period. 

 My OBGYN decided we needed to do some further testing, with the data that we had we knew there was more to this "problem". I had an HSG (hysterosalpingogram)  done. Basically a catheter with a balloon on the end is inserted into your cervix, it is then blown up to "block the hole" and dye in inserted into your uterus while xrays are being taken. They are looking for the dye to pass through your tubes. Basically it feels like a large man is standing on your uterus for about a minute. Fantastic. Along with the HSG we decided Bill needed to have a Semen Analysis (SA).
I received the call from my nurse at the OB's office in December. I can remember that moment like it was yesterday, standing outside in the cold listening to her say "sperm count is zero". Devastation. No other word for it. I couldn't even cry, my students had arrived. I looked at their little faces as I sang the circle time songs and just kept thinking "I will never get to have one of "these" with my husband" "I will never hear circle time songs from my kids, or sing to them". The only thing I have dreamed of since I was a little girl, ripped from me and it wasn't fair.
I went into "fix it" mode that day I called a local urologist who gave us the name of the top Male factor infertility (MFI) urologist in the NE area, Dr. Oates. We got an appointment with him in January, followed by an appointment with the Reproductive Science Center of New England (RSC). Dr. Oates did another SA, still zero, no obstructions. Genetic testing was done (we waited 7 weeks for the results) - nothing was found. We weren't sure if this was good news or bad news....it felt like no news. Our next step Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE). A very invasive procedure Bill had to go through. After a long battle with the insurance we got it approved.

Here is Bill in his handsome surgery attire!

Bill went in for surgery and 30 min later Dr.Oates walked out into the lobby with this:

It was now my job to drive the sample from Boston Medical Center, to RSC in Lexington.  Most. Stressful. Drive. Ever. My mom came with me while Bill's mom stayed with him in recovery. I am so thankful to our families for being unbelievably supportive through all of this.
Bill and I went home and Bill got settled in bed with some good pain killers. and we waited. We thought our call from the Dr. to tell us whether or not sperm was found would come around 3ish. We arrive home around 11 we got our call at 12. SPERM WAS FOUND, 5 WHOLE VILES!! it was the best news we had heard in a very very long time. We just held each other and cried, we were going to get to have OUR baby. Something so many take for granted.

We then found out I was in such a place in my cycle to being with IVF right away. We were so happy to get things moving! I will update tomorrow on our IVF process, since I feel like this is plenty long enough!

-Nicole