Meds and Evals

Since our embryos have arrived, time has gone incredibly quick. We have gone through our second set of medications, and are discussing when to start our stim medication! Since I took a small break in December on updates, I wanted to bring you all up to speed with what has been happening!

Medication #1: Medroxyprogesterone

This first set of medication commonly known as Provera, is to force cycle day 1 to start. I have taken this a couple times when going through fertility treatment, so I proactively asked for it! As someone with PCOS, I typically do not have a natural cycle or my cycle is incredibly unpredictable. So to make sure we weren’t waiting months before menstruation, I was prescribed this 10 day medication. This medication is overall really easily manageable, with very minor symptoms. This medication creates a surge of progesterone in your body so I did feel way more emotional, slight cramping, breast tenderness, and nausea. Overall it was very minor and quite a blessing to have so little side effects!

After this medication was complete, it took about one week for cycle day 1 to come, the one thing that's hard for me personally when it comes to taking provera, is my cycle tends to be really difficult. For me, having infrequent periods, they are typically very light, lasting only 2-3 days (simply a blessing and a curse). So my cycle was much harder on me physically than I am used to, but it was very much worth it! On cycle day 1 I was able to call the clinic and we moved forward with the next medication!

Medication #2: Estarylla

The second medication sounds fancy, but it is really just birth control. This was a hard one for me to accept, as I disagree with the use of birth control, but also, I have had a terrible response to hormonal birth control in the past. Having the clinic explain the use of birth control helped us feel better about its use in our protocol. At first I was really confused about its necessity, why would I need birth control, when people use that to NOT get pregnant? The fertility center explained it as when taking birth control, it puts my body in a holding state, making it so you do not ovulate, and stops your uterine lining from growing or shedding too quickly. Typically, you take birth control for 2-4 weeks, so it's really not too terrible.

I haven’t been on hormonal birth control since I was in my late teens, but I quickly felt the effects of that medication, and so did my husband LOL! I definitely feel crazier, I am quick to get angry, and have had a lot of anxiety. It caused a lot of nightmares, and weight gain. My body reacts really strongly to birth control, so I am praying we can quit taking it sooner than later.

Hydrosonography:

This week we had our hydrosonography appointment (aka water ultrasound), which was overall very encouraging. The purpose of this appointment is to see if there is anything concerning that would impact the ability for an embryo to implant. I was bummed Austin could not come to the appointment, but it was not super impactful, mainly just educational. During the appointment, they have me lie on a table in stirrups, and thread a small catheter through my cervix, into my uterus and inject a saline solution into my uterus to make it expand, making it so they can get a good picture! The procedure was painless (I did take 600 mg of ibuprofen beforehand), and took about 15 minutes. There were periodic points of pressure but I was thankful that the doctor educated me on each step, and I was able to see everything while she was conducting the procedure. As for the results, everything looks really good! There is nothing concerning and there was no concern for an embryo implanting! However, my uterine lining was pretty thick, which means it is not ideal to start injections as it would be too thick for an embryo to stick! I will get my new updated protocol later this week but the new plan is to continue birth control for the next weeks until I start my cycle again or have a withdrawal bleed (the fake menstrual cycle you get on birth control), At that point my uterine lining will be at its thinnest, we will go in for another ultrasound to check again, and then hopefully we will be in the clear to start hormones!

Although I was a little discouraged we couldn't start our injections sooner, I am super grateful that everything is going well! In the next few weeks we will have more communication with our clinic and hopefully be on the road to make a home for some sweet little embryos.