The Bright Light at the End of the Tunnel

My experience going through IVF

As someone who has gone through the IVF process, it is important for me to share my experience. I want to share the good, bad, ugly and all of the in between. Through my teenage years and early adulthood, I always though it was easy to get pregnant and start a family. Even at the first signs of infertility, I was assured that I was "young" and would be able to start a family of my own with no issues. Spoiler alert, this has not been my experience. I have shared my infertility journey and if you would like feel free to explore my page for that journey.

The Beginning of my IVF Journey

My thoughts going into IVF were always hopeful and optimistic. I started off very excited any time I received an update from the fertility clinic. I remember getting my calendar of injections and actually recieving all of the medications. I was so excited to finally be able to have some control over the possibility of a baby. My chronic health condition took the natural conception opportunity away. Anyways, will not dive too deep into that. I steer clear of negativity as much as possible now.

Egg Retrieval

The IVF actual IVF journey, meaning starting with egg retrieval started in October 2023. I also recorded how that experience went here: https://sulyslifeinablog.wixsite.com/happy-travels-and-ad/ivfjourneyer The same enthusiasm I mentioned before lasted through most of the egg retrieval stim injections. The injections were not painful as they were all in my belly fat and the needles were very thin and small. Only one of the medications - Menopur - which I did nightly, slightly burned for a little after injecting; luckily the burning sensation did not last.

The egg retrieval process did take some adjusting after some of that enthusiasm wore off, since I have always had a phobia of needles. The first few injections were not fun. Being forced to inject myself daily for 10 days seemed impossible, but I got through it. The egg retrieval surgery was thankfully not a long recovery. It ultimately resulted in us creating beautiful embryos. Which is the end goal for a successful egg retrieval.

Embryo Transfer

The next step was preparing my body for the embryo transfer. I started to document this journey here: https://sulyslifeinablog.wixsite.com/happy-travels-and-ad/ivf-journey-fet

I recieved my embryo transfer injection/ medication calendar for a March transfer in December 2023. The process started on December 27, 2023 with the first of two lupron depot injections. The second one was a month later towards the end of January 2024. I explained why I did the lupron injections in the second video under the link above.

this was the first time the injections would be fully in the muscle - meaning- dealing with long needles in my butt moving forward. I cried the first time I saw the size of the needles.

I started taking medication and injections sometime in February for a March 4th embryo transfer. This part of the journey was not documented since it went by fast and the end result was not as expected. Everything was looking great on my blood draws and ultrasounds leading up to the transfer. I was feeling very hopeful and did have symptoms leading up to the beta test (10 days after transfer there is an HCG draw to see if the transfer was a success). I started taking at home pregnancy tests - which - if you are currently going through this, I highly recommend that you DO NOT test and wait for beta. I started testing after four days up until 8 days (one day before beta) and they all came back negative. I kept reading online that it may have still been too soon and kept up the hope. It made continuing the progesterone injections much more difficult since the possibility of not being pregnant kept lingering in my head. This negatively impacted my mental well-being.

Thinking back on it, the symptoms may have been from the progesterone injections which I had to remain on until advised otherwise by the doctor. Unfortunately, the embryo did not implant. I was absolutely devastated. I was instructed to stop all medications when the blood draw HCG (pregnancy test) came back negative. A few days later, my period came.

The doctor did not say why the transfer may have failed only that the embryo may have just not made a good connection with my uterine lining.

The doctor gave me the option to do additional testing or go straight into another transfer. I decided to try the EMMA/ALICE test. This test checks for good/bad bacteria in the uterus. Having too much bad bacteria can impact implantation. The test came back fine and I did not need to change my medications.

Second Embryo Transfer

I strated preparing my body for anther transfer in April 2024. I followed the same medication protocal that I had last time. A noticeable difference was that we went to therapy to help manage the emotional toll that the failed transfer had taken. I also incorporated accupunture before and after the transfer itself. I felt much more calm going into this cycle. This time, I only took one pregnancy test the day before my beta blood draw. It was positive!

I am excited to share that the second transfer was a success!!!! I am now 13 weeks pregnant as we speak and grateful, blessed, in awe of this experience and my healthy baby growing in my womb. I stopped progesterone injections at 10 weeks pregnant (my doctor advised that at this point, the placenta takes over progesterone production). This means that everyday I had to be injected with long intramuscular injections in my butt for 8 weeks straight. Luckily, I had a great support system helping me with them and providing moral support. I did get small clumps on the injections sites that were a bit painful throughout. However, after a few weeks of stopping them, I no longer feel the clumps or the pain and the bruising went away. :) What got me through these injections was knowing I was doing it to sustain my growing embryo.

Closing Thoughts

Through this experience I have learned so much more about myself. I have learned how strong, determined and patient I am. I have learned to let God be the guiding force in my life. After the first transfer that failed, I started to question why and if I was capable enough of growing life. My prayers were answered with the baby I am carrying today. I have learned to rely on my support system that I can trust - my husband, family, close friends and most importantly, God. I have learned that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. It does get better- you can do AMAZING things, we are capable of miracles. Finally, to my baby, I love you and I CANNOT wait to meet you.

-Mom AKA Suly <3