IVF/Pregnancy Update

To recap: the fetus had stopped growing at the 8 week mark and we were waiting for me to naturally miscarry. That didn't seem like it was going to happen, so my doctor decided I needed a D&C. I'm lucky that they do this procedure in their Grand Rapids office, so it was much less trauma than if I had to be admitted to the hospital.

I had the D&C on Friday and it all went well. I had the same kind of anesthesia as I did for the egg retrieval, so my recovery wasn't too bad. No nausea or anything like that. I also had to have a Rogam shot as Tim is RH + and I'm RH -. I don't remember much about the procedure (thank God!) but we had requested an ultrasound before hand, just to be certain that the fetus hadn't changed any.

So, we have a couple of weeks for recovery and then we'll talk with Dr. Young to understand the procedure for a frozen embryo transfer. We have 10 lovely frozen embryos to take us through the next steps. I'm actually looking forward to spending the rest of the summer having some fun and enjoying focusing on things not related to getting pregnant or staying pregnant. Time for Tim and me to relax, reconnect and have an adventure or two. It'll be fall before we know it!

No fetal pole, yet

At my doctor's office on Thursday, I had my first post positive beta ultrasound. Tim wasn't able to be with me because of his trip. He'll be there next time, though! We saw the implanted embryo. Dr. Young thought he should be able to see the fetal pole (central nervous system -- I think) but wasn't able to find it. We also saw the other embryo, it had implanted, but not grown very much. That one will most likely just be reabsorbed back into the uterine lining. Dr. Young was pretty calm about no fetal pole, just said that all pregnancies were different, and we'd be able to know for sure in 2 weeks. In 2 weeks, if we see the fetal pole and the embryo has grown the way it should, then we're back on track. If it hasn't, then the pregnancy won't be viable.

Of course, I'm worried. But -- our take on this is we don't really have any control over whether it will turn out to be viable or not. It helped that I talked to a friend who had twins via IVF and at her first ultrasound, one fetal pole was visible and the other was not. The second one showed up 2 weeks later and now he's a rambunctious 4 year old. Plus, if the fetus isn't developing like it should, it's better to know now.

So please just keep thinking about us and praying for us. I'll let you know the outcome of ultrasound #2 in 2 weeks!