*Third-Party Reproduction Check-in* Aug 24

daydreamer34254

This weekly check-in is for anyone using/considering or who has used a 3rd party method of reproduction, including: Donor egg, donor sperm, embryo adoption, gestation carrier, or surrogate - also Donors, GC's and surrogates as well! If you don't check-in for 3 weeks you'll be removed from the list but we'll happily add you back next time you check in! NOTE: Board etiquette - please post BFPs separately from the check-in, with a warning in message title.

Check-In: How is it going? What are your next steps? How are you feeling?

QOTW: Where's the most random place you've ever had to take fertility meds?

Welcome

@sorrellam30 - E-EG - Welcome!!

@Thespis7 - DS - Welcome!!

((Hugs))

@marshmellowevening - D-EM - Big ((hugs)) about your ultrasound. Sending hope & strength

@Love4Labs826 - D-EM - ((Hugs)) for the poor biopsy results. Good luck figuring out your next steps.

New BFPs & Other Good News!

@2MamazinSeattle - D-EG/DS -  Baby Simone Louise was born on 8/21/14! Congratulations!!!

@Mrs.McIrish - D-EG - Twin girls! EDD 12/2/14! Congrats on V-day & keep resting up so those ribs heal!

In the TWW!

@chicagobride07 - D-EG - Transfer was Aug 11th, beta on Aug 23rd. Good luck!!!

Currently Cycling/Scheduled

@ceemonkey - DE/DS - Lupron/estrogen phase. Waiting for next lining check. Good luck!

@doodiebug18 - DS - DS IUI tentatively scheduled for Sept 1st.

@Lacyj67 - D-EG - Parenting foster son! Lupron phase for September FET

@mm29 - DS - Embryo banking with OE IVF #4-6. Grow, follies, grow!!

@refeek1 - D-EG - Estrogen phase for FET #2. Good luck with your next lining check!

Waiting to Cycle

@daydreamer34254 - D-EG - FX for a match soon & fixing uterine issues with Dr. KK.

@figuresk8r28 - D-EM - Welcome!

@JimBobCooter - D-EG - Matched & waiting for legal. Will cycle ASAP with tentative ER Sept 22nd.

@Km672 - D-EG/DS - Two frosties for FET after immunology tests.

@kushie77 - Officially pursuing foster-to-adopt path. GOOD LUCK!!

@Love4Labs826 - D-EM - Working on some lining issues before next transfer.

@sorrellam30 - E-EG - Starting the 1:3 shared program at SG. Good luck!

@sweetgoose - D-EG - Uterine polyp removed, cycling late Aug/early Sept!

@Thespis7 - DS - Deciding between IUI or IVF. Good luck!

@twinkie0612 - DS - Appt. with Dr. KK on Aug 14; follow up on Sept. 4; May cycle again with OE.

Pregnant!

@Skadil - IP-GC - EDD 8/25/14 - Saga Karina will be here soon!

@MrsT4 - D-EG; EDD 10/10/14! Boy!

@jalara48 - GC - Surrogate in India.  EDD 10/15/14! Team Green! Pumping phase of Lactation Protocol

@lincoln79 - IP-GC - EDD 11/7/14! 7 frosties on ice for future siblings

@Sammer 818 – IP-GC - EDD 11/23/14! Turkey-day baby BOY!

@Mrs.McIrish - D-EG - Twin girls! EDD 12/2/14! Congrats on V-day & keep resting up so those ribs heal!

@ksgsmu - D-EG - EDD 1/12/15 - TWINS!!!

@Jessarab - D-EG - EDD 2/6/2015

@BeckyP005 – D-EG - EDD 2/22/15 - I hope m/s eases up soon!

@DatingBettyBoop - IP-GC - EDD 2/17/2015 - Starting to make announcements!

@pmv81 - DS - EDD 3/12/15 - Singleton on board!

@marshmellowevening - D-EM - EDD 4/5/15

Parenting

@Brooklynesque – D-EG - Baby girl born 7/24/14! Congrats mama!!

@cc+mm - D-EG - Gracie Annabeth born on 8/5/14!

@DoublePortion - D-EM - Boy/Girl twins born on 6/30/14! Good luck with BFing!

@e74 - D-EM - Twin boys born in 2013 and are on the move! Hello crawling and cruising!

@JM1977 – D-EG/DS - 21-month-old DD from DE/DS & newborn boy as of 9/13!

@LittleLady77 – D-EG - Twins! - Born happy and healthy in April'14!

@Liz4Paws – D-EM - Samantha Lynn born on 7/22/14!

@2MamazinSeattle - D-EG/DS -  Baby Simone Louise was born happy & healthy on 8/21/14!!

daydreamer34254

Hi Girls, my apologies for the late check-in! I hope you don't mind, but depending on my schedule I am going to plan to do the weekly check-ins on Sunday with Monday as a back-up. This weekend was very busy, so that's why it went up today (Monday). 

Update: I had my Dr. KK appointment last week. She found blood flow issues to my uterus. Ironically, the blood flow to my ovaries is fine. We are waiting for the blood work to come back and then will follow up with Dr. KK on Sept 29th. What does this mean for our DEgg cycle? It means that we will wait. We need to get any issues with my uterus sorted out before we can do a transfer. We're still hoping to have a match (our potential donor is going in to repeat her baselines as soon as she gets her period... any day now), but it looks like we won't be cycling until October/November.

QOTW: I've had to 'shoot up' on more than one occasion during my school band concert. I'm a music teacher and I lead the students on stage through their band performance. Last year, after the Concert Band & Jazz Band finished performing, I excused myself to administer my stims for IVF #2. I was praying the whole time that no one would look for Mrs. Z!! 

pmv81

@daydreamer34254 I'm sorry to hear you have postpone your cycle, that's frustrating. I hope your doc gets more answers for you so you can do what you need to move forward sooner than later. Fingers crossed for you that you find out your potential donor is for sure a match. 

I'm always unsure about posting my pregnancy updates here because I don't want to come across as insensitive, I hope I am not. I am always thinking and praying for everyone here. 

Things are going well, I love the OBGYN I found and the staff is wonderful. I had blood work done a couple of weeks ago for Genetic testing and the results showed no red flags...and we found out we are having a baby girl! Our only preference was healthy baby, but I'm finding myself over the moon excited about a daughter. I'll be done with the first tri at the end of this week. 

e74

@daydreamer34254‌ , sorry about your delayed cycle... Hoping things start progressing... Big hugs.. @Mrs.Mcirish, congrats on V-day!!

ceemonkey

@daydreamer34254 - sorry about the delay but I'm glad you discovered the blood flow issue. Hopefully you get that resolved soon!

@pmv81 - glad you found a great OB!

Update: I have my lining check ultrasound on Thursday and should get my transfer date this week too.

QOTW: A couple years ago when I was still trying with my OE I took a trigger shot in the parking lot of our MLB stadium. I was going to a game that night and got the call right as we were getting ready to go into the stadium. Thankfully I had anticipated maybe needing to do it so I had packed my meds!

Twinkie0612

We're not really on the TPR track anymore (at least not for now), but a few people had asked about my immune testing, so I thought I would update. I've gotten the majority of my blood work is back and so far it doesn't look too bad. I have poor blood flow to my uterus (main artery, they couldn't check zone 3 because I was about a week past ovulation), the tech also mentioned I had poor blood flow to the corpus leutum on my left ovary. Dr. KK said my poor blood flow could definitely be causing our implantation issues.

My NK cell activation came back slightly high (already knew of this issue from testing with SIRM) at 18.5% when I believe that they want it under 15%. CD19 was high at 15.8% (I believe the cutoff is 12%) but I have read mixed things on if this is actually an issue. My TNFa (cytokine) came back high at 37.4 (normal is under 30.6), which cause inflammation. I also had a few things come back abnormal on my CBC, high white blood cells and high neutrophils, I've read that high neutrophils can be caused by many different issues from infection to stress to auto immune disease. They are also a sign of inflammation. I had one clotting disorder (Factor XIII) come back heterozygous mutated, but it doesn't look like this is much of an issue. So right now it looks like inflammation might be our big issue.

My follow up isn't until next week, but my guess is that Dr. KK will prescribe prednisone for the high TNFa and this might take care of the NK cell issue as well, if prednisone doens't get these issues under control, I imagine she will prescribe IVIG. She doesn't prescribe intralipids, but from what I understand intralipids can increase cytokine levels, so I might not be a good candidate for them anyway. I am 99.9% sure my insurance will deny IVIG, so hopefully the prednisone does the trick (If not IVIG is > $2,000 OOP per treatment, which can get pricey depending on how often you need it through pregnancy). I know she usually prescribes baby aspirin and possibly lovenox for blood flow issues, although it depends on if you have clotting issues as well. I am not sure if I can take aspirin, due to reactions I had from salicylic acid when I was younger (my face turned red and swelled up, not pretty), so I will have to see how that affects my treatment plan.

QOTW: I've been lucky and mostly took meds at home. The only other place I had to take meds was at work, my sister's house, and in our hotel room during our donor embryo cycle. I guess work was the strangest. I didn't want to shoot up in the bathroom since people could walk in, so I used a conference room. Unfortunately all of our conference rooms have large glass windows so I had to make sure my back was to the window. I'm sure if anyone walked by they wondered what I was doing in there.

BeckyP005

@daydreamer34254‌ so sorry for the delay. @pmv81‌ congrats on a healthy girl! @ceemonkey‌ how exciting! @Twinkie0612‌ so much going on. Hope everything is able to be worked out.

AFM I finally got to hear the HB today! What a sweet amazing sound. 14 wks.

QOTW: MH only had to come to my work few times to give me the PIO. It freaked him out because we went up to one of the kid's bedrooms lol. Rest has been at home.

Km672

Hey ladies,

@daydreamer34254‌ - glad your appointment went well. I hope you have a match soon and you can move forward after your follow up!

@ceemonkey- fx for a successful transfer!!!

@Twinkie0612‌ - I hope the prednisone does the trick. Best of luck on your next attempt!!

@BeckyP005‌ - congrats!

**Update** SIRM called me this am and my results show elevated NK cells. The plan will be intralipids, steroids, Lovenox and antioxidants. He suggested only transferring 1 at a time in case my immune response is exaggerated with a double embryo transfer. (we have 2 left and were planning on transferring both together) we will also be doing a mock transfer so he can know what he's up against, due to my history of difficult transfers.

I'm feeling better about having a possible reason and knowing it may be treatable. After years and years of completely normal results on paper and then no baby to show for it, I am grateful to finally have something abnormal!

I have a lot of work ahead of me, now that we are switching clinics and cycling out of state and doing infusions, but we have to try-

Qotw- ugh.. The worst has to be at work..sitting on the toilet, in the bathroom behind the nurse's station (whoever thought of putting the staff bathroom behind the nurse's station was obviously not a nurse)

Unfortunately, there are times when I can't just leave the floor and need to suck it up and do what I have to do!

Hope everyone has a good week

sammer818

Check in: We had quite the scare today - our carrier ended up going to L&D because she wasn't feeling the baby move very much (that was what her text said). It turns out he was still moving around a decent amount, just not as much as normal. Of course, after the text saying she was going in, we didn't hear from her for almost 2 hours. I honestly thought I was going to vomit - I was so nervous. Thank goodness everything is ok.

QOTW: I had to take a shot in the bathroom of a restaurant once. It wouldn't have been so bad, but we hadn't told any of our friends that we were pregnant (I was on Lovenox during my pregnancies) and so I had to sneak away to do it. So weird. I was lucky enough to never have to take any fertility meds anywhere but home. 

lincoln79

Congrats to 2mamaz!

Hugs to all those who need them.

******EAIF Update*******

We had our first baby shower this weekend. It was at the church where mh and i met when we were five and got married in, so it was very special! We got many nice pieces of clothing and a swing which we put together last night.

We also got a cute rubber ducky set (parent and two babies) that our dog (a maltese) totally wants to run away with. 

Today is the first day of the new semester and it has been weird talking with my students about the upcoming maternity leave. 

sorrellam30

Hi ladies! I'm so excited to be officially moving forward with DE! I still haven't heard a thing from my nurse so I'm just chugging along on bcp. QOTD-I had to do injections in my car while tailgating before a concert once. Fortunately it wasn't a butt shot so it wasn't so bad.

Mrs.McIrish

Hi ladies! 26 weeks on Wednesday:-) Feeling a million times better then earlier this month.

Hugs to chicagobride((()))
Congrats to 2Mamaz!
@Km672‌ --- praying your change to SIRM with the new drugs brings you your baby!!!!

QOTW
I've shot up in restaurant bathrooms countless times, at other people's' houses, in hotel rooms, in the car..

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

BeckyP005

@marshmallowevening‌ keeping you and baby in my thoughts. Baby is a little fighter!

Thespis7

Hi ladies! I go tomorrow to get my "game plan" I'm excited and ready to get everything started. I have all testing done and SD chosen. Wishing everyone a great week!!

Qotw: I teach so in between class changes! Ha!

Lacyj67

@marshmallowevening‌ So glad to hear the good news! I hope all continues to progress well!
@Mrs.McIrish finally feeling better! Yay and I can't believe it's already 26 weeks for you!
Hugs @chicagobride_07‌
Huge congrats to 2mamaz she's gorg!
@BeckyP005‌ happy for you woman!!! Can't wait to hear what your having!
Sorry about delay daydreamer and glad all is ok sammer... That's scary!

Afm: ready to get everything started. Only a few weeks now till transfer on sept 11th. Tomorrow is my first ultrasound in a while. And sucks cuz im already bleeding. This weekend was rough with that. I haven't had a real period since the miscarriage feb.
Thurs is my bday and I also get to do my first estradiol shot yippie!
Qotw: flashback to my first ivf ever with OE.... Trigger shot was at a wedding and it was in the middle of the country... Dirty and hot! We got it done though lol

violetmarie61516

@daydreamer34254  I'm sorry your cycle is delayed but I'm glad Dr. KK is working to figure out the issue.

@pmv81  YAY!  Little girls are so sweet.  I'm glad the testing came back clear!

@ceemonkey  Good luck with your lining check.

@Twinkie0612  That's a lot of information you've got there!  I'm so glad you are getting some answers though.  Good luck with your follow up, I'd like to know how it goes!

@BeckyP005  Glad you finally got to hear a HB!

@Km672  Sounds like transferring 1 might be a better idea if you do have an immune response to the embie.  I hope this transfer does the trick and then you'll still have 1 embie too!

@sammer818  I'm so glad everything is okay!  So scary!  It's great to know that she is being really cautious though.

@lincoln79  Sounds like you had a really special and wonderful shower!

@sorrellam30  I hope you hear from your nurse soon!

@Mrs.McIrish  I'm so glad you're feeling so much better!

@marshmallowevening  Sounds like you've got a fighter in there.  FET are slower and maybe you just have a slow starter.  Hang in there!

@Lacyj67  I'm sorry you're off to a tough start but I hope your u/s looks good and you can push forward.

AFM:  I'm still waiting to hear back from Dr. Duffy.  I'm so scared we are at the end.  I am really hoping that we can go back to Vivelle and my lining will develop.  I'm just fearing that this might confirm that the radiation did too much damage to my ute.  I don't know what we will do from here.  DH doesn't want to talk about anything so I'm having a hard time staying positive.

QOTW:  I know I've had to do one shot outside of our house but I can't even remember where now.  It obviously wasn't too bad lol

lincoln79

I forgot to answer the QOTW

St. Louis Airport restroom at baggage claim while my two students (we had all been to a conference) were waiting for me.

Ugh.

refeek1

Hello everyone,

 

Still on for September 5th transfer.  I have my 2nd lining check on Thursday and should start PIO then. 

I've been lucky and been able to give myself all my shots at home!

mm29

Update:  I'm stimming for OE/DS cycle. Things are treading along slowly. I have one follicle in the running, yesterday it was at 13 mm.  I go back in tomorrow for another follicle scan. I can only guess retrieval will be either this weekend or early next week.  

QOTW:  Mine is similar to KM's.  While at work in the staff bathroom, luckily our bathroom was not near the main nurses station!!   

chicagobride_07

Yet another BFN for me, this time with the new donor. My RE is baffled as I respond to medications well, have textbook lining each time, etc. Not sure what to do at this point. I am getting a mammogram and pap this month. I was thinking about further testing before another FET, but what? We have some good reproductive immunologists here in Chicago (dr. KK, etc.). However, I have had extensive hematological and basic immune testing before. I can't imagine I have a major problem as I've had success with DE before. Also, at this point I couldn't shell out thousands for IVIG treatments anyway. Maybe there could be a more simple fix? What to do? What do you ladies think? I am actually pretty down and out with the process now.

e74

Forgot to answer QOTW: At my boss' retirement dinner in a bathroom that did not lock with my back to the door keeping it shut...

e74

@chicagobride_07‌ , I can't see your siggy right now... Have you had your thyroid checked or maybe checked for polyps? Good luck... And big hugs!!

chicagobride_07

Thanks e74. Yes, my thyroid testing came back normal.

violetmarie61516

@chicagobridge_07  My sister has three children now.  It took her 8 years to have the first d/t multiple miscarriages.  They found out she had anti-phospholipids.  Baby aspirin and she was good to go.  With her second pregnancy, she tested negative for it but tested positive for a metabolic imbalance and was put on Metformin.  Her third pregnancy was a complete surprise and tested negative for everything and was on no meds.

I only tell you this because I think if you'd had all your testing done before your first, it may be irrelevant.  Things can completely change when trying for another and I think it would be worth it to do some re-testing to confirm things are ruled out again.  It sucks but in the end it might get you another positive

doodiebug18

Looks like we'll be doing our very first DS IUI on Sunday! I am very excited but also afraid it won't work, so I'm trying to not get my hopes up.

I was only on Clomid and took it before bed

datingbettyboop

Hugs to everyone – whether you need it or not, because I think you are all awesome!

 

Things are moving along.  Fifteen weeks.  I sent an email out to some friends last week – mentioned that I was using a GC.  As one of my friends said “well that’s what all the power couples do now”  Told my boss & some co-workers last week.  They were all very excited.  Think they may even throw me a shower, which I wasn’t expecting.  Even found out that another co-worker used a GC (I believe they went to go bring their child home this week).  I’ve been pretty open about using a GC & DE.  Again, everyone has been very supportive.

Put a deposit down for daycare already – CRAZY!!!  There is a six month minimum waitlist in Seattle.  Can’t believe I have to deal with this right now, but if I want them to have care when I go back to work, it has to be done.

 

The little bugger gave a good kick to our GC last Wednesday.  Must have like lunch (pasta).

 

On a scarier note, our GC, along with her two kids, had a car accident earlier this week.  Everyone was ok, but car is totaled & the driver of the other vehicle (who was at fault with no license or insurance) went to the ER.  Our GC feels they were high.  She did go to the ER & her doctor to get checked out & it looks like no issue for the LO.  Heart rate was 154 (it had been 166 at 12 weeks, so normal).  Scared us big time, but trying to stay positive.

BeckyP005

@datingbettyboop‌ glad your GC and her kids are ok! How scary.