IVF

We started IVF in late February 2020. On February 24th I had what is called a Baseline Ultrasound. A baseline ultrasound is a vaginal ultrasound that is typically done on the 4th day of your monthly cycle. The baseline ultrasound is to check out the ovaries. You want to make sure that the ovaries are not producing any follicles at the time. The doctor is also looking to see if there maybe any cysts on the ovaries. You will also have bloodwork to check your estrogen level. My baseline was showing that I had 8 follicles on both ovaries. Because of the 16 total follicles that were showing up I started taking birth control the next day (February 25th). I know, I know… birth control? What? That was my thought. I mean I am trying to get pregnant not prevent it. The nurse explained to me that the birth control was to suppress the ovaries that way when I started taking my IVF medication the ovaries would wake up and be like “Hello! I need to make some eggs!”

I had another appointment on February 27th for my SIS (Saline Infusion Sonogram). The SIS is done on day 5-11 of your monthly cycle. It is an ultrasound of the uterus/uterine cavity. The nurse/doctor will insert a small catheter in the cervix and they will inject saline at the same time as the ultrasound. The nurse who did my SIS quickly became one of my favorite nurses at ART. (shout out to Megan!) She explained to me that the SIS is checking out the uterus, like you are doing a home inspection. You want everything to look perfect for when the baby moves in. The SIS feels… not so great. It may cause some cramping and the cramping can last for 30 minutes to an hour after the exam. My SIS went great with no problems.

Your clinic will more than likely give you a calendar of you IVF cycle. According to my calendar I was to stop taking my birth control on March 9th. On March 10th I had an appointment scheduled for my Suppression check. The suppression check is just another ultrasound of the ovaries to make sure that they are good and suppressed. Good news, mine were! They gave me the green light to start taking my IVF meds on the 14th. We also signed our consent forms and made our cycle payment.

On March 14th I started my IVF mediation. My protocol was to mix Follistim 375 IU and Menopur 75 IU. Once those were mixed together I gave myself a shot in the belly. I was to do that everyday until my next appointment on the 18th. I went in on the 18th to have another ultrasound to take a look at how many follicles were growing. They wanted me to continue my stim meds and add in an additional shot of medication called Ganirelix until the 22nd. I was to come back in on the 22nd and they would decide on when to do the trigger shot. On the 22nd when we went in for the ultrasound everything seemed to be where they wanted it to be and it was time to trigger! That night we didn’t do any stim meds, we only did the trigger shot. I was instructed to take the trigger shot at 8:45. The trigger shot has to be done 36 hours before the egg retrieval. The trigger shot medication that I took was called Novarel.

On the 24th we were headed to Birmingham for my egg retrieval!