In Vitro in L.A.!

Last week we went to California to do In Vitro. Yes we could have gone to Vegas or Salt Lake, but this Dr. in L.A. is supposed to be better and was a little more affordable. Our little adventure started around the end of July while I was up at girls camp. I had to do ovulation tests up there so I could start my medication a week after that. It was kind of a pain, but it worked out. So I started my Lupron shots on August 6. This medicine is used to suppress my own system so I wouldn't ovulate and to get all of my eggs lined up ready to grow. Most women have many eggs every cycle, but usually only 1 or maybe 2 mature and ovulate. Pretty interesting huh.

Before all of this both Luke and I had to have labs drawn to check for infectious diseases (Aids, Hepatitis, etc.) luckily we passed :) Once I started my period, the fun began! I had to have an ultrasound and labs drawn to make sure everything looked good before I started my stimulation shots to make my eggs grow. So I started my shots on Aug. 17. At this point I was doing 2 different shots every night into my stomach. The needles weren't very big luckily, but it still wasn't very fun. I had another Ultrasound and more labs on Friday Aug. 21 here in Cedar and then Dr. Marrs in California decided I was gettting close and needed to be there monday morning for another ultrasound by him. At this point Dr. Heath (my Dr. here) could see about 13 eggs. I was a little discouraged at this point. Although it sounds like a lot, not all of them survive this process, so I was hoping for a little more.

Sunday August 23- went to the temple dedication in the morning, came home and took a nap before the long drive, packed, and off we went! It took forever! The traffic was horrible! We got there about 1 a.m. our time.

Monday August 24- Dr. appointment in L.A. at 9 a.m. labs drawn, ultrasound done by Dr. Beck and Dr. Marrs. I'm not sure how many eggs there were at this point, but he thought 8 would be mature on Thursday when they took all of them out. This was our home Sunday and Monday night. We got 3 free nights by signing up for a marriott rewards card. Helped save a little money :)

Tuesday August 25 - we decided to check out of this hotel and stay at a little bit nicer one in Beverly Hills for our 3rd free night, so to help pass some time, we decided to go and do a session at the L.A. temple. After that we checked into our hotel and just relaxed. I didn't feel up to doing much. After my ultrasound on Monday I could tell my ovaries were getting big and it was kind of painful. I had to give myself my HCG shot at exactly 8:30 that night. This is the shot that triggers ovulation. Here is a picture of the L.A. temple.

Wednesday August 25 - Had to go to Dr.'s office in am to get labs drawn and someone screwed up so I had to be poked twice! so much fun! Then we drove to Santa Monica where we were going to stay until Sunday with my Dad, his wife Sally, and my little bro Austin. We rented a condo right on the beach. It was awesome! Other than the no air conditioning part and the heat wave they were experiencing at the time. This is a pic from our balcony on the 11th floor. It was nice to just be able to walk to the beach.

Thursday August 27 - The big day! This was the day of my egg retrieval. It is kind of like minor surgery. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before. We had to be there at 6:30 am so they could get me ready by 7:30. I changed into my gown and put my lovely cap on (should've taken a pic) and then she started my IV and I was pretty much set and then they kicked Luke out to go and take care of his part :). They took me back, gave me a little medicine in the IV, and I took a nap. Next thing I knew I was out in recovery. I think it took 15 min. Piece of cake. We were out of there by 9:30. This is a picture in front of the Dr. office before my procedure.

After we got back to the condo, we had some breakfast and then everyone wanted to go to the beach! Well I wasn't going to miss a day on the beach! Even though I couldn't swim or really do anything but lay around, it was still fun! A little bleeding and pain wasn't even enough to stop me!

The tall building on the right is our condo

Our little campout on the beach

Luke and Austin had way too much fun on the boogie boards. They played so hard they broke them!

Later that night we went to the Santa Monica Pier. It was really cool. Had a roller coaster, ferris wheel, resturaunts, and lots of other cool stuff. I didn't get any pictures though. We ate dinner at a place called bubba gump shrimp. It was yummy :)

Friday August 28 - The embryologist called in the morning with great news! I had 18 total eggs. 16 were mature enough to fertilize, and 12 actually fertilized. So he froze 6 of them and put the other 6 into a petri dish to culture (grow for 3 days) to see which ones would be best to put back in. I had to start more medication today. Progesterone 4 times a day (up you know where), an antibiotic twice a day, a baby aspirin, and a steroid. Luckily the steroid and antibiotic is only for 5 days!

Saturday August 29 - The embryologist called again in the morning to let me know the kids were doing good and the plan was to put them back in Sunday morning (not all of them) the two best ones. There were 2 that were doing better than the others. They can tell by how well they divide. They had divided into 6 cells at this point.

After that we decided to go to an Auquarium in Long Beach. It was pretty cool.

Sunday August 30 - embryo transfer. We had to be to the office at 7:30 that morning. I was suppossed to come with a full bladder. I tried, but the nurse made me drink more. I had to drink 32 oz to get full. I had to take a Valium on the way to the office as well to help me relax for the procedure. We had 3 Dr.'s in the room and a nurse. They brought an inquibator with the embryos inside. We got to look at them through a microscope. There were two that had both divided into 8 cells and looked really good so those were the winners! So they drew them up into some type of catheter and put them in while doing an ultrasound. This is a picture of me drugged up on valium trying to get my bladder full :)

After that we drove home. Now we just wait. I hate this part. It is really dragging! Hopefully it will work and we can finally have a family! Other than our pets of course. I get to start wearing an estrogen patch tomorrow and have more blood drawn on Friday. I'm taking some time off of work this week to relax so hopefully that will help! We won't know if it worked until the end of next week! They let the other embryos continue to grow for a couple more days to see if they would get any better and only 1 was good enough to freeze. So we have a total of 7 frozen embryos for next time which is pretty good!

I just want to say thanks to all of our family and friends for all of your love, support, and prayers on our behalf! I know they have helped us!