Day 2 Prague->Kutna Hora->Zlin

I'll jump to the best part of the day first.  In the afternoon we made it to the clinic and I met with a doctor and had an ultrasound check.  Because we used miles to travel, we had few options on which day we left and that meant we were traveling on a day that I needed to have my lining checked and checking it at home would have been too early to matter.  Last time I did that back in the States but this time I didn't have any checks until we got here.  I was a but nervous that they would find something to screw things up, but my check went wonderfully.

• Lining measured 11.8.  This was wonderful news.  You want your lining to be a 7 or better.
• No cysts.  If they find one, it could cancel the cycle because the cyst feeds off of the same hormones you need for the embryo to implant and grow.  My uterus is still squeaky clean!
• No follicles are growing on either side.  That means the drugs are working and everything looks good for transfer.
• They checked my c section scar and gave the ok to transfer 2.  Our doctor in the US also did that and said my scar looked great, but this was a final check here that they needed to do.

In the morning I will go for my infusion and blood draw to determine my next medication schedule.  This is all great stuff and made me feel so much better to cross this off the list and move forward.  Ok so now I can tell you all about the rest of our day, but wanted to share all that good stuff first.

After a rough go of it getting Duncan to go to sleep, once he was asleep, he slept like an angel.  Ryan went and got our rental car and I reorganized our things and got us all ready all while he slept.  We loaded up the car and headed to our first stop.  We decided on Kutna Hora to break up the long ride to Zlin. As soon as we made it onto the freeway, we found a radio station called Rock Zone and Motley Crue's new song The Dirt came on.  I take this as a very good sign. Kutna Hora is about an hour and a half outside of Prague.  It is a small city with quaint curvy cobblestone streets.  Duncan learned the hard way that he can't run on them like he does at home and feel and scraped his hand.  We went to St. Barbara's Church.  It was beautiful on the inside, but we were short on time and had to skip the full inside tour.  We had time for one thing there so we choose to go to a chocolate museum and chocolate shop.  She said the museum was the worlds smallest.  It was really just a room in the back of the store, but it was filled with artifacts and information.  She gave us a brief history of the company, which at one time made over 5, 000 types of candies and chocolates, but then enter Nazi's and WWII and they were taken over and ruined. Recently they reopened as a small batch company and does everything on a much smaller scale.  After the museum, of course we had to buy and sample chocolate.  Duncan has had chocolate in things before, but this was the first time he has ever had a chocolate bar.  At first taste, he declared "I like it, I like it"!  We bought dark chocolate with cacao nibs, plain milk chocolate, white chocolate with cocoa nibs and dark chocolate with ginger.  All were pulled from a bag and pieces were broken off and weighed.  It was a great experience.  Then we walked for a bit and then had to leave to head to Zlin.

Zlin was about a 3 hour car ride away.  We all piled in the car and choose to eat granola bars and other car snacks instead of a proper lunch.  Duncan lasted about 1 hour and then fell asleep for the rest of the ride and I joined him soon after.

Next stop, Zlin.  We arrived about 10 minutes before my appointment and Duncan was still asleep. Ryan stayed with him in the car and I went upstairs.  It is very surreal being back here.  Walking through those doors, it all came flooding back.  I was so nervous last time.  There was a wall with baby pictures on it and I remember praying that one day I would have a photo on that wall.  Now I'm returning and I have a 2 year old in tow with me outside.  Just a flood of all the feels as I walked inside.  On our last trip out here, we became obsessed with a TV channel called Octo Gold.  It was a Czech version of a music television channel, but everything was from the seventies and it was amazing.  The music, the clothes the make up, all fantastically amazing eye candy in a it's so bad it's great kind of way.  Well I walked in and they had on their TV in the waiting room, Octo Star and it was just as glorious.

This made me laugh and immediately made me relax and smile.  I sent Ryan a screenshot of it as he was stuck in the parking lot with our sleeping babe in the car.

After my appointment,  Duncan was still asleep, so we piled back in the car and drove to an old castle that is about 20 min outside of town called Hrad Malenovice.  He still was asleep when we got there so we each took turns walking around.  He woke up right as we were leaving so we got him out and let him run around a bit. Then we piled back in and headed to dinner.

At Hrad Malenovice with a view of Zlin behind me

I had researched and found a restaurant in town that had vegan and gluten free options.  It did not disappoint and for those that dont know, finding anything vegan in CZ is a herculean task so to find one in Zlin was amazing.  It wasn't all vegan, but had several choices for me.  I devoured my grilled tempeh Asian salad because I'm not sure when I'll have more food like this in the next week or so.  Ryan had a peanut chicken salad and what I absolutely loved was that the choices off the kids menu were grilled chicken or grilled salmon, not mac n cheese or friend chicken fingers.  It was actual good food, not crap, but just smaller portions.  Duncan was served a grilled piece of salmon, on potato puree and a spring salad. He ate every single bite.  We also decided to have some drinks. Ryan had a pint of Bernard beer.  I had a glass of house made mulled wine and I ordered Duncan a grapefruit lemonade which I could opt for no sugar added.  It was basically, dried grapefruit, lemon, mint, strawberries and sparkling water.  He was a fan.  We then found a small patch of grass and let him run around to burn some energy before heading back to the room.

In the morning we will have breakfast at the hotel and then I head to my next appointment.  Oh and we celebrate another trip around the sun for my husband.  What better way to say happy birthday than a trip to a fertility clinic in Zlin :)

Thanks for Reading,

HEATHER 

We Have a Green Light

We are officially moving forward with our cycle in the Czech Republic.  Today I went for an ultrasound with our clinic here in San Diego and was given the green light.  Our clinic in the Czech Republic require a lining of 7 or higher after being on estradiol for 10 days.  Today marked day 10 so off to the clinic I went at 8am.  My lining measure 10.5 and we measured 3 times to make sure.  As a side note my AFC was 9.  I swear they were just there mocking me.  So I sent off my ultrasound pictures and results and received an email back from my clinic in the Czech Republic saying:

Your lining is excellent. Please, continue with the medication schedule without any change.

 Look forward to see you soon.

So off to the Czech Republic we go.  First we are heading to Budapest to get in a quick 4 day vacation before the whole process starts.  Here is our anticipated timeline:

April 9th - 12th - Budapest
April 13th - Ultrasound and Blood work at the Zlin clinic to make sure my lining and estrogen and progesterone levels are correct
April 14th - Egg retrieval from donor
April 15th - 18th Vienna
April 19th - transfer
April 19th - 22nd - bed rest in BRNO
April 23rd - home

We appreciate all the love and support we have recieved.  We can really use your prayers and well wishes in the next several days especially on the 19th.  CZ is 9 hours ahead so we are guessing our transfer will happen at around 1am or 2am west coast time.

Thanks for Reading,
HEATHER

FET Recap

Today was our FET, our long awaited, highly anticipated FET.  We don't have the best news to share but we are trying very hard to stay hopeful and positive.  One of our embryos had some complications and it isn't looking too good right now.  We did still end up transferring both which I will explain in a minute and we still have high hopes for both of them.

I started off the day with a wonderful yoga practice at 7am.  While I was at yoga I asked Ryan to run to the store and pick up some last minute items.  I have been doing all kinds of research from women who got positive results and what they did on the day of their transfer and what they did during the 2WW.  Of course it was all over the place and I really don't feel like eating one kiwi will actually be the deal maker but it really helps my mental health to continue to do all I can to make this miracle happen.  So off to yoga I went and off to the store he went.  When I came back home I was greeted with a really sweet card from him.  I then took a bath since it would be a while before I can take a nice long hot one again and Ryan took Parker on a walk, then off we went.

We went to SDFC and checked in.  There was a friendly face in the lobby, a friend's mother was keeping her company before her ER.  She gave me a giant hug before I went in and it was very comforting.  First stop was acupuncture.  Ryan kept me company in the room.  Then about 5 minutes in, I realized I forgot my awesome socks.  Ryan ran back home to get them.  Staying warm is one of the good luck, fingers crossed tricks to try.  So I stayed and did my treatment sans socks for now, but rockin my awesome Motley Crue shirt.  Oh and we listened to Without You on the way to the clinic. It was our song at our wedding and always puts a smile on our faces.

This isn't a stock photo, this is our actual embryo.
Our perfect and wonderful embryo.
This is the one the survived the thaw strong and intact.

Next stop was the surgical center at SDFC.  The FET was performed in the minor procedures room.  I took my valium (they give you one to relax if you want one) and settled in to start to relax.  Then the embryologist came in to deliver the news.  We had two chromosomally normal embryos frozen in  June.  We had decided to implant both to increase our chances of a live birth.

This is our other embryo that needs some extra love and prayers.
We have not given up and hope.
This one fights just a little harder than it should have to.

About 2-3 years ago the technology of freezing embryos wasn't where it is today.  Today there is very little chance of losing an embryo in the thaw, about 4% chance really.  Well we have a way of always falling into those tiny minute crap odds.  One of ours started to leak and collapse during the thaw.  It was so unexpected.  Of all the things that could go wrong, this didn't even register as a possibility. Ryan wasn't back yet and I just crumbled into the arms of the embryologist.  As soon as Ryan walked in and saw me crying, I'm sure he knew.  I went from her arms around me to his.  We were both truly devastated.  We collected ourselves and the doctor came in.   We talked about what had happened and what the next steps would be,  The good news is that our other embryo did great and was looking really good.  The second embryo, while breaking down, still had a few cells in it and he recommended still transferring that one.  I asked if we should still have hope and his answer was that the odds weren't 0 so we should remain hopeful.  So with my fancy socks on we moved forward with the FET.

The bright white line below the green arrow are our embryos.

The whole FET procedure does not take very long at all.  You fill out some paperwork, sign some legal consent forms and they go over the procedure and what your limitations are afterwards.  There is a monitor connected to the lab and they flash on the screen our petri dish with our name on it and we confirm that it is ours.  Then they insert the catheter.  We had some HCG added to the embryo solution.  That is a fairly newer trick they are trying to help with implantation.  They whole procedure we can see on another ultrasound monitor to the side of me.  They insert the embryos and take a picture and we have a photo of the exact second they come back to me.  As soon as I saw them on the screen I closed my eyes and began to talk to them.  I welcomed them home and promised I would take good care of them for the next 9 months and hoped that they would stay.  When it was over you stay on the gurney for about 20 minutes.  As soon as the doctors and nurses left.  I put my hand on my belly to say hello and Ryan did too.

After the FET I went back to acupuncture for  my follow up treatment.  I then came home, ate some soup, only warm food for the next two weeks and practically melted onto the couch.  Between all the stress of the day I was exhausted.  Later, I watched comedies on Netflix.  I had read that laughing is really good, both for your emotional self as well as it physically helps increase blood flow to your stomach muscles.

6 Days To Go - Intralipids

So last night I started spotting and freaked out that they were going to cancel my cycle.  By morning the spotting had stopped but I was still really nervous.  At 10am I went for my monitoring appointment.  Kristen was my nurse which was great because she knows me so well and could calm me down.  During the ultrasound, she measure my lining about 5 times and each measurement was over 8 which is great.  The lining is where it needs to be and it has grown since the last appointment so things are moving in the right direction. They took my blood to test the estrogen levels, which came back a little low but still in the normal range.  They added an extra vivelle patch so now I'm on 3 patches changed every 3 days.  I also got the rest of my calendar for the rest of the cycle.  Because of the spotting and my anxiety over all this, I requested another monitoring appointment.  I didn't want to go almost a week and then just show up for a transfer so I am going back on Friday for a piece of mind appointment.

At the appointment we turned in all of our consent and legal forms.  We both signed on the dotted line to transfer 2 embryos.  So it looks like we are going full steam ahead with transferring both embryos.

The bigger news of the day is that today was the day for my intralipid infusion.  This has been a long time coming.  I originally scheduled an appointment with a company that does them way back in June for September.  When I came back from Hawaii there was an email waiting for me from the company stating that they were going out of business in San Diego and they were cancelling my appointment.  I scrambled all of last week to find another place that could do in and compared cost.  The intralipids could have been done at my doctor's office, but the costs was really high.  I was able to find an outside company that did it for 1/4 of the cost and after 5 IVF cycles, every dollar counts at this point.

Here is some info about intralipids from an article on ABC News. 

Intralipid infusion therapy is a sterile fat emulsion containing soy oil, chicken egg yolk, glycerine and water.  The infusion is in liquid form and administered intravenously.  It is a non invasive procedure carried out in clinic as part of a treatment cycle.  Research has found that raised natural killer cell activity (toxic white blood cells) can act against an embryo and prevent its implantation into the endometrium.  This is known as implantation failure.  In addition, some autoimmune disorders can also have a detrimental impact upon the healthy implantation and early progress of an embryo which can also cause implantation failure and early miscarriage.  Intralipid therapy is designed to combat these factors.

My appointment was at noon today.  The company was located in a business park.  Inside it had a room for infusions, some admin cubicles, some offices and a giant lab where the make the IV drugs.  I walked in and picked a chair.

I have had a few friends do this ahead of me so I knew what to expect and what to bring.  I bought a neck pillow, a blanket, magazines, my iPod, some snacks and an eye mask.  They provided water and snacks, but none of the snacks were gluten free some I'm glad I brought my own.  The neck pillow definitely made it more comfortable.  The blanket was to put over the IV so I didn't have to look at it.  The magazines are really easy to read as compared to a book.  Remember you only have one hand, the IV arm is not that usable and a friend of mine that brought a book was unable to read it with just one hand free.  The iPod just helped to pass the time.  From start to finish I was there about 2 hours and 45 minutes but part of that was arriving early to fill out paperwork.  The eye mask was in case anyone else was in the room with me.  They have three chairs and can book all three at the same time if needed.  I would have worn the the mask if someone else was in the room, I am just not very good at looking at needles.  Luckily I had the room to myself.

I had a small amount of paperwork to fill out and a ton of questions to answer.  My main concern was making sure that every single thing was latex free.  After my last latex allergy issue with my last surgery that is the last thing I wanted to deal with.  After everything checked out they started to make my infusion in the lab.  The weird thing was that it was bright white.  I wasn't expecting that.  All the other IVs I've had have been clear so it was just weird.

I tried my watermelon trick again and it worked like a charm.  The IV was started on the first try. They connect the intralipids to a machine and the drip starts.  From this point, it takes a little less than 2 hours to finish.  So I put my neck pillow on, placed the blanket over they IV on my arm, put my iPod earbuds in and tried to relax.  The nurse didn't stay in the room with me, but about every 20 - 30 minutes would come in and check on me, ask me how I was feeling and then would take my temperature and blood pressure.

The IV was not painful but the whole experience was upsetting.  It brought about a lot of emotions.  I was mad.  Mad that I was there having to do this.  Mad that the whole infertility journey is just so unfair and takes forever.  Mad that I am in the position of pumping weird things into my body on the off chance that this will work.  I put on Pantera and just went with my feelings.  Pantera is the best band to listen to when you are upset, it is just angry pissed off music.  About an hour into the treatment, I started to feel less angry and just accepted of the situation.  I read my magazine and switched to listening to Velvet Revolver.

There was very little physical side effects of the intralipids.  The main thing is the arm with the IV in it got really really cold.  I was glad I had the blanket to cover up looking at it as well as keeping me warm.  I also got really tired towards the end.  As soon as it was over, i came home, through on some pjs and took a quick nap.  However, that could have been the stress and anxiety of the day finally being over too.

For those folks in San Diego, here is the information about the clinics in the area that do intralipid infusions.

Corum Infusion Services
858-576-6969 (phone)
866-484-4397 (fax)


Crescent Healthcare
858-547-8487 (phone) 
858-578-5372 (fax)

Thanks for Reading,
HEATHER