Finally success after 5 years unexplained infertility

[ashknowsbest]

So I should be getting AF in 2 days and I did 3 tests today and they all came back negative. At this point I don't think I'm pregnant and honestly ... I'm a little bummed! AM I CRAZY?! I started to get excited about a bigger family and also getting pregnant without help but it is really soon to get pregnant after just giving birth.

On another note ... L and O are sleeping through the night most nights at 4 months. I am so happy! Sometimes L will wake up between 4-5am and want to eat so that has been a little bit irritating but it's better than them waking up every 2-3 hours like they were before.

We're also in a ton of activities and I'm so happy to be doing these things with them. We're in music class, swimming, mommy-baby yoga, baby gymnastics (it's really just for coordination and things like that). We are just super active and I'm really happy about it because they're learning and making lots of friends, I'm able to connect with other moms in the area, and it is soooo nice getting out of the house. When I'm home too long I go stir crazy.

We hired a nanny. She is really good with the babies and she works M-Th from 10am-5pm and then on Friday OR Saturday from approx. 7-12 for date night. It has been amazing spending time with my husband again and having an extra set of hands at home to help out with the babies.

Oliver is incredibly demanding (always wanting to be held) and Lucy is super laid back. He is getting better and more able to entertain himself for a few minutes while I take care of Lucy but it's still extremely nice to have that extra set of hands. She helps me to and from activities and things like that so .... oh god it's been so nice having her!

Yeah ... I think that's all for now.

I'm doing good, everyone is doing good and growing like weeds. We have their 4 month appointment on Friday and I'm so excited to see what the doctor has to say. They're approx 14 1/4 lbs each and I'm wondering if she's going to have us start solids soon. I've come across studies that say it's better to wait until 6 months but I'm not sure. It's a conversation I want to have with my doctor.

Anyway I'm really excited for what the future is going to bring! They're growing up so fast.

 

[ashknowsbest]

So L and O are 5 1/2 months. Where does the time go?! Oliver is still sleeping through the night, Lucy is random with her sleeping patterns. Sometimes we'll get a full night other times she wakes up wanting 2-3oz. of milk then goes back to sleep. They're doing great. Oliver had started solids around 5 months but recently he stopped eating it. I don't understand what happened but we're on break from food right now and we're going to start up in about a week or so.

I really came online to report some news...

We are going to try to have another baby starting in July. We are on a time crunch a little bit because my husband doesn't want to have another baby past the age of 46. He'll be 44 this year so we don't have a ton of time especially given our history we're not sure we'd even get pregnant right away. So we're going to try naturally in July and I'm going to start going to weekly acupuncture with a woman who specializes in fertility. If nothing happens about 4-5 months after July then we're going to contact Dr. Surrey from CCRM and move forward with another IVF cycle or two.

I didn't think I would go through treatment again but I really really really want another baby so here we go!

I hope you're all doing well and your LOs are growing like weeds!

 

[almosthere]

how exciting ash! best of luck I hope you fall pregnant naturally! Time really does fly I can't beleive my daughter is almost 4 months old

 

[froggyfrog]

Gl ash!!! I hope it happens naturally for you! That would be amazing!

 

[MoBaby]

Thanks for the update. Exciting you want to try again so soon!

 

[bubumaci]

Thank you for the update. That's very exciting news, that you are wanting to try again so soon!

 

[rmsh1]

I hope you get pregnant quickly Ash Your body knows what it is doing now so best of luck that it happens without medical help xx

 

[ashknowsbest]

It is a little soon but like i said we have a bit of a time crunch becuase of m husband. I did speak to the acupuncturist and she said that the main concern with getting pregnant again so soon would be the nutrients in my body being depleted so she has me eating a bunch of really nutrient rich foods, and a lot of supplements that are supposed to help with infertility. I feel like I'm taking more pills now than when I was doing IVF, it's crazy but I'm getting used to it now.

I have been doing OPKs this cycle to get a read on what's going on with my cycle and it turns out I'm ovulating very late and having 40-45 day cycles. I'm hoping we can get that under control but the good news is that I am ovulating so ... there's that. I really thought I wasn't even ovulating because of the length but according to the tests I am and I'm happy about that.

L and O are amazing! We are currently on a mini vacation with just my hubby myself and the kiddos. They have been ok. We have really rough days and really good days. They have a really hard time sleeping out in public which is extremely annoying and Oliver well .... he just hates sleeping altogether. i know each baby is different but in general how often was your 6 month old able to go between naps? He likes to stay up for 2-4hrs between naps (and still fights it but at that point I force him to nap) even though he really can't handle it. I see him get exhausted around the 1.5-2hr mark but if I put him down in his crib or hold him to put him to sleep he freaks out! Any advice? I'm getting ready to bring in a sleep specialist. Oh and just to mention ... he wakes up Lucy every effing time (even if he's in a different room that's how loud he's screaming) and that just makes everything worse. I would say this is the worst part of my babies at this point. They really are good. Just Oliver with his sleeping is not good.

We had their 6 month appointment a few weeks ago. I'm so proud of them. L is in the 84th percentile for weight and O is in the 97th percentile for height! He's going to be so tall. He's already starting to walk with support (if we hold his hands he will take steps), L is not interested in doing that at all. She's not even rolling yet but I did ask the doctor and she said that she does notice a pattern where the babies who weigh more take a little bit longer to roll. Makes sense to me. But she's incredibly observant and pays attention to EVERYTHING that is happening around here whereas O is such a boy constantly on the move.

Anyways, sorry for the ramble! I don't get much time to post here and then when I do my thoughts are all over the place.

 

[MoBaby]

Your Oliver sounds like my 8 month old. Doesn't sleep well at all. Wonder what the sleep specialists will say. I didn't even know that was an available service.
Glad you're ovulating. My cycle is very messed up after this baby. I need to see the gym but I don't want bfp and that will be the "solution." I'm due for my regular checkup anyways so I'll go soon. I have 25 day to 6 week cycles since December. I think pregnancy just screws our bodies up lol. Oh well

I'm glad they are growing! My 8 month old was 6-7 months for rolling and he just started sitting up last week. He's 99 for weight and 97 height/ 6 months to try for walking is super early. I wouldn't push it too much until baby has really good support because it can be bad for developing skeletons. But if seem ready go for it! Exciting times!

 

[bubumaci]

The advice I'd give you : if you are seeing that he's exhausted, then you're way past the mark that you should have him in his crib to nap. By then, he's too tired and it is hard for him to then fall asleep. I'm trying to remember back to Fabi at 6 months, but he always needed to be napping at the earliest of the wake time window for his age group (so say, if they suggest 1,5-2 hours after waking, he needed to *be* asleep by 1,5 hours after waking).
He's not actually fighting napping - he's too tired to be able to fall asleep easily.
So - if you know that he's usually tired around the 1,5-2 hour mark, start the nap routine at 1 hour, so that he can be asleep by 1,5 hours.

As MoBaby says 6 months to be walking him is incredibly early.
I actually didn't put Fabi into any positions he couldn't get into or out of by himself, because I firmly believe, that babies will do it, when they're ready, that they need to practice various movements to strengthen exactly the muscles they need to for the next milestone - so sitting them up / walking them, before they are ready *can* be damaging. Plus - they are so able to do what they want, when they want and can - it's a shame to rush them along on an adult-timetable.

L is working on different things. You might find, that she'll be similar to Fabi, in that she watches, watches, watches - and then suddenly does it. Whereas O might be more the doer

 

[ashknowsbest]

Bubu - I put him in his crib and hold him for a few minutes right when he starts showing sleepy signs and he still fights it. I've tried a lot of things. Letting him ray up as long as he wants, putting him down after an hour, an hour and 15. I've tried different times between naps. He will be asleep in my arms and I put him down and he wakes up immediately and starts crying. I've read books, there's not much else I can think of.

 

[ashknowsbest]

And about O trying to walk. We're not forcing him. One day I was holding his hands while he as sitting and I did "Horay" and lifted his hands above his head and he pushed up with his feet to a standing position. I'm not trying to get him to walk but he wants to be on the move so bad. Not sure if these things are genetic but my husbands first son was walking by 9 months.

 

[pray4all]

I always thought or rather was made to assume (courtesy movies) that getting pregnant is very simple - if you have unprotected sex, you just get pregnant. Whoooo !
What an incorrect misconception!
It was after 4 years of our marriage that we thought we are ready to have a baby and so we started trying around January 2013.
My cycles have been quite regular all my life and having issues in conceiving in my family was unheard of. So I thought I should get pregnant in 3-4 months.

Each month I would calculate the so called "fertile days" accordingly and try accordingly.
Every month I would wait for my periods not to come but they would show their face bang on time.
I remember once I was late by 6 days and this made me hopeful & excited. I even got the strips to test but they showed negative and the periods did arrive after 2 days.

May 2013 - bought the ovulation strips to make sure I was ovulating and to make sure I was not missing my fertile days.
July 2013 - bought the ovulation thermometer and started charting my body temperature.
Aug 2013 - went to a general physician (gp) to consult for starting a family and got the basic blood tests done. I also started Elevit on the doctor's advice.
Since nothing happened till Feb 2014, the gp referred me to a specialist as we had actively tried for more than a year with no results
.
We followed the following tests as given by the specialist -

Feb 2014 - blood work to see I was ovulating, Semen analysis for my husband (to check motility, morphology, count of sperms viable for a pregnancy)
April 2014 - HSG test (tube test)


All these tests showed no issues which meant we were put under the "unexplained infertility" category. In a way, I felt good as it meant that there was no issue and maybe it was just bad luck. But as I investigated and read more, I realised that it might indicate a bigger problem – It could suggest an issue which has not been found out by science yet. You can't solve issues until you understand the root cause.

I became a bit obsessed about the whole thing - about not being able to conceive, about all my friends getting pregnant so easily. I started remaining very sad, lonely and was always reading about infertility and its remedies. I didn't feel like talking to people as all conversations would lead of questions about my plans for family or friends telling about their kids’ activities etc.
It was a difficult time!

We also got the Preseed lubricant, just in case. Trying became a monotonous and boring task and we just did it for the sake of a baby.


July 2014 - Ovarian reserve (AMH test)
The test showed that my egg reserve was in normal range for my age but towards the lower limit. The specialist advised us to start thinking of assisted technologies like IUI, IVF given that we had tried for more than 18 months now and the chance of successful conception was getting lesser and lesser.


We first thought of going to IUI but then decided to use the best technology available to maximise our chances.


Oct 2014 - IVF cycle 1
Medication – Gonal-F , Orgalutron , Ovidrel
No of eggs retrieved - 7
No of embryos created - 4
1 blastocyst (5 day) transferred
Result BFN
No eggs suitable for freezing


Jan 2015 - IVF cycle 2
Medication - Gonal-F , Orgalutron , Ovidrel
Also did acupuncture, 2 sessions during the cycle and also pre and post transfer
No of eggs retrieved -3
No of embryos created - 1
1 three day embryo transferred
Result BFN
No eggs available for freezing

May 2015 - IVF cycle 3
Medication –Menopur , Orgalutron , Ovidrel
No of eggs retrieved - 5
No of embryos created - 3
1 three day embryo transferred
Result BFN
1 5 day blastocyst was suitable for freezing

I became very depressed after the 3rd failure. It felt as if there was no point continuing. I felt my body had cheated me. I felt so incomplete and incapable (even with medical assistance).
I didn’t know what to do next.
But there was some inner voice which kept telling me that if it is meant to be, it will and if not it will not.
I should keep the hope and do whatever I can to make my dream come true!

I did not want to risk my frozen embryo straight away. I wanted to give it the best possible chance.

So these are the things we did:

1. Started doing small yoga exercises (breathing, chanting om) in the morning. These made me calmer (from May)
2. I started eating baby aspirin (based on my googling) 4-5 times a week
3. I started acupuncture from last week of August (weekly session)
4. I participated in a study which was being tested on women like me who were not getting pregnant despite having no known issues. This was called endometrium scratch study.
This was done in July and Aug (basically done around 6-7 days after I ovulated in those cycles)

It is believed (not proven yet) that the scratch increases the changes of implantation in the next cycle. This also meant that we could not do our FET transfer in those cycles.

Since the scratch was being done, I also got a pathology test done (biopsy) of the cells to check for NK cells (natural killer). Again NK cells thing is still under research if an increase of such cells has an influence on fertility. The result showed normal NK cells.

5. My specialist also recommended that we investigate more before moving to the next step. So she ordered for more blood tests:
a) This showed a high ANA (antinuclear antibodies of the order of 1:2560).
However further tests on auto-immune disorders showed that there was no issue.
b) Chromosome test for my husband and me. All came out good

During the scratch study, it was found that I could be having a short luteal phase as I was ovulating around day 19 in my 28-29 day cycle. (We had to detect the ovulation days for those 2 cycles so that scratch could be done accordingly).
So the specialist recommended progesterone support for my FET cycle).

Sep/Oct 2015 – My FET cycle
This was a natural FET cycle. My dear and only blastocyst was thawed and put inside me and it is now my baby 

Things that I feel could have helped me and make this cycle successful-
1. It was a frozen embryo cycle. I felt my body was much more relaxed than in previous cycles where I had some pain from the egg retrievals (3-5 days before0
2. I had a peaceful mind. I was calmer this time. I tried not to take stress about the possible outcome.
3. The baby aspirin could have helped
4. Acupuncture pre and post transfer and also the weekly sessions in September and October (took some even after transfer and even after testing positive)
5. The scratch
6. The process/equipment used during the transfer.
7. In my previous cycles, the transfer was done blindly. The doctor simply inserted the embryo inside me from a fine test tube. They did not check it on any ultrasound machine.
This time, an ultrasound m/c was connected, so the doctor could see where she was putting the embryo on the monitor. Even I could see!
8. Progesterone type used:
The progesterone used during cycle 1-3 was crinone (it was a vaginal gel using applicators) while the progesterone used in my successful FET cycle was progesterone suppositories. I liked the latter more and found it more convenient to apply.
9. Testing progesterone levels before my pregnancy test (beta)
After my embryo transfer, I had my blood tests after every 3-4 days to check my progesterone levels . This was done till my pregnancy blood test was done. This had not been done in previous cycles.

Either of these or a combination or better embryo could be the factors that made this cycle different from the previous ones.

I have shared my story and it will be great even if one person benefits from this. Please be positive and happy. The only thing that is in our control is not to give up hope and not be too stressed/anxious.
A stressed mind makes it all the more difficult.
Sometimes, the time is not right and so we have to wait for the right time.
It can happen and it will – just keep up the faith. Best of luck to all the ladies who are trying and God be with you. Bay Dust to all !

 

[bubumaci]

Congratulations, Pray - so happy to hear that it worked out for you. I so know the struggle xoxo

 

[ashknowsbest]

Am I pregnant? Hm ... I really don't know. My cycles have been all over the place since having L and O. My hubby and I were going to start trying in July but I still haven't been able to regulate my cycles so I'm not really able to time every well to get pregnant. I'm having 45 day cycles, except this cycle has been going on for 48 days now. I figured I would test because I'm also charting my BBT and I still haven't had a drop in my temperature. I'll share the chart link. So I took a pregnancy test a 2 days ago and not a hint of a line. Well this morning (within the time frame) there was an EXTREMELY faint line on an IC. I don't know what to think but will be testing tomorrow.

Worst case scenario I have a consult with CCRM on the 29th of this month to talk about some possible options to try and get pregnant again. I mainly want them to do some blood work just to see where my body is with everything.



https://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q625/akinner/unnamed_zps3zrvxlxe.jpg

https://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q625/akinner/unnamed%201_zpsutsdodmn.jpg

 

[ashknowsbest]

Oops didn't show up before. Here you go.


My Ovulation Chart

 

[MoBaby]

That would be exciting! Do you have a pic of the test? I don't know anything about charting lol.

 

[ashknowsbest]

i did post a pic of the tests. guess they're not showing up. will try again

 

[ashknowsbest]

https://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q625/akinner/unnamed_zps3zrvxlxe.jpg

 

[MoBaby]

I see them now! It's hard for me to see anything but keeping all fx they get darker.

How old are the twins now?