FET

We did our first FET and it went well... I'm pregnant!

I'm simultaneously shocked, excited, and nervous. I haven't quite gotten my head around another baby, mostly because I know so much of what can go wrong before the second trimester.  But let me rewind a little bit, and get back to the FET. 

The FET

We are lucky to have seven frozen embryos from our fresh IVF cycle back in 2011. Since my cycles are pretty regular my RE said I qualified for a "natural" cycle (instead of a medicated). Here's the basics on the differences:

Medicated 

- Take meds to control my cycle from start to ovulation. Pros: Easy to schedule embryo transfer date because it is all planned ahead of time. Cons: The meds are expensive $$$$

Natural

- Go in for several ultrasound appointments to monitor my body's cycle progress, including uterine lining and follicles. I would have to do OPKs to check my ovulation progress. Pros: Less drugs, only HCG trigger shot and progesterone after ovulation. Cons: Might have several ultrasound appointments during the week which interrupt work. No firm date on when the transfer would occur. If my body didn't ovulate naturally then we would have to start over and do a medicated cycle. 

Anyway, I decided to do the natural cycle, mainly because I wanted the least # of interventions possible. So, I got my period, and then we waited for my body to ovulate.  I had a baseline ultrasound on the second day of my period to confirm we were good to go. Then I had one ultrasound to check my uterine lining (ready) and follicles (not quite there yet).  I tested with the OPK every morning and afternoon until FINALLY i got a smiley face (which means positive). We were good to go. I took the HCG shot in my tummy and five days later my husband and I walked into the transfer room. 

We both looked at each other and said, "shit, are we really doing this?" because we know what we are getting into with pregnancy and a baby. I love that we got cold feet together. :) 

They gave us our embryo thaw report - one 5 day blastocyst thawed and hatching, grade BB. We got its photo and that picture is amazing. It stills your heart, seeing your potential baby, a circle of transparent cells, and that moment you realize it is yours. and you are so lucky so be able to see your baby when it was this little. the whole transfer is so unromantic and while we feel so bitter about not being able to get pregnant on our own, this moment makes it so much more special. 

We got to watch as they slid the little embryo into the catheder and then inserted it into my uterus. And then, it was done, and all we had to do was wait. I started my progesterone supplements and started to feel very very bloated.  And then, my symptoms:

• Moody and irritable
• So tired in the early evening
• Crampy

The morning I went in for my first beta I was so sure I wasn't pregnant. I had held off from doing a HPT so I didn't know either way. I was too scared of a false negative or a false positive. 

Beta #1: 384

Beta #2: 1304

These are SO much higher than my betas with my son. I'm officially due in July 2016. Now I just have to wait until my 7 week ultrasound to see the little guy.