22w3d. My IVF story

We had a lot of conflict over when my IVF would start; part of me wanted to start as soon as possible, the other part of me wanted to wait until July when I knew I had nothing else to do. I was a bridesmaid in a good friend's wedding in mid-June, so if I started medications immediately after returning from Italy, I would likely have to miss part of her wedding. Waiting one month was not a big deal to me, but missing her wedding would be, so the choice was made: July. Of course, the clinic closes for part of July so that people can vacation, so I was put on birth control and took my last pill July 12. July 16 I came in for an ultrasound, I was ready to start my stimulating injections.

I did 12 nights of injections (they say the average is 10), and then Eric gave me my trigger shot. I had very few side effects to the medications and generally felt wonderful throughout the cycle. I walked for exercise everyday. The day after my retrieval, we went to dinner at a friend of the family's, and everyone there was surprised at how healthy I looked-- no acne, no real bloating. And I felt great, it felt like the medications hadn't taken a toll on me at all.

Five days later, we went for our embryo transfer. I dressed really nicely and wore cute panties, just as I would have if Eric and I had been out for a date and headed home to have sex and make a baby the old-fashioned way. The RE told us that we had two perfect embryos and he recommended transferring both. Eric and I had already discussed this together and said we would transfer 2 and no more, so we said, ok, make it two! Odds of IVF working at all were about 50 to 60%, so what could the odds be of BOTH sticking? I went home and spent the rest of the day, and the next, in bed.

Again, I felt great. About a week later we left for vacation in California, which distracted me from wondering about whether I was pregnant. And then while we were away one of our beloved cats, Trouble, went missing. For two days I thought only about Trouble and had no time to even worry about whether I was pregnant. Then, on Monday, August 17, Trouble came home. I cried with relief! I also went and had blood taken to find out if I was pregnant.

I called the clinic around 11 AM California time and was told there was good news-- I was pregnant! My numbers were nice and strong. I couldn't believe it! I didn't feel pregnant, but if they said so... For the next few days, I woke up every morning reminding myself, "I'm pregnant today!" Hard to believe now that it was 4 months ago that I found out.