Talking with our doctor about a FET

First of all, for those of you who don't know, FET stands for Frozen Embryo Transfer.

Our doctor is Dr. Shomento.  I blogged a lot about her in 2012 when we were doing IVF....we love her!

A little over a week ago she called us, because we live 5 hours away, for a consultation about doing a FET sometime this year.  We have 3 frozen embryos in Florida (where their storage facility is).

I was pretty nervous about the phone call.  I had no idea what to expect.  Let's be honest, it doesn't matter what kind of medical appointment it is, I get nervous.  I like to know what's coming and for this especially I just wasn't sure...But Dr. Shomento is amazing at explaining things. 

Here's the low down...

For a FET there is no waiting list.  We can pick the month, within the months she is going IVF (she doesn't do it every month).  Our options are April, June, September or November.  She gave us the exact dates of transfer for each month, give or take a day or two...so that's pretty cool!

All 3 embryos will be shipped to Billings.  Two of them will be unfrozen and the quality checked...if both of them look good enough for transfer then those two will be transferred.

Wait...what?

Two?

Again?

Yep!  The decision isn't up to us.  With FET the success rate is only 30%.  So two are transferred to increase the odds of one growing.

With the first two that are unfrozen and looked at, if one doesn't make it for transfer then the third one will be unfrozen, if it looks ok then it will be transferred with the other one and we will be left with no frozen embryos...

If the first two can be transferred then the third one will remain frozen and be shipped back to Florida for a possible next try (unless, if on that next try, it is unfrozen and hasn't made it through the freezing process, then there will be no more tries).

The unfreezing process happens on the day of transfer.  So, we'll get all prepped and then wait.

But no hormone shots before transfer!  At least not at the start.  I will take pill hormones and have two ultra sounds...one before it all starts and one right in the middle of the process.  There are a couple of other things before we start like getting my thyroid checked but we've already done that test last month. 

We're going to wait for September to do a transfer.  I'm calling the nurse today to get us on the calendar!  June is out because we have VBS during the potential transfer dates, April is really soon...so September just sounds like a good month to give it a try.  It seems like forever away to me.  But it also seems nice to have time to prepare for it, rather than be rushed.  There's a part of me that is sure we'll be one of the 30%, and another part of me that is scared to hope. 

This is it...no more IVF chances (because of insurance) for us in the future...our frozen embryos are our last shot at adding to our family in this way...here we go again!

Falling apart

Last week we just about feel apart, almost...ok, we pretty much did...

The girls were really sick...fevers, cough, runny nose, stomach grossness...

Harper landed in Urgent Care on Super Bowl Sunday because her fever was so high.  But after a quick examination and a "it might be the flu but there is no need to test for it", we were sent home...for 6 more long days of sickness.

Wow, I thought our house was messy before, then this hit and Joel had to go to work and, well, I was stuck in the recliner with two babies...

It was a cereal for dinner every night week.  It was a all the dishes in the house are dirty week.  It was a there are no more clean towels or baby pajamas or just about everything else, week. 

And in the middle of it, we talked to our doctor about adding to our family!  The day after that, in the depths of baby sickness, we may of had moments where we thought trying to add to our family sounded outrageous!

But, here we are...Hannah giggles abound, Harper laughter fills the day, toys are once again singing...and even in the midst of the meltdowns, both by mommy and the babies, we wouldn't haven it any other way...we sure would like winter to get the heck out of here though so we can go outside again!