Flashback: IVF #4 "The Frozen Cycle"

I am doing a terrible job of putting tomorrow's Beta out of my mind. So, I was thinking, I did recaps of my IVF cycles that didn't work, maybe for karma's sake I should post about the one that did.

The cycle itself was pretty boring, no E2 levels to report, no follicles to count, no eggs to harvest, no dividing embryos to obsess over, no PGD. Well, that isn't totally true, they got a few E2 levels to check on my lining, to make sure the estrogen patches were working (they were), and I did have to worry about whether the two embryos would survive the thaw and start dividing again (they did). But it really lacked most of the drama involved in a fresh cycle.

I didn't keep a journal of the frozen cycle, but I did save some old emails. Below I have cut and pasted an excerpt from one I sent to my sister-in-law on July 6, 2006, sharing the good news. I would like nothing more than to post something similar on this blog very soon.

I started the usual cramping on Friday night and off and on throughout the weekend. I was feeling really bummed about everything. I even refused to do my PIO shot on Monday morning before my blood test, there was no way I was going to stick that huge needle in my own butt for nothing. Adding insult to injury if you ask me (did I tell you I have been doing my own PIO shots, it is really not that hard at all, I was surprised). I emailed my IVF nurse the night before to tell her that I knew I wasn't pregnant because of the typical cramping, etc, and that she didn't need to feel bad when she called me with the official results. She emailed me back and said I made her laugh and that I shouldn't give up hope so easily and she would love to be able to say "I told you so" with her call.

So I was running errands after my blood draw and the nurse calls me on my cell and said that she was not sad to call because she got to say "I told you so"... my beta at 7dp5dt was 57! Right in the average range for a singleton pregnancy. My hands are shaking just typing this!! I went back yesterday and it had increased to 109. Not quite double (91% increase) but with a doubling time of 51 hours (should be anywhere from 48 hours to 72 hours). I go back tomorrow to see if it is still rising properly and, if so, will schedule an u/s for the end of this month/beginning of next to see if there is a heartbeat. I have told my family, but that is it. There is still such a big chance that this won't actually develop into a full pregnancy, so I want to hold off at least until I get my third beta results tomorrow until I tell anybody else.