Background

Well, I figured I should start a blog to keep track of this journey we are on. I will also need something to keep me busy in the coming weeks when I am on bed rest! So here's the background on who I am and how we ended up here!

I am a 31 year old teacher and have always wanted my own children. I married my wonderful husband, Brad, in 2005 after dating for a few years. We waited about a year before beginning to try for children. After about 7 months, my doctor sent us to a fertility specialist for some help. We tried a couple cycles with Clomid, without success. We had just started our third cycle when I learned that my brother was in the process of being diagnosed with a type of muscular dystrophy. Since it is a genetic disorder, I too could have the disease. We stopped that cycle and went to see a genetic counselor to find out. After a long wait, we found out that I did have Myotonic Dystrophy. While I don't have many symptoms, I could pass along a more serious type of the disease to my children.

We went back to our fertility specialist to learn about our options. We chose to keep trying by using IVF with PGD to test the embryos for the MD. It took about 3 months for the genetic testing center to develop a specific protocol for us and our embryos. So, after another long wait, we were told the test was ready and we could begin our first IVF cycle.

In August 2008, I began my shots and meds for IVF. We were excited to be able to finally try something-I didn't care how many shots I had to give myself! Well, my body responded a little too well to the meds they had me on. They took me off and had me coast for a couple days, but then the hormone levels crashed and the cycle was canceled. We were bummed, but knew that it would have been too dangerous to continue since I had about 25 mature eggs and 25 immature eggs.

We were able to try again the next month since they never actually retrieved any eggs. Shots again of a much lower dose of just one of the meds. We made it to retrieval and I think they were able to get 12 eggs. Only about 8 of those fertilized and kept growing. On day 3 they took one cell out of the ones that continued to grow. They sent the cells to the geneticist for testing. We went back to the clinic on day 5 and anxiously awaited the results. I was terrified that after all that we wouldn't have any usable embryos. If I was to get pregnant naturally, it would be about a 50% chance of passing along the congenital form of the disease. Well, that's about what is was with the testing. 3 definitely had the disease (including the two stronger looking embryos), 2 were not diagnosed either way, and 3 did not have it. Unfortunately, the 3 safe ones were a bit behind in development and they were not able to grade them. We took a chance and put two back in and would freeze the other one if it continued to grow. Now we waited again!

I started spotting the day before my pregnancy test, so I was convinced that it hadn't worked this time. Well, the test came back positive, but my progesterone level was pretty low. They gave me more meds to help that and wanted me to return to check for doubling HcG levels. They levels doubled, but I kept bleeding. About a week later, the bleeding became really heavy and it was determined that I was miscarrying. We were devastated, but after the waiting of that week I was ready for it to be over or to stop bleeding and let everything be fine.

We were able to try again in November/December. We used the one frozen embryo that was MD free. Unfortunately, it didn't take.

With my insurance, I had 3 more cycles of IVF since they only count it as a cycle if we have a retrieval. So, we decided to keep on trying!

March 2009 we began our stim cycle again. I responded quickly again, but it was managed well. We went for retrieval on March 17. I was pretty uncomfortable after the retrieval this time and couldn't stand straight for a few days. I was determined to not do a home pregnancy test, but of course I couldn't resist. It came back positive! I went for my blood test the next day and they confirmed it. My HcG level was pretty high at 435. Two days later it was 805. A week later it was over 16,000. No bleeding this time, so I was able to relax (a little bit).

Our first ultrasound showed 2 sacs-twins! Our next ultrasound showed two healthy heartbeats. Our final ultrasound with our RE showed 2 sacs at first. The tech decided to do an abdominal scan just for fun and we realized there were 3 babies. One of the embryos had split! My husband was freaked out first, then reality hit me. We used assisted hatching this time and knew the risks of multiples, but didn't really think it would happen to us. Our doctor was not really pleased with the outcome. He was pushing selective reduction of the identical twins because of the risks. He was sending us to a MFM to be seen within a week. So, that's the beginning of our journey. We were so excited to finally be pregnant, but now faced with more challenges.