- Jan 12 -- Julie’s cycle began and she started on her round of medications. IVF medications can get rather complicated but they include a few drugs to suppress egg growth (so no eggs grow out of turn) and several types of drugs to then stimulate lots and lots of egg growth under controlled conditions.
- Jan 29 – Diana started taking her medication. All we had to do was trick Diana’s uterus into thinking she was ovulating.
- Feb 23 – Eggs were harvested from Julie & fertilized through ICSI. Julie had twenty follicles from which they harvested thirteen viable eggs. Six were fertilized with one donor; seven with another. Eleven embryos developed and grew into blastocysts.
- Feb 28 – Embryos were transplanted into both Julie and Diana. Julie received two embryos fertilized with one donor; Diana receives two from the other donor. The embryos then presumably implanted into our uteruses within 24-72 hours after transplant.
- Mar 10 – First official pregnancy tests comes back positive (although we cheated and took home pregnancy tests earlier, which were positive as well).
- Mar 26 – We heard the babies’ heartbeats for the first time.
- Apr 30 – A first trimester screening was completed to assess risk for birth defects. Everything looked good!
- Jul 1 -- Ultrasound appointments. Diana is carrying a boy and Julie is carrying a girl. All seems to be progressing well.
- Other milestones will be added as they occur….
- Nov 16 – Projected due date
Glad tidings...
- Plus Two
- What a fertility adventure we had! Our children were eventually conceived through in vitro fertilization and were born in the fall of 2009. Julie is the biological mother of both kids... Diana was the gestational mother for our son and Julie was the gestational mother for our daughter [the first couple of blog entries provides more detail]. Together, we are one lucky family!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Dates, Milestones, and Such
Thursday, May 28, 2009
So how exactly did that happen, again?
For those that may be a bit confused about the baby conception process for a lesbian couple, we'll explain some of the basics about our story, even though our particular journey ended with a twist...
So first it is important to understand between two women, under ideal conditions, there would be two sets of ovaries and two uteri with which to tempt the fertility goddesses. Just add a little sperm at the right time, and viola! Instant baby. However, because we’re special (in more ways than one), we had one if-y set of ovaries (Julie has polycystic ovarian syndrome), one completely infertile set of ovaries (Diana has premature ovarian failure – they just stopped working when she was 15 years old), but two perfectly wonderful uteri between the two of us (the sperm would come later, nicely frozen by a bank in Virginia).
Given said dynamics, Julie was the obvious candidate for the whole pregnancy thing, so about three and a half years ago, we started trying to knock her up. We’ll spare the gory details (really, there is only so much we can share in a public format), but can assure you that none of our plans ever involved taking advantage of drunk and unsuspecting men (read – sperm donors) at local bars. Rather, there were rounds and rounds of icky fertility drugs, a couple of painful procedures and tests, and lots and lots and lots of disappointment.
Near the end of the rope (and after several second opinions), we decided to go for in vitro fertilization or IVF, which was not an easy decision (for more information on IVF, visit http://www.americanpregnancy.org/infertility/ivf.html). By using that procedure in the fall of 2008, Julie had some eggs harvested but the fertility rates were extremely low for the batch & it was a failure. The doctor wasn’t sure if it had to do with her eggs or the donor sperm specimen, so we decided to try again. One more time and then we’d be done. No more drugs, no more doctors, no more waiting, no more life on hold!
So our last attempt was going to have to be a good one. To help overcome potential egg issues, we elected to try ICSI, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection, where they inject a single sperm into a single egg. To help with the sperm donor specimen issue, we elected to try fertilizing with two different donors. Julie was put on a slightly different drug regimen. Oh, and with the physician’s blessing, Diana starting taking some hormones so that she could cycle with Julie. That way, if enough eggs fertilized and fertilized well, Diana could be implanted with a few of the resulting embryos as well as Julie. Worst case scenario was that we would have another failed attempt under our belts and we’d move on. Best case scenario was that one of us would get pregnant.
So guess what happened? ☺
So first it is important to understand between two women, under ideal conditions, there would be two sets of ovaries and two uteri with which to tempt the fertility goddesses. Just add a little sperm at the right time, and viola! Instant baby. However, because we’re special (in more ways than one), we had one if-y set of ovaries (Julie has polycystic ovarian syndrome), one completely infertile set of ovaries (Diana has premature ovarian failure – they just stopped working when she was 15 years old), but two perfectly wonderful uteri between the two of us (the sperm would come later, nicely frozen by a bank in Virginia).
Given said dynamics, Julie was the obvious candidate for the whole pregnancy thing, so about three and a half years ago, we started trying to knock her up. We’ll spare the gory details (really, there is only so much we can share in a public format), but can assure you that none of our plans ever involved taking advantage of drunk and unsuspecting men (read – sperm donors) at local bars. Rather, there were rounds and rounds of icky fertility drugs, a couple of painful procedures and tests, and lots and lots and lots of disappointment.
Near the end of the rope (and after several second opinions), we decided to go for in vitro fertilization or IVF, which was not an easy decision (for more information on IVF, visit http://www.americanpregnancy.org/infertility/ivf.html). By using that procedure in the fall of 2008, Julie had some eggs harvested but the fertility rates were extremely low for the batch & it was a failure. The doctor wasn’t sure if it had to do with her eggs or the donor sperm specimen, so we decided to try again. One more time and then we’d be done. No more drugs, no more doctors, no more waiting, no more life on hold!
So our last attempt was going to have to be a good one. To help overcome potential egg issues, we elected to try ICSI, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection, where they inject a single sperm into a single egg. To help with the sperm donor specimen issue, we elected to try fertilizing with two different donors. Julie was put on a slightly different drug regimen. Oh, and with the physician’s blessing, Diana starting taking some hormones so that she could cycle with Julie. That way, if enough eggs fertilized and fertilized well, Diana could be implanted with a few of the resulting embryos as well as Julie. Worst case scenario was that we would have another failed attempt under our belts and we’d move on. Best case scenario was that one of us would get pregnant.
So guess what happened? ☺
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