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Final Round of IVF/PGD: Drum Roll, Please…

Kelsey is just beginning her journey to motherhood. She’s a genetic carrier for Fragile X Syndrome, so she’s chosen to go through IVF and PGD. Read more about her story here

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So last I left you with our decision to go through a third and final round of our IVF/PGD process. Since you are aware of how it all goes down, I’ll spare you with some of the details. However, we went back to our original cycle of the longer process with the meds and doing everything by the book and the way we did it in the first round. Everything went very well, we ended up with a total of 14 eggs/follicles in the last round—yay! We were thrilled—even more follicles/eggs than the first round. But when all was said and done with the initial growth and testing at the hospital of all the embryos, we wound up with four viable embryos to test. With our two from the original round and these four, we had a total of six we sent off to be PGD tested. I was pleased with the outcome and hopeful that we would get at least two to three, being optimistic I suppose.

For those who may not remember or know what PGD is from my earlier posts, it stands for Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis. It can test for numerous things, but we were testing for Fragile X Syndrome. The people doing the testing (in California, I might add) don’t actually test the whole embryo, they pluck one cell from the about 8 to 10 that have formed and test one to be sure it does not have any markers for Fragile X. After an agonizing 10-day wait, we finally got the results and we came out on the positive side of having one viable embryo to transfer. While I was super relieved that we had one, I was slightly disappointed that we did not end up with any more because my goal was to not have to go through all of this again, but ultimately, I also wanted a healthy child, so one was just perfect. We also learned what round each of the embryo cells came from and the good one came from the last and final round. I was glad we decided to continue with our process one last time, to say the least.

So after the retrieval was complete and the testing was done, we actually waited to do the transfer. Why, you might ask? Well, we went on vacation and got one last hurrah in before the big event. After all the travels took place, we went ahead with our last round of meds and preparation for the big transfer. Now this process was something I hadn’t experienced yet, so it would all be new to me. Less expensive overall, but some parts were less fun. Lots of shots in the butt muscle this time and sticky patches to wear that stuck to my clothes all the time—I know, least of my worries, but annoying nonetheless. Oh and an oral version med of the same hormone as the shots that made me feel drunk for a couple of hours—at home, not so bad; at work, not so fun. At work, it made for an interesting hour or two. I tried not to do too much that required a lot of thinking, but I got through it and charged on.

We did the big transfer just a week before Thanksgiving, and I had to take two days off work to go through the process. They do the short—and by short, I mean like less than five minutes—process of transferring the embryo and then I had to lie flat for about an hour after the procedure to make sure everything went OK. So needless to say, I sat on the couch for two days. And while that might seem fun for some people, after the first day or so, I was ready to get up and do something because I felt fine, nothing out of the ordinary.

Once the transfer was complete, we had to wait 10 long and agonizing days for the results. We went into the doctor’s office to do the final blood test and got the results that afternoon. Longest. Day. Ever. But the end result was exactly what we had hoped for during our entire journey. Positive!!! We were more than excited. I almost couldn’t believe the nurse when she called me. I was shocked.

We couldn’t believe it all worked. We were overwhelmed, but anxious to say the least. OMG, we are going to be parents! At this point we have told all our family and close friends. We are all beyond excited for this journey. And since we went through the genetic testing, one of the perks, if there is a silver lining at all, is you get to know the gender long before anyone else does…yay! So we got a piece of paper in an envelope and went to a nice dinner to reveal the gender and….it’s a boy! We were in utter shock…the whole time we thought it was a girl, because the math and stats with Fragile X point to a girl rather than a boy, but we are thrilled to welcome a Fit Bottomed Boy to this mix. It’ll be a wonderful journey.

Thank you all who have followed my story and come on this journey with me. It was not an easy one to take, but I knew in the end, it would be the best thing for my child. I’ll keep you updated as I go along, but for now, I’m going to relax, because this baby has been taking all my energy from me. And so it begins…

Has anyone else has success with IVF/PGD?Kelsey

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Comments

3 Comments
  1. Jaclyn says:

    Congratulations! What wonderful news! Happy and healthy nine months to you!

  2. Sam says:

    I was so happy to come across this article. I found out at the age of 13 that I was a Fragile X carrier, my repeats are on the lower end but my husband and I were not wanting to take any chances and decided on IVF and PGD, our first round we had 23 follicles, with 7 making it to day 6. Out of the 7 embyros only one was not a carrier of Fragile X. Like you I was hoping for more so I just had to do a transfer for baby number 2. In a month’s time we are going for our transfer and are extremely excited and nervous. We don’t know the gender yet, but if we get a positive pregnancy test will find out right away. Of the 6 embyros that are carries 5 are boys and 1 girl… We had a lot of boys lol. Good luck and congratulations.

  3. really that’s a great article
    at the end you got your present of your hard work
    really congratulation

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