I’ve been sharing my story about how the heck I got pregnant. Some people have sex
and BAM! They’re pregnant! Others spend more time energy money than I could
even imagine and it still doesn’t work. I’m somewhere in the middle. My hopes
in telling this story is that, whether or not you have any interest in having children,
that my struggle will in some way inspire you to go after your dreams!!
We are up to where I’ve just completed my first ever IVF cycle. If you’re just joining
us now, go to http://mirzukfitness.com/blog/ to catch up.
I stayed home for a week on bed rest after the embryo transfer. About then is
when you go in for your blood test. My period, if it were to come, should have
already done so by that point, and I’m usually spot on (haha! so funny), so I
was absolutely positive I was pregnant.
I mean, c’mon- how could I NOT be??? They took my best eggs, put them with
the best sperm, came up with 4 embryos and put them all in there! I imagined
myself as already pregnant, because- technically- there were 4 living embryos
inside me. So I was pregnant then, according to me.
And I happily went back to the Dr’s office for my blood test. Which came back
negative. Say wha?! I was sure it was a mistake. I hadn’t gotten my period, so
I figured they had screwed something up.
The next day, I got my period. How RUDE is that?! How is it even possible?
That was around June 20th, and I was devastated. I felt like “Oh no- I’ve
waited too long, trying to find the right man, and now I won’t be able to have
a child!” That thought was an unpleasant recurring theme.
Meanwhile, I was noticing an icky side effect of my struggles. I started to avoid
my friends who were pregnant or who had small children. I found that I would
have to leave their presence so that I could go cry somewhere. And I was starting
to develop mean nasty jealous feelings. Not just at friends, but at random women
on the street. Especially the ones with more than one child. Thoughts like “What makes
her so special, she can have all those kids and I can’t even create one!” Things like that.
Along the lines of “I hate her” and “what’s wrong with me?”
All kinds of crazy, mean, jealous thoughts. None of them useful whatsoever.
I understood at the time that this was common, but at the same time, it was disturbing
to hear these thoughts go on in my head. I just tried to avoid any situation that would
bring that stuff up, and thus didn’t see or speak to a lot of my friends for far too long. It
wasn’t the right way to go about it. I eventually spoke to one friend about it, and to my
surprise she understood. I did end up going over to her house and I held her 6 month
old son for half the day. That one worked out all right in the end, but notice it was 6 months
before I made the effort to meet the little guy and repair the damage to my relationship
with my friend. Too long, and I am lucky it all worked out.
I felt horrible and basically broken, and that’s part of what made me jump right back on the IVF wagon so
quickly. We had to wait a month to restart the IVF process, because in this Dr’s office, you
have to make an appointment to meet with the doc again to re-evaluate your situation and
decide on how best to move forward.
We started our 2nd IVF cycle at the end of July, 2011 with the same Dr’s office. Like I’ve
said before, the office was really inefficient (did I tell you about the time I came in for my
appointment and they said “Oh didn’t someone call you? The dr won’t be in for another
2 hours”, and I ended up waiting FOUR HOURS?!?!!!!), but we liked the Dr. We just kept
telling ourselves that all of the office quirks were just quirks and that this time would be
different.
This time around was much easier- I was used to giving myself shots (another chance for
me to point out that if I could train myself to stick needles in my legs and stomach, that
ANYONE can train themselves to do ANYTHING!). I learned how to work the Dr’s schedule
into my schedule more easily by suggesting a different time or a different day for my appts
instead of just accepting what they offered me. It was a much smoother ride. I don’t even
remember any specific office quirks. I was getting good at IVF.
Did the whole thing: shots, appointments, sub out my classes just barely in time, egg
retrieval, embryo transfer, and then I’m home in bed for another week. I really like those
staycations.
So what happened? IT DIDN’T WORK!! IVF cycle #2 DID NOT WORK!! I was getting
desperate!! We made an appointment to go back in to see the Dr to evaluate our #3 try
and he told us point blank “Your eggs are too old. This isn’t going to work.”
And something in me shifted gears somehow.
Stay tuned…
Your Fitness Coach,
Miranda Zukowski
I am on the edge of my seat!!!