All. The. Tests.

Chill Dudes, Not Enough Blood, Too Much Pee

Read more: All. The. Tests.

In January, Nick and I went in for the required bloodwork and urine tests to kick off the process (so fun!). For those who don’t know, the clinic is legally required to test both Nick and me for common diseases and disease immunity, as well as screen us for STDs prior to starting an IVF cycle in a new year. They also test my Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) level, which is also known as the ovarian reserve. 

Nick also provided two more sperm samples for analysis and cryopreservation, or, a freeze (🥶 ) .

Dr. C. mentioned with Nick’s numbers, it made sense for us to have a couple backup samples frozen. If the day of fertilization comes around and the embryologists can’t find enough good sperm, they have a couple back-ups they can thaw and use. 

When I went to Kaiser to complete the tests, the phlebotomist reviewed the paperwork and number of tests she needed to draw blood for and then pulled out a vial… and another one… and another one. All told, she needed seven vials of blood. (Would I have any blood left?!?)

When it came time for the urine tests, she handed me a cup with a black line drawn around it. Fill it up to here, she said, then handed it to me. I went to the bathroom, filled the cup, and put it in the little box. 

A few days later, I started seeing the results come through in my patient portal. All of them except my AMH level and the urine tests. When I reached out to the clinic, they offered to schedule an AMH test in-house for me. The Kaiser phlebotomist had forgotten to draw blood for and run that particular test. 

They also went ahead and did an ultrasound to get my resting follicle rate. (Side note: For those who immediately think of “jelly on the tummy” when they hear ultrasound, I’m here to disabuse you of that notion. For women–including in early pregnancy–ultrasounds are more often than not done transvaginally.)

A few more days later, I was told I’d provided too much pee for Kaiser to run the STD checks. They’d certainly mentioned the line, but they never said going over it was going to nullify the test. I guess the moral here is don’t be an overachiever when it comes to pee tests…

By the end of the month, I had all the results. Everything was good, normal, or negative–all the right results. A couple were surprising though. 

For the AMH level, a result greater than or equal to one is considered normal. My AMH level was 2.58 (hooray for still having eggs despite being of geriatric maternal age, **eye roll**), and my resting follicle count was 26. This was enough to prompt a “26!” from the nurse who emailed me the news.

When I Googled it, it turns out, a normal rate for a 36-year-old woman is 10 to 8. (Way to go, ovaries! Take that age-related stereotypes.)

My nurse also provided me with a tentative timeline for what our next steps look like. We’ll be starting in March, and, as I mentioned last week, the timeline for the egg retrieval process will be shorter than in our first cycle. 

One of the ways Dr. C. is changing things up is to not put me on birth control prior to the egg retrieval meds and procedure. In our first procedure, I was on birth control for a few weeks prior to starting the egg-retrieval protocol. (It’s one of the many reasons I thought IVF was weird.) 

Apparently, birth control is used to take complete control of a woman’s cycle. It turns out, though, that some women (hopefully me) produce more eggs when they’re not put on it. Instead, they’ll put me on Estrace (a form of Estrogen) for one week before my March cycle and then my egg-retrieval meds will start soon after. 

I’m pretty grateful for this change-up. It shows Dr. C. is actively trying to find ways to help this cycle succeed, and it will hopefully be a little easier on my body. One of the things I didn’t enjoy last time around was having multiple pseudo-periods in one month that resulted from the abrupt stop of the birth control pills. 

I’ll talk more about what March will look like in an upcoming blog.
 
If you’d like to help us on this journey–whether through monetary donations; sharing our fundraising efforts; or sending prayers, thoughts, or good vibes–please visit our GoFundMe page or reach out to ivfthat@gmail.com.