IVF Memories & New IVF Experiences

This girl has brought so much joy into our lives. It’s hard to believe that four years ago today was transfer day for this little one.
We didn’t know what was going to happen Christmas 2017 when we sacrificed and didn’t go visit family for Christmas and stayed home to make new memories with our little family. Here we are 4 years later with the greatest miracle that is also the spunkiest little girl we ever could have imagined to be a part of our everyday life.

Back in September we did another frozen embryo transfer (FET), which sadly did not work. From that failed transfer and talking things through with our fertility specialist, we decided that to have better chances next time and using as many resources as we could, trying the new ERA test would be a great fit for us. It is a newer test, discovered 2 years ago, so we didn’t know much about it going into it, but decided we were ready to learn more and try it out.

ERA is short for Endometrial Receptivity Analysis. It is a genetic test performed on a very small sample of a woman’s endometrial lining to determine which day would be the best day to transfer the embryo during an IVF cycle. 

The ERA test was a great fit for us because our recent failed transfer was with a high quality embryo, which was very unexpected, especially after we have had successful embryo transfers. With this testing we are hopeful that our “window of implantation” will be ideal and our upcoming transfer will be successful.

Getting the biopsy was the first thing, going through IVF, that I didn’t know much of what to expect because I haven’t ready many experiences from patients or articles explaining the procedure. I know in many other aspects of testing with a biopsy, it is not the most comfortable process or recovery. With that in mind, I went in blind and experienced what a biopsy of the uterine lining was really like, and for those of you interested to know more, this was my experience:

The nurse practitioner and her assistant both told me that the patients they’ve worked with have all felt the biopsy differently. For me, the beginning of the procedure started out just like any other check up with our OBGYN. After getting all situated (if you know what I mean) and having all the instruments in the correct placement, to easily get the biopsy, they had a straw like tube that they used to suction and scrape out the uterine lining. As they were scraping, I felt cramping and a little pain in my back, which is an area I was not expecting to feel any pain. It took maybe 30 seconds to scrape and suction the uterine lining and then the biopsy was finished. They took the lining from the straw and placed it into the test tube, you can see in the picture to the right, to be sent off to the lab for ERA testing.

I was in and out of the office within 30 minutes and they started working getting everything ready to send off to the lab for testing. The results take 2-3 weeks and from there our fertility specialist will determine when we start our transfer and prepare for transfer day.

The miracles of IVF still amaze us each time we go in and have an appointment or meet with our specialist. It is truly a miracle that they can do as much as they can to bless families, like ours, with the opportunity to have children of their own. Without modern medicine and the knowledge from doctors and specialists, we would not have the opportunity to be parents through IVF.

We are in the waiting weeks and anxious to hear about the timing of our upcoming transfer. Through all of this, we will remain hopeful and can’t wait to do another frozen embryo transfer and add another miracle to our family in the new year.