#we transfer only when we are confident that the embryo is good enough to have grown up to day 5

[worldivfcenterr]

Can too much sex affect our chances of getting pregnant?

Can too much sex affect our chances of getting pregnant?

It may be the most natural thing in the world, but you’ve probably noticed that things just feel better after you have had sex. This is because sex stimulates our bodies to make hormones.

Our brains know when we have had enough sex for a day, which means there are ways to boost your sexual performance through mental preparation.

But more importantly, having regular and safe sex can actually improve your overall health and wellness. More often than not, people who seek pleasure from sex also seek other pleasures from life, including food, friendship, and enjoyment.

How ovulation works

Most women know that their hormonal balance changes during each menstrual cycle in ways that promote pregnancy. However, most are not aware that such a change also occurs at specific points in time.

This is what is called "ovulation". It’s when your body’s natural rhythm adjusts to re-establish harmony with your partner.

What happens at ovulation?

At ovulation, your body prepares for fertilization. If you were to take a test that detects hormones, like a pregnancy test, you would likely find out that you are fertile at this time.

However, it is not just your body’s response to hormonal changes; sexual activity can also affect your health and ability to get pregnant.

There are many different ways people have sex, so there are many opportunities over the course of your reproductive years for exposure to semen.

Do we want to have more kids?

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about how many children people should have. Some people believe you should not have any more children than you can care for financially and emotionally, while others feel you should have as many kids as you want.

How to keep your sex life fresh

There’s a reason that most sexual health guidelines recommend having sex twice a day — it may help boost your confidence, aid in pregnancy as well as preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

However, you have to work hard to maintain an active sex life, especially if you are already pregnant or trying to get pregnant. During this time, you should take care of yourself physically and emotionally.

What is ovulation?

Ovulation happens when a woman’s egg cells are released from her ovary. Once released, the egg cell can travel through the uterus to the fallopian tube that leads to the vagina. There, it will meet up with a sperm cell — the only type of cell needed for fertilization.

The process of fertilization occurs between one minute and two days later. During this window of time, the penis must be placed in the vagina for approximately half a minute for the sperm to get going.

This process is known as “swim without swimming” because the man needs to provide propulsion while not entering the woman. If he waits too long, she may already have had an orgasm, so there is no need for him to enter her.

Can you get pregnant from sex?

Yes, having sex can lead to pregnancy if your ovaries are ready for egg harvesting. However, it is very rare that someone would come into contact with eggs this way. Most often, people have intercourse while they’re already sexually active, without using any protection.

While there are only about 6 cases documented where someone got pregnant by accident like this, there are over 40 reported cases of babies being born with birth defects after parents had sexual intercourse during an embryo transfer process in vitro (when sperm is produced outside the body).

In these cases, some embryos were transferred but not enough to achieve pregnancy. The father wanted to make more attempts at getting pregnant and/or use condoms, but their doctor recommended stopping until another cycle started.

This may or may not be medical advice, depending on your situation. But it is good to know how many women came forward after the release of the study saying they got pregnant too quickly.

Many said they weren’t aware they could get pregnant when having sex. Others stated they didn’t feel comfortable asking questions at the clinic and just went along with what the staff told them to do.

Does sex affect your chances of getting pregnant

Women who are trying to conceive should have more sex, not less. According to research, every time you have sex is another chance for something to happen that can increase the likelihood of getting pregnant.

However, it’s important to note that this research was done using men and women, which means two different things may occur during sex.

Sex without protection is considered riskier because there’s a greater chance that pregnancy will occurs. Risky sex also includes any situation in which someone could get infected with a virus or some sort of disease.

Having protected sex does not guarantee a baby, but it does reduce the chance of unprotected sex resulting in pregnancy. Unprotected sex refers to having no method of birth control used.

If you don’t want to get pregnant, make sure to use a condom every time. This applies even if you are married and planning on staying home after having children.

It needs to be said again: having safer-sex doesn't mean you're irresponsible. It just means you're aware of the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Here, we have a network of the best fertility specialists in India, all working together to help you have a baby. This means that you get the best care possible, from the best doctors. Here, you can be sure that all of the doctors involved are up-to-date on the latest techniques and technologies. This means that you have the best chance of success with us.

To book an appointment, call us today!

[sisterspooky1013]

Title: Everything

Author: SisterSpooky1013

Rating: Explicit

Words: 5030

Description: in an AU season 7, the IVF worked

Read it on AO3:

She felt sick, scanning the room for something she could throw up in if it came to that. One of the drawers was labeled “emesis bags” and she took a mental note. She couldn’t recall having thrown up a single time since her cancer went into remission, and she had the thought that this was a fact that would probably change if the procedure worked. She took a deep breath to fend off the nausea and looked around for something to distract her from the news she was waiting for. They’d drawn her blood 30 minutes prior and told her they’d call her with results, but she’d asked if she could wait, not sure she was capable of doing anything other than waiting, her stomach in knots. There was a rack of pamphlets on the wall about different tests, conditions, and procedures and she read over their titles, wondering if there’d be any she hadn’t heard of. “IUI,” “IVF,” “PCOS,” “POF,” the acronyms spoke to a world that could only be understood by the few that wished they didn’t have to be there. She noticed there wasn’t a pamphlet for “ova harvested by government evildoers (or possibly aliens) then later recovered under cryo refrigeration” and chuckled to herself at the idea. Mulder would have found that joke funny, but he wasn’t here. Not that he hadn’t asked to be, but she couldn’t stand the idea of having to get bad news in front of him. The downside was, of course, she’d have to repeat the bad news to him later, but at least she could have her own initial reaction in privacy.

Her eyes fell to a pamphlet titled “sperm donation” and she plucked it from the rack, scanning the panels that talked about how to select a donor and how to talk to a child about being donor conceived. Her selection of Mulder as her donor had been nothing like this. She’d spent weeks thinking about how to ask him, rehearsed the words over and over, considered sending them in an email, or calling him on the phone so she didn’t have to look at his shocked expression and watch him scramble for a way out. She decided that she’d insist he take some time to think about it, not accepting an immediate answer. She’d feel more confident that he came to the right conclusion if he had a day or two to consider it, and this would avoid her either worrying that his “yes” was one he’d come to regret, or wondering if his “no” would have been a “yes” if he hadn’t felt like he had to decide quickly. In the end she’d blurted it out after an evening spent spitballing about theories of alternate universes on his couch, their relaxed and comfortable banter a safe place for her, helping her feel brave. She’d been poised to walk out the door, her coat on, when she stopped and turned back to him as he rinsed dishes in the kitchen sink. Taking a breath and swallowing hard, she closed her eyes and forced the words out.

“Mulder, I need to ask you something. Something important.”

His expression was mostly concern, but there was curiosity there too. “Okay, what’s up?” He dried his hands on a dish towel and leaned against the doorframe, studying her. She wished he would have stayed at the sink, occupied. She wished he weren’t looking at her, his hooded eyes boring into her.

“Uh, well. You know that I’ve been pursuing in vitro fertilization with the ova you recovered.”

“Is something wrong? Are they not able to do the procedure?”

“No, nothing is wrong. It’s going fine. I’m to the point in the process where I have to choose a sperm donor. For the other half of the genetic material.”

“Okay.” He still had that same look on his face. He certainly wasn’t going to draw his own conclusions.

“I’ve looked at some of the donor profiles, but I’ve come to feel that I’d rather use a known donor than a stranger.”

“Okay.” There was more confusion in his face now than anything. She looked at the floor in frustration, sighing. Mulder laughed a little “I’m still waiting for the question part of this, Scully. Do you want me to help you choose?”

She laughed a little as well. “No, that’s not what I’m asking, Mulder.” She raised her eyes to look at his face. “I wanted to ask you if you’d consider being the donor.”

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but it just hung there and she recognized that it was an expression of shock.

“Please, don’t answer now, I’d like you to take some time to think about it. And it’s okay if the answer ends up being no, really. I wouldn’t have any expectation of your involvement, financial or otherwise. I just can’t think of anyone else I’d want to scramble my DNA with.”

He closed his mouth and nodded once, still not able to find the right words to say, or any words for that matter. She’d turned and left without saying anything else, leaving him stupefied in the doorway of the kitchen.

When he stopped by her apartment the next night and told her his answer was yes, she’d been so overwhelmed she nearly lost her composure and kissed him right there in her living room. She was glad when he’d left soon after delivering the news, so that she could cry tears of happiness, and relief, and grief that this was the only bit of Mulder she could potentially have the opportunity to truly love. Though she wanted so much more of him, this could be enough. That knowledge made the stakes even higher as she jabbed her thighs and buttocks with the fertility drugs that would prepare her body to become pregnant. It made it even more bittersweet when he asked after the side effects, making clear he’d done his research, and joked about the awkwardness of the donation room at the clinic, not wanting to come back out too quickly so the nurses didn’t come to any conclusions about his stamina. She wanted so much more of him, but she could accept getting to have his child as enough.

Standing to replace the pamphlet on the rack, she smoothed the front of her dress and tugged at the hem of her sweater. It was a Saturday, so she was in non-work attire; a lavender knee-length cotton dress with a scoop neck, paired with a white cardigan and white strappy heels. It was something she might wear to church with her mother, and somehow this situation felt like one she could treat with reverence and respect. She paced the room as the nausea returned, knowing that each moment brought her closer to something big. She’d decided that if the results were negative, she’d call Mulder once she got home. If they were positive, she’d stop by his apartment and tell him in person.

There were three soft taps on the door and her heart lurched as Dr. Parenti peeked his head in, a soft smile on his face. She immediately looked for signs of the results in his expression, though as a fertility doctor she also knew he was well versed in how to deliver this kind of news.

“Dana, would you like to sit down?”

That must mean it was bad, if he was suggesting she sit. She did as told and braced herself, already forming questions about her odds if she tried again; she knew she had more than one ova that had made it to blastocyst.

“Congratulations, you’re pregnant.” He had that same soft smile, his tone measured.

She heard a ringing in her ears and her heart seemed to stop momentarily.

“I’m sorry….what?”

“You’re pregnant. Your HCG levels are nice and high for 15 days post transfer. We can do an ultrasound in a few weeks and look for a heartbeat. You’re not entirely out of the woods, but so far everything looks very normal, and very healthy.”

Her slackened jaw gave way to a tentative smile, her expression incredulous.

“I’m pregnant? You’re sure?”

“Quite sure, we do this a lot here” he reassured with a chuckle.

“I…I’m a bit speechless, I’m sorry. I had prepared myself for bad news. What do I do now?”

“Just keep taking your prenatal vitamins, and your oral progesterone. We’ll have you taper off that in a couple weeks. Avoid any especially high impact activity, now isn’t the time to hit the slopes, but for the most part you can do whatever you normally do, while abstaining from alcohol, of course. Sex is perfectly fine, and healthy. You can make an appointment for three weeks out to do a transvaginal ultrasound, and if you experience any spotting or cramping, or any other symptom that concerns you, please call.”

“Okay, I will, thank you again Dr. Parenti. Thank you so much.” The initial shock was wearing off and she felt tears pooling in her eyes.

“It’s what I do. Feel free to use this room for a bit, if you need some time to absorb the good news. We’ll see you soon.”

He closed the door softly behind him and she was alone again, a pained smile etched on her face as tears ran down her cheeks. It worked. Somehow it had worked. She put her hand on her belly and imagined a tiny embryo nestled into the wall of her uterus. The cells duplicating, she and Mulder’s genes dancing together to form a little human who was half of each of them. She choked back sobs of relief and thought about picking up her cell phone to call him, but she wanted to wait. She wanted to see the look on his face as he realized what she was realizing. They were going to have a baby, the two of them, together. She would have a piece of him to keep and to love endlessly. Their child.

When she was finally able to compose herself, she walked out of the exam room and through the lobby with reddened eyes but a beaming smile. The couples in the waiting room all lifted their heads as she passed through, looking at her for a sign of hope as she had each time she was in the same seat. She met each of their eyes and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Good news. Yes. They all seemed to relax a little. Maybe it was their turn next.

She drove across town to Mulder’s apartment with the radio off and the window open, her heart bursting with the kind of hope she hadn’t experienced in years, maybe ever. For as many times as she’d wondered where she took a wrong turn in life that brought her to a point where a family of he own seemed impossible, she had never imagined how sweet it would be when it did happen. As she turned on to his street, her heart thrummed in her ears and the nauseous feeling returned. She was pretty confident this would strike him as great news, but was also a little worried that he’d react with fear or regret. Maybe he’d only agreed because he assumed it wouldn’t take. This possibility meant that by the time she was standing outside his door, hand raised to knock, she had steeled herself against disappointment if he didn’t respond happily. She was businesslike, sharing a test result with him as she had 100 times, this test just happened to affect them both more than the others did. He flung the door open before she’d finished knocking, as though he’d been waiting for her. He looked her over and took in her puffy, red eyes and solemn expression, his own face dropping in understanding. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her to him so he could wrap her in a hug while kicking the door shut behind her. She leaned into him, pressing the side of her face to his chest and threading her arms around his waist. He smelled like home.

“It’s okay Scully, we can try again.”

The ‘we’ in his statement did not go unnoticed. She smiled against him, her nervousness giving way to excitement as she gained confidence that his response would be a happy one. She laughed a little and he pulled away from her, his hands still on her shoulders, looking at her quizzically. She smiled a dopey, twisted smile and new tears welled, blurring the image of his deepening confusion.

“It worked, Mulder.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, trying to make sense of her words, her demeanor, her concurrent tears and smile.

“It worked. I’m pregnant.”

His eyebrows, which had been knotted in confusion, leapt up in surprise as his mouth slowly opened in an expression of shock, then stretched into a wide smile. Watching him realize what she had come to know in the exam room, that they were going to have a baby, together, was even better than experiencing it herself.

“You’re pregnant? You’re going to have a baby? We’re going to have a baby? You’re sure?”

She beamed at him and nodded enthusiastically, the ‘we’ in his words again filling her heart to bursting. Maybe he did want this with her, as more than just a donor. He pulled her to him again, squeezing her tightly as he pressed his nose to her hair and rocked gently back and forth. His joy was palpable, and she found it hard to believe that minutes ago she had feared that he’d be upset. She dug her nails into the flesh of his back and let her tears of happiness wet his shirt, not feeling a shred of discomfort at what was a very uncharacteristic amount of physical contact between them. This was exactly where she was supposed to be, right here in his foyer, next to his dining room table covered with junk mail and abandoned research papers, learning that the things she wanted from life were still available to her, with the man she loved, no less.

Mulder pulled back again, this time bringing his hands up to cup her face, and she was surprised to see that his own eyes were damp as well. She wasn’t sure if his joy was for her, or himself, or both, but the love in his gaze was undeniable. She placed her hands gently on his wrists and stroked his knuckles with her thumbs, returning his look. When he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead, she closed her eyes and sighed. When he placed yet another kiss on one cheek, then the other, her pulse quickened. When he placed his lips softly on hers, she felt the ache of 1,000 times she’d wanted to kiss him run down her body, exiting through her toes and spilling out on to the floor. She kissed him back, partly because she couldn’t not, and partly because she desperately needed him to know that she wanted this, that it wasn’t a mistake. He released her lips and rested his forehead against hers, moving his hands to her waist, hers finding their home at the back of his neck, gently tracing his hairline.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this happy in my entire life” he whispered to her, and she laughed with the knowledge that she had given him that, that they had created this moment together, for both of them.

“Can I kiss you again?” The question was so earnest, and so hopeful, it tore at her heart. How could he ever think the answer to that could be no?

Instead of answering him, she pushed up to her tip toes and gently pulled on his neck, bringing him to her. She tried to make it as sweet and chaste as his kiss had been, but the un-sated desire of 7 years and the heightened emotion of the moment got the better of her and she devoured his lips, tugging at them with her teeth and tasting them with her tongue. She felt his hands slide a little lower until they rested just above the swell of her ass, and the resulting throb between her legs made her wonder how early pregnancy hormones could affect her sex drive. He pulled away then, breathless with pupils the size of dinner plates, his lips swollen and moist.

“I’m sorry, is this okay? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable” he mumbled. As though she hadn’t been the one to put her tongue in his mouth. As though she hadn’t tipped her pelvis against his hungrily. He was so protective of her that he felt compelled to guard her from even himself.

“It’s more than okay, Mulder” she purred, already missing the salt of his sunflower seeds on her lips, already begging God or the universe that he should carry her to his bedroom. Full of wonder that only when his child was taking shape inside her could she find the courage to show him how she felt. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyes searching hers. She had the realization that he may have been wanting this just as much as she had. That they’d been standing together on the edge of the cliff, waiting for the other to jump first.

She met his gaze and let down every wall she had built around herself, hoping that he could see in her icy blue irises how completely she meant what she was going to say next. Hoping he could hear the hum in her body that he was responsible for. “I want you” she said, surprising herself with her own boldness. Having seen today what possibilities awaited her if she took a chance, she no longer wanted to take the safer path. If leaping off the cliff meant a baby with Mulder, maybe a life with him, she was prepared to hurl herself over the edge and accept the consequences.

His face crumpled a little, his mouth puckering with emotion. She recognized the way his chin pebbled and wondered if he was going to cry. The expression quickly passed and was replaced by a tender smile, though his eyes shone with dampness. “You’re really hitting it hard with life-changing news today” he teased.

“Go big or go home, Mulder.” She replied, leaning into him and brushing her lips lightly against his. Her calves were tired from propping her up to meet his height and it was the closest she could comfortably get.

“Will you stay a while?” He asked, ever the gentleman, not wanting to assume anything about what would happen next.

She said nothing, but nodded, and he released her, taking her hand and guiding her to sit beside him on the couch. She slipped her shoes off and kicked them underneath the coffee table, folding her legs under her her torso and gratefully sliding under the arm he extended to drape over her shoulders, nestling into his side. He took her hand and held her palm to his lips, sighing deeply, then placed their joined hands in his lap and kissed the top of her head. With her ear against his chest, she could hear the steady measure of his heart beating and felt an overwhelming sense of peace. She wasn’t naïve enough to think that this was her happy ending, but even just this moment where she had the knowledge that she was going to be a mother and Mulder returned her affection, it was enough. She knew well enough by now that she should cling to even the briefest glimpses of happiness and normalcy, because they were too often fleeting and untenable.

“How do you feel?” He asked her, and she wasn’t sure if he meant the pregnancy or the kiss, or both. Years of experience taught him that any inquiry into her state would be met with “I’m fine” 98% of the time, but he still always asked. He needed her to know that it mattered to him. She tipped her face up to look at his, no longer trying to conceal her feelings. It was incredibly freeing.

“Amazing” she answered, and she meant it. She couldn’t recall ever feeling better than she did right now.

He smiled at her, his own demeanor always being so impacted by hers, and lowered his head towards hers until their noses brushed together. “I love you” he whispered so quietly she wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it. She tucked her face back into his chest to conceal a yawn.

“Am I boring you?” He joked, and she chuckled, facing him again while she shook her head.

“I’m just suddenly exhausted” she remarked. How much had her life changed in the past couple hours? It’s was a lot to absorb.

“Wanna take a nap?!” He proposed with the same level of excitement he might normally ask “wanna go to Kentucky?!” Except this time, what he was offering actually sounded good.

“You don’t still have a water bed do you?” Her tone was skeptical, but also curious.

“Nope, I got a real mattress after the last one sprung a leak, at the insistence of my landlord.”

“In that case, sold.”

He stood and offered her his hands to help her off the couch. Without her shoes, the top of her head barely met the height of his armpits and he squeezed her to him, laughing. “Is your money on this kid being average height? Will we cancel each other out?”

“I don’t think that’s how genetics work, Mulder.” She replied, her words muffled against the fabric of his T shirt. Spitballing about whose traits their child would inherit was beyond what she ever could have hoped for. She wished she could bottle this moment up and save it forever.

He escorted her to his bedroom, never breaking contact with a hand on her arm or back. She let her sweater slide down her arms and folded it neatly before setting it on his dresser, and then lay down on her back on the bed. He took his place next to her, lying on his side with his head propped up under his arm. He tentatively reached out and placed his hand on her stomach, just above her belly button. She put her own hand on top of his and pushed it down until it was low on her pelvis and he could feel the hem of her panties underneath her dress.

“More like here” she corrected with a shy smile, very aware of the intimacy of where he was touching her.

“Guess I need to brush up on my anatomy” he said dryly, transfixed on the gentle rise and fall of her belly under his hand as she breathed. He rubbed his thumb back and forth and she stifled a gasp at the contact, apparently not well enough because he turned his head to look at her face. “You okay?” He asked, his tone tender. She nodded. “Does this bother you?” He inquired further, and she shook her head no, reaching up to touch his face so he knew she meant it.

Turning his attention back to his hand, he said “I wish you weren’t wearing a dress so I could see better.”

She laughed and his hand shook. “See what, Mulder? There’s nothing to see, not yet anyway.”

He looked at her sheepishly “I know, but it seems like bare skin is somehow closer to the real thing. I realize as I’m saying this that it doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it doesn’t, but the things we want don’t always need to make sense.” Her voice had a faraway quality, like she was applying the logic to more than just this specific situation. “You know there’s this really cool thing dresses can do that you don’t appear to be privy to” she continued in a much more jovial tone. Pushing his hand off her, she flipped up the hem of her dress to reveal her stomach from the belly button down, including her pale pink lace panties. Mulder’s eyes went big momentarily before he tried to play it cool.

“That IS a neat trick” he marveled, forcing himself to look at her face. He tentatively put his hand back on her lower belly and her skin prickled up in goose flesh at his touch. His fingers danced over her flesh, tracing the place her uterus would be, imagining the tiny life growing there. Wordlessly, he dipped his head down and touched his lips to that place, causing her back to arch into him and her breath to catch in her throat. Mercifully, he didn’t ask if she was okay with what he was doing. She didn’t think she’d have been able to form words if he had. She felt his tongue hot and wet, darting out a trail up to her navel. She sighed, a tiny show of disappointment that he had traveled up instead of down. Bringing his face back near hers, he kissed her again, this time drawing it out, moving to her cheek and then her ear. Her neck and then her chest. She felt like she was floating.

“What do you want?” He whispered against her earlobe, grazing it with his teeth.

“Everything” she sighed. Every nerve ending in her body seemed to be on fire.

He moved over her, his elbows bracketing her rib cage and his knees just outside hers on the bed. Kissing down her throat, he made his way to the neckline of her dress, slipping his tongue just under the fabric to taste the flesh of her breasts before continuing. Shifting his weight to one arm, he pushed the hem of the dress up further, exposing her rib cage, and kissed every inch of her, giving extra attention to each scar. By the time he reached her belly button, her hands were in his hair, encouraging him on his journey. He again found the place where their baby grew, dropping kisses for each night he had prayed to a God he didn’t believe in that they would exist. His tongue flitted under the hem of her panties and her hips shifted slightly in response.

Lifting his head to look at her he asked “is this okay?” and she said “yes” with as much conviction as he had ever witnessed in her face.

“It won’t hurt the baby?” He questioned. He had to be sure. “No, it won’t hurt the baby” she replied, touched by his care almost as much as she was aroused by where this was headed.

He kissed the insides of her thighs, ran his nose along the crease of her leg, pressed it into the damp fabric of her panties and inhaled the smell of her want for him. Her hips were gyrating ever so gently, rebelling as she tried to temper her desire, resisting the overwhelming urge to beg him to fuck her immediately. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and asked “okay?,” waiting until she said yes before he pulled them down her legs, tossing them haphazardly over his shoulder. He followed the same path again, kissing her thighs, running his nose along the crease of her leg, and then concluding with a kiss to her labia. She sucked air into her lungs sharply and her fingers in his hair grasped and pulled. It may have hurt if he’d been paying any attention. If he hadn’t had more important things to attend to. Gingerly, he tried his tongue against her slick lips, tasting her wetness. God she was wet. He found her opening and lapped at it before sliding up to almost her clit. But not quite. Her head was thrown back, hiding her face from view, her back arching wildly, her fists gripping at his hair. She made tiny sounds; gasps and truncated moans. She was trying self-consciously to be quiet, something she always worried about since an ex had teased her about being loud. He explored her, pulling her lips between his, sliding his tongue through each crevice and fold, pushing it inside her until he earned a soft moan. Finally he flicked his tongue across her clit and she said “oh” in the most breathy, beautiful way that he thought he might cum in his jeans. He continued the motion, listening to her responses and increasing his pace until he felt her body tense. Gently, he slipped one finger inside her and she gasped just before he felt her muscles clamp around him, a single piercing cry escaping her lips as she began to pulse rhythmically. He continued to lick her and flex his finger softly inside, drawing out her orgasm and eliciting an “oh my god” which made him smile. He’d always wondered if she’d say that in bed. He’d always wanted to make her say it.

When the pulsing subsided, he carefully withdrew his finger and crawled back up to her. She had her eyes closed and was still breathing heavily. He pushed down the hem of her dress, feeling as though he should protect her modesty, even in light of what he’d just done. Nuzzling his face into her neck, he waited to see if she might fall asleep. After a few minutes she spoke.

“Mulder?”

“Hm.”

“I’m not sure this day could get any better.”

He laughed, and she joined him, rolling to her side so that they were face to face, her leg threading between his while her hand wrapped around his waist. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed the tip of her nose tenderly.

“Thank you” she whispered, her voice full of emotion.

“For what?”

She shrugged, her voice caught in her throat. “For everything” she rasped out.

He shook his head. “You are everything, Scully. Thank you for letting me be a part of it.”

She nestled against his chest, taking comfort in the circles he traced on her back until she drifted off to sleep.

#the x files #txf #gillovny #sculder #msr #fox mulder #dana scully #xf fanfic

[ladywithoutababy]

IVF Transfer #1: 25 weeks, 2 days pregnant

I’ve been wrestling with whether or not to post pregnancy updates here since I very much wanted this to stay a fertility blog and not a pregnancy blog, but some things have happened over the past few weeks that seem worth sharing. My goal from the beginning of this has always been to talk about what happens when you’re going through fertility treatments, to better prepare others for it (the way I wish I’d had a heads up), and it turns out that the fertility process doesn’t just end when your transferred embryo sticks.

I spent the entire first trimester terrified of a miscarriage, especially since I didn’t have any morning sickness. (I did have extreme fatigue, but that can be – as with everything else in this journey – either a sign that things are going well or that they’re going badly.) Once I got into the second trimester and my fatigue evaporated, I had constant anxiety that the baby was just going to be, I don’t know, gone the next time the doctors checked. I wasn’t showing, I didn’t have any symptoms, I couldn’t feel kicks or anything, and my brain started convincing me that it was more likely that all the other evidence had been wrong or staged in a conspiracy or something than that I’d actually managed to get pregnant.

Throughout this whole thing, everyone I knew was either having a baby, having a miscarriage, or going through their own fertility treatments. You start to feel like a crazy person – like once you’re in it it’s all you see and hear about, but no one else in the world seems to be noticing or acknowledging it. It didn’t help – I know this sounds stupid, but it’s true – that four women from Vanderpump Rules all got pregnant, too. I remember the first one (Stassi) got pregnant before I did, and I experienced her pregnancy announcement the same way I used to with all of them: it made me sad, and angry, and it made me feel personally attacked and hurt. I don’t know Stassi. I don’t know what she’s been through, you never do. But on social media, and especially with celebrities, it always seems like everyone else’s journey is so easy and so carefree. When the other three (within weeks of each other!) announced one after the other that they were all expecting, too, I was in my second trimester and felt like, ok, maybe this baby I’m having is real and I can just be happy for other people. But it was still hard. One of them (Brittany) announced her pregnancy at 11 weeks. ELEVEN! I’m 25 weeks and still haven’t announced mine publicly because I’m afraid of something going wrong. I can’t even imagine having that level of confidence, that everything is just going to work out okay. My point is, coming through IVF and infertility challenges, you never really shake off the fear, even when things seem like they’re all going well.

So you can imagine how it feels when things start to not go well.

I got brave enough to tell my coworkers about the pregnancy around 14 weeks (once I felt safely in the second trimester); it helped that I have a close coworker who’s also pregnant and we were able to do it together. But that was my first experience with telling anyone other than close friends and family, and I immediately felt like... a fraud. I don’t know. Everyone started telling me how happy they were for me and sending me pregnancy advice and asking what I’m going to do for maternity leave, and my instinct was to be like, guys, don’t worry, I’m not actually going to end up with a baby at the end of this.

We had our anatomy scan at 20 weeks (where they inspect every part of the baby through an ultrasound and let you know if everything looks normal), and on our way to the doctor’s office I was so nervous I almost threw up in the car. I still wasn’t feeling any kicks yet, which didn’t help (most people start feeling them around 18-19 weeks, some even earlier). It went great – the ultrasound tech kept telling us everything looked great, perfect, normal, and the doctor who I saw afterwards confirmed. But then I got a voicemail from her a couple days later saying she wanted to “discuss something from my scan”. It took about a day for me to get her back on the phone – probably one of the longest, most excruciating days of my life. I tried not to worry but also tried to prepare myself for bad news. It turned out that the issue was that they didn’t get a clear enough photo of his brain, which she reassured me was no reason to worry, there was no indication anything was wrong, they just needed to make SURE nothing was wrong. So of course I spent the week or two leading up to the follow-up anatomy scan convinced that something was wrong. And it turns out nothing was wrong. So that’s good.

I got a blood test measuring my AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein, idk) soon after, around 22.5 weeks; they’d told me I needed to take it before 23 weeks. When I went in for my next doctor’s appointment, I got my favorite midwife and was making small talk and jokes with her when she came into the room. She politely laughed at my jokes and then abruptly switched gears, saying “I want to cut to the chase.” She told me that my AFP had come back abnormally high and flagged positive for spina bifida, but also added that this test can often result in false positives, especially if you’re over 30 or if you get your blood test done too close to the end of the window. (Why, then, do they tell you you have until 23 weeks? I do not know.) I said ok, and I guess I didn’t seem upset enough, because she said “I need you to repeat back to me what you just heard.” And then I started crying, because that made it clear this was serious and potentially very bad information.

They referred me to a specialist (”where we send all the complicated cases,” they told me) for yet another anatomy scan, which I had yesterday. My husband and I had completely convinced ourselves that we were going to get confirmation of bad news, and I was back in the old crazy mindset of trying not to worry but also trying to prepare myself: for the news, for what this would mean for our lives, for our baby’s life. My midwife had made me promise her not to google anything, so I didn’t really have a clear picture of what this diagnosis would mean, but my imagination made up for it. Long story short, everything (including his spine) looked ok to the ultrasound tech and the specialist doctor. The doctor still seemed a little mystified by my high AFP (mine was 5-something, and anything over 2 or 3 apparently can be an indicator of a problem), and wasn’t willing to tell us that everything is definitely fine, but repeatedly and clearly stated that he wasn’t concerned. We’re going to go back to them in a month to make sure everything still looks normal.

If you get a high AFP blood test result, I guess you can be reassured by this stat I found:

For every 1000 pregnant women tested, about 50 may have abnormal test results. Of these 50, just 1 or 2 with high AFP levels have babies with problems.

So, I don’t know, that’s what we’ve been up to. I keep waiting to feel confident enough that this baby will be real before I make a big public announcement and let everyone know. It’s very different from how I always imagined, where as soon as you get a positive pregnancy test result, you start painting the nursery. (We’ve actually decided to not even start on the nursery until after the baby is born – they sleep in your bedroom for the first few months anyway! People are crazy!)

But. I’ve got a nice round belly at this point that makes things feel more real. I like that strangers can tell that I’m pregnant without me having to tell them. I’m also feeling kicks very regularly (it’s wild – just constant), and my husband can not only feel them from the outside at this point but as of yesterday can sometimes SEE them happening when my belly moves. We have a name picked out (!), although we never say it out loud or refer to the baby by it, I guess because we’re afraid of jinxing his existence. We’ve seen his face on ultrasounds a few times now, and he looks like he’s going to be cute (phew). I’ve started giving myself the very occasional luxury of actually picturing what he’ll be like, and what we’ll all be like together. I’m trying not to worry too much, and to be clear, when I’m not worried, I really, really like being pregnant and I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to even be in the position to get to worry.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this update in case someone else out there is feeling exhausted by the constant stream of scary unknowns, or feeling guilty about not being able to fully “enjoy” their pregnancy because they’re so worried all the time. I don’t have any advice if you’re feeling either of these things, just want you to know you’re not alone.

[marriedandttc]

A minor delay....

On Monday Stephen and I had our consultation with Dr. M, the same reproductive endocrinologist who did our first IVF cycle last year.

To begin, we went over all of the test results from the clinic we got a second opinion from. Our doctor was pleased to see Stephen’s test results and confirmed that his count was double what it had been the last time she tested, as well as improved motility (forward progression/movement). While it doesn’t change our outcome or treatment requirements, hopefully it’s a sign of better reproductive potential. This is the best that could have come from the surgery he had this summer, we are thrilled.

The other results also showed that my egg reserve is still great, a good sign that time is on our side should our struggles continue for years more. The other hormones tested all came back normal - so I have the green light there.

I do need to work on my slight anemia and minimally elevated thyroid levels. They aren’t high enough a primary care doctor would treat with medication, but it’s high enough that reproductive doctors would like it to be cut in half. So back on synthroid I go!

With all of this checking out there are a few things we needed to do before we move forward:

1) Infectious disease panel (both of us) - so we saddled on over to the lab and gave blood to get this done.

2) An SHG.

I had an SHG and mock embryo transfer done last year but they’re only good for one year. During a sonohysterogram a catheter/balloon is inserted through the cervix into the uterine cavity to allow the doctors to flush the uterus with a saline solution. While doing this they use a transvaginal ultrasound to get a look inside and inspect for any fibroids or polyps that could interfere with successful embryo implantation. (In case you can’t tell, it hurts like a bitch to have done).

We were my doctor’s last consultation of the day, and she knows we live a tad bit away from the clinic. So after asking for permission she fluttered around the office gathering supplies and assistants to do this procedure right away.

YAY: No waiting a few weeks to a month to get on the schedule!

NAY: No warning so no ability to prepare with copious amounts of ibuprofen prior to the procedure.

Eventually everything was ready and we went forward with the procedure. When I had this test done last year the doctor struggled with getting clear images and my extreme discomfort discouraged her from taking extra time digging into why. We got just enough information to move forward and called it a day.

This year we had the same issues and Dr. M took the opportunity to dig around and really delve deeper into the visuals she was seeing. It didn’t take her long to realize that my uterus has a blueprint of its own and does not lay like one would expect. (The photo here explains it as she did to me).

For a bit of a chuckle:

Normally you’d expect a uterus to lay in the body like the left fist. Thin at the bottom and blooming outward, just like the diagrams in health class! As the doctor began looking around inside she discovered that my uterus doesn’t quite want to play that game. Rather, it’s nearly completely twisted around. She stressed that it’s not uncommon to see a uterus laying ways different than ‘normal’ and confirmed it should have no effect on our fertility or my ability to carry a pregnancy. It simply makes imaging processes like the SHG a little more difficult. So, not only is my cervix tilted upwards abnormally, and one of my ovaries tucked up behind my uterus instead of flowing out, the uterus is sideways too.

After this discovery she was able to do some extra maneuvering of the tools to get better images, despite the odd angles they had to be taken from.

Unfortunately, these images showed a couple areas of concern. Next month I will be going in for an endoscopy procedure - this will allow a camera into the uterine cavity and get a true image of the inside of the uterus to ensure there is nothing present that would jeopardize the success of an IVF cycle.

It’s difficult to know exactly what she saw on the images - they could be fibroids, they could be endometrial polyps, it could be that some of the lining was dislodged during the poking and prodding during the positioning of the instruments. What we do know is that our doctor is confident that whatever she may, or may not, find she can treat appropriately.

(In her professional opinion she is inclined to believe that it was dislodged lining from the procedure, they aren’t typically so rough on the body. To back up this theory, I did pass three separate blood clots of various sizes the day following the procedure).

If the endoscopy comes back clear we have everything ready to begin IVF!

The clinic’s lab closes down for the year on Dec. 19 for yearly inspections, maintenance, cleaning, etc. With the endoscopy happening in December we will be looking at IVF in early 2019. 🤞🏻

Looking at the next cycle we know this

- Our clinic has implemented new protocols and practices according to the guidelines in place by organizations whose names I can never recall and they are seeing better fertilization rates and more blastocysts for couples across the board. These improvements should help us as well!

- With my egg reserve steady at a high level, and proof that my body responds well to stimulation, we will be doing our next protocol at a lower rate. Instead of starting at 250 of Gonal-F and slashing it down to 150 a few days in, we are going to start at 150 and hopefully have a more consistent and slow egg maturity process. Theoretically, this should result in higher quality eggs.

- I have to lose 10 lbs. 😂 Which is exactly what she told me last time, I swear she just loves throwing out numbers to stress me out. Regardless, when following my bariatric meal plan that will be easily managed by 2019.

- We cannot apply for the financing we’d like any more than 30 days in advance. For now we focus on paying down any debts we currently have to make the best case for approval.

Only a few things stand between us and hopefully bringing a baby Russell earthside by the end of 2019.

For now, we are focused on preparing for the endoscopy next month. Hopefully it comes back clear like the doctor hopes and we can continue moving forward. 🤞🏻

#Cycle 47