We got 2 more embryos to freeze out of the remaining 5, for a total of 8 genetically perfect embryos! (One even made it to Grade 1 before being frozen.) I have the CGH results, and the embryo report, but not the report that combines the two, so I don't know the exact breakdown of how many were expanded blasts, etc.
But we're thrilled to have 8 from this cycle (we had 3 from the first cycle, and will be transferring the last one a week from Friday). Very very glad we did a second cycle with our donor - I'd be hugely stressed about using the last embryo from cycle #1 otherwise. And the timing has worked out perfectly.
Doing my estradiol valerate twice weekly, and I go in on Sunday for an ultrasound to check lining. Then I'll start progesterone and Lovenox, for FET on April 6!
My husband and I started trying to have a baby in 2007. We ended up doing 5 rounds of IVF with our own eggs, miscarrying twice due to chromosomal abnormalities, and then moved to donor eggs. Our son was born in 2012. After two unexplained miscarriages trying for a sibling, we found a gestational surrogate, who carried our second son (2015) and our daughter (2018).
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Good news
We've had a rash of good news since the last post:
1) My progesterone was 0.0 at my CD3 testing, so the FET date moved up a week, to April 6!
2) We have a credit from previous cycles, so we don't owe anything for this FET.
3) We got our CGH results today. They ended up testing 18 embryos (one latecomer). 11 (!!) came back genetically normal, vs. 5 of 12 last time. Of the 11, 6 have been frozen - they're Grade 2, which means they're good quality. The other 5 are still being watched - 2 are further behind, but 3 are morulas/early blastocysts, so our RE thinks we may get 2-3 additional embryos to freeze. We'll find out on Saturday. Amazing.
I'm not one to count chickens (says the girl who has no baby and isn't pregnant after 7 IVF cycles and 5 transfers), but it's hugely reassuring to have a stockpile of embryos.
The past two days have been spring-like weather, and it's given me a big mood boost. And for some unknown but fortunate reason, my sex drive is back and better than ever. So we're doing pretty well over here.
1) My progesterone was 0.0 at my CD3 testing, so the FET date moved up a week, to April 6!
2) We have a credit from previous cycles, so we don't owe anything for this FET.
3) We got our CGH results today. They ended up testing 18 embryos (one latecomer). 11 (!!) came back genetically normal, vs. 5 of 12 last time. Of the 11, 6 have been frozen - they're Grade 2, which means they're good quality. The other 5 are still being watched - 2 are further behind, but 3 are morulas/early blastocysts, so our RE thinks we may get 2-3 additional embryos to freeze. We'll find out on Saturday. Amazing.
I'm not one to count chickens (says the girl who has no baby and isn't pregnant after 7 IVF cycles and 5 transfers), but it's hugely reassuring to have a stockpile of embryos.
The past two days have been spring-like weather, and it's given me a big mood boost. And for some unknown but fortunate reason, my sex drive is back and better than ever. So we're doing pretty well over here.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
And we keep moving forward
Tuesday morning I went to the RE to have blood drawn for a repeat immunology workup. We got the results on Friday, and while my natural killer cell levels are normal, my TH1:TH2 ratios are slightly elevated. I'll go in for an Intralipid this week, and then have another one before the next FET.
Saturday my period started, so I now have a calendar for our next FET, which is currently scheduled for 4/13. I'm going in tomorrow morning for estradiol/CBC/progesterone levels and an ultrasound. If progesterone is low enough, the FET could be moved up a week, to 4/6 or so.
Initially the nurse said I'd go on birth control pills for 2-3 weeks, but that wasn't consistent with what the doctor had told us in previous conversations, so I traded emails with him and we settled on this potentially extended prep phase. Still saves us at least a week, and if the progesterone level is low tomorrow, we'll save two.
Saturday was also retrieval day for our donor. They'd been tracking 24 follicles, but retrieved 30 eggs. We got the call today that 24 of the eggs were mature, and 17 fertilized normally! Last time we had 12 fertilize normally (of 16 mature). We'll be doing CGH - so our next update will be how many make it to biopsy. (Last time all 12 made it to biopsy and Day 5.)
Saturday my period started, so I now have a calendar for our next FET, which is currently scheduled for 4/13. I'm going in tomorrow morning for estradiol/CBC/progesterone levels and an ultrasound. If progesterone is low enough, the FET could be moved up a week, to 4/6 or so.
Initially the nurse said I'd go on birth control pills for 2-3 weeks, but that wasn't consistent with what the doctor had told us in previous conversations, so I traded emails with him and we settled on this potentially extended prep phase. Still saves us at least a week, and if the progesterone level is low tomorrow, we'll save two.
Saturday was also retrieval day for our donor. They'd been tracking 24 follicles, but retrieved 30 eggs. We got the call today that 24 of the eggs were mature, and 17 fertilized normally! Last time we had 12 fertilize normally (of 16 mature). We'll be doing CGH - so our next update will be how many make it to biopsy. (Last time all 12 made it to biopsy and Day 5.)
Monday, March 12, 2012
Yet another BFN
Sorry for the delayed post - we spent all weekend with family, so I didn't have time to blog...
I did end up POASing yesterday (Sunday) morning, right before I drove to my RE's clinic to have my blood drawn for my beta. Stark white. No sign of a second line. Sigh.
The blooddraw confirmed a negative.
That's two genetically perfect embryos that failed to implant.
By now I'm quite uncompromising at ignoring any symptoms, since I know they're equally likely to be caused by progesterone as a pregnancy. In hindsight, I had fewer twinges than the previous BFN cycle, and no nausea (also compared to the previous BFN). I have yet to identify any symptom that's specific to the two cycles when I did get pregnant, apart from super vivid dreams; however, I don't remember when those dreams started and it may not have been in the 2ww.
I've asked my RE to redo my immunology workup (we do this every few months anyway) to confirm my immune activity is quiet before we go into the next FET. Blooddraw is tomorrow morning. I'll wait for CD1 and then we'll immediately go into the FET with the last embryo from the first donor cycle. That's the saving grace with these cycles - quick turnaround in between.
Meanwhile, my donor arrives in town today and her retrieval (for her second cycle with us) will likely be later this week, so I'll start getting updates about her counts really soon. The timing works out well - we'll know how many genetically perfect embryos we get from this cycle before we transfer the last embryo from the first cycle, and hopefully that'll be reassuring.
Would sure be nice for one of these embryos to stick - it's so hard to know that everything worked except the one part my body has to be involved in.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, thanks for all the twitter love yesterday. I had to ignore Twitter for most of the day since I was hosting family, but every once in awhile I'd peek at my @ comments and appreciated the support.
I did end up POASing yesterday (Sunday) morning, right before I drove to my RE's clinic to have my blood drawn for my beta. Stark white. No sign of a second line. Sigh.
The blooddraw confirmed a negative.
That's two genetically perfect embryos that failed to implant.
By now I'm quite uncompromising at ignoring any symptoms, since I know they're equally likely to be caused by progesterone as a pregnancy. In hindsight, I had fewer twinges than the previous BFN cycle, and no nausea (also compared to the previous BFN). I have yet to identify any symptom that's specific to the two cycles when I did get pregnant, apart from super vivid dreams; however, I don't remember when those dreams started and it may not have been in the 2ww.
I've asked my RE to redo my immunology workup (we do this every few months anyway) to confirm my immune activity is quiet before we go into the next FET. Blooddraw is tomorrow morning. I'll wait for CD1 and then we'll immediately go into the FET with the last embryo from the first donor cycle. That's the saving grace with these cycles - quick turnaround in between.
Meanwhile, my donor arrives in town today and her retrieval (for her second cycle with us) will likely be later this week, so I'll start getting updates about her counts really soon. The timing works out well - we'll know how many genetically perfect embryos we get from this cycle before we transfer the last embryo from the first cycle, and hopefully that'll be reassuring.
Would sure be nice for one of these embryos to stick - it's so hard to know that everything worked except the one part my body has to be involved in.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, thanks for all the twitter love yesterday. I had to ignore Twitter for most of the day since I was hosting family, but every once in awhile I'd peek at my @ comments and appreciated the support.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
FET #1
Wow. I didn't realize I hadn't posted in over a month! Sorry about that... I've been pretty disconnected from the online IF community while prepping for this FET.
Which happened this morning. We transferred one female grade 6AB fully hatched genetically perfect embryo.
Transfer was easy. I've finally (on transfer #5) figured out how much water to drink to fulfill the requirement of having a "full" bladder without making myself miserable. Turns out it's 1/3 of a bottle of water.
I'm on the couch, where I've been all afternoon, and get to start puttering around tomorrow.
Since the embryo is fully hatched, implantation would be tonight or tomorrow morning, but my beta is still 10 days away on Sunday, March 11. Which happens to be a weekend we're spending entirely with family... (none of whom know we're in cycle - we stopped telling people those sorts of details after miscarriage #2). So for the first time, I'm seriously considering POAS on Friday the 9th. We'll see...
Our donor arrives in town in two weeks for her second cycle - so right after I find out if this one worked, we'll have the rollercoaster of following her numbers too.
It's hard to think that this could work - it's been so long since we've had good news. At least I know to completely ignore symptoms or the lack thereof.
Which happened this morning. We transferred one female grade 6AB fully hatched genetically perfect embryo.
Transfer was easy. I've finally (on transfer #5) figured out how much water to drink to fulfill the requirement of having a "full" bladder without making myself miserable. Turns out it's 1/3 of a bottle of water.
I'm on the couch, where I've been all afternoon, and get to start puttering around tomorrow.
Since the embryo is fully hatched, implantation would be tonight or tomorrow morning, but my beta is still 10 days away on Sunday, March 11. Which happens to be a weekend we're spending entirely with family... (none of whom know we're in cycle - we stopped telling people those sorts of details after miscarriage #2). So for the first time, I'm seriously considering POAS on Friday the 9th. We'll see...
Our donor arrives in town in two weeks for her second cycle - so right after I find out if this one worked, we'll have the rollercoaster of following her numbers too.
It's hard to think that this could work - it's been so long since we've had good news. At least I know to completely ignore symptoms or the lack thereof.
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