Embryo Transfer

First off, let me start by saying that my heart has been with my entire family today. I cannot stop thinking about my niece Kimberly. Such a tragic loss to our family. I considered canceling the transfer today, but the doctor said it's not an option, it's now or never. I know Kim was with me in that room today, my thoughts and prayers are with her.

The transfer went picture perfect. We had 5 embryos which made for a very tough decision. I knew going in there today, that freezing any for future use was not an option for me. I cannot go through this process one more time. It is just too emotional and stressful.

That said, we made the difficult decision to transfer 4 embryos. 3 were grade A and 1 was grade B. Below is the ultrasound where you can see them circled in red, and pics of the little kiddos before they were transferred! 

The one we chose not to transfer was a grade C. I really only wanted to transfer 3 as we have done in the past, but if that didn't work, I don't want to ever question why I didn't put that fourth one in since it was good quality.

Now it is time for me to rest and be with my family. Please pray for us over the coming weeks as these babies snuggle in for the long haul!

Fertilization Report

Finally some good news to report. . . . 
ALL 5 ARE GRADE A!

I have a new transfer time tomorrow, I'll be having acupuncture at 10:30 and my transfer will be from 11:30-1:30. Then I will come home and rest and have acupuncture again tomorrow afternoon. We just have to pray that they continue to do well over the next 24-hours!

I am thankful to Jeremy's parents for taking Carson for me this weekend so I could rest up before the big day tomorrow, I've missed him so much and am really looking forward to seeing him today.

I'll update you all tomorrow.

Fertilization Report

Dr. Olive just called me to tell me 5 of the 8 have fertilized. Again we were hoping for a few more, but 5 is still okay. We going to be doing a Tuesday embryo transfer at 8:30 a.m.

I will get another call tomorrow to tell me how the "kids" are doing. I pray that they all continue to do well until then!

Now for me, back to bed, I'm a hurting unit!

Home from the Egg Retrieval

The Retrieval went well and I'm very glad that part is over. They were able to get 8 eggs, we'll find out tomorrow how many fertilized, the waiting is killing me! We were really hoping they'd get 11 eggs, but no such luck, some of them were just too small, so we were a little disappointed with the number.

Now we will just cross our fingers for good quality and that most of them fertilize! I'll know more tomorrow about how they are growing and when the embryo transfer will be, most likely Monday or Tuesday.

Going to acupuncture later for some pain relief and then back home to bed. I am happy to report I feel better today that I have during my past IVF's, so that's the good news.

Thanks for your support on here and through emails!

Egg Retrieval is scheduled!

Finally, I am so excited to be done with the first part of this IVF cycle. The egg retrieval will be on Saturday morning. Tonight at exactly 11 p.m. I am to take two injections of Ovidrel to prepare my body for the retrieval.

Today's doctor visit went really well! My estrogen is at 1177, progesterone at 1.03, and below are the sizes of my follicles:

Left side: 19, 19, 18, 17, 14, 14, 13, 11
Right side: 17, 16, 15

Saturday morning I will start to take Doxycycline (2x per day), Estrace (3x per day) and progesterone (2 shots per day). I believe the retrieval will be around 9:15 in the morning. The entire process will take a couple hours and then I will be released to come home and rest, followed by an acupuncture appointment in the early evening to help reduce some of the pain.

After the eggs have been retrieved, they will be immediately fertilized through a method called ICSI by an embryologist. Over the next few days as the embryos grow we will get daily updates on how they are growing and expanding. Since we don't have as many eggs this time, we will likely do a day 2 or day 3 transfer on Monday or Tuesday.

I'll let you all know how things turn out on Saturday. Until then, please say a few prayers for us!

Slowly but surely. . . it will happen!

Had my appointment this morning. The doctor said that today's the day for the trigger and Friday will be the retrieval. Then I got a call at lunch that they've changed their minds and I will need to continue my meds for one more day and return for another ultrasound and blood draw tomorrow (Thursday). The plan is now to trigger on Thursday and have the egg retrieval on Saturday. This will give the smaller follicles one more chance to get caught up to the others. Let's hope the plan doesn't change again :)

Today's visit went well, my estrogen is at 947 and progesterone is at .92. Below are the follicle sizes that were measured today:

Left side: 16, 16, 15, 15, 14, 13, 12, 12
Right side: 18, 15, 12

Again, they prefer them to be around 18 mm at the time of trigger, so they may not all be mature enough or contain an egg.

Holding my breath that tomorrow I get the thumbs up for an egg retrieval on Saturday!

Almost There!

Today's appointment went well. My estrogen is up to 533 and my lining looks good. She didn't measure it, but she said she likes for it to be over 7 at the time of the embryo transfer, so we'll see! Below are the sizes of the follicles I have growing:

Left side:      14, 14, 13, 12, 11 and 9
Right side:   12 and 9

The goal is to do the egg retrieval when the follicles are large enough to produce a mature egg. They prefer to do the trigger shots of Ovidrel when the follicle has reached 18-20 mm. They are assuming that day will be on Wednesday or Thursday since the average follicle grows 1-2 mm per day. I have another appointment on Wednesday to see if they've reached the proper size. When they are large enough, the clinic will call me with an exact time to take the 2 injections of Ovidrel. And then the egg retrieval will be 36 hours later.

Here's to hoping the week flies by for me!! More from me in a few days. . .