What's going on inside (hopefully!)

I saw this in someone else's blog and stole it for mine. It's pretty cool to see what should be going on in there. So let's hope it is and the little ones are hatching out of their shells!


HPT5-DAY TRANSFER:

-1dpt: Embryo is growing and developing

0dpt: Embryo is now a blastocyst

1dpt: Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day

2dpt: Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining

3dpt: Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining

4dpt: Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining

5dpt: Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells

6dpt: Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood

7dpt: More HCG is produced as fetus develops

8dpt: More HCG is produced as fetus develops

9dpt: HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on HPT (Beta day!)


9dpt is beta day which I share 2 other local girls - I think that's a pretty good sign!

Embryo Transfer - Check!

OMG, we were so nervous going in this morning. How many of the 6 were still growing? Was there any fragmentation? And on, and on... DH and I took a bet on how many we thought would still be alive for transfer. DH guessed 4 and I guessed 2.

When we got there and they had us go in and get undressed and in the lovely gowns and hats - so sexy! Took my blood pressure, drew blood for progesterone testing, popped the valium, and a few other things. All the while, I just kept trying to convince myself - they wouldn't have me doing all this if there weren't any to transfer, right? I just hope there's at least one!

So finally the doctor comes in and tells us that only 2 of the 6 had survived (I won!) and both were blasts. So that was exciting - better than 0 or 1, right?! lol There is definitely some fragmentation, but what can you do - it's been that way for the past 2 cycles as well and I know girls who have gotten pregnant with fragmented embies, so we'll go with that. And to quote the doctor: "They're not going to win any beauty pageants, but I've seen girls get pregnant with embryos that had more fragmentation that these!" lol

So, for the rest of the weekend, I'm not on bedrest, but I am confined to taking it easy and staying around the house, so I'm going to call it my 2 day house arrest. ;-) After that, just taking it easy, continuing the Lovenox and PIO, no exercise or lifting anything even remotely heavy, etc...

So this weekend will be filled with cheesy TV, DVR'd items, movies, etc... Not too bad - a chance to be lazy without the guilt! lol

And finally, here's are a couple pics of our two blasts - our lovely stuffed mushrooms!

Now stick around little embies, stick around - we love you already!

Tomorrow's the big day!

Aaaaaaah! Yay!

And tonight we are having date night with dinner and then going to go see Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. We've heard it's pretty good. Anyone seen it?

OK - back to the nervous excitement - yaaaaaaay! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fert Report!

And the winner is?

Amy C! She guessed 7 retrieved and 6 mature. She was very, very close! We had 7 retrieved and 7 mature - with 6 fertilized! Great guess!

Most of you know this already since I posted yesterday on the boards, but couldn't get on here since I didn't have my own laptop and didn't want this blog to show up on the computer I was using.

But yay! I was so nervous waiting for that call. I figured with the percentages we had in the past (10 retrieved, 4 mature, 3 fertilized), it wasn't looking like good odds with only 7 being retrieved.

But, as everyone has said, it's more about quality than quantity. And, while I knew it was true, I was just hoping for a bit more quantity just in case the quality wasn't there lol. But, so far, it looks like the meds really have helped with the quantity.

With that news, we were told we have been pushed out to our first ever 5dt! So now I just continue on the Lovenox and PIO (they're not having me do Estrace this time) and wait until Saturday. They also decided to not have me do the HCG boosters until I am actually pregnant. Different than the original protocol, but I guess I'll do what they say. Wondering why I had to order them so early if there was a potential I wasn't going to use them. Odd.

But, anyway - we have our fingers crossed and can't wait for Saturday morning. We have to be there at 8:00 in the morning and then, based on how the embies are doing, we'll decide how many we transfer.

Thank you to everyone for all of their well-wishes. It truly means so much to both of us!

Transfer Day!

So, this morning was our embryo transfer. As I mentioned in previous posts, when they called Tuesday morning they said 3 out of the 4 had fertilized. So this morning, we were curious how many we'd have for our transfer today. DH was thinking 4, I was thinking 3. Well, neither of us was exactly quite right! haha

We still had 3, but one of them wasn't looking so hot anymore and they couldn't really tell if it was dividing any more or it was just hiding the other cells where the microscope couldn't see. I'm thinking it stopped dividing, but I'm no doctor! So we have at least 2 that did look good, and one, not so good. We decided to go for it and put all three back - figured it couldn't hurt!

Here's a picture of them (aren't they cute?!). I'll try and take a better one later, but at least it's a start. DH calls them stuffed mushrooms - and they do kind of look like that, don't they?! haha So from the picture, you can see the one that we're thinking really isn't doing well...

The transfer today actually took longer and hurt more than last time. Not sure why, but it did. Not a lot, but the speculum hurt/was uncomfortable, putting the catheter into my cervix caused some cramping, etc... Nothing was unbearable, but it was definitely more noticeable than last time. I guess I'll take it as a sign since last time didn't work?! lol

OK, guess that's it for now. My mom called last night and today to wish us luck. I am so happy I finally told her - she has been so supportive. She even offered to take time off of work should I ever need it and DH can't drive me or go with me. How sweet is that?!

I took other pics of the retrieval and transfer that I'll try and post later, but for now, I'm off to take a nap. And then bake some cookies - you want any? ;-)

Follie Check #3 - Trigger tomorrow, Weekend Plans

Six. That's it. That's all the measurable eggs that I have. WTF? Leftie is doing ok and has grown them well, but righty has basically done nothing. Still. Here are my numbers from today's u/s:

Leftie:
20.7
18.9
18.5
18.5
17.8

Rightie:
12.2

Pretty pathetic, eh? This is even worse than last time in a way - fewer measurable eggs. But, at least it looks like there will be at least 5 good mature (hopefully!) eggs come Monday at the retrieval (only had 4 mature last time). And you know what's funny? It's the sad little Rightie that I feel the most - go figure. I will cross my fingers that the one on Rightie catches up, but I seriously doubt it. So it's looking like we'll end up with just a few embies again this time and none for freeze.

So let's hope this one works!

OK, here's my protocol for the next few days:

Tonight: no change - 150 iu Follistim, 5 iu Lupron
Tomorrow: Trigger (Ovidrel) at 10:30 pm, no Follistim or Lupron
Sunday: no injections! No baby aspirin. No food/beverage after midnight
Monday: ER at 10:00 am
Thursday: potential ET

It's actually pretty good that I won't be doing stims tomorrow night because I am going to an Upstate NY Nestie get-together and I don't want to worry about making it back into town in time or having to lug them around with me all day in a cooler! lol

I'm actually looking forward to the GTG - I've been chatting with these girls from all over the state for a while now and we finally get to meet! I've gone to some local Nestie GTG's and a few of us are carpooling over together, but meeting some of the others from Upstate NY should be fun. We are going to the Finger Lakes area - having lunch and then going on a boat cruise. Ooh, gotta remember my camera!

I'm also officially on vacation until September 2nd - yay for me! We were planning on going north to the Adirondacks to my parents' house and then to hop over and see my sister/nephew, but now that we have to go to Syracuse on Monday and Thursday, it wouldn't make any sense to to go - too much driving in very opposite directions lol Oh well - so is the way with all of our vaca plans this year, but baby comes first!

Hope you all of you are doing well - have any plans for the weekend?

7dp3dt

Well - it's officially been a week since our ET and we are figuring our little embabies are about 4,096 cells now? Does that make sense? They were 16 celled on the day of the ET and should be doubling every day, right? Or do I have that wrong? haha So one week of the 2WW has come and gone and we are now just waiting patiently for our beta on Friday.

We were happy to be away last week (see below) because it kept us busy and helped to keep our mind off things - we even chatted with friends of ours who tried for almost two years before finally being pregnant - so it was nice to be able to tell someone in real life.

But, despite how busy we tried to keep ourselves, you can bet any amount of money you want that it still hasn't stopped us/me from reading into every little thing - both positive and negative. For example - every time I feel a cramp or something in the area of my uterus I think - ooh, maybe it's the babies! Although sometimes I'm like crap - pregnancy and period signs are so similar - maybe it's just my period coming - or maybe it's the meds causing it.

Or with my boobs - they still hurt, but not as much - so I think well, maybe this didn't work. But then I remind myself, not everyone has the same symptoms - and plus, there's still time for them to hurt again!

So I don't know - we just have our fingers crossed that everything is pointing in the direction of a BFP this Friday. If it doesn't work, we'll start again with cycle #2, but now we're trying to stay relatively positive. I talk to them a lot, rub my lower abdomen, and every night and morning we make sure to kiss my uterus area three times - one for each little embaby.

If anyone wants to see, I took a picture of the picture they gave us of our little embabies on the day of the ET - aren't they beautiful?!






I think they are beautiful, but I may be a little biased. Wish us luck!

ET - The Rest of the Story

So yesterday started out exciting and nerve-wracking, and turned into sheer excitement and a different form of nervousness!

It was a very early morning - the appointment was 2 hours away at 8:45, so we had to get up early so we could leave by 6:30. But, we also had to drop of DH's car to get fixed (which didn't end up happening) and get gas. So we got a little bit of a late start. Nothing too bad.

The ride there was different thant he ride for the ER. No matter how much I told myself it would turn out fine, I was still pretty nervous that we'd get there and the embies would no longer be dividing and the third would have never amounted to anything. The trip was a lot quieter - but then again, that may also have been due to it being a much earlier trip!

For the ET you are not allowed to empty your bladder about 30 mins prior to the procedure to provide a better view of the uterus for the doctor. Let's just say, that's not really the easiest. Especially since I had to take a Valium when I got there - more water!

We got there with about 2 minutes to spare. Unlike last time, we no longer sat down than they called our name - it was our turn! They had Tom once again get into his cute little yellow outfit and then me, mine. Once we were dressed they brought us into the room - different this time - no stirrups, no anesthesia, nothing like the last procedure. They pretty much just drew some blood to check my progesterone level and in came the doctor - with the news.

He showed me a picture of our embies - THREE beautiful, perfect, 16 celled embryos! Not only did the original two keep dividing, but the third one caught right up!

Once I found out we had embies to transfer, I was good to go. The doctor even wanted in on the pics we were taking lol

He came in, walked through what was going to happen and then turned out the lights. He is very into "new-agey", holistic and easter medicine. So he spent some time with us all holding hands over my uterus (I told you! haha) talking about just relaxing, imagining positive thoughts and allowing in the good energy for the earth. It was hard not to laugh, but at least I got to relax a little before the procedure started.

Doctor goes out to grab the embies and comes back with a big needle and a nurse. Confirms just one more time who I am to make sure they're ours and then I'm off and scooting down the table! The wonderful scapula is inserted, ultrasound machine is turned on and goop is spread on my belly. The next phase happened so fast you could have blinked and missed it!

He presses the u/s wand on my belly, insert the needle, I feel a whoosh of liquid and done! That's it! I could see the 3 little embabies on the screen - it was really cool! I kind of wished he had left it on longer for us to see and take a picture of, but at least I got to see it!

That was it. Literally. There was no pain AT ALL and it was over in a flash. Such an amazing science that just seems so simple on the outside. They had us lay there in the dark for about 15-20 minutes and then we were ready to go!

There is a Healing Arts building next door so they were telling us about the acupuncture they offer for after IVF Transfers. I wasn't really all that interested despite hearing a lot of girls on the Nest talk about it, but DH urged me to give it a try. His theory was - anything we can do to help make this work, do it!

So I went in, they brought me right into the room and stuck me with the needles - you could barely feel it. By the time he took them out my two pinkies and left lower leg/foot were numb, which was weird, but the feeling eventually went away.

After that, we just drove home and took a nap (so tired!). Took the kitty in for yet another vet appointment where the vet is still stumped. They drew blook and off we went. He's actually held down food for the last couple todays and today is looking good so far as well. Hopefully it stays that way!

Pretty much just spent the rest of the night playing it low-key and met a friend for ice cream to talk about the procedure. She is so excited and supportive about it all - it's so cool, I love it!

OK, guess that's it for the ET. We are so excited that there are three potential embabies growing in my uterus right now. It's so amazing and DH is taking such great care of me - making sure I take it easy and don't lift anything too heavy. He even kissed my belly three times last night to say goodnight to each one!

ET a success!

Hey there! The ET today was amazing - I am working on downloading pics from the day and will post more later once I get them all loaded and the day summarized. Let's just say we are over the moon!

ET Tomorrow!

Just wanted to pop in before going to bed. Our Embryo Transfer (ET) is tomorrow morning - can you believe it! We are just so excited! DH is upset with me for being up so late - he thinks I should have been in bed a couple of hours ago - I love how he so into this and wants to take care of me. So sweet, isn't it?!

OK - I'm off to bed - I'll be dreaming of my 2.5 embabies growing in their little dish in Syracuse. Can't wait to see you tomorrow and take you home. Sweet dreams!

Feeling Much Better

So I freaked out a little yesterday. But I just had such a hard time believing that there were only four mature eggs - I still do. If this round doesn't work, there will be a lot of questions asked at the WTF appointment. DH and I both discussed that if, for some reason, this round doesn't work, we'll definitely try a second round.

In all honesty, this really hasn't been as tough as I thought. Sure, it's kind of uncomfortable when I'm "full" of eggs, and sometimes I feel like I could just cry/scream, but really, it's all been pretty manageable. I could definitely do it again. It would be a whole lot easier if my insurance covered it all instead of paying out-of-pocket, but we'd definitely do it again.

But for now, I'm not thinking about next cycle. I'm thinking about this one. That we're still in the game. I called the RE's office this morning and the answering service had someone called me back. We discussed my concerns about only having two and that they might die between yesterday and Monday. And that we have to drive two hours just to get there. That if there was any way to find out how they're doing or to call us before we leave to save the drive if, in case, none of our little embies were still living.

She assured me (sort of!) that they should still be ok for Monday and to still come out. They don't check them again until about 8:00 Monday morning. She said that they gave us an early appointment for that reason and said that there was one girl who had an 11:15 appointment that is also driving and they told her to call first because hers didn't look that good. They didn't tell us that, so to just come on out.

I'm not sure how much I believe that if they were good yesterday, they'll still be good by Monday, but I guess I just have to put my faith in the RE's hands. And if we end up making a two hour trip for no reason, then we'll just have to deal with that when the time comes.

So, like I said, I'm trying to be positive right now. It's a lot easier than yesterday after hearing the news. That was NOT a good time. But, DH and I talked about it, we spent the afternoon out on the boat and went to see some 4th of July fireworks last night in a town where he used to live. And yup, I know it's a week early - they always do them early since we live in the capital of NYS and they always have a huge display on 4th, so they do it early so as to not compete. So much easier to go see these - not nearly as many people!

Although - there were definitely some characters there last night. I think I have seen my share of mullets, liquor/NASCAR/Harley t-shirts, women without bras that should NOT be without a bra, and feathered/hairsprayed hair to last me the rest of the year. It definitely made for some good people watching before the fireworks started! That, and I got my fried dough - yum!

Today we have some errands to do - I've finally updated my ER entry (below), I have to get new tires on my car, clean the house, make some bread, make some cookies, and pack for tomorrow.

I also made a vet appointment for Riley for tomorrow after we get back since he is STILL vomiting and has now scratched himself raw above his scapula. We were going to leave for Rochester right after the RE appointment since it's only 1-1.5 hours further, but we couldn't bring the cat with us and leave him in the car. And we wanted to get him into the vet once again. So we'll probably head out Tuesday morning to Rochester instead.

I hope whomever is reading this has a great day - and thanks for reading!

I Can't Button My Pants!

Yikes! I always knew bloat came with the territory for trigger/ER/ET, but I guess I just never let it sink it that it would happen this early. So I'm sitting here at work with my pants unbutton, sore boobs, tired, and patiently counting the hours until I can leave! I have tomorrow and all of next week off, so I can't wait to just not have to be at work, let alone the anticipation of the ER and ET!

And oh yeah - I can definitely still feel those ovaries in there - keep on chugging!

Stim Ck #3 - It's a go!

The ER is a go for Friday! At 11:15 am to be precise. They re-measured today and everything looks awesome. And I knew going into this that were were some positive growth in there - it is even more uncomfortable now - I can feel them all the time - and standing up/walking can be downright painful! haha

But, here are the updated measurements:

Left Ovary:
22.0
20.6
20.0
17.4
15.3
12.4

Right Ovary:
20.6
18.7
17.3
16.3
15.6
12.0
11.8

So not too many in the 18-22 range yet, but hopefully a few more will sneak in that range by Friday when they take them all out. So here's my protocol for the next few days:

Tonight: no stims, no Lupron, no aspirin (which I've been taking to thin blood to prevent clotting, etc...). Trigger the follicle release with Ovidrel injection at 11:45 pm. They retrieve the eggs 36 horus after the trigger, so that's why so late at night. Just hope I can stay up that late - I've been pretty tired lately.

Tomorrow: shot free day! Just no food/liquids after midnight

Friday: drive to Syracuse for the ER. Still no food. Also, no jewelry, watches, nail polish, contacts, anything that smells, wear comfy clothes

• DH gives his fresh sample and they inject into the good eggs. Speaking of which, I'm happy I confirmed with them today that his frozen samples would be sent to Syracuse. They hadn't yet! So they will be personally driven to Syracuse with the doctor today. Phew!

Saturday: they call with the fertilization report

Sunday - Wednesday: sometime in here, assuming we still having living embro's, they will transfer some back in!

OMG I am so frickin' excited. Nervous and excited. I am excited to get this show on the road and to get me pregnant (hopefully!). But I'm also nervous something may go wrong. That None of the eggs will be good. That in all of the samples that DH has given (Friday's fresh or past frozen) that none of the sperm acan be used. That none of them fertilize. That none of them make it to transfer. Or that if they do, none stick or I miscarry.

Ugh. I just need to keep being positive. I know I have to keep some of the reality thoughts in there that something may go wrong so it's not a huge crash if it does, but for my own sanity right now, I need to keep thinking positive thoughts, so wish us luck! POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

And if they don't, in the amazing words of my husband last night when we were talking about this: If this cycle, or none of our future cycles work, we will always have each other. And that's something I will always cherish.

I love my husband so much!

Stim Check #1!

So I had my first stim check this morning and it went awesomely! Is that a word? Eh - I'm going with it ;-)

I don't have any exact numbers yet, but the uterus lining looks good and it looked like I had about 14-16 follicles growing in there! Now I just hope they keep growing and we get some good mature ones out of that bunch! We didn't measure them today, but will next week. We're hoping for 18-22 mm and then we'll trigger. Based on what we saw today, it's looking like my egg retrieval (ER) will be a week from today. NEXT FRIDAY! Can you believe it!

They took more bloodwork this time, so I'm curious what my P2/P4 levels will come out to be. Based on the bloodwork from last time, my hypothroidism is getting better! My numbers aren't perfect, by my TSH went down from a 6.7 back on 5/13 (I think?) to about a 3.something this time. Typically you want it around the 1-2.5 range if I remember correctly, so I'm getting there. Not perfect, but my thyroid is at least functioning at a higher level now which is good. Need the levels in the right place to support a pregnancy and for brain development.

While I was there I made another appointment for DH to deposit another sample to freeze. Now that I'm growing all these eggs, we need to make sure he's got enough sperm! Based on his low count (morph and motility don't really matter with IVF) he's been giving them a sample every few days to freeze as backups in case his day-of sample doesn't have enough. It wouldn't be good to have lots of mature eggs to fertilize, but no sperm to inject! He's been a real trooper about it, too. (I don't think I've ever used that word, but it seems to fit! haha). His first SA he was really nervous to give, but now he's definitely gotten used to it. Just goes in, does his business, drops it off, and out the door he goes!

I go back in on Monday and Wednesday again for more checks. Based on those, they'll have a better idea of how things are progressing and when the ER and ET (embryo transfer) will be. We want them to grow, but not too fast - we want them to be good quality, not necessarily just good quantity! So, here's to hoping for good progress over the weekend!

I shot myself!

Today is Lupron day #7. DH is out of town this weekend for a friend's wedding and I'm here with kitty. He usually does my injections, but since he's out of town, it was all me. And I have to say, it was no problem at all - I did a good job! lol

I started spotting today, so that generally means I should be getting my period tomorrow, making tomorrow Cycle Day 1. So that means on Cycle Day 3 I need to go into the RE's office for an ultrasound to see if I am sufficiently suppressed - well, if my ovaries are anyway! ;-) And if they are, then I get to start Bravelle which will stimulate my ovaries to (hopefully!) produce lots and lots of eggs/follicles. While I'm Bravelle, I'll stay on Lupron to make sure my ovaries stay sufficiently suppressed so they don't ovulate on my own and we lose all the eggs I'll produce. I'll be monitored every 1-2 days to make sure they're growing ok and nothing is going wrong. And then once they're the right size (18mm+) they'll remove the eggs, fertilize them with DH's sperm through Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) - meaning they'll inject a single sperm directly into an egg to increase the odds of fertilization. Then, 3-5 days later, they'll put a couple fertilized embryos back in!

For a quick kitty update. As of yesterday and today, kitty can't keep anything down, so I called the vet and they made an appt. for tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be ok!