The day of Transfer is exactly a month from today!
Yesterday, I spent all day making calls and leaving messages because I was afraid that I wasn't going to get my meds that I needed to start today on time. It was finally determined that my health insurance company was holding things up by not authorizing the meds in time. Thankfully, the nurses that my Dr.'s office got it all sorted out. My meds will arrive on Monday but for the weekend the nurses were able to supply me with enough for the weekend. So nice!
So today, I'm starting a single nightly shot that I can give to myself in the thigh.
Excited I am starting the process. Hopefully this month flies by!
Updates to come as things change and progress!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Results and THE Date!
Yesterday, Greg and I went to see the Dr. to get the results of the embryos genetic test. And we got good news! Out the 15 that made it the testing and freezing stage, 8 came back with 23 normal chromosome pairs! I was hoping for 4 at the minimum and we got double that. Also since all chromosome pairs were tested we know how many are boys and how many are girls. We got an even split 4 of each!
This good news was coupled with getting the report on quality of embryos. 4 of our embryos are graded as 2's and 4 are graded as 3's. 1 is the best on this scale. Dr said that grading of quality is at the discretion of the embryologist. But because we do not have best quality embryos our chances of success does goes down slightly. Dr. gave us the option of transferring 2 embryos (transferring 1 embryo has always been our plan) to increase our chance of success but that comes with a 50% chance of twins, which is something we don't really want to risk. Especially Greg, who nixed that idea immediately. On a side note, our Dr. was super nice and teased Greg a little bit, telling Greg that we are going to have 8 kids. He also told Greg not to worry so much about the cost cause I'm going to win the argument about how many tries and kids we have. It was great that he was able to calm Greg down and help us make a decision about what to. Dr. told us if it were him, he would only transfer one. Better piece of mind for us and less risk to me as well. He did say that if a single doesn't stick this time that we should consider 2 for the next try.
So, we came to the decision and we will still only transfer a single embryo. The risk of twins is too much for us to handle at this point. And we picked the specific embryo to transfer as well. Along with a back up plan in case the first one doesn't survive the thawing process. The freezing process has advanced so much that approximately 90%+ survive the thaw, so I'm not too worried about it.
However, everyone will have to wait until we get positive pregnancy results to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. :-) Have to keep something a mystery!
On to the transfer date and process:
I will be having our single embryo transferred on Nov. 26th!
And I will be starting this process Saturday with injections....more injections, I thought I was done with these.
I am currently on birth control pills and I will starting an injection Saturday that will be keeping my ovaries from growing follicles. This is the opposite of the retrieval process that I already went through. Then in a couple weeks I will be adding estrogen patches to help uterus lining get nice and thick for the embryo to settle into. Then I will stop one injection and switch to another. I will be switching to progesterone which I did for a few days after the retrieval. Greg has to give this one to me and it is not fun. I will have to continue the estrogen patches and progesterone injections if the transfer works for the entire first trimester.
We will know if the transfer is successful Dec 6th! Then it will be a long couple months after that to get through the first trimester, which has never happened.
If every thing goes well and as it should, then we should be having baby the middle/end of August 2014!
Please send all your positive thoughts our way! We'll need them to make it through it all this!
This good news was coupled with getting the report on quality of embryos. 4 of our embryos are graded as 2's and 4 are graded as 3's. 1 is the best on this scale. Dr said that grading of quality is at the discretion of the embryologist. But because we do not have best quality embryos our chances of success does goes down slightly. Dr. gave us the option of transferring 2 embryos (transferring 1 embryo has always been our plan) to increase our chance of success but that comes with a 50% chance of twins, which is something we don't really want to risk. Especially Greg, who nixed that idea immediately. On a side note, our Dr. was super nice and teased Greg a little bit, telling Greg that we are going to have 8 kids. He also told Greg not to worry so much about the cost cause I'm going to win the argument about how many tries and kids we have. It was great that he was able to calm Greg down and help us make a decision about what to. Dr. told us if it were him, he would only transfer one. Better piece of mind for us and less risk to me as well. He did say that if a single doesn't stick this time that we should consider 2 for the next try.
So, we came to the decision and we will still only transfer a single embryo. The risk of twins is too much for us to handle at this point. And we picked the specific embryo to transfer as well. Along with a back up plan in case the first one doesn't survive the thawing process. The freezing process has advanced so much that approximately 90%+ survive the thaw, so I'm not too worried about it.
However, everyone will have to wait until we get positive pregnancy results to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. :-) Have to keep something a mystery!
On to the transfer date and process:
I will be having our single embryo transferred on Nov. 26th!
And I will be starting this process Saturday with injections....more injections, I thought I was done with these.
I am currently on birth control pills and I will starting an injection Saturday that will be keeping my ovaries from growing follicles. This is the opposite of the retrieval process that I already went through. Then in a couple weeks I will be adding estrogen patches to help uterus lining get nice and thick for the embryo to settle into. Then I will stop one injection and switch to another. I will be switching to progesterone which I did for a few days after the retrieval. Greg has to give this one to me and it is not fun. I will have to continue the estrogen patches and progesterone injections if the transfer works for the entire first trimester.
We will know if the transfer is successful Dec 6th! Then it will be a long couple months after that to get through the first trimester, which has never happened.
If every thing goes well and as it should, then we should be having baby the middle/end of August 2014!
Please send all your positive thoughts our way! We'll need them to make it through it all this!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Genetic Test results in a week!
Got my appointment scheduled to get our genetic tests results for all the frozen embryos. Next Tuesday!
Hopefully during this appointment, we will also schedule the transfer and decide which embryo will be thawed out to be transferred. The waiting is almost over! Well at least until waiting for the transfer to happen and then waiting the 2 weeks to see if the embryo sticks and grows.
On the bright side, My OHSS is completely gone! Back to my normal size and normal weight.
This means I am also back a the gym, trying to stay in shape for the transfer. No more Gatorade! I was getting tired of drinking that stuff.
And this is me about 2 days ago. Back to normal! Thankfully!
Update next week with hopefully good news!
Hopefully during this appointment, we will also schedule the transfer and decide which embryo will be thawed out to be transferred. The waiting is almost over! Well at least until waiting for the transfer to happen and then waiting the 2 weeks to see if the embryo sticks and grows.
On the bright side, My OHSS is completely gone! Back to my normal size and normal weight.
This means I am also back a the gym, trying to stay in shape for the transfer. No more Gatorade! I was getting tired of drinking that stuff.
This was my belly about a 5 days after the retrieval and my belly was full of fluid from the OHSS. I had gained about 6 pounds.
And this is me about 2 days ago. Back to normal! Thankfully!
Update next week with hopefully good news!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Waiting!
We are just about 2 weeks since the retrieval and still about another week before I can even make an appointment to see the Dr and get our biopsy results.
I all the sudden feel really anxious about waiting. I had been doing really well not thinking about it and the last 2 weeks have gone by quickly. Maybe because last night all my dreams were about having the transfer done, I've gotten more anxious.
I have also been stalking the internet, reading message board post by people going though IVF. Which has been both helpful and stressful. Most days I read success stories and it gives me a lot hope that things will work out this time. There are so many other couples out there that have more complex problems then Greg and I have and IVF works out for them. But then of course there are those that IVF hasn't yet worked out, so those stories make me super nervous.
Anyway, trying to stay up beat and focus on positive thoughts! It will work this time!
On another note, my OHSS has started to subside. I have lost 3 pounds of the about 6 that I gained in the week after the retrieval. My belly is almost back to its normal flat state, which I am pretty excited about. I have also introduced caffeine back into my life. I missed it so much! I'm going to enjoy it while I can! Pretty sure I'll have to be back off it around transfer time.
I haven't been to the gym in almost month, so I'm going to start back on Friday. Get back to my normal life for hopefully only a month.
I'm really hoping that we will have enough embryos that come back good so we can transfer before Thanksgiving. But that's hopeful thinking on my part. No definite plans until I see the Dr.
Not having definite plans and results is killing my Type A planning personality.
next update I hope to have plans and results!
Love you all!
I all the sudden feel really anxious about waiting. I had been doing really well not thinking about it and the last 2 weeks have gone by quickly. Maybe because last night all my dreams were about having the transfer done, I've gotten more anxious.
I have also been stalking the internet, reading message board post by people going though IVF. Which has been both helpful and stressful. Most days I read success stories and it gives me a lot hope that things will work out this time. There are so many other couples out there that have more complex problems then Greg and I have and IVF works out for them. But then of course there are those that IVF hasn't yet worked out, so those stories make me super nervous.
Anyway, trying to stay up beat and focus on positive thoughts! It will work this time!
On another note, my OHSS has started to subside. I have lost 3 pounds of the about 6 that I gained in the week after the retrieval. My belly is almost back to its normal flat state, which I am pretty excited about. I have also introduced caffeine back into my life. I missed it so much! I'm going to enjoy it while I can! Pretty sure I'll have to be back off it around transfer time.
I haven't been to the gym in almost month, so I'm going to start back on Friday. Get back to my normal life for hopefully only a month.
I'm really hoping that we will have enough embryos that come back good so we can transfer before Thanksgiving. But that's hopeful thinking on my part. No definite plans until I see the Dr.
Not having definite plans and results is killing my Type A planning personality.
next update I hope to have plans and results!
Love you all!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Frozen!
Today was a very important day in the growth of our embryos. Though I think they are scientifically known as blastocysts at this point. Today all that have grown to this stage have been flash frozen. Out the 34 follicles that we started with, 15 grew large enough to be biopsied and then frozen.
Now it's a waiting game for a few weeks till we get biopsy results.
I'm pretty excited about how many we have to test. I'm just hoping more than half come back as genetically good.
I'll keep everyone updated. But it's going to be a little while before I have more news.
Now it's a waiting game for a few weeks till we get biopsy results.
I'm pretty excited about how many we have to test. I'm just hoping more than half come back as genetically good.
I'll keep everyone updated. But it's going to be a little while before I have more news.
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