Embryo Transfer

This is a picture of the two little embryos that they put back in me on Wednesday. The whole experience that day was pretty incredible and now after 36 hours of bed-rest I am just hoping that these little guys are super sticky and hold on tight.

The Dr. and embryologist both said that they are perfect, of the best possible quality and that I have 5 extra that will be frozen. The reason they look a little different is because the one on the left is a little ahead of the one on the right. They go from 8 cells on day 3 to a Morulae on day 4 where cells are not as distinct as in previous days, so it is difficult to count cell numbers.

I love my little embies already and am happy to finally have them in me, hopefully for the long haul.

I'm getting bad about updating this blog...

We have had an eventful past few days...

Sunday was my Egg Retrieval and they were able to get 12 eggs. The procedure went quickly and I spent the rest of the day recuperating, napping and decorating gingerbread houses with my sisters. At my appointment on Friday they counted 11 follicles at the right size so hearing that they got 12 eggs was an added bonus!

Yesterday I got a call from my nurse to let me know that of the 12 eggs they retrieved 11 were mature and 7 of those fertilized. This was great news! I also started a slew of medications that day.

Just now got the call from the embryologist at RMA. She told me that my transfer will be tomorrow at 1pm and I also heard back from the acupuncturist that my acupuncture appointment will be at 12 and then again right after the transfer. You have to go to the transfer appointment with an uncomfortably full bladder so I have to drink 1/2 of my allotted water before the acupuncture and the other 1/2 after but before my transfer.

The embryologist said that we have 4 "picture perfect" embryos and 3 good ones and one more that fertilized late and now is at 8 cells so they think it may be abnormal. She said that with how the embryos looked we could transfer one but we are going to stick with two. She also said we will probably have 4 to freeze.

I am super nervous and excited for tomorrow!! This is great news :)

My own personal rollercoaster ride

So I had my scan today and guess what? The news is good!!!

My follicles grew and right now I have about 7 at the right size and a few more that my Dr. thinks will catch up. Depending on my bloodwork from this morning they will either have me trigger tonight or do one more night of injections, add ganirelix and trigger tomorrow.

Sooo I will either have my ER on Saturday or Sunday and then a 3 day transfer on Tuesday or Wednesday!! I will know for sure this afternoon!

I seriously was not thinking it would happen and am so unbelievably happy that it will! On the way tot he Dr. office this morning I basically was having a panic attack, totally freaking out even though as of yesterday I had decided that I was going to be ok even if they decided to cancel the cycle.

Also, my RE said that he will transfer 2 for the 3DT so I don't have to worry about that anymore either. What a relief!

I am anxiously awaiting the call from the nurse with my lab results and trigger day!!

Completely Freaking Out

I cried at the doctor's office for the first time today. I couldn't help it.

My follicles have not been growing as they expected and even with all the increases in medicines over the past 12 days they are still measuring mostly at 11. In order to trigger (which is 36 hours before the retrieval) they need to be at least 17 or 18 but preferably 20. That is a long way to go and while normally it wouldn't be an issue that I am what they call a "slow starter" it is a problem now because the lab is closing on December 22nd. I was really hoping to see some significant growth after we didn't really see anything at our appointment on Sunday and the increase in my meds again, but unfortunately, my ovaries are being stubborn.

I am waiting for my Dr. or a nurse (my regular nurse is out of the office until Wednesday) to give me a call once the results are in about my blood work levels from this morning. I have my cell phone on my desk and my email inbox open on my work computer.

I know now that a five day transfer is out of the question. There will absolutely not be enough time to even make that a possibility for us. So we are left with a three day transfer, which I am fine with if that is the case but I am worried that I won't even be able to make it to that.

If the lab closes on the 22nd I am not sure if they still do transfers that day or if the last day to transfer is the 21st. If the last day to transfer is the 22nd I'll feel a little bit better because that means I could have my retrieval as late as Sunday but that is really cutting it close because if we have fertilization issues it will all be a waste. What I am really hoping for is that my retrieval will be on Saturday (Friday would be better but I really don't see that happening at this point). If Saturday were to be my retrieval date then my transfer would be on Tuesday and I would make it in before the close.

Problem is if I don't make it before the close. Not only would this be frustrating but it would be very very expensive. So expensive I don't think it would be a possibility for me and basically I would have wasted this cycle completely. If I do not make the transfer date cut off they will freeze my eggs or embryos. I have paid $1,150 for the freezing of any unused embryos already but my insurance does not cover frozen cycles which this would then be converted to. I am pretty sure it would cost me $4,000 in January to put the embryos back in. Here I was worried about coming up with the money for my deductible and another round of cryopreservation in February ($3,800) and then this would be another $4,000 on top of that - not covered by insurance. I really don't see any way that this would work and on top of that I would have wasted one of my two attempts at a fresh IVF cycle with nothing to show for it.

Basically I have been freaking out at my desk all morning waiting for some word from my RE office and it is just getting worse as the minutes drag on. All I can think about are dates and times and follicles and money and medication dosages. I just hope there is still some hope left for this cycle.

Upped my meds

I had another monitoring appointment today and my follicles are still slow to grow so my RE upped my dose of Gonal F to 225 IU. Next monitoring appointment is on Sunday and hubby is coming with. I'm excited to see with him what's growing! So here are a few photos of what my nightly injection routine has been for the past week. So far it is just the Menopur/Gonal "cocktail" with my other oral meds.

Here is everything I need to get started for the night:

This is the Q-Cap that makes mixing the drugs much easier than using a needle:

Mixing the Menopur:

Gonal F into the Menopur to make the "cocktail":

Cocktail into the syringe:

All ready to go...

Stimming for IVF

So I have been a little slow in updating this blog but a lot has been going on lately. We got our big box of meds delivered on December 1st. The box was big and all the stuff inside was a bit overwhelming at first but I am slowly getting used to it.

Here is a list of what I am using for my cycle:
1. Gonal F - 3 900 IU pens
2. Menopur - 20 75 IU vials (and 20 vials of diluent)
3. Dexamethasone - 7 0.5 mg tabs (I'll take 1/2 tab each night)
4. Ganirelex Prefilled Syringes - 5
5. Lupron 2 week kit with extra lupron syringes
6. HCG 10,000 IU vial
7. Doxycycline 100 mg - 10 tabs
8. Methylprednisone 16 mg - 5 tabs
9. Estrace 2 mg - 60 tabs
10. Endometrin 100mg
11. Metrogel 0.75%
12. Doxycycline 100 mg for the hubby - 14 tabs
13. 40 3cc syringes
14. 20 Q-caps
15. 40 5/8" needles



We also had an issue with getting one of the medications. Ganirelex, which will be used later in the cycle is on a worldwide shortage. My preferred mail-order pharmacy has been out for weeks and did not know when they would be getting more. This caused me to freak out a little because this drug is what makes sure you do not ovulate the growing eggs before they are ready to retrieve them. Fortunately my RE office was able to give me a few samples and was able to find a pharmacy that had some available and I was able to get the amount I needed. I did have to pay out of pocket for them though and they are not cheap. One injection costs $99 and I needed 5 total. I am so thankful for my insurance coverage. Even with insurance coverage this has all been so expensive and I know it would be so much harder if we did not have the coverage.

Friday December 3rd was a big day because I had the IVF teach class, where they teach you how to mix the medications into a cocktail so that you can give yourself multiple meds in one injection. Then we started with the meds that same night. The dose we started with was 112 units of Gonal F and 75 units of Menopur. I am also taking .25mg Dexamethasone. Gonal F contains FSH and Menopur contains both FSH and LH the hormones needed to grow follicles. Dexamethasone is a very potent steroid. Not sure why that helps but I am taking a very low dose of it. The Menopur comes in 2 separate vials, one is a saline diluent and the other is the medication in powder form. I use a needle to mix 1/2 cc of the diluent with the powder so that it dissolves and then I add the Gonal F to that mixture. This "cocktail" is then what I draw up into the injection needle and inject into my stomach every night at 8pm. The point of taking these drugs is to get my follicles to grow. Ideally lots of follicles will grow. So far we have only had to use three of the medications so I know that more are coming up. Hopefully I can keep track of everything that is going in to my body.

I have been going to the RE office frequently during this time for monitoring and bloodwork. At the first appointment they didn't see anything growing so I was instructed to continue and come back in 2 days. The second monitoring appointment (yesterday) also showed no growth so they upped my level of Gonal F to 150 units as of yesterday and I go back in tomorrow morning to see if anything starts to grow.

It is really taking a lot for us to make a baby. With all of this complicated science and painful procedures it is hard to imagine that people ever get pregnant the natural way. Sometimes I just wish it could be that easy for us.