Frosties

I got the call this morning... all 3 of our embies that were still growing made it to freeze!! Wow I'm shocked. Especially with the just OK one's. They won't freeze an OK embryo so it must have decided to fight!!

My official 2 day rest is over. I was so tired of sitting on the couch doing nothing!! Amazing how you have days where you just love to do that. But it is totally different when you are forced to do it!! I will still take it easy the next few days but at least I can sit at the computer and type.

Just thought I would post the info below to show what will be happening the next few days.

**this is what happens in a 3dt :

1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing (Saturday)
2dpt... Embryo is now a blastocyst (Sunday)
3dpt....Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
4dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
5dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
6dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
7dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells &
fetal cells
8dpt...Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
9dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
10dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
11dpt...HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on
HPT

3dt

Here is a picture of my babies to be. We had our 3 day transfer today and these were 2 perfect 8 cell embryo's for day 3. We are praying hard they are healthy and end up being our babies.

We still have the other 3 embryo's growing. They are currently rated ok to good and are 10, 13 & 14 cells. They aren't quite sure why they have so many cells already but they will wait to look at them again on day 5 to see if they have reached Blastocyst stage. If they have and IF they are of good quality, then they will freeze them.

Please send us tons of sticky, healthy implant vibes!!!!

Fertilization

I got the ferlization call this morning! Of the 9 eggs retrieved, 7 of them were mature eggs. Why didn't I have 9 to fertilize you ask? Eggs can be categorized as follows:

• Immature
• Mature
• Normal, healthy appearing
• Abnormal appearing
• Degenerated
• Fractured

Next step, the embryologist took a single sperm and inserted it into each of the 7 mature eggs. This process is called ICSI.

So this morning, the day after retrieval, we have 5 fertilized. 5 little embryo's growing right now. It's amazing. Here is a picture of what a fertilized egg looks like the day after Retrieval (no this is not one of mine).

Male and female genetic material (DNA) are contained in the 2 pronuclei seen in the center of the photo







The Dr and I started to talk about how many to transfer back. We both agreed 2 or 3 as of right now. We will discuss it further Friday morning when they call me back with an update on our embies. As of right now we are planning a 3 day transfer, which means at 1pm on Friday they will be putting 2 (or 3) of my embies back in my uterus and then the praying for implantation begins!! You may be asking, well what about the remaining embryo's since you aren't putting back 5? Well that totally depends on the embryo's themselves. We have to continue letting them grow until blastocyst stage (normally day 5). They will only freeze good quality embryo's at that stage. It's a wait and see game.

Egg Retrieval

Today was Egg Retrieval day! I have to say I thought I did a pretty good job keeping my nerves under control. Well at least until I walked into the procedure room. I'm getting ahead of myself though. I woke up at 600am in order to take a shower (with unscented soaps etc because the eggs/embryo's don't like the fragrances and stuff!). We left about 635am and got to the office a little early. I wanted to make sure we weren't late though! I was the 2nd egg retrieval set for today.

The worst part of today was actually trying to get the IV in me!! The first nurse used my good vein up by my elbow (where they draw blood). I didn't hurt at all. She thinks it was too close to a valve though because the fluids just wouldn't flow. So she decided to let the anethesiologists try again versus letting her stick me again. So they walked me into the procedure room (looks like an operating room). They tried an additional 2 times on my left arm and another on my right hand. My right hand is the location that finally worked!! You should see the bruise on my left arm from the 2nd attempt!! It's awful and actually made my arm hurt. I had to ice it down.

Once the IV was in my arm everything went quickly. I remember Dr S coming in and saying hello. Then they started the drugs... it burned a little going in a first like they said it would. Then after 5-10 seconds (well what I think was that long anyways)... I don't remember anything until I woke up. I thought I told someone I liked their engagement ring but honestly I don't know if that really happened! Once I woke up they said they retrieved 9 eggs!!! Woo hoo!! I am happy with that number. I knew I wouldn't get 20-30 eggs like some 20 yr olds do. They are younger and have 2 ovaries... I'm older and working with one ovary.

Now I just have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out how many fertilized and how my little embies are doing!!! We are letting the embryologist, Dr's, and embies tell us whether to do a 3 or 5 day transfer! So time to rest! I hope this post made since as I'm still on pain killers. :)

Trigger!!

Ok I have to say tonight was one of the injections I was really dreading. I had David give me my Trigger of HCG tonight (it had to be an IM (intra muscular) injection). You should have seen the size of that needle!! (25 gauge and looked 2-3 inches long)!!!! Ok I'm exaggerating, it was only 1 1/2 inches long. I about chickened out and was ready to say I couldn't do it!! I just kept reminding myself of the goal.

Believe it or not I really didn't feel the needle going in. I tried to make sure I was taking a deep breath in when he was going to stick me! That seemed to help. Course the meds burned a bit but I do have to say it was way worse in my head than it was in real life.

Hmmm should I test out my trigger?? For those that don't know, the trigger shot will give you a positive pregnancy test. A lot of us POAS addicts (pee on a stick addicts) like to test early. If I test out my trigger than I will know when the real deal happens!

Egg retrieval is set for 845am Tuesday February 23rd.

Every see an ultrasound of your follicles? If not this is one where they are stimulated!! Dr S couldn't get a picture of all the follies in one shot... but I just wanted to have something to say... hey this is where you started out! (yes I am being positive this will work and result in a healthy baby)

The appointment went good today. My follies are all still growing. They are ranging from about 11 - 17 which is good for day 8. My Estrogen level is 549.

Dr S says it looks like I will trigger Sunday night for a Tuesday morning retrieval. She wants me to come in tomorrow morning though just to make sure that nothing sky rockets overnight.

Interest in a little more information regarding the stimulation procedure? (Per advancedfertility.com)

How is the monitoring of the IVF stimulation done?
- Try to stimulate the woman to get at least 4 follicles with sizes of 14-20mm diameter.
- Ideally there would be at least 8 follicles between 13-20 for IVF
- The goal is to get a good number (about 8-15) quality eggs.
-Blood Hormone levels and developing follicle sizes are monitored.
- Ultrasound is used to measure the follicles.
- Estrogen hormone blood levels are important. Estrogen levels are usually under 60pg/ml at cycle baseline and rise significantly as multiple follices develop.
-Peak Estradiol levels in IVF at the time of HCG are usually between 1000-4000 pg/ml.
- The stimulating process usually takes about 8-10 days.
- The HCG injection is given when the estrogen level and the follicle measurements look best for successful IVF outcome. The HCG shot is needed to induce final egg maturation.
- The egg retrieval is planned for 35 hours after HCG injection - shortly before the woman's body might start to release the eggs (ovulate).

Day 6 still Stimming

Another monitoring appointment today. My E2 is up to 259 and my lining is 8 so everything is going in the right direction. I have 8 good follies right now measuring: 13.65; 11.95; 11.9; 10.36; 10.34; 10.26; 9.94; 9.85 and 2 smaller ones around 6. Course Dr S. had to remind me again that not all follies have eggs. I need to keep telling myself this too. Course as long as we have 3 good embies to put back I will be happy!

I have another appointment on Friday. They said the earliest I would Trigger is Saturday night (for a Monday Retrieval) or possibly Sunday Night for a Tuesday retrieval. I'm getting both nervous and excited!

Oh and they said the Insurance company denied the PGD!! They said since I am not testing for 1 specific genetic item they wouldn't cover it. Basically saying that 8 documented miscarriages in 3 years is not a good enough reason to have PGD! (1 of the m/c was undocumented). UGH! So now I have to call and talk to them. So it appears we will definitely be doing a fresh transfer this time around without PGD.