Bad News

The results are in and the blood test was negative. I don't know where we go from here ... do we find a way to try again or do we resign ourselves to the fact that Alex may be an only child? I guess there are no easy answers...

 Thanks for all the love and prayers...it always helps to know we're in your hearts.

Waiting...

As much as we've tried to be patient, it's been a difficult 10 days. I spoke to my nurse on Saturday and she agreed to let me come in today for my blood test. So now that the test is done, we wait just a little longer.

I should have the results by this afternoon so will update soon.

Bed rest

Well, we officially survived bed rest and are settling back into our normal routine. Alex is home after a great weekend with Steve's parents and we are ready for a busy week. While it's nice to be able to take it easy, I miss him like crazy when he's gone so am thrilled he's home :) 

My pregnancy test isn't until October 9th so I'll do my best to keep my mind off it while trying to relax. (Easier said than done!) 

Here are the pictures of our two embryos ... let's hope that they're hanging in there and settling into their new home!

This one is a picture of the actual embryo transfer. The two x's are the embryos!

Thanks again for everyone's kind messages of support ... and for all the positive thoughts and prayers. 

Two embryos transferred

Two embryos have been transferred!!

We had a long day - beginning with dropping Alex off at school and ending with a full day at REACH. While the procedure itself doesn't take too long, there is a fair amount of preparation. My bladder needed to be full and since I was NPO due to anesthesia, we had to wait for a few IV bags of fluid to accomplish this. We also decided to add an injection of HCG during the transfer so it took some time to prepare the right concentration.

The procedure went very smoothly ... much less complicated than the last few times. While we didn't end up with any embryos to freeze, we're thrilled that we successfully transferred two. Now we just need to hope at least one of them hangs on and makes itself at home!!

Not quite ready

I guess our embryos aren't quite ready to be transferred so the embryologist recommended waiting another day. Right now we have two early blasts, one 10-cell and one 6-cell. The 6-cell didn't grow last night so is probably not viable but hopefully the remaining three will get stronger through today and tonight.

We're trying to stay positive and just hoping that the embryos we have are fighters. Keep us in your prayers!

Perhaps another day...

I spoke to my nurse today and she said there's a possibility we will postpone transfer until Thursday. One of the embryos is perfect, two are pretty good, and one is a little small. The doctor and embryologist will look at them in the morning and determine whether or not we should let them grow one more day. While I'd love to transfer tomorrow, we will of course do whatever will give us the greatest chance of success. And so we wait until the morning for a decision...

Off to bed to try to get some sleep ;)

Transfer tomorrow

I spoke to the embryologist at REACH and our four embryos are still growing strong. We're all set for our transfer tomorrow so we will continue to hope and pray that our embryos stay strong and are ready for their new home :) As for today, I'm still pretty sore so am trying to rest up and relax for tomorrow. Keep those prayers coming!!

Four growing embryos!

We received our fertilization report this morning ... of the eight eggs, six were mature and four fertilized normally. That means we have four embryos growing!! 

While we'd love more, we're just hoping and praying that they continue to grow and stay strong until Wednesday. There's a slight possibility that we'll transfer on Monday but only if it doesn't look like the embryos are strong enough to make it to Wednesday. (The goal of a five-day transfer is to be able to pick the strongest embryos to transfer. If they don't all continue to grow, they may be transferred early in hopes they will survive in utero.)

I'm still pretty sore from yesterday so haven't done much today. After taking some pain medicine, I'm  heading to bed in hopes that I'll be back to normal tomorrow. 

Please keep us in your prayers and think positive thoughts for our embryos!

8 eggs!

The retrieval went very well and we were able to retrieve 8 eggs!! This is great news and is the most we've ever gotten! (The last two times we only got 7.)

We were a little thrown when we arrived and learned that our regular doctor was out of town so one of his partners would be performing the retrieval. Fortunately, his partner is wonderful and made us feel at ease prior to the procedure.  Again, the most traumatic part is always the IV but they've gotten to know me so well they give me a Valium beforehand ;) This definitely helps ease my anxiety and speeds up the process!

Now we need to hope and pray that they all fertilize and grow strong over the next few days. 

Off to bed to sleep off my anesthesia! 

Early morning

Well we're up and out early ... on our way to REACH. Alex is already playing with friends and will have a fun morning thanks to our wonderful neighbors Lisa and Erica.

This routine is very familiar to us now but it's still nerve wracking! Here's hoping for a successful retrieval :)

Egg Retrieval Scheduled!

Today's appointment went well and showed great progress. The doctor counted 11 follicles ... all of good size so we are finally ready to move forward. The egg retrieval is scheduled for 9:30 am on Friday morning which means the 'trigger shot' was given tonight at 9:30 pm. The timing of the shot is crucial as it allows the eggs to be retrieved in exactly 36 hours.

There's not much more to do now but wait ... and hope we get some healthy eggs on Friday.

Since we are nearing the end of the first phase, I thought I'd share a picture of my daily shots and pills...

And here are the fancy shots we got to do tonight!

Tomorrow is an easy day with blood work and a pre-op visit ... and lots of hydration to help prepare for being NPO prior to anesthesia on Friday.

And the shots continue...

Each IVF cycle is different and it is almost impossible to foresee exactly how your body will react to the many medications that are being given. Due to this, it is difficult to predict how long each phase will last and when each procedure will need to take place.

The current phase of my cycle is called the 'stimulation phase.' This is the phase in which the hormones stimulate the production of ovaries to produce multiple eggs.  The standard amount of time for this phase is between 8 and 10 days and today is day 11 for me. Yesterday's ultrasound showed 6 follicles on my left but none of them were very big. (Because of my complicated history, there's a lot of scar tissue on the right which makes it difficult to see anything.) Since the follicles weren't quite ready, the stimulation phase continues for at least another few days. I have an appointment at REACH tomorrow morning for another ultrasound so hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer. 

I'm officially done with my hyperbaric oxygen treatments. While the treatments themselves were very easy, they took up a lot of time. A lot of you have asked about them, so I thought I'd post a couple pictures of what they looked like.  You can't bring anything in with you, but there's a little TV on the outside of one of the windows to watch movies.  All in all, it was pretty simple, but I think Steve and Alex were ready to have me back home in the afternoons. 

That's all for now ... off to bed to prepare for another early morning!!