An FET lesson....

Since this will be our first frozen embryo transfer, I got to thinking.... how does it work?  What is the timeline?  Do they prevent ovulation or will I still ovulate this cycle?  Do they thaw embryos the same day and when?  Hours before or as I'm on the table?

I found a nice little explanation HERE.  Ahhhh, so many questions answered.  I still have a bunch for Dr Rockstar but I get to see today!

Sad note: we found out J will be at sea  for 2 weeks in May playing Navy games.... and of course these 2 weeks will overlap the FET.  :( :(  boo!  I'm hoping he'll be home in time to get THE NEWS.  Aka beta results.  No way do i want to be home alone that day!  Anyone wanna volunteer to come to transfer day with me?  Hold my hand or something?  It'll be sometime in the next 14 days.... 

Phase II, and go.

My 'red flower bloomed' two days early!!!  Never in my life have I been so excited to get my period.  Woohoo!  Let the FET begin!!!

We got Popsicles!!

The champagne is popped!! ~!

Our goal was to meet industry standards of 50% and have 3 or more in the freezer. Sunday morning we had 3 blasts that went in! 2 'good' and 1 'fair'. I am so frkn happy!! We also had 3 that were at morula stage so they continued to culture through day 6, Monday, to see if they'd be freezer worthy blasts by then.  2 arrested :(  but 1 more 'fair' embie was added to the bunch for a total of 4 blasts. Yay!!  We got popsicles!  Or should I say embiesicles??

J was quizzing me about the embryo/blastocyst grading system.  This website has a great explanation AND cool pics!

The only obstacle now is my ute... they've had no reason to suspect foul play with it so pleeeez pleeez lil ute keep it together!

Floating.... with all fingers crossed!

Day 3 results are in and we are still on cloud 9  :)

Our embryologist grades embryos as Good Fair or Poor (nice n easy). We've got 5 'good' quality and 2 'poor' quality embryos :D. The embryo grading system is severely inaccurate in determining survivability so that makes me a little nervous....  it all goes off the appearance of the embie and we all know that looks aren't always everything!  I'm kicking myself because I forgot to ask how many cells they are... though it really doesn't matter I guess.  She decided it would be best to culture them to Day 5 and freeze on Sunday. I'm o.k. with this because she said they typically grow out to day 5 with good resuIts and I know blasts have a better chance at implantation. I think stats say 50% of embies will make it to blast, right? IF we can make it to Sunday she said over 90% will survive the vitrification/warming process. I'm feeling pretty good that we'll have something to freeze & transfer in a few weeks. Though I'm still crossing my fingers and toes and won't pop the champagne til Sunday.....

I'm feeling MUCH better today! My headache is gone. My belly is still tender in the ute/ovary area but I'm not nearly as uncomfortable and bloated. I visited my acupuncturist who gave me some 'cleansing' needles. I also went shopping. Got a super cute dress and some pants a size bigger lol.

We will get the final verdict tomorrow morning and know how many made it to blastocyst and what's going in the deep freeze.  I'm still super scared but very excited.... this time the odds are with us. Ah! 

A lot of people have asked me why Dr Rockstar has made this protocol into a 2 part/freeze all / embryo banking cycle.  I can't remember if I've posted about it yet... 

It's for many reasons. 1) they've found better success when the body is given a chance to recover from controlled  hyperstimulation, let estrogen levels return to normal, and be able to focus just on lining. High estrogen is bad bad bad for implantation.  2)Back in the day when the embryo freezing process sucked, it was better to do fresh transfers. Now that technology caught up and the process has gotten perfected with vitrification etc, frozen transfers do much better.  It has the same success if not better than fresh transfer.  3) with the drug protocol I used, 100mg clomid was one of the stims. Of course we know clomid sucks the life out of the ute lining.

There are some schools of thought that believe only the best of the best embryos will survive to blastocyst and survive vitrification & warming. We run the risk of nothing survive and having NO transfer, but at the same time if we DO transfer, we know those are some tough, bada$$ embies.

Is all this the "right" approach to ivf? Who knows. But I trust my RE implicitly and know he is a very smart cookie with lots of other smart cookies around him... all I hope is that it works!!!

2 days post retrieval

I hope our embabies are growing like weeds.  That would make it worth it because....

I feel like crap.

Immediately post-retrieval I felt better than when I had come in. I could def tell I dropped a few eggz. Yesterday I felt very bloated and fat. Today I feel like there's a rock in my gut. Not a big one but man oh man! I've been taking Colace & haven't had any problems in that department yet and I've been staying away from water& drinking powerade ans coconut water instead. I relapsed on the GF diet so I'm sure that's not helping the situation....I might go weigh myself to see if I've gained any water weight the last 2 days. Ugh!

This a.m. J whacked me in the belly as he was getting out of bed. Normally it wouldn't have been a big deal but today I'm so tender it made me tear up. What the heck!  To boot, I'm going on day 2 of a headache.  My usz go-to is Excedrin Migraine but I can't take that and tylenol hasn't done jack. I figured I'd be feeling better by now, not worse! :(

I might go for a walk today to keep things moving. It'll be slooooow and probably not very far. Then again, I might just lay in bed.

Cumulus Co-culture

I consulted Dr Google to read more about cumulus co culture, what the heck it is and why its so great.  I figured you might be curious as well. (Source)

During retrieval, ovarian cells called cumulus cells come out with the follicles & eggs.  These cells secrete a chemical  that's important for cell growth, adhesion, and regularity.  Its found all around our bodies, including in the ute.  Kind of like naturally occuring HGH.  It makes sense that having this chemical floating around would improve embryo growth & development.  Post retrieval, they wash said cumulus cells and set them up in a petri dish to do their thing.  1 day later (today for us), they add normally fertilized eggs (now technically embryos) to the dish and Voila! Magic happens.  Improved cell growth and IVF success, just what we've been dreaming of.

P.s. I just got the magic phone call I've been waiting all day for....
.......
*DRUM ROLL* .....
.............
Six fertilized embryos and 2 more that are "having reactions" and looking like they are gettin 'er done.  YAHOOOOOO!!!! 

Next update coming in T+2 days.  Yes, I'm cheezin'!!!!

RETRIEVAL !!~!

Today was a great day.  I was the only egg retrieval and could tell I got everyone's A game this morning.  My nurse was fab and they even played Bob Marley in the OR for me :). I woke up from anesthesia to fabulous news!!!!   They retrieved TWELVE eggz!!~!~!! 6 are mature and 3 are intermediate and may mature by tomorrow.  Poor J got TESE done so they will ICSI the mature guys. The embryologist also decided to do a cumulus culture with them. I guess they let the eggs & embies chill in a dish with my body's "cumulus" cells and it helps them be all big n bad and grow real nice.  Tomorrow the embryologist will tell us the report about how many fertilized, etc. Hoping, wishing, praying for some nice beautiful embryos!!!  We are home now recouping by the pool. We're both limping but in good spirits :)

Stim day 12... the MONEY SHOT!!!

The time has come.....  we triggered last night!  :)  :/  :). I'm suuuuuper nervous!!

Sunday morning showed 5 ripe & plump follies with 4 other serious contenders.  The trigger was more complicated than previous past ones... we knocked out HGH, then HCG, then a follistim boost.  Bam!Bam!Bam!  I don't remember the prior triggers being so.... uncomfortable.  *Cue fears about PIO injections.*

Retrieval is scheduled for tomorrow at 730.  Gotta be there bright n early by 630!  Poor J is getting his nut shot while I'm high on versed.  We are SO gonna be a hot mess tomorrow.  Haha. 

We have a date tomorrow night for a champagne toast in the hot tub.  YES, I said the "H" word!  Agh!  We've decided after this cycle, however it works out, we deserve and need a break.  No easier way to do that than kill all the spermiez a la hot tub time.

Think of us tomorrow and send up happy big fatty egg vibes & hope for lots of healthy lil fertilized embryos!

Stim day 10

I feel so fat & uncomfortable. I can still button my pants but dont want to. Haha. Yesterday we saw some sights around Sun Diego and spent a bunch of time in the car.... unfortunately for me, i had to drive cuz the backseat was too bumpy and jostled my guts too much. I felt like my poor eggs got scrambled! Today is going to be a low-key day at the market & Balboa park. I already can't wait to get home and sit by the pool. Ha.

I rustled J out of bed on his day off to come with me yesterday. He was good luck!! 2 follies came back out of hiding and we found ANOTHER!!! Wowie I'm so excited. 5 are above 13mm and 4 are right behind. The lead was at 17mm so I started ganirelix. Up to my max of 3 injections per day. Phrew!

I go back tomorrow morning to learn if retrieval will be Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm def o.k. with them delaying it from Monday-- i'd rather give the follies more time to catch up than make them hurry. Slow & steady wins the race?!??!

I'm pimping out.... right now I'll take all the prayers, good thoughts and well wishes I can get! ;). Thanks bunches :)

Here's 10 days worth of needles, ouch!

IVF #3, stim day 5

Monday I went in for my day 5 appt.  I met one of Dr Rockstar's colleague REs.  She was super!  I'll meet his third colleague tomorrow.  Dr R is out of the country for 2 weeks and so the dude I'm meeting tomorrow will most likely be doing my retrieval.  (If youre wnde 

So, Monday.  We found an extra follicle!!  8 lil guys are growing.  The largest measured in at 6mm.  Lining was 4.1 though I dint think that matters.... Estradiol was 187.  "Perfect." They said.  :)

Next appointment: Thursday April 4.  Woot!!