One to Freeze

Hi! The embryologist called and we had one she was able to freeze today. :) I guess this is good news since I wasn't anticipating having any. She said this was good news and felt really confident in the two we transfered yesterday. Man, there's a lot of pressure on these little guys ~ I'll try and bear some of that for them. :) I asked her about the fact that we lost so many between days 3 and 5 and asked if they just start to "sputter out" and quit dividing. She explained that for the first 3 days of their existence they are actually kind of "battery" operated by the sperm. The sperm are giving the embryos their energy. After day 3, the embryos are running off of their own generated energy. I don't know if this has to do with the development of mitochondria in the cells and therefore generating their own energy or what, but that helped me understand a little better. She said that they only expect to see about 50% survival rate of those working off of their own generated energy. This is all so fascinating isn't it! :) So...all in all that leaves us with one little frostie. :)

These are the photos that Matt took with his cell phone, so they're a bit hard to see. I had brought the camera, but left it in the car. :( The ones of Matt and I and just me by myself sitting are pre-transfer...waiting to go into the operating room. The embryos are highly sensitive to smell, so this is us lotion free, deoderant free, makeup free, product free, etc. :) The one of me lying down is post-transfer where they have me in the recovery room and my bed is tilted back (I feel like I'm standing on my head). They do this to help take the pressure off of the full bladder since you have to lay there for another 30 minutes after transfer. (I think they do it just to torture you a little bit more! )

Oh...we also got Athena back today after her 2 1/2 week stay in the auto hospital!! :) For those of you thinking, "huh?" I was in an accident on the freeway a couple of weeks ago (not my fault), and poor little Atty had to be towed. She was in pretty rough shape, but today...she looks beautiful and I'm happy to have my Greek warrior goddess of protection parked back in my garage! :)

And now we have 2...

Hi! The transfer yesterday went well. I went and had acupuncture prior and was able to just lay there and relax for an hour, which was nice. I had to take my valium and start drinking 24oz. of water an hour before the procedure. By the time we got the the RE's office I was flying high with a FULL bladder! :) The embryologist came in and told us that we only had 2 blastocycts that were ready for transfer. She wasn't sure we would even have any to freeze...we'll find that out today. All of this information was a bit discouraging at the moment since we were thinking SO positively going into it. How does it go from 10 excellent/good embryos to 2 good blasts?? Anyway...I had to keep in mind that 2 is better than none! :) We've always had 3 in the past...so I hope these little ones are fighters! So, now that "everyone" is home I'm on bedrest for 2 days....lots of time to study for my final! :)
We were given pictures of our 2 little blasts and if I can say so myself...they look absolutely perfect. :) We also took a couple of pictures, so I will post those when I can. :)
Love you all ~
Jamie

Transfer

Hi! We were told that our transfer will be Tuesday at 1:30pm. So, hopefully we will still have good news when we go in tomorrow. We won't hear anything today since they don't check on them on day 4 (don't really know why).
All of your supportive wishes and prayers have been greatly appreciated...please don't stop. :) It seems that the power of positive thinking (from everyone) is creating this great energy in which these little embryos are flourishing. It's so strange to feel so protective over something you've never seen or met ~ but I feel like I want to go into that lab and just encourage those little guys and gals to keep up the good fight...that it will be worth it becaue they will be loved SO much! I would tell them about the incredible circle of family and friends who would welcome them and provide them with more love and care than they could ever imagine.
Thank you for your support and encouragement ~ the last cycle we went through we kept as a secret and it was SO hard not to have my family to talk to. (poor Matt could only listen so much :)) It has been wonderful having you all to share it with this time and depending on the results of this whole thing...I know you'll be there for us then too. To either help pick us up off the floor or celebrate with us as we fly. :)
I love you all ~

And The Good News Just Keeps on Coming!

I just got another call from our embryologist and today we have...
5 excellent quality embryos!
5 good quality embryos!
2 average
and 3 poor.
SO...two more of our little embryos are fighting their way to the top! :)
Yeah!!
okay....now my hopes are officially "up".

Unexpected Call...

Well, this morning I heard the phone ringing and when I saw it was my Dr.'s office, I almost didn't answer the call. There would only be two reasons they were calling today instead of tomorrow when they said they would. One, I have to come in for a 3-day transfer because we were losing too many, or two, there were none left to transfer. I mustered up the courage to answer the phone choking back the tears that were already forming. BUT instead of bad news, the embryologist was just "checking in" on all our embryos and wanted to call and let me know how things were going. Little does he know he about gave me a heartattack! SO...I got the following report today...
We still have 15 embryos!!
We have 4 excellent quality, 4 good quality, 4 average quality and 3 poor quality. :) This is good news!
Just wanted to let you know :)

My little sleeping partner...if this isn't the cutest thing.... :)

Well, we got our fertilization report this morning and it looks like they did ICSI on 19 of the eggs. Out of those 19, 15 fertilized. So, we are now the proud parents of 15 embryos. :) I'm staying cautiously optimistic since this is right around what we've had for the last two IVF cycles...and we all know how those turned out. We were told that we won't hear anything more until Sunday. Our transfer could be on Sunday (if it looks like we're losing too many to wait until a 5-day transfer), or Tuesday if they continue looking strong and healthy. Fortunately I have a BIO final to study for in the meantime, otherwise I might be pacing! :) Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. They are truly appreciated. :)

A Baker's dozen x 2 +1 ====

27 eggs! :) I'm still a bit groggy so bear with me...
We had our ER (egg retrieval) this morning and my poor little ovaries produced 27 eggs. Ouch!
I've been pretty uncomfortable now for a few days and now I know why. :) Our RE decided to do ICSI (introcytoplasmic sperm injection) on all of the mature ones. We will get our fertilization report sometime tomorrow. Since they have to use anesthesia to retrieve the eggs, I've been out pretty much all day. Just thought I'd pop on the computer to give an update.
Hope you're all having a wonderful day ~ now...back to dreamland for me.