Testing, testing, one, two, three...

Call me impatient. I tested today. Not surprised that it was negative, it's way too early for it to be positive. I'm only 9 days past ER after all. But, in a way, I'm glad that I tested this morning and I'm glad that it was negative. I know now that the trigger shot that I took before ER is now out of my system. The trigger shot is hcg which is the same hormone that pregnancy tests detect. Had I gotten a positive today, I wouldn't know for sure if it was a real positive or a fake positive. Now I know and if, when, I test and get a positive result, I will know for sure that it's not a false positive and will be able to celebrate.

Transfer Summary and a Frozen Embryo!

Apparently I forgot to update after the transfer. Oops!

The transfer was on Monday at 11:30. It went really well and they transferred 3 beautiful embies. Two of them were between a grade 1 and a grade 2. Grade 1 is the best and the scale goes all the way to grade 5, so these were pretty good. The other was a grade 3, so it was about average. The transfer went off without a hitch and Dr. M. said that he felt really good about it.

I went back to the house and took it easy for the rest of the day and then we left for home after dinner. The Real Deal slept the whole way and then continued to sleep really well after we got home. The ride was smooth, even though we had a little rain off and on. We did hit some pretty dense fog about 40 miles or so from our exit, but other than that it was smooth sailing.

The embryologist called this morning to say that one of the five remaining embryos is ready to be frozen. This is our fourth IVF cycle and we have NEVER had an embryo make it to that stage, so we were very excited to hear the news. The grading scale changes once the embryo becomes a blastocyst. This one is an expanded blastocyst, so it is assigned the number 4. Then the outer shell is graded from A-F, the inner shell is graded from A to F, and the inner fluid is graded from A-E (or something like that, I don't remember the exact specifics, but you get the idea). So a perfect embryo at this stage would be a 4AAA. Ours was a 4AAB! I'm so excited! She also said that three of them have arrested but that there is one more that she is going to watch until tomorrow morning to see how it looks and it may be able to be frozen as well.

'T'was the Night Before Transfer

Embryo transfer is tomorrow at 11:30. I have to admit that I'm not feeling very optimistic about this cycle. The quality of the embryos isn't very good and I haven't had a good feeling about this cycle from the beginning. Of course, I felt really good about the last cycle, and it was a failed cycle, so who knows.

I am excited about being able to go home after dinner tomorrow though. I am so, so grateful for Mark and Christi opening their house to us for the past 2 weeks, but I miss my own house and my own routine. I know that the Real Deal is excited about returning home as well.

I'll update again after the transfer tomorrow. We are still planning on transferring three embryos. I'm ready to get the next week and a half over with. Testing day is February 4.

Fertilization Report

The embryologist called this morning to give me the fertilization report. Out of the 23 eggs that were retrieved, 17 were mature enough to do ICSI on. Of those 17, 8 fertilized normally, 4 fertilized abnormally, and 5 did not fertilize at all. She will call me again in the morning to let me know how things are progressing. Embryo transfer is set for 11:30 on Monday morning.

Trigger and Egg Retrieval

So I triggered on Wednesday night. It was nice not to have any injections on Thursday. Egg retrieval was this morning. Dr. M. was able to get 23 eggs, which is a record for me! Unfortunately, though, he had to go through my bladder to get to one of them. I have never had any pain at all after ER, but my oh my! Going through the bladder brings a whole 'nother dimension to things. I am so, so sore.

I should get a call in the morning letting me know how many of those 23 eggs were mature and how many of those fertilized. I should also get a date and time of when embryo transfer will be. I'm really hoping for a day 3 transfer, even though I know that a day 5 is better. I just want to get back home.

Almost to trigger!

Things got off to a slow start. I wasn't responding well to 375IU of Gonal-F and 75IU of Menopur so my dosage got increased to 450IU of Gonal-F and 150IU of Menopur. Things looked much better on Saturday when I went in for monitoring. I kept the same dosage and went back this morning. Dr. M. said that this cycle may "span the seasons." But I'm getting there. Today is stim day 11. He expects me to trigger on either Tuesday or Wednesday, stim day 12 or 13.

I had to take the Real Deal, 3yo son, with me to the appointment this morning. I knew that he would be ok, but I hate taking a child with me to the infertility specialist. It almost seems disrespectful. Luckily, the waiting room was relatively empty and we didn't have to stay there very long. I think Dr. M. enjoyed meeting him, seeing as how he helped in his conception and all.

In other news, I alternate nights having dreams that I will either conceive triplets or that this cycle will be a bust. Right now I'm not terribly optimistic that this cycle will work. Don't ask me why. I don't know. I just haven't felt connected at all to this cycle. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm not at home, or the fact that this is my 4th cycle and it's kind of ho-hum, or what. I just don't have a good feeling about this cycle. On the other hand, I'm kind of terrified of transferring 3 embryos. My dreams about having triplets are very specific. Two of the embryos will take and one will split. Identical twin girls and a boy. I don't like how IVF takes all control out of the situation. Not that any conception is in our control, but typically, with an unmedicated conception, higher order multiples are rare and not something that is often thought about. But with IVF you have to balance the likelihood of pregnancy with the likelihood of higher order multiples. That's scary to me. Well, I guess is should be scary to anybody.

Ahh... I'm hormonal and overwhelmed. I think I'll go take a nap. If I end up with triplets, I should probably get as much sleep now as possible.

Snow and Alcohol

It's snowing. I live in the south. I like snow on the rare occasions that it graces me with it's presence. Unfortunately, I do NOT like snow 36 hours before I have to drive across the state. We are supposed to be getting 6 inches of snow over night tonight. For all you northerners reading this, that may not sound like a lot, but down here, we don't have the capabilities to deal with snow. The city and county have salt/sand trucks but I don't think there is a snow plow within 100 miles of here. And the driving! No one (myself included) here knows how to drive in the snow. I really, really hope that the roads are clear before I have to leave on Tuesday morning. I absolutely have to be across the state (it is snowing there too) by 8:30 Wednesday morning. It's really not negotiable.

Second thing. The alcohol swabs the pharmacy sent me have been recalled. Got to call them in the morning about getting a replacement. You can read more about this recall by clicking here.