Back from the clinic. The transfer went very smoothly with minimal discomfort. I got a few blurry pictures of the blastocyst on the screen before the transfer. I may try to get one of those off the phone and onto here later. The procedure itself was relatively simple. I changed into a hospital gown, went to the treatment room, hopped up on the table. They cleaned me and inserted a speculum, cleaned the cervix and then put a catheter just through the cervix. Then they let the embryology team know they are ready and the embryologist loads a small catheter with the embryo and solution. This is then threaded through the catheter in the womb opening and further up into the uterus. The plunger is depressed and you can actually see a little white spot on the ultrasound forming where the fluid (and embryo) come out. The catheters are then removed. The embryologist then thoroughly checks their catheter to ensure that the embryo didn't get stuck to it anywhere (as they're very sticky at this stage) and if you're given the all clear then they remove the speculum and that's it. I was given the all clear. They did warn me that sometimes the embryo gets stuck and they have to reload it and do it again, but luckily that didn't happen.
In the end, I decided to transfer the one blastocyst from the frozen egg. It had actually been the second best blastocyst (I got that wrong) in the morning but by noon, it was the same quality as the other that emerged faster. Both were already hatching, so that was all promising. The reason I decided on one was due to the risk factors of multiples and also that the success rate chances for the frozen egg is better because it's younger. If it doesn't take and I need to do a frozen embryo transfer, then I may rethink the strategy of how many I put back.
Because.... the two slow emergers from this morning developed into full good quality blastocysts by the afternoon!! Completely unexpected! I was really shocked by this news. So in the end, with 8 fresh eggs collected and 2 frozen eggs successfully thawed, I ended up with 4 good quality blastocysts; 1 from the frozen eggs and 3 from the fresh. Those are pretty good statistics so I'm very happy with the numbers. Of course I'll be even more happy with a successful pregnancy, but it seems like a good starting point. So if this transfer doesn't work, I have 3 embryos to work with. All in all, a good result.
The clinic gave me a pregnancy test and said that I need to test in 10 days. I will of course be peeing on sticks well before that. If today is day 6, then the earliest you could get a pregnancy read is day 8/9. So I'll give it a few days and probably start testing in the morning like I did before. Until the 'right' day when I will use the test they gave me.
So that's where I'm at. Exciting and terrifying. As usual.
Showing posts with label morula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morula. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
IVF 1 - Day 23 6 Day report and transfer
So the good news is that two of the morulas have emerged to be good blastocysts. One is from one of the frozen eggs (the leading blastocyst rated good/very good which is partially emerging/hatching) and the other is from the fresh collection (rated good/good). Two more emerged but have yet to re-inflate so are considered slow growers and perhaps not good for freezing. Two failed to emerge. This means I am going for a transfer today!
When I was speaking to the embryologist this morning she dropped into our conversation something about transferring two. I have been reasonably comfortable with the idea of transferring one. I was a bit surprised that she assumed I would transfer two as my clinic is very much against increasing the risk of multiples and makes a big deal about transferring one. So I am struck with a conundrum. Do I transfer one or two? I can wait until the transfer to decide which is exactly 2 hours away. I texted a good friend of mine who has undergone many many IVF cycles (15?). Her first pregnancy was with twins and it did not end happily. It was a complicated pregnancy (she is tiny) where she delivered prematurely. One of the babies had problems and was in the NICU for months before finally succumbing to his issues. While she's been very aggressive about fertility treatment, she says that she would never suggest to anyone to put back more than one now.
The balance is this - as you get older, your chance of successful live birth go down rapidly due to non-viability issues. If they transfer two, your risk of multiples goes up. Basically you are playing a game with weighing the risk of multiples against increasing your chances for one healthy baby. If you do one at a time, you are looking at financial, time, and emotional costs. If you transfer two, you run the risk of a multiple pregnancy which is higher risk and could result in various complications including increasing your chance of miscarriage. Basically, for women under 38 they only recommend one but as you get older, the viability issue creeps up and up making it balance out to suggest that they are more comfortable with two.
I have the added complication that the leading embryo is not from 41 year old me but from 38 or 39 year old me, so right on the cusp. Maybe if it was two 41 year old embryos, I'd feel differently. But I'm nervous. I do not want twins. I am prepared to raise a single child. I will obviously make due if I get identical twins. But I do not need to do anything to increase my risks of multiples because it would make life incredibly difficult.
So I'm leaning towards the one and freezing the other. The clinic says they have a 90-95% success rate with thawing embryos, so it's very likely that if this one doesn't take I can do a frozen embryo transfer. If that one doesn't take, I can do all of this over again. It's not like I have so many embryos to freeze. We're talking about one frozen embryo transfer before I'd have to start anew if this one doesn't take.
So I think I'm leaning towards transferring the one, but I will definitely talk to the doctor when I'm at the clinic later to make the final decision. I'm not against it if they think it's a very good idea. But I definitely do not want to increase my risk of twins by much at all.
Very excited about the transfer today. Still can't really believe it. Still very nervous that it's just going to be negative results. Trying not to be too hopeful but maintain positivity.
When I was speaking to the embryologist this morning she dropped into our conversation something about transferring two. I have been reasonably comfortable with the idea of transferring one. I was a bit surprised that she assumed I would transfer two as my clinic is very much against increasing the risk of multiples and makes a big deal about transferring one. So I am struck with a conundrum. Do I transfer one or two? I can wait until the transfer to decide which is exactly 2 hours away. I texted a good friend of mine who has undergone many many IVF cycles (15?). Her first pregnancy was with twins and it did not end happily. It was a complicated pregnancy (she is tiny) where she delivered prematurely. One of the babies had problems and was in the NICU for months before finally succumbing to his issues. While she's been very aggressive about fertility treatment, she says that she would never suggest to anyone to put back more than one now.
The balance is this - as you get older, your chance of successful live birth go down rapidly due to non-viability issues. If they transfer two, your risk of multiples goes up. Basically you are playing a game with weighing the risk of multiples against increasing your chances for one healthy baby. If you do one at a time, you are looking at financial, time, and emotional costs. If you transfer two, you run the risk of a multiple pregnancy which is higher risk and could result in various complications including increasing your chance of miscarriage. Basically, for women under 38 they only recommend one but as you get older, the viability issue creeps up and up making it balance out to suggest that they are more comfortable with two.
I have the added complication that the leading embryo is not from 41 year old me but from 38 or 39 year old me, so right on the cusp. Maybe if it was two 41 year old embryos, I'd feel differently. But I'm nervous. I do not want twins. I am prepared to raise a single child. I will obviously make due if I get identical twins. But I do not need to do anything to increase my risks of multiples because it would make life incredibly difficult.
So I'm leaning towards the one and freezing the other. The clinic says they have a 90-95% success rate with thawing embryos, so it's very likely that if this one doesn't take I can do a frozen embryo transfer. If that one doesn't take, I can do all of this over again. It's not like I have so many embryos to freeze. We're talking about one frozen embryo transfer before I'd have to start anew if this one doesn't take.
So I think I'm leaning towards transferring the one, but I will definitely talk to the doctor when I'm at the clinic later to make the final decision. I'm not against it if they think it's a very good idea. But I definitely do not want to increase my risk of twins by much at all.
Very excited about the transfer today. Still can't really believe it. Still very nervous that it's just going to be negative results. Trying not to be too hopeful but maintain positivity.
Monday, May 30, 2016
IVF 1 - Day 22 5 day report
The short version: the transfer will hopefully be tomorrow, another day of waiting ahead.
The longer version:
So this morning I was waiting for the phone call. It didn't come at 9am so I started to get nervous. I think the phone finally rant around 9:30. It seemed like forever. I was particularly feeling anxious because another woman on the SMC forum who was trying this month had 6 day 3 embryos that all arrested on day 4. So I knew that this could happen, and I was worried I was going to get a call that said there was nothing to come in for.
The embryologist called to tell me that all six zygotes were successfully given laser assisted hatcing on Saturday, and all six have transformed into morulas. A morula is a transformational stage where the embryo moves from a collection of equal cells to differentiated cells. Not all embryos emerge out of the morula stage, so it could still be that tomorrow there is nothing. The embryologist was cautiously hopeful though that all 6 made it to morula stage; he said that he didn't expect them all to reach even that far. So it's not great, because it means they're all a bit slow, but it's also not bad. Yet. So, more waiting.
This weekend I've been feeling somewhat emotional. I don't know if it's due to hormones or what. My friend came to visit Saturday/Sunday and brought her 22 month old son. We had a good time, and I enjoyed having them here but I started to wonder what I'm getting myself into. On the one hand it all seems reasonable, and then on the other hand it's completely overwhelming and terrifying. I know that it is probably overwhelming and terrifying for everyone who has a child, single parent or no. Still, I just felt emotional about it. Am I really prepared for this? Am I really capable of doing it? I think these fears are normal. I'm not overly worried about it, I just had a surge for some reason.
I also think that I might enjoy the baby stage, and I may enjoy post potty training, but I may not love the toddler stage. I could be wrong. And I assume everything is always different when it's your kid. It's one thing to have a strange child in my home getting into everything versus a child who lives here who is used to my home and for whom the home is properly arranged. I mean, your own kids for sure get into everything, but your life shapes around their presence in it. Dropping a child into your life is a little bit different.
I think I've also been a bit grumpy because I think the Cyclogest/progesterone is making me have swelling and itching in the privates. Really not enjoying that. The swelling has gone down a bit, but the itching flares back up. I read online that this can be a side effect, especially for women taking it vaginally. I'm not, but I'm sure it's related. Some of the online posters suggested getting some Canesten cream for the itch. If I'm lucky enough to have a transfer tomorrow, then I think I'll also ask about this.
So that's where things are. I'm feeling anxious. I will know what's happening soon enough by way of the transfer at least, and then I'll have to wait to see if I'm pregnant. And if I'm pregnant, I'll be waiting to see if I can get through the benchmarks without a miscarriage. I'm not sure anyone ever talks about this stage of trying to get pregnant or pregnancy. I'll be posting everything here, which includes if things go badly. I'm positive not enough women talk about this and by the time they announce they're pregnant, they've just kept all this to themselves. That's just not my style I guess.
The longer version:
So this morning I was waiting for the phone call. It didn't come at 9am so I started to get nervous. I think the phone finally rant around 9:30. It seemed like forever. I was particularly feeling anxious because another woman on the SMC forum who was trying this month had 6 day 3 embryos that all arrested on day 4. So I knew that this could happen, and I was worried I was going to get a call that said there was nothing to come in for.
The embryologist called to tell me that all six zygotes were successfully given laser assisted hatcing on Saturday, and all six have transformed into morulas. A morula is a transformational stage where the embryo moves from a collection of equal cells to differentiated cells. Not all embryos emerge out of the morula stage, so it could still be that tomorrow there is nothing. The embryologist was cautiously hopeful though that all 6 made it to morula stage; he said that he didn't expect them all to reach even that far. So it's not great, because it means they're all a bit slow, but it's also not bad. Yet. So, more waiting.
This weekend I've been feeling somewhat emotional. I don't know if it's due to hormones or what. My friend came to visit Saturday/Sunday and brought her 22 month old son. We had a good time, and I enjoyed having them here but I started to wonder what I'm getting myself into. On the one hand it all seems reasonable, and then on the other hand it's completely overwhelming and terrifying. I know that it is probably overwhelming and terrifying for everyone who has a child, single parent or no. Still, I just felt emotional about it. Am I really prepared for this? Am I really capable of doing it? I think these fears are normal. I'm not overly worried about it, I just had a surge for some reason.
I also think that I might enjoy the baby stage, and I may enjoy post potty training, but I may not love the toddler stage. I could be wrong. And I assume everything is always different when it's your kid. It's one thing to have a strange child in my home getting into everything versus a child who lives here who is used to my home and for whom the home is properly arranged. I mean, your own kids for sure get into everything, but your life shapes around their presence in it. Dropping a child into your life is a little bit different.
I think I've also been a bit grumpy because I think the Cyclogest/progesterone is making me have swelling and itching in the privates. Really not enjoying that. The swelling has gone down a bit, but the itching flares back up. I read online that this can be a side effect, especially for women taking it vaginally. I'm not, but I'm sure it's related. Some of the online posters suggested getting some Canesten cream for the itch. If I'm lucky enough to have a transfer tomorrow, then I think I'll also ask about this.
So that's where things are. I'm feeling anxious. I will know what's happening soon enough by way of the transfer at least, and then I'll have to wait to see if I'm pregnant. And if I'm pregnant, I'll be waiting to see if I can get through the benchmarks without a miscarriage. I'm not sure anyone ever talks about this stage of trying to get pregnant or pregnancy. I'll be posting everything here, which includes if things go badly. I'm positive not enough women talk about this and by the time they announce they're pregnant, they've just kept all this to themselves. That's just not my style I guess.
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