My Embryos are Home

Thank you all for your well-wishes! Sorry for not posting sooner about yesterday's transfer. I'll get into the details in a moment, but in summary, everything went fine, and I have two little blastocysts tucked away inside me. The embryologist said that the quality of both was great.

Right now I am calling them Lefty and Righty, based on where they are in the photo of them that Dr. M. gave me. (no, nothing to do with politics!) Both were graded as 3AA (!), but Righty was graded a little higher, as almost a 4AA. Apparently, the number indicates the stage they are in and the letters have to do with the cells and how tight they are, etc.

Apparently, the ones that were not at the four cell stage on day 2 stopped growing, but six continued to grow. When I walked out of the changing area, the embryologist was talking to Dr. M. and I heard her say that they had these two really good ones, but one (must have been little Righty) was just so perfect... then I heard these words: "The other four (something something something).. so they probably won't make it to freezing."

That was the one time yesterday that my heart dropped. The four they weren't implanting wouldn't 'make it' to freezing? Why couldn't they freeze them right now?! DH was right there and even though he couldn't see my face, he must have known how I felt because he quickly started touching my back, telling me it would be ok. He told me later that he felt exactly as I did when he heard we probably would lose our other four. I tried not let my emotions show on my face, but I guess I didn't do a very good job because Dr. M. looked at me and asked if I was ok. I said yes, it was just that, you know, the other four won't make it... I didn't want to sound like an idiot - I mean, they were going to transfer two great blasts. I understand a little better now, after talking to Dr. M. and reading more about blastocyst transfers. At that moment though, I wanted to make sure that they were still doing everything possible to take care of the other four since I had made it clear that under no circumstance did I want any of them destroyed. Dr. M., awesome as always, was more than happy to talk with me and answer questions yesterday. He also said that only 15% of his patients usually have embryos make it to the blastocyst stage and that my odds of achieving a pregnancy are now much higher. Oh pleeeaaaseee let that be the case.

Dr. M's office just called and as expected, none of the remaining four made it. They weren't quite far enough along yet to freeze and they had to let them grow another day, but they did not continue to grow.

Ok, so I just rambled on about the non-freeze way too long, didn't I? I hope my ramble doesn't make it seem like I don't realize how lucky I am at this moment. I AM excited and happy - for the first time in my life, I am technically, well, pregnant - I mean, I know I'm not until they implant, but this is the closest I have ever been!

I had acupuncture before and after the transfer, and I managed not to wet myself as I lay there with my big, full bladder! I went home and lay on the couch all day. Since I wasn't supposed to go back to work, and all I do is sit on my butt in front of a PC at work, I decided that if I went home and sat on my butt in front of a PC, it would be like being at work! So I just sprawled out and watched cable.

I must cut this post a little short because I am at work. Yes, I know - at work?! Wait! Hang on! Dr. M. would be ok to go to work if I wanted to. Remember -I sit on my butt all day, and I am not stressed at work at the moment, so I'm fine. Plus I work less than 10 minutes from my house, so if I feel like anything is wrong, I'm outta here! I'm on the fourth floor and usually take the stairs, but for now, I'm elevator girl.

Start sticking little ones! That means both of you! Don't get lazy on me now - I am already attached to you both, so I need you both to attach to ME!

Meeting My Embryos

I finally get to meet my embryos at 12:15pm on Wednesday, Jan. 30. I don’t have to be there until noon, but was told to start drinking water around 10:30am, etc etc…. and that I wasn’t allowed to pee after 11am. Argh. I did have some practice back in December, because I had to do the same thing for the mock transfer. Has anyone else done that? I had to arrive with a full bladder, and they run through the procedure (except there are no embryos, obviously). Dr. M. said they do this so they have a good idea ahead of time what my uterus is like and how things should be positioned.

I will actually arrive at the office early, around 11:30am, to meet my acupuncturist. He meets IVF patients at the place of the transfer and gives a half hour session right before and right after transfer. Now that’s cool. I know studies show that the IVF success rate is higher when patients receive treatment on transfer day. I’m doing anything to make sure these little guys/gals stick!

I was hoping that when I found out my transfer time today, I would also receive another embryo update, but I guess I won’t hear anything else until that day. I wonder how they are progressing. My acupuncturist has done treatments at my Dr. M’s office before (it was Dr. M. who recommended him) and he was pretty sure that we would receive a picture of the embryo(s) transferred. Good! I am planning on transferring two – I can’t imagine that at my age, they would hold me to one, at least I hope not.

May I gush about Dr. M. for a moment? I have to say I really lucked out. Well, I guess it wasn’t all luck – I did go to him because he was highly recommended. He owns his own practice so it’s just him – he is the only doctor I see. He does the ultrasounds two days out of the week when the ultrasound assistant isn’t there, and he always does the IUIs. I have seen him every single time I have been to the office, and was able to have the egg retrieval right at the office. He recently moved to this new complex, about six months before I started seeing him. I found out he had it built specifically for his practice, which is why the mini operating room for the retrieval and the lab are right in that same building. I didn’t think much about some of these things until I’ve read some descriptions of some other REs and I realized how fortunate I am. Plus he’s close to my home and office. I am trying to look at all the positive things that have happened through this whole experience and appreciate them, rather than look at just the negatives.... like all my negative pregnancy tests. (ha ha ha)

Speaking of pregnancy tests... my 10 tests arrived this week from Early Pregnancy Tests. You can't beat the price - I got 10 tests for $10.49, which includes shipping. Yes, I admit, I plan on testing before my beta on Feb. 8. I don't plan on testing 10 times, and I will not test if I think I will freak if it's negative. I may wind up not testing because I may chicken out. I guess we'll see.

Keep growing, little ones!