The Today Show and Transfer Regimen

MY DOCTOR, DR. SILBER, WAS ON THE TODAY SHOW!!!

Tuesday morning a friend's mom called her at work (our work) and told her she thought my doctor was on The Today Show. I ran to the break room and turned the TV on. I had already missed half of it but thanks to the Internet I was able to watch it all.

Now I know Dr. Silber has been on TV several times in the past but this time they preformed an egg retrieval live for the first time ever and showed the process of inserting sperm into the eggs. I saw all those people just 3 weeks ago, Dr. Silber, the nurses, the ultra sound tech and the girl drawing her blood! They even showed the guy sitting in the room waiting for them to wheel his fiance back in. I wonder if Ryan looked that nervous? Probably not this time but maybe the first time. So cool!

Here is the link to the article and the two video segments.

http://www.today.com/moms/why-im-doing-ivf-live-tv-one-womans-fertility-journey-4B11235075

{Disclaimer: Yes I wish this couple would go to the courthouse and get married, have a wedding ceremony later people!}

I can't wait to hear the update on their fertilization!

I HAVE A DETAILED SCHEDULE FOR THE TRANSFER!

Birth control pills begin: TBD (depending on my next cycle start date)

Lupron injections of 10 units daily begin: November 18

Birth control pills end: November 21

Estrace pills 4 mgs twice a day begin: November 29

Vivelle dots (3 dots applied to abdomen every M, W & F) begin: November 29

Blood test for hormone panel & ultrasound to measure uterine lining (locally): December 9

Lupron injections end: December 12

Progesterone 2 cc injections begin: December 13 (these will continue until my blood test and if I am pregnant will continue everyday for 10 weeks)

Ultrasound to measure uterine lining (in St. Louis): December 13

Frozen embryo transfer: December 16

Quantitative Beta HCG blood tests (ie pregnancy test!): December 27 & December 30

Whew! That's a lot to keep up with. Lots of shots this time. I knew that was coming though. I did an estimate and if I am blessed with pregnancy it will be roughly 110 straight days of shots! But if that test comes back positive I will gladly take a shot in the hip everyday! Ryan is gonna have to get tough because he will have to give them to me. The progesterone shots have to be in the hip.

For the last week and a half I have been having a pregnancy dream almost every night. The strange thing is that I haven't had a pregnancy dream that I can remember in over a year! I have had maybe 2 or 3 dreams about babies but none that I am pregnant. All this time, tons of medicine, countless trips to the doctor, countless ultrasounds and blood work, 5 inseminations, 2 egg retrievals and NO PREGNANCY dreams! It's so strange when I think about it. I pretty much day dreamed 24/7 of being pregnant but no dreams at night. I guess my conscious is finally confident enough that I will be pregnant someday soon. I love these dreams. I wake up so happy. Some of them are really happy and some are stressful. I dreamed last night that it was time to go to the hospital. Ryan wouldn't quit talking to everyone around us and kept trying to get things done before we left. I kept looking at my belly and telling him that I didn't think it was time because my belly only looked like I was about 4 months pregnant. I asked him if I had any ultrasounds and he said no. I panicked and said "how can I be ready to deliver if I have never even had an ultrasound?" And of course he was not worried at all and told me it would be fine. Then I woke up. I had one dream a few nights ago that we went in for an ultrasound and the baby was sucking it's thumb. I was sooooooo happy when I woke up from that dream. I cannot wait to hear a heartbeat. I cannot wait to see a baby move on the screen (instead of just looking at follicles on that screen). I hope these happy dreams continue, they give me confidence.

In honor of upcoming Mesothelioma Awareness Day September 26th

Earlier in the week I was contacted by a reader that my little ole blog reached. (Which always makes me happy!) This reader didn't want to talk about infertility but she did want to share her own personal struggle and journey. When her daughter was only 3 1/2 months old, Heather was diagnosed with a rare and deadly cancer, pleural mesothelioma. She was given 15 months to live. Despite her horrible diagnosis, she knew she needed to beat the odds for her daughter, Lily. She and her husband sought out the best mesothelioma treatment care available. She is now a proud 7 year survivor with a mission to help other mesothelioma victims. She asked if I would be willing to share her story to help her raise awareness for Mesothelioma in honor of the upcoming Mesothelioma Awareness Day, September 26th. Now I know I don't have thousands of readers but like I have said before about my own journey, if it reaches and helps just one person it will be worth it!

Please take the time to read Heather's sweet story by clicking on the link below.

http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/awareness/

This is Heather, her husband Cameron and her daughter Lily (I love her red hair!)

Such a happy family!

December 16th!!!

We have set the date! Our first transfer will be December 16th. I will have more information next week about the preparation for the transfer and all it entails. But yes they will transfer two embryos (I have been asked this a bunch) :)

I just realized I forgot to post a picture of the four new additions to our family!!

 

To the left is our September babies and on the right are our June babies. The one in the top left corner is the blastocyst.

 

I sometimes forget to explain things for my readers. Sorry! A lot of my readers are fellow IVFers and I know they don't need explanation and could explain it for my "non-infertile" readers so much better than I could. But I realize I have left out some important information about what happens after the embryologist injects sperm into the eggs.

 

After fertilization has taken place, the embryos are transferred to a special growth fluid (media). The process of allowing embryos to develop in the IVF laboratory is called culturing. In order to enable the embryos to grow, the culture dishes containing the embryos and the media are maintained in an incubator where the atmosphere, humidity, and temperature are carefully monitored and controlled.

During this time in the incubator, it is hoped that the embryos will develop normally. Normal embryo development requires a process of cell division called mitosis. The single fertilized egg divides into two cells, then four and so on. Some embryos will not divide at all. Some embryos may divide at a very slow rate which is indicative of a poor potential for producing pregnancy. Some embryos may divide abnormally and start to fragment during their development. These embryos also have a poor potential for producing pregnancy. A blastocyst is an embryo that has developed for 5 to 6 days after fertilization.

Normally, by the third day after the egg retrieval, healthy eggs will have divided into eight cell embryos. Which thankfully we have 7 of now! The reason we have the blastocyst is because on day 3 that embryo had only 5 cells. So they left it in the incubator for a couple more days to see if it would grow more and they froze it's 3 beautiful siblings! By day 5 it had grown and turned into a blastocyst! When an embryo reaches the stage of blastocyst they stop classifying the embryo by it's cell count because it has so many cells they can no longer count them.

 

This picture may help explain the stages of an embryo. Granted mine weren't fertilized in the fallopian tube but they will be placed right up there where it shows the day 7 embryo.

Hope that makes some sort of sense! But always ask questions if you have them! It doesn't bother me at all! I will probably post about the transfer process next week after I get my information packet in the mail. But for now we are just so elated! We feel like we can relax and not stress for a little while. We are so anxious for December! Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and encouragement! I love you all! 



And then there were 8!

Just got the call from the doctor's office! We have 3 embryos and 1 blastocyst! The 3 embryos are all 8 cells and all have less than 5% fragmentation. They want all embryos to have less than 10% fragmentation. Since I have a new coordinator I asked about the June cycle embryos. I was never told anything about fragmentation of our embryos in June. So this is the breakdown:

September Cycle:
8 Cell Embryo, 5% Fragmentation
8 Cell Embryo, 5% Fragmentation
8 Cell Embryo, 5% Fragmentation
1 Blastocyst

June Cycle:
8 Cell Embryo, 5% Fragmentation
7 Cell Embryo, 5% Fragmentation
8 Cell Embryo, 5% Fragmentation
8 Cell Embryo, 0% Fragmentation

When she looked at the picture of the last one (8 Cells, 0% Fragmentation) she said it was one of the best embryos she has seen!! That is music to my ears!! When she said that I almost shrieked.

I am so so so so HAPPY!!! Giddy happy! Thank you God for all 8 of these tiny miracles! Thank you for blessing us!!

We will go either December 16th, 17th or 19th for transfer. Those were the days left on the schedule. Not sure which yet. Possibly the 16th, Ryan and I have to discuss it more tonight! We are going to be celebrating all weekend!!!

Results

I am a day late. Yesterday was a crazy and busy day so I didn't post.

 

Of the 12 eggs they retrieved 8 of them were mature enough to inject with sperm. Of the 8 that were injected 4 fertilized. They will freeze them sometime this week and let me know if they all made it through the freeze process. Hopefully all 4 will and we will have a total of 8 frozen embryos. I will go in December for my first transfer (putting 2 embryos back into my uterus).

 

Thank you all for all your kind words, support and prayers! They are so greatly appreciated! It is the best gift we could ask for during this time.

Eggs!!!

12 eggs! I cannot believe it! Neither could Dr Silber! So blessed! All the glory goes to God! I cried when I woke up and Ryan told me. I kept asking if I was dreaming. Thank you all for your prayers. We will know something Monday about fertilization. Keep up the prayers! 

Retrieval set for Saturday

Today's monitoring results:

Right ovary: 5 measurable

Left ovary: 6 measurable

Estradiol: 1485

LH: 4.1

FSH: 7.5

Progesterone: 1.3

So the Ganirelix did it's job and suppressed my LH level. 

I am schedule for retrieval at 9:00 Saturday morning. I have to be there at 7:00.

I am to take two injections of Lupron tonight. One at 11:00 and then next at 1:00 a.m.!! That's gonna be a fun one! Hopefully my alarm works and hopefully I get the right dosage in the needle. I might have to splash some cold water on my face to be alert enough.

I have to admit I am getting pretty home sick. My sister came up with me Sunday and she left this morning because Ryan got here last night. She was so excited to get home and get ahold of our week old niece. Seeing her pictures makes me want to cry. I want to be with them so badly. And I miss my fur baby too. But it's gonna be over real soon. Ryan and I just have to find a way to entertain ourselves tomorrow! And then it gets exciting again! I am so ready! I feel so much more at ease this time around. I guess because I know what to expect the morning of. I haven't started stressing about how many eggs we will get yet. Probably because Kolette and I stayed so busy hitting every thrift store in a 15 mile radius of us and have been working on craft projects in our hotel at night! Hence why my posts are so short. We really had a fun time! The thrift stores around St. Louis are awesome! We bought so much stuff we are going to paint or repurpose! I can't wait to get home and get to work! 

Tomorrow is a free day! No injections, well unless you count the one at 1:00 am! And no blood work or ultrasound! And no alarm in the morning, again except at 1:00 am. Can you tell I dread that one? 

Praying for healthy high quality eggs!! 

Update

Well today I have 11 follicles! That is the good news. The bad news was that I had to do an injection of Ganirelix today and again tomorrow morning. I didn't have to take it last time. It is to make sure that body doesn't ovulate prematurely. They want me to take it this time because my LH level is kinda high. And it looks like my retrieval is going to be Saturday. Kinda bummed about that. Was hoping for Friday but I want it to be perfect timing so I will do it!

My results:

Estradiol 1811

LH 9.8

FSH 7.6

Progesterone 1.3 

Keep the prayers coming! Another ultrasound and blood work in the morning! 

Progress

Sorry haven't been keeping up to date for those of you who are checking. 

Friday I had 2 measurable follicles, one on each side. That is the same as last time at that point. 

Today I had 4 measurable on the left and 2 on the right. 

My levels were:

Estradiol 880

LH 10.1

FSH 9.9

Progesterone 1.4

I am a tad bit bummed that there were not more measurable follicles today. Last time at this point I had 12. But she said I had a lot of smaller ones. So hopefully they catch up! I am not gonna focus too much on the number of follicles. We got 5 eggs last time from around 12. So we could still get that many from less than 12. And it doesn't really how many we get if the quality isn't good. Quality over quantity, still our motto! 

I go back in the morning for another ultrasound and blood work. 

Keep the prayers coming!