Inconceivable and beyond :-)

[Vonn]

Bluebell--what are you decorating? The whole place or just part? Did you recently move? How's your pregnancy going?

ps--getting the syncing all set is stressfull. Donor's AFC is terrific! I hope that means lots of eggies for all the recipients.

Pinkie--thanks!

2have--as for putting back two, I am really, really torn. I feel like this might be our only chance, so I am leaning towards transferring two. DH is more inclined to one, but he's open. I worry about a twin pregnancy with my crap body & about the cost of two infants at once. We don't make that much money, DH will have to get a different job no matter what, though he's dragging his feet and won't seem to consider a change until a pregnancy is real. I may have to try to find something that pays more, too, even though I actually have a good job in my field; it's just the field pays crap generally. If I had stayed in teaching, I'd be making quite a bit more...how sad is that? Bottom line is no decisions yet on how many will be transferred. Probably two, since there's a decent chance only one takes anyway. It sounds like the decision was easy for you, 2have. Is that right?

Doshima--congrats on your twins! Were you once on this thread?

AFM--we FINALLY heard from someone and got a day 3 update today, on day 4. I was so irritated. Didn't hear from anyone yesterday, despite leaving voicemails and portal messages with both our nurse and the embryology lab. A receptionist did look at our file and give me a little info right at the end of the day, though she couldn't explain it. She said we have:
2 -- at grade 4
2 -- at grade 3
2 -- at grade 2
I researched online and every site I looked at said "1" was the best and "4" was the worst. I also read the number of cells in each was just as important, and I didn't get that info. We weren't sure what to think. DH went from really pumped when I told him all 6 were still going to downright dejected when I told him what I thought the grading meant. Thank goodness someone from the lab just called. She said they use "4" as the best and "1" as the worst, so it looks better now!! She also said all 6 were between 6-9 cells, which is what they want. This is a much better scenario than what I was thinking! I think we have a legitimate chance at getting 4 blasts. They will freeze ones tomorrow that make it to blast/expanded blast, and there may be some that need to go to day 6 to get there. We probably won't have a final count until Friday.

 

[2have4kids]

Hi Vonn, that's fantastic news about your embryos! I dn't know what expense it is to you but when Crystal and I fly to Europe to have a transfer I'm looking at $3000+ for the embryos, $1200+ for flights & accoms, and wouldn't dare not put 2 back. Both of my embryos were hatching and expanded top grade blasts. If they were even slightly less again, I'd be wanting to put 2 back. When my friends got pregnant naturally by accident they were in no position financially to have kids. My gf said she's glad it happened and somehow you just manage! Especislly with twins, people come out of the woodwork giving you all sorts of things. Everyone knew at work how many times we had tried and failed and the gifts were enough to bring me to tears on a number of occasions. My DH has been laid off since June 2015. There is no better time than the present and somehow, things will work out, they always do with children. Give it your absolute best shot. Try to base your decisions on success rate statistics, your own history (ie no. mc or bfp's) and your intuition rather than fears.

Fx for you!!

 

[Bluebell bun]

Vonn, that sounds fab. Hopefully you will get some top grade blasts
We are decorating our lounge and also doing up the room for baby so it is all go xx

 

[Vonn]

2have--how it is being back at work?

Bluebell--decorating a nursery seems like it would be super fun!! You should share a pic when it's done. (That's me being nosy. . .) How many weeks are you now?

AFM--Good news for us. So far 5 out of 6 have been frozen and the 6th is still growing & hopefully will be frozen tomorrow. I am thrilled! And relieved! Here's what we have so far:
4AA -- excellent
4AA -- excellent
4BC -- good
3AB -- fair
3AC -- fair

Obviously, we will go with the 4AAs first. And maybe that's all we will need. FX. Anyone get pregnant with embryos that were more in the good or fair range? I know it's possible, but annecdotal stories are always helpful.

 

[2have4kids]

Vonn all of our blasts were AA from Reprofit, when we did a fresh cycle with them they destroyed anything less. I was angry at them for doing this but they said you don't want to fly over, prepare for cycle and mc or have a chromosomally compromised baby (ie Downs or Trisomy)? So I tucked my anger away and in the end, they have extremely high success rates for a very good reason.

Are they freezing your embies seperately then so that you have the choice to only put 1 back? I'm so pleased for you, those are really great numbers!
It'll be a very busy spring!

 

[Pinkie3]

PS, your donor sounds great, how are you getting on?

Vonn, great embryos, those AA ones sound perfect and the AB is almost there. Unfortunately I haven't had success with fair ones, all my OE were fair. My clinic also wouldn't freeze anything that wasn't perfect and what they believed would survive the thaw. But let's hope you don't need the fair ones.

I am so pleased you got this far, definitely be over the moon with those embryos. I can't wait for you to get to transfer now, roll on Nov X

 

[boopin4baby]

Those are awesome results Vonn!! So, out of the 7 eggs... you have 5-6 blasts?? You have a lot to work with. Keeping my fx'd atleast 1 of them is your Golden Egg!! I'm so happy for you and dh. Woop woop!!

 

[Butterfly67]

Great news Vonn. I definitely remember someone on this thread or its predecessor getting pg with a not great quality embryo and my friend had twins from 2 medium quality ones. X

 

[ps57002]

Vonn, Hope the 6th one made it to freeze too. I know it's not an easy decision to make as to how many to transfer. What does your hubby say?

Thank you Pinkie.

Ok so far. Feels a bit slow before all the hyperness will start. Right now on Estrace 2x/daily and will increase to 3x/daily tomorrow. Have bloodwork and ultrasound on Tuesday. Then hopefully end of next week will be retrieval for donor and I will have to take antibiotic (one time), medrol for 7 days, and the PIO shots (ouch..can't imagine that yet). Also continue with estrace. The numbers for donor looks good but I still worry as she's not proven either through prior donation or her own pregnancy. Plus it's a shared cycle with us being secondary. So yeah trying to stay optimistic with that in the back on our minds. Is it unrealistic to hope to get at least 7 good embies out of this so can freeze some just in case? Feels like hoping for too much. Most people dont even get enough to freeze for one person, here this is shared cycle...

 

[Vonn]

Thanks, everyone! Embryo #6 made it to freeze as a 4AC (good), so we have two excellent, 2 good, 2 fair. I am so glad we have multiple tries, takes a little of the pressure off me. Now we just wait for AF so we can plan the cycle.

PS--it's so hard to know how many good eggs anyone, donor included, will produce. My best hope on this cycle was that we would get 4 frozen out of 7; 3 would have been okay; I was bracing myself for 2 or less. I think for young donors/women, there tends to be a 70% rule -- 70% successfully fertilize, 70% of those make it to day 3, and 70% of those make it to blast. This is certainly not a hard and fast rule, of course. The first donor we had we were in a shared cycle before it was cancelled. This donor had produced enough for multiple shared cycles previously, with multiple couples getting pg...so it can happen! But, my donor on this cycle had only 7 eggs retrieved, though all were mature. The way my clinic does shared cycles is that one couple is designated as primary, but they still split the eggs evenly, or the primary gets one extra if an odd number of eggs is retrieved. I take it yours is not that way? If not, how many eggs automatically go to the primary couple?

 

[2have4kids]

Ps our donor was 22 and had 8 eggs, 7 fertilized and 2 made it to hatching/expanded blast state with excellent quality. It all depends on so many factors. I don't know how a shared cycle would go, do they give you any guarantees?

Vonn roll on AF!

 

[boopin4baby]

Vonn, this is wonderful news I hope those embryos keep going and you have a lovely pick of the bunch on day 5, so happy this stage is finally coming around for you. Keep us posted.

PS, dont let it worry you, the clinic would have dealt with delays many times and would have no doubt taken this into consideration before starting. Lining will be nice and thin tomorrow if your bleed has got heavier and you have plenty of time to thicken it up again. As 2have says, they will increase estrogen if needed. Sounds like everything is on track to me.

Boopin, how are you getting on lovely? X

Pinkie - I'm currently waiting on my period to start. I was expecting it 9/2-9/4. I emailed my nurse and she said that if my period doesn't start by Monday 9/12, she wants me to take a blood pregnancy test. And if its negative, she'll start me on a medication for 7 days to induce my period. I'm really hoping that AF starts within the next couple of days on her own. I have dull aching in my pelvic area that comes and goes, but no other symptoms that AF is looming. This is so frustrating. I'm trying not to stress. I really would like to have my FET during my next vacation (10/24-11/2). It doesn't look like it's going to happen the way I planned. I'm praying that it'll all work out favorably in the end. Fx'd!!

I wonder if my NEW prenatal vitamin is delaying my period. I've been taking them for only 1 month. They have a small amount of red raspberry leaf in them. I've read on the internet that rrl can delay a period. I'll insert a link below, so that you ladies can check them out and give me your opinion. Do you think this amount could effect my menstrual cycle?? Arghhhh!!

https://www.amazon.com/Nest-Methylfo...natal+vitamins

 

[2have4kids]

Boopin sorry to hear about your delays. I have n idea about rrl as I've never used it before. You should ho out for some vietnamese or thai food, I found out I can't have lemongrass bcayse it brungs on AF. I used to use it in my stirfries all the time (up to 2 weeks ago when I read that it helps bring on AF and not recommended for pregnancy - ooops).

I hope eberyone's having a great weekend!

 

[Pinkie3]

Vonn, I hope AF arrives quickly so you can get started. How have they frozen the embryos, are they in singles or in batches? If transferring two will they go for one top and one good embryo?

PS, I wouldn't worry about your donor not being proven, they have to start somewhere and with her test results she should do good. Lets hope this cycle works and you don't need to worry about frozen embryos.

Boopin, sorry the AF is delayed, this happened to me on every cycle. I am usually praying for AF to stay away and the only times I wanted it to hurry up it wouldn't come. I hope you still get to cycle during your time off.

I hope everyone else is doing well and had a lovely weekend x

 

[ps57002]

Thank you Pinkie. Yes that's what they said, every donor has to start somewhere. How are things going for you? Are you feeling sick/nauseous?

Vonn and Boopin...come AF come. Darn thing never cooperates when we need it to. I think for me papaya seems to help bring it on. Didn't try this time and it was late and I was aggravated too, so I sympathize.

2Have, no guarantees for us. They just say donor seems perfect...

I emailed nurse today being nervous about cancellation etc and less than 10 eggs... She left me a message reassuring me that donor looks really good so far and is stimming well. Said donors usually produce in teens and this one is looking good so far. She is hesitant to tell me the numbers as it can be less than what they are seeing. Well she sounded very reassuring. So far not sure what date of retrieval will be. I know she started stimms on 9/6. Was hoping to have my 5dt on 9/21. Took 9/21 and 9/22 off and have light half day on 9/23. Really hoping stays that way. Getting quite nervous. The estrogen I think is messing my tummy. it's rumbly and unstable How did i not complain so much on my OE IVF lol. Actually come to think of it, that was even worse....

Time to stop complaining.

 

[2have4kids]

PS estrogen always puts me on edge and irritable. It's not a lovely hormone. As we age, the progesterone drops off hence those cranky old lady labels. Once you're on the progesterone you'll sleep better, you'll be much more relaxed, I love it, my skin goes crazy on estrogen and clears up with progesterone. 10 sounds great. fx for the golden egg!

 

[ps57002]

At emergency room with hubby. Seems he has kidney stones. Lots pain some blood in urine. How will this effect sperm collection that's in few days? Why is this happening and all going bad?

 

[2have4kids]

PS it shouldn't effect the collection and hopefully they can blast the stones right away for him. Try to think positively!

 

[boopin4baby]

Ladies,

My nurse called me today with my negative blood test results. I'll start Provera 10 mg daily for 7 days to induce my period, beginning today.

Edit: I picked up my prescription this evening. 1 pill down, 6 to go!!

ps - How's your dh doing?? Poor guy. Kidney stones are no fun. Boo to kidney stones!!

 

[ps57002]

Boopin that's good that they gave something to get that period to start already. I hope you don't even have to finish all 6 pills and it starts much sooner.

Vonn, how are things for you.

Thank you 2Have.

I am extremely exhausted today, so not very coherent...
Hubby, I were in ER all night on Monday. Multiple kidney stones. No laser done. That hospital was crap is all I can say. They want to wait for them to pass on own saying they aren't that big. He had blood in urine that night but thankfully no more (at least visible). Pain is better but has discomfort urinating. Seems donor is going for retrieval either Saturday or Sunday. So I am concerned about semen collection as the range of days is 2-5 in terms of cleaning the pipe before collection. Due to the kidney stone pain, I don't know how this will go for him and if it'll push the stones more so. I mean the collection itself could set him back but if he needs to clean the pipe even before that (can't be older than 5 days) then he'll have to endure that pain 2x and hope it doesn't make it worse for him and is a setback. This is sort of what got him where he was on Monday if you know what I mean. AFM, my estrogen lining is not going well. I am at 6 when they need a 7 to 8 for transfer. Yes I still have a week but still. They don't know why i am not absorbing my estrace well enough. So now I will still take 3x daily but the nightly one will be taken vaginally for better absorbing. Has anyone experienced a lining that is not cooperating. Not sure why my estrace is not being absorbed properly. is any food/drink getting in way? the donor shows good estrogen so far and 21 follies I am told. So i hope she gives eggs in teens and can be split well between the 2 recipients.