Showing posts with label IVF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IVF. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2013
Back in the Saddle
I'm very excited to share that after some discussion, re-signing of contracts and meeting with the fertility doctor - M, C and myself are ready to try again to make them parents! We just got our new calendar and are set for an April 2nd frozen embryo transfer! I am already on the birth control pill (which will allow Dr. L to control my cycle while we prepare) and I will begin injectable meds a week from today. M & C have one frozen 5 day embryo leftover from our last cycle and Dr. L thinks we have a good chance with this embryo. We are all so excited and definitely covet all the positive thoughts and good juju you can muster! Here we go again!!!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Transfer TODAY!
The clinic just called and there is one little embryo that is the star of the show right now so we will be transferring that one this afternoon to give him/her the best chance to thrive in a more natural environment. The others will be grown out to see if they can be frozen for future use, if needed. I'll be on bedrest for 24 hours after the transfer so I'm sure I'll be back with another update!
Monday, August 20, 2012
"I'm really happy with everything I see here..."
...said the doctor to the surrogate, while checking out her uterus via ultrasound.
Today was my last appointment with Dr. L until transfer day, which we can now officially say is next week (thanks to M for pointing that out to me!), and Dr. L is super happy with how everything looks - which is awesome to hear. Gotta love when your uterus cooperates!
This weekend is going to be very exciting! On Saturday, the clinic will thaw 6 eggs from M and C's selected egg donor (which were frozen after a previous cycle). According to Dr. L, stastically, 5 or 6 are expected to survive the thaw. Because freezing of the eggs can make the outer layer of the egg harder to penetrate, they will be using ICSI to help encourage fertilization. Typically, they will check for fertilization 24 hours later - so Sunday morning. Again, statistically, they expect about 2/3 of the eggs to fertilize. This should leave us with 3 or 4 embryos. Dr. L will want to see which embryo will be the best to transfer so they will observe the embryos over a 3 to 5 day period. Some of them will not grow and there is a small chance that we will only be left with one embryo by day 3, if that's the case, we will do a day 3 transfer on August 28th. More likely, they will continue to grow the embryos until August 30th, which will be day 5, or the blastocyst stage. At this stage it is easier to select the best one to transfer. Depending on the thickness of the outer layer of the selected embryo, the embryologist may perform an assisted hatching procedure immediately before transfer, to help encourage implantation. Any remaining embryos will be frozen for future use.
Then the agonizing wait until I can take a pregnancy test begins!
P.S. Read the links above if you have the time, the science behind all this is really fascinating!
Today was my last appointment with Dr. L until transfer day, which we can now officially say is next week (thanks to M for pointing that out to me!), and Dr. L is super happy with how everything looks - which is awesome to hear. Gotta love when your uterus cooperates!
This weekend is going to be very exciting! On Saturday, the clinic will thaw 6 eggs from M and C's selected egg donor (which were frozen after a previous cycle). According to Dr. L, stastically, 5 or 6 are expected to survive the thaw. Because freezing of the eggs can make the outer layer of the egg harder to penetrate, they will be using ICSI to help encourage fertilization. Typically, they will check for fertilization 24 hours later - so Sunday morning. Again, statistically, they expect about 2/3 of the eggs to fertilize. This should leave us with 3 or 4 embryos. Dr. L will want to see which embryo will be the best to transfer so they will observe the embryos over a 3 to 5 day period. Some of them will not grow and there is a small chance that we will only be left with one embryo by day 3, if that's the case, we will do a day 3 transfer on August 28th. More likely, they will continue to grow the embryos until August 30th, which will be day 5, or the blastocyst stage. At this stage it is easier to select the best one to transfer. Depending on the thickness of the outer layer of the selected embryo, the embryologist may perform an assisted hatching procedure immediately before transfer, to help encourage implantation. Any remaining embryos will be frozen for future use.
Then the agonizing wait until I can take a pregnancy test begins!
P.S. Read the links above if you have the time, the science behind all this is really fascinating!
Friday, August 10, 2012
Keeping It Real
I have been hesitant to blog about this because, really, who wants to hear me whine?? But things have at least somewhat turned a corner now and I've decided I'm keeping it real so here it goes...
I've been doing Lupron injections nightly for 10 days now and the first week was really rough. The shots themselves are not a big deal, the needles are tiny and relatively painless - although you couldn't tell by looking at my lower abdomen, which is riddled with little bruises in various stages of healing. But the side effects have been...not fun. I was completely exhausted all the time and had a splitting headache every day - for a good 7 or 8 days straight. Then I started Estrogen patches 3 days ago and about that same time I started getting some energy back and the headaches have at least diminished in intensity - thank goodness for Estrogen! I'll be on this Lupron/Estrogen combination until the day before the egg thaw, which is just 14 more days!
I've been doing Lupron injections nightly for 10 days now and the first week was really rough. The shots themselves are not a big deal, the needles are tiny and relatively painless - although you couldn't tell by looking at my lower abdomen, which is riddled with little bruises in various stages of healing. But the side effects have been...not fun. I was completely exhausted all the time and had a splitting headache every day - for a good 7 or 8 days straight. Then I started Estrogen patches 3 days ago and about that same time I started getting some energy back and the headaches have at least diminished in intensity - thank goodness for Estrogen! I'll be on this Lupron/Estrogen combination until the day before the egg thaw, which is just 14 more days!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
I'm Not Going to be Octomom - and Other Surrogacy Myths Busted
1) We will be transferring one embryo. I'm not going to be Octomom. In fact, the chance of me finding myself pregnant with twins or higher order multiples is exactly the same as it would be with any other pregnancy (really small).
2) It's not going to be hard for me to "give up" the baby...because it's not my baby! This baby will not be genetically related to me in any way, shape or form. M & C have selected an egg donor from their clinic's frozen egg donor program. The egg will be fertilized with "genetic material" from M or C. The resulting embryo will be transferred into my uterus. I will then, put simply, "baby-sit" for approx 9 months, until their precious bundle is ready to take on the world! Then M & C get daddy duty and I get to sleep for 8 hours a night, sounds good to me.
3) We will be planning a homebirth, just like we had with my youngest child. Pregnancy and labor/delivery is not scary or dangerous. In fact, it's a normal, healthy process, best left alone to proceed as naturally as possible. I'm not putting myself or my family at risk, steps have been taken to ensure everyone's welfare should the pregnancy not go as perfectly as my other pregnancies have.
4) My husband and I have taken the time to explain gestational surrogacy to our children - even warning them what others may think (see #2) and they completely understand and think it's great, they adore M & C and are so excited for them! My children will not be confused.
5) Many kids are raised in non-traditional families and they turn out just fine and some kids are raised in traditional families and turn out not-so-fine. The point is - whether a child is raised by a mom and a dad, two moms, two dads, a grandma, a uncle, a parent and step-parent, etc has little to do with anything. This baby will not be "damaged" by being raised by two dads. The most important things that a child needs are love and family - this lucky little one will have plenty of both!
2) It's not going to be hard for me to "give up" the baby...because it's not my baby! This baby will not be genetically related to me in any way, shape or form. M & C have selected an egg donor from their clinic's frozen egg donor program. The egg will be fertilized with "genetic material" from M or C. The resulting embryo will be transferred into my uterus. I will then, put simply, "baby-sit" for approx 9 months, until their precious bundle is ready to take on the world! Then M & C get daddy duty and I get to sleep for 8 hours a night, sounds good to me.
3) We will be planning a homebirth, just like we had with my youngest child. Pregnancy and labor/delivery is not scary or dangerous. In fact, it's a normal, healthy process, best left alone to proceed as naturally as possible. I'm not putting myself or my family at risk, steps have been taken to ensure everyone's welfare should the pregnancy not go as perfectly as my other pregnancies have.
4) My husband and I have taken the time to explain gestational surrogacy to our children - even warning them what others may think (see #2) and they completely understand and think it's great, they adore M & C and are so excited for them! My children will not be confused.
5) Many kids are raised in non-traditional families and they turn out just fine and some kids are raised in traditional families and turn out not-so-fine. The point is - whether a child is raised by a mom and a dad, two moms, two dads, a grandma, a uncle, a parent and step-parent, etc has little to do with anything. This baby will not be "damaged" by being raised by two dads. The most important things that a child needs are love and family - this lucky little one will have plenty of both!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Sonohysterogram & Mock Transfer
Today was my sonohysterogram. I'm not going to lie - I was nervous about it, primarily because Dr. Google was leading me to believe it was everything from a walk in the park to worse than childbirth. I didn't have this particular procedure done with my previous surrogacy journey and my Google search wasn't exactly reassuring so yes, I drove to the clinic a complete ball of nerves. I park my car, walk to the office, open to the door and who do I see? M & C! I was not expecting them to be there at all, they live 30 minutes away and there was nothing needed from them at this appointment but they came, and I'm so glad they did because after about 2 minutes - I wasn't nervous anymore! They had a song and dance about being out running errands but I'm not buying it, they just came because they're awesome (I'm on to you guys)!
Before he did the sonohysterogram, Dr. L did a mock transfer. During the mock transfer he inserted the same type of catheter into my uterus that he'll use for the embryo transfer - to determine the depth of the uterus and the best way to insert the catheter to get the embryo where it needs to be to give it the best chance to implant. It went off without a hitch - Dr. L said it was easy and we agreed that easy is good! The sonohysterogram was actually pretty cool, I thought it was neat to watch it on the ultrasound. I could see him insert the smaller catheter and release the saline into the uterus. This causes the uterus to "blow up", sort of like a balloon, so Dr. L can better visualize the inside of the uterus and evaluate for polyps or fibroids that could interfere with implantation. Everything looked normal so we're good to go. And for the record, whoever said it was worse than childbirth must have had the epidural because it was a lot closer to a walk in the park.
Before he did the sonohysterogram, Dr. L did a mock transfer. During the mock transfer he inserted the same type of catheter into my uterus that he'll use for the embryo transfer - to determine the depth of the uterus and the best way to insert the catheter to get the embryo where it needs to be to give it the best chance to implant. It went off without a hitch - Dr. L said it was easy and we agreed that easy is good! The sonohysterogram was actually pretty cool, I thought it was neat to watch it on the ultrasound. I could see him insert the smaller catheter and release the saline into the uterus. This causes the uterus to "blow up", sort of like a balloon, so Dr. L can better visualize the inside of the uterus and evaluate for polyps or fibroids that could interfere with implantation. Everything looked normal so we're good to go. And for the record, whoever said it was worse than childbirth must have had the epidural because it was a lot closer to a walk in the park.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Calendar!
Wow! This clinic is really on top of things...we met with them for the first time on Tuesday morning and by Thursday evening we had our calendar for our IVF cycle and A PLAN! I love having a plan!
So here it is: I start daily Lupron injections in 11 days (July 31st)! Then I add in Estrogen patches starting on August 7th. M & C have selected an egg donor from our clinic's frozen egg donor program - those frozen eggs will be thawed and fertilized on August 25th, which is when I'll stop the Lupron injections and begin daily Progesterone injections (both the Estrogen and the Progesterone support will continue through the 12th week of pregnancy, if we are successful). The embryos will be grown to the blastocyst stage, they will use assisted hatching to help encourage implantation after the transfer. The transfer is scheduled for August 30th!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On another fun note...I told my 5 year old yesterday about M & C, and me trying to help them have a baby. I told her the baby would have two dads and she said "Wow! That baby is so lucky! Dad's are FUN!"
So here it is: I start daily Lupron injections in 11 days (July 31st)! Then I add in Estrogen patches starting on August 7th. M & C have selected an egg donor from our clinic's frozen egg donor program - those frozen eggs will be thawed and fertilized on August 25th, which is when I'll stop the Lupron injections and begin daily Progesterone injections (both the Estrogen and the Progesterone support will continue through the 12th week of pregnancy, if we are successful). The embryos will be grown to the blastocyst stage, they will use assisted hatching to help encourage implantation after the transfer. The transfer is scheduled for August 30th!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On another fun note...I told my 5 year old yesterday about M & C, and me trying to help them have a baby. I told her the baby would have two dads and she said "Wow! That baby is so lucky! Dad's are FUN!"
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Where We're At Now
Today M, C and I got together to sign contracts (it's "official"!) and meet with their fertility doctor for a consultation - we are using Advanced Fertility Care. I love this clinic - the doctor and all the staff were organized, thorough, compassionate and really took the time to explain the process in great detail.
Fortunately, most of my screenings have already been completed and, equally fortunately, we were able to get more screenings done today (ultrasound for me - since I conveniently just started a new cycle plus "swimmer" analysis and bloodwork for M and C); so we should be able to move forward pretty quickly!
I have a funny story to tell and I'm pretty sure M and C have a story to tell - but I don't want to scare everyone away with TMI on post number 3 sooooo....
Next up: bloodwork and sonohysterogram for me; and psychological exams for M and C. Then back to the clinic for a follow up on August 2nd. We should get a better idea of what time frame we are looking at then - we're all hoping for an August transfer!
Fortunately, most of my screenings have already been completed and, equally fortunately, we were able to get more screenings done today (ultrasound for me - since I conveniently just started a new cycle plus "swimmer" analysis and bloodwork for M and C); so we should be able to move forward pretty quickly!
I have a funny story to tell and I'm pretty sure M and C have a story to tell - but I don't want to scare everyone away with TMI on post number 3 sooooo....
Next up: bloodwork and sonohysterogram for me; and psychological exams for M and C. Then back to the clinic for a follow up on August 2nd. We should get a better idea of what time frame we are looking at then - we're all hoping for an August transfer!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
When One Door Closes, Another One Opens
I can't blog my journey with M & C without first mentioning my journey with my beautiful friend J and her husband L, as they were my first foray into surrogacy and my present journey never would have come to be without them.
J & L are parents of a son, the old fashioned way, and twin girls, through a gestational surrogate. It was J who introduced me to the world of surrogacy, back when I was still pregnant with my youngest child. It was J who videoed the home waterbirth of said child. It was J that I was friends with for 3 years before we traveled together to California for the transfer of their one frozen embryo, their only hope of a 4th child, into me. And it was J that I delivered the devastating news to, 2 weeks later, that that transfer had resulted in a chemical pregnancy.
For J & L, their surrogacy journey had ended. They decided that a 4th child was not meant to be, that their family was complete with three beautiful children and they were excitedly looking forward to where their life was going to go from there.
For me, my journey through surrogacy was just beginning. My time in the lives of J & L had lit a fire in my soul. I knew I had the power to make the dreams of a couple who desperately wanted a child to come true - to grow their baby for them from the first cells of life and to hand their baby to them with the knowledge that that child will come to be their greatest accomplishment in life. That is what I wanted to do, that is what I was meant to do.
J & L are parents of a son, the old fashioned way, and twin girls, through a gestational surrogate. It was J who introduced me to the world of surrogacy, back when I was still pregnant with my youngest child. It was J who videoed the home waterbirth of said child. It was J that I was friends with for 3 years before we traveled together to California for the transfer of their one frozen embryo, their only hope of a 4th child, into me. And it was J that I delivered the devastating news to, 2 weeks later, that that transfer had resulted in a chemical pregnancy.
For J & L, their surrogacy journey had ended. They decided that a 4th child was not meant to be, that their family was complete with three beautiful children and they were excitedly looking forward to where their life was going to go from there.
For me, my journey through surrogacy was just beginning. My time in the lives of J & L had lit a fire in my soul. I knew I had the power to make the dreams of a couple who desperately wanted a child to come true - to grow their baby for them from the first cells of life and to hand their baby to them with the knowledge that that child will come to be their greatest accomplishment in life. That is what I wanted to do, that is what I was meant to do.
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