Yesterday morning I received a text message from M with the somewhat disappointing news that only 4 of the 6 frozen donor eggs survived the thaw. *sigh* Not how we were hoping to get this started! Of course we agonized all day yesterday, then today we got the exciting news that ALL FOUR EGGS FERTILIZED! *happy dance*
So things are looking good right now, we just have to wait and see how the four little survivers grow! Hopefully they'll do well and we can do a day 5 transfer on Thursday, we should know more by Tuesday!
Showing posts with label egg donor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label egg donor. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2012
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!
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!
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!"
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