We Have Normals!

Yes- plural.  There are several completely normal, healthy embryos in a state of suspended animation, just waiting for their turn to be called up to the big leagues.  16, in fact.  Nine girls and seven boys.  This equals 8 attempts at a frozen transfer- there is a real possibility that I won't have to endure the hell that is preparing for and recovering from an egg retrieval ever again.  Huzzah!

December 1st is our official transfer date.  After all the waiting and worrying, we are mere weeks away from being entrusted with two little frozen babies.  I just pray that my uterus is hospitable and accommodating.  Maybe I should hang some curtains or something. 

Of course, the preliminary appointment and the transfer itself both fall in the middle of our Thanksgiving pay-period at work.  One of only 2 schedules during the whole year when absolutely-no-time-off-requests-are-allowed-no-excepions!  Because I needed something else be anxious about, right?  Thankfully, I have a fabulous boss, and we're making it happen.  Paul and I are probably working six 12-hour night shifts in a row to make up for it, but it will work out.  It always does!

True Story

A friend sent me this picture of eggs she collected from her chicken coop.  When we told her that we were doing the retrieval, she said that she'd pray for us while collecting eggs that morning.  Guess how many mature, useable eggs she collected.  Fine... don't guess, I'll tell you- there were 31.  Exactly the same number of mature, useable eggs the BabyMaker collected from me.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Actually, I'm sure it was a coincidence, but I still think it's pretty cool.

The Teabag Theory (And Other News)

Negative thoughts are like teabags.  If you let them steep too long, they become bitter.  When you start feeling pessimistic,  put in a new teabag!

 A girl from my infertility group posted this a few days ago. Her mom used to repeat this mantra when she was a child, because moms always have smart things to say that you don't appreciate until you're older.  When I find myself being sucked into that cycle of negative thinking, I remind myself to change the teabag.... and it works!  It's not always easy to change your mindset about something, but it just feels so much better to be optimistic and positive!


Now that the psychology lesson has adjourned, I have an embryo update!  I posted here about our 13 fabulous embryos that were being tested.  On Thursday,  the lab called to let us know that we now have 21 little frostpops that are being tested.  Apparently, the eggs that were fertilized last took a few extra hours to grow (I think those lazy genes are Paul's...).  They were perfect on Wednesday morning , so they were biopsied as well.  Surely, out of 21 embryos tested, we'll have a few several that are chromsomally normal!  See that positive, teabag-changing thinking in action?  I still love the number 13, but 21 sounds even better.

13 is a Lucky Number

Well, it's our lucky number, anyway.  After growing for 5 days, we had 13 blasts that were still going strong.  They were biopsied yesterday and frozen so that we can wait for the CCS results.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will hear something early next week.  We'll see-  hopefully we have a few normals to transfer!

Grow, Baby, Grow!

Getting ready for the Harvest!

It's been a long 5 days!  It seems like forever since I posted.  Egg Retrieval was Thursday morning at 8:30 am.  Things couldn't have gone more smoothly.  I will say that I completely understand how someone could become addicted to Propofol- you are out in 5 seconds and you wake up alert as soon as it's turned off.  There's no drugged feeling when you come out of surgery, which was fabulous-  Paul has a tendency to make fun of me for hours when I'm given Valium, Versed or Fentanyl.   However, it obviously has it's downsides.  Hello, Michael Jackson- forgetting to breathe has very dire consequences!  I'm just glad that my drugs were administered under closely monitored circumstances by well-trained professionals (and in a hospital to boot!).  But I digress...


As I was saying,  the retrieval was a complete success.  Our official fertilization report was:

33 Eggs were retrieved

31 Eggs were mature

27 Eggs were successfully fertilized via ICSI

I cried when I got off of the phone with my nurse- these are awesome numbers!  I was shocked, given our slow start.  I like to think that it's due to the awesome Lucky Socks that my mom gave me.  They were perfect.  Fuzzy and super soft, with pink, blue and white stripes.  I wore them for every appointment.  I'm not kidding.  They looked ridiculous with my running shoes, but who cares, right?  The OR staff loved them.

Me and my Lucky Socks!

So what next?  We won't hear anything else until Tuesday, when the embryologist will check in on our little guys again to see which ones have continued to grow well.  God, please let those embryos grow!  The healthy ones will be biopsied and then frozen.  And we will wait again- this time for the CCS results that will tell us which ones are genetically normal, thus suitable for transfer.  Hopefully we'll slide in before the lab closes December 1st for yearly cleaning.  I could be pregnant for Christmas!  Or not, but it's good to stay positive.

The need for a frozen transfer has actually been wonderful, because I ended up with moderate OHSS and it's pretty miserable.  I've gained 13 lbs of fluid since Thursday, and am super short of breath.  Oh, the things we'll do for stuff we really, really want!

Trigger Happy

It's official.  I've been triggered.  Thanks, Paul- you are the king of IM injections.  I'll admit that I was terrified at the thought of you wielding that huge needle and stabbing in my general direction, but you came through in the clutch.  It didn't even hurt!

In exactly 34.5 hours, the BabyMaker will be harvesting these eggs that we've worked so hard to mature.  Exciting, right?  All I can do now is relax, and hope that the eggs are packing up their belongings and preparing to vacate my comfy, squishy follicles.

In truth, I'm ready for them to move out.  Each follicle is about 2 cm in diameter.  Presently, there are between 20-30 large marble-sized fluid balls in my belly that make every movement awkward and uncomfortable.  I look like I'm about 4 months pregnant (I wish!), and I'm waddling like a geriatric duck.  Hurry up, Thursday, because I can't wait to find out exactly what we've got growing in there!

Flip Flops

Once again, we are good here in the land of Infertility.  It's insane how things can change so radically from one week (or one day!) to the next.  As you may recall, last monday was exceptionally crappy.  Fast forward a mere 7 days, and things couldn't look better!  We have lots of fat, happy follicles and my estrogen levels are skyrocketing.  I attribute this success to the fabulous junk I've been eating.    Just kidding- I'm sure the thrice daily shots have a little something to do with it.

We are planning on triggering tomorrow night, and harvesting these babies (pun totally intended!) on Thursday.   Our future children could be conceived on Thursday morning!  As we approach the retrieval,  I find myself feeling strangely emotionally attached to these little guys.  If all goes well, we will head home on Friday or Saturday and the thought of leaving our embryos here, 4 hours away from home, makes me sad.  This is completely irrational, because I'm certainly not equipped to sit on a petri dish and incubate our potential babies.  I know we will be leaving them in good hands here, but I do expect daily updates on their growth progess!

As always,  thanks for visiting my blog-  you'll never know how much your comments mean to to me, and how therapeutic it is to have a place to share.  Have a wonderful week!