Second Blood test results

I got the call early Sunday with the second HcG levels - 701.8 - so more than doubled from 265 - so of course this is great news!  Next step in the 7 week ultrasound on June 17 - the next big hurdle!

Positive!!

Great News!  I decided to go in for the blood test yesterday because I could not stand waiting longer.  I got the call from Kelly (one of the nurses) at about 3:30 - just as I was getting anxious again.  I could tell by her voice as soon as I answered the phone.

This is a HUGE hurdle - yet I am still a bit guarded.  The blood test measured the HcG hormone, or "the pregnancy hormone" at 265.  Anything over 25 is pregnant - so Kelly told me this is a "good, solid result".  Naturally I need to get information to show that this pregnancy is for real - so I ask her to look up my measurements fron Oct 2007, when I was PG via my first IVF try. This was the PG with TWO chromosomal defects.  She tells me that my first measurement of HcG was 69, and my 2nd measurement was 185.  So this time I am scoring much better.  I will have my second blood test for this PG tomorrow - or 48 hours after the 1st.

After tomorrow's bloodwork I will be scheduled for the 7 wk ultrasound - which is the next hurdle to get over.  If both embryos "took" we may be able to see then.   Ultrasounds are the only way to confirm multiples.  At this point the idea of having twins at age 42 is not exactly appealing - but I will take it if that is the case!  Naturally Dan WANTS twins - I think he's nuts.....

Today we are having Nikki's friends over for a bday party - she is so excited this year!  I was not going to do a friend party this year - but she wanted to - and considering how shy she is I wanted to jump at the chance for her to hang out with her buddies.  I will update Sunday after I get the blood test results from Saturday.....

The Embryo Transfer

On the 18th we had the embryo transfer procedure.  I made Dan come along this time for good luck.  He came the first time we had IVF.  The 5 other times I did not ask him to come.  

It is very cool to see the embryos before they put them in, and the embryologist, Mark, describes what qualities he looked for to select the best ones.  There were 5 that matured into great quality - so we selected 2.  2 is the maximum.

After all these years I have become very attached to the nurses, and of course I have gotten to know the doctor and even the embryologists.  They all seem too excited for my liking.  I realize that over all - the chances for success are much higher with donor eggs.  So Mark is very excited, and Kelly, the nurse we have know the longest, is practically dancing.  They say the rates of success are 60-75%. 

Tuesday and Wednesday I kept myself very busy with working at school and other things.  Today I feel anxious though.  Physical work and running around are the best ways to cope.  They say implantation takes place in the few days after the procedure.  There is nothing I can do to encourage or discourage it.  They encourage mild activity - just nothing heavy duty.  Sounds perfect to me!

I am due for the blood-PG test on May 27th.  I keep going back and forth about whether I go in that day or wait until after the holiday weekend.  I have a feeling it will drive me crazy not to know.  Before I was convinced I would want to wait until after Memorial Day.  We will see....

21, 20, 14...

Yesterday (Friday) we got some totals from the nurses:  21 eggs were retrieved from the donor, 20 of which were mature.  14 of them fertilized - which is very good.  The number of eggs retrieved is on the high end of all the donor retrievals done in the last couple of years.

With that many fertilized eggs we wait longer (5 days instead of 3) to do the embryo transfer.  Not all fertilized eggs will develop into embryos, and waiting 5 days means more of the "lesser quality" ones will weed themselves out of competition.  By day 5 post-fertilization, the embryos will be 16-cell blastocysts, and the embryologists will be able to define the grade of each one with greater accuracy.  Each one is graded A, B, C, or D.  The A's and B's have a much higher rate of resulting in a pregnancy, so we want more of those.  C's and D's have a much lower rate - but you never know.  Friends of ours had triplets in 2000 - they had 4 embryos put in becuase their quality was so low that the doctors thought the chances of even one impanting was slim.  Needless to say they have 3 healthy daughters who just turned 10.

The nurses are very excited and make comments like "so how many kids do you want?"  But I dont let myself react much.  We had over a dozen grade A embryos of our own with zero success - so I really hope that this time things will be different. 

Today is Nikki's 7th birthday!  We are going to soak up the day with her - she is in charge of our plans - so it looks like we will head to the zoo, miniature golf, then fine dining at the Kiltie for burgers and ice cream!

May 13 - Retrieval Day

Today is the day our donor has her egg retrieval surgery - this is the toughest part of the IVF process.   She has been in for ultrasounds every other day (including Mother's Day) to see how her egg follicles are growing, then the doctors adjusted her medications to be sure the existing growing follicles kept growing instead of encouraging new follicles to mature. 

(TMI Alert)  The surgery is outpatient - she is put under, then the literally use a long needle to go through the vaginal wall and suck out the eggs on each side.  Thank goodness for general anesthesia and heavy duty pain meds for afterwards. 

So Dan got to use his VIP membership to the "Collection Room" again this morning on the way to work.  I guess it's not a bad day when you can start it out with some good porn - right?  He informed me that they got some new DVD's since his last visit - but "once you've seen one, you've seen them all."  He also was a bit disappointed that they have not upgraded to any 3-D movies yet.   I hope we dont see that day!  We both hope this is his last trip to the collection room.

I will get a call to see how the surgery went and how many eggs they got.  Also they will do the ICSI procedure this afternoon, where they inject a sperm into each of the good eggs and wait til tomorrow to see what magic has happened. 

I had to start the progesterone shots yesterday - which is the one that goes into the rear-end with the longer needle.  Nikki love to watch Dan jam the needle in - not sure why!  Progesterone is the hormone that women need to keep early pregnancy viable.  When the placenta develops fully, then it takes over and progesterone is no longer needed.  I inject it daily through the first trimester,  I forgot til today that it makes my skin red and itchy around the injection site - so I end up scratching my butt all the time - nice visual hey?!?

I am hoping that because everything is happening around Nikki's birthday that it is some sort of good luck - God knows that she is truly a miracle herself.  My original due date for her was May 13....

First Ultrasound

On April 29th I had the first ultrasound - it took only a few minutes, as it was just to check out my uterine lining.   We also had some final paperwork to sign to consent to all the upcoming procedures.  Turns out our donor also had an ultrasound.  They called me to give an update - she has 16-20 follicles maturing - which is great!  They want to see 10 - so already I am feeling good about this.

Wish we would have more showings on our house.  I really thought we would have much more interest - time will tell!