Thursday, May 08, 2008

What were we talking about again?

Although our primary concern, of course, was that my IM not be harmed by the medicine goof, we were also naturally curious what this meant for our cycle. Disappointing as it might be, it’s better to scrap a doomed cycle early; as opposed to going through the work and expense of transferring when the doctors are certain the outcome will be dismal.

So I stayed on my meds, we waited that next week, and the doctors watched her very closely. And, you know what? Believe it or not, she responded BETTER than she had the previous cycle! In fact, when the time came for the egg retrieval, not only did her ovaries look good, but she had more eggs by far than she had the first time. Nineteen eggs, in fact, which is a great number for anyone, let alone a 39-yr old woman who had taken her meds wrong that month. So, while the doctors did a small bit of head-scratching in bewilderment, we all agreed to take the good news and just run with it.

Not only did she have MORE eggs, but more of them fertilized, and they appeared stronger than the previous ones. Strong enough, in fact, that we were able to push the transfer out to day five, and transfer them as blastocyst embryos, which is always hopeful news, as by the time the embryos reach that 100+ celled stage, they are older and stronger, and often have higher success rates.

The clinic also suggested a process called assisted hatching, which means, in a nutshell, they take the embryos right before the transfer and rough up the edges a bit. I’m not exactly sure of the mechanics of it, but it’s thought that with slightly rougher edges to them, they might be able to attach to the uterus better. Not, I have to guess, glide right out like little kids on a slip and slide. Hey, anything to increase our odds sounded good to us, so we agreed to try it.

The day of transfer, once again, my IF and I put out feelers for transferring three. And once again, the doctor was emphatic that no, he wouldn’t chance a triplet pregnancy. “No need --- we’ve got perfect lining, perfect embryos, perfect transfer” was his response. I felt like looking up from the table and saying cynically, “Yeah, you said that last time.”

And once again, we entered the dreaded two week wait.

11 comments:

Jennifer said...

Just want to thank you again for continueing this story! You really need to write a book! It would be a best seller!

PS: How is Blackie... I am on the edge of my seat to see how the "new family cat" is doing!

Unknown said...

Can't wait for the next installment. Hope you enjoyed Brayden's concert, and fun, fun, fun tomorrow as Kellen and Kendrie get knighted!

Anonymous said...

aaaahhhhh....the suspense is killing me......

Eloise said...

How long is this since the first attempt?

Still enjoying the story!

PS I'd love a Blackie update as well!

Anonymous said...

Happy Knighting day! How did the honors chorus concert go last night? Can't wait to see the result of this 2nd dreaded 2 week in the next installment of the story!

Messy and Wonderful said...

I'm on the edge of my seat (again!).

URBAN BLONDE said...

You really know how to take someone right to the edge of a cliff and leave them hanging! ACckkk!

Hope Brayden's concert was great and the knighting goes smoothly!

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Blondie

CAT said...

Hey Kristie,

Wow, I can't believe you went through all of this, you are certainly going to have interesting stories to tell your grandbabies one day. You are amazing!

I hope everything went well today and that Brayden was ok with it all. I am sure that you handled everything perfectly and that it will all work itself out.

Have a wonderful weekend, I hope your kids spoil you rotten on Sunday, you definitely deserve it.

Cathy

Anonymous said...

Kristie,
I can't wait to hear what happens at the end of the "dreaded two weeks". Thanks again for sharing this incredible story.

Anonymous said...

Happy Mother's Day to a wonderful mother and to a totally unselfish woman who helped other women, who without Kristie, may never have been able to celebrate their role as a mother.

Anonymous said...

You mentioned that comments usually go down during your surrogacy stories, so I'm just de-lurking to say that I really look forward to them. I've just been referred to a repro-endo specialist myself, and reading these types of stories is really great for me. So thanks for writing them!