8dp2dt

Today is just over a week since we transferred our little 2 day 4 cell embryo. I've felt more positive this cycle than I did last time and I'm really trying to be optimistic about the outcome. My concern with being positive is that it is "further to fall" so to speak if the result isn't a good one, but I've decided that I'll be upset no matter what so I may as well try to enjoy the feeling of being 'pregnant until proven otherwise'. I haven't really had any obvious symptoms that would indicate that the embryo has implanted. I haven't been sleeping as well and I've been quite tired coming back to work after five days off last week. It's Father's Day tomorrow and I've been thinking about how great it would be to have a positive pregnancy test to give my husband. I'm on the fence about doing a urine test before the beta next Friday but I know my patience is unlikely to hold out quite that long. I think it is so much less stressful this time around knowing that we have four frozen embryos. Knowing that it will be a much quicker and easier process if this doesn't work really helps.. So now we wait. I know that if I take a test early it will start the whole crazy mind-f*#k process and I think I'd like to enjoy my blissful ignorance at this stage...

Embryo transfer :)

I feel we're the closest we've ever been at the moment. Yesterday we were very nervous to hear about how our little embies had gone overnight and it was a huge relief to hear from the embryologist that we had five embryos that were all at 4 cell stage- which is where they should be at day 2. For those who haven't read previous posts we transferred a 3 cell embryo on day 2 for our last IVF as this was the best of the four that we had (the other three embryos had been 2 cell). We had a BFN that cycle and none to freeze so we were beyond excited to have one good one to transfer this cycle and at least 4 to freeze!!! We had to wait a while as our doctor was delayed in surgery and when he came in it was all over fairly quickly. The procedure was more painful this time as the doctor knocked my cervix and made it bleed. It was fine though and it just felt like the biggest weight off our shoulders to have our beautiful little "back up" embryos on ice. The embryologist said that the other embryos that were still a little behind (at 3 and 2 cell) may still catch up and that they would leave them until day 5 or 6 to see if they made it to blastocyst stage- in which case they would freeze them too. I had an acupuncture appointment before and after my transfer and I felt quite relaxed by the time we went home. Even though my doctor does not prescribe bed rest I decided to stay in bed for most of the evening watching movies. I have a battle going inside my head about moving too much vs not enough as my acupuncturists have always said I have "stagnant blood" and that movement helps bring blood flow to the uterus. Today I will move around a little more and might go for a gentle walk tomorrow. My husband and I decided to tell a few close friends/workmates about the transfer but tell our family that the transfer was delayed until September or October (we were pretty vague on the reasons). Our decision was based on the fact that we felt we didn't want any pressure on us during the 2WW and also that if we didn't have great news that we could deal with that ourselves without having to manage the disappointment of our family members. The other reason was that if we wre lucky enough to have good news that we could actually surprise our families in the same way that other people get to do when they're not going through fertility treatments. I still felt awful when it came time to actually lying but I tried to keep it positive and focus on how excited we were to have embryos to freeze (which was the truth at least). So now we wait. I will try and stay distracted and take it easy. I have another acupuncture appointment next week and will keep up the healthy eating and gentle exercise. I have to take clexane, prednisolone and progesterone every day and will keep up my supplements. I just know that no matter what we are one step closer :)

Egg retrieval update

I went in for egg retrieval early this morning and was wheeled through for the procedure around 9:30am. The anaesthetist had a little trouble getting a vein again and had to whack the back of my hand to find one. The needle went in fairly easy after that and after some happy drugs I was out like a light. I came out of the anaesthetic crying and emotional. The nurses asked if I was in pain but I shook my head and took some deep breathes to try and stop myself. I did not want to have a pity party but had an overwhelming feeling of "why is this so much easier for other people?". The nurse let me know that they had retrieved 16 eggs so that made me feel better. I needed a few bags of fluid before they would let me go so I watched as other people were wheeled in and out of the ward for about an hour or so. I was allowed to get dressed about 11:45am and went thought to meet my husband in the recovery room. The embryologist arrived shortly after and let us know that they had retrieved 15 (not 16) eggs. He said that they had 'stripped' 10 for ICSI and either 7 or 8 of those would be mature enough for attempted fertilisation. We were given the option of doing normal IVF on the remaining 5 but I felt it was better to have another one ICSI'd as we had a 0% normal fertilisation rate on our last batch of IVF'd eggs. After seeing the nurse I went to my acupuncture appointment- which was very relaxing. I napped most of this afternoon and am just in bed watching TV now. I am trying not to get too anxious about the embryologist report tomorrow and just hope more than anything that we have a better result than last time. Fingers and toes are crossed x

Triggered last night and egg retrieval tomorrow :)

I can't believe egg retrieval is tomorrow! After our first IVF cycle I thought it would feel like FOREVER before we were back in this place but I'm pleased to say that the last three months have gone relatively quickly. I went in for my stim scan (ultrasound) yesterday and was pleased that they found 17 follicles. I had been worried that nothing was growing as I wasn't feeling as bloated as I did during my first IVF cycle. My endometrial lining was 6mm (not as high as I thought) and most of my follicles were around 13mm. The lead follicle was 17mm and as I am not taking a suppressant I was told to trigger last night for egg retrieval tomorrow morning so I don't ovulate before they aspirate the follicles. I'm worried that the follicles aren't big enough and that we won't get enough mature eggs but we'll just have to wait and see. I hope they have all grown a bit more since yesterday. So now we are just hoping against hope that we will have some nice embryos and are able to transfer one back. It's a nerve-wracking time but I'm trying to stay as relaxed as possible. Will keep you posted :)