Beta #2 Test Day

Another blood test and another excruciating wait.

I finally got the call to say that the hormone level has more than doubled. It has gone from 99 to 220! The clinic are happy with this and do not need to see me again until my 7 week scan.  Tears of relief!!! Still a long way to go, but it seems this scare is over.

Home Testing day

Words just can't describe how I feel. I won't even try.

The photo says it all .....

ET Day - Attempt 2

This really is it! Arrived in plenty of time for my appointment and a full bladder, and was taken straight down to the ward. Back in the same bay as my third Egg Collection, changed into the attractive gown and waited, fighting the urge to run to the toilet ;)

A nurse called me for a quick scan, just to check my bladder was full. The reason they want a full bladder is because it presses down on the uterus and flattens it, making the direction much easier for inserting the tube.

Soon after we were visited by the chief embryologist, the same guy we saw yesterday. He said that waiting was definitely the right thing to do, because 3 embryos have stopped developing. My heart sank, rapidly. I wasn't prepared for that news.

So ... this is our only shot. The remaining two will be transferred, and all our hopes are pinned on them. As our chances are quite low, the risk of twins is extremely low, so using two is not an issue and will give us the best chances. The two being transferred are both frozen ones from our first cycle.

Having had the dummy transfer already, everything was as I expected, just a little slower as they were dealing with the embryos this time, so were extremely careful. We got to watch on the screen as the tube entered my uterus. Although the embryos are too small to see, they put an air bubble in the tube behind them so they can see where they are.

In the attached scan you can see the air bubbles.

And then it was all over, I got a bit emotional, and was wheeled back to the ward and told to lay down for a further 20 mins. I then made a dash to the toilet once the 20 minutes were up and had a cup of tea before getting ready to take 'Squirt' and 'Squidge' home.

One of the embryologist showed us the sticks that the embryos were frozen on. they are literally placed on the end of the green sticks in this picture:

Now I enter the dreaded 2ww (Two week wait) I need to do a home pregnancy test on Sunday October 14th and go to the clinic for a blood test Monday 15th if it is positive. This will test the hCG levels (Human chorionic gonadotropin).

Apart from a blood test (8 days after Egg Collection) on Tuesday, there's nothing left for me to do apart from take drugs and wait!

Friday 28th - Big news

I phoned and spoke to a nurse today, I seem to be reacting badly to the Crinone Gel. I've probably put up with the discomfort longer than I should have done. Looks like it's a side effect rather than something that is expected. The clinic faxed a prescription of an alternative Progesterone drug (Cyclogest) to my local pharmacy which I picked up to start using this evening. I hope the soreness wears off quickly. Very unpleasant!!

As we drove away from the pharmacy we then got the all important phonecall....

We have FIVE Embryos from our 13 which do not have Treacher Collins Syndrome. Hmmm so much for 50-50 odds, but hey, what a result! I was so scared the call would tell us they all had it. There were tears of joy, but got myself under control very quickly after Hubby reminded me there's still a heck of a hill to climb yet!

We have a chance!! ET tomorrow 10:30

Biopsy Day

We got a call yesterday to say we had 4 top quality and 3 good quality!

Today we had some good news, given that we are against the odds because we can lose embryos at each stage, we had our 7 'frosties' thawed, and only 1 has not survived. So add this to our 7 fresh ones, we have 13 to be biopsied.

I was so pleased when they told me that they were able to biopsy all 13 embryos, and all had survived. So tomorrow is the big day for PGD testing. Should hear Saturday, there's a small chance we might hear late in the day Friday.

Tomorrow is going to be tough!!!

Hubby knew I was feeling a bit 'lost' yesterday. Its a weird feeling, waiting for phonecalls with such important news and knowing the fate of your little embryos are in the hands of others. He arrived home with a lovely bunch of roses. :)

Cycle 3 - Fertilisation results

Of my 12 eggs:

1 wasn't fully developed
1 didn't not survive the ICSI injection
7 fertilised !!
3 have not fertilised

We will get a call tomorrow to tell us the quality, the biopsies will be done on Thursday along with our frozen ones (depending how how survive thawing, there will be up to 7 of those)

The PGD test will be done Friday, we are likely to find out the results on Saturday.

I'm so pleased we have a good number this cycle, as it helps our odds, and also as there is a risk that 3 day old embryos will not survive thawing (15%) it's better to have out larger number in this last fresh cycle.

Today I started the tablets (Progynova) and Clexane injections. Oh well at least my poor tummy had a break for 2 days !!

Cycle 3 begins

As I predicted, AF arrived yesterday so I had my baseline scan today. All is ok, and I start the drugs tonight. Protocol slightly different this time. Merional instead of Menopur, and instead of 225 & 225 split, I'll be taking 300 Merional and 150 Gonal F

Cetrotide will start later, at least after Cycle Day 7 and Zomacton growth hormone starts tonight and then alternate days.

The Strange thing about Merional is it comes as a powder vial and solution (just like menopur) but rather than mix up a batch and use it over 2-3 days, I need to mix 4 just to get enough to make up my 300 because it comes in such small quantities.

And we're off ...!

PGD Workup completed!!

An important phonecall today!

Found out our PGD TEST is now completed ! This is a major milestone. Total time from our blood being taken (Tuesday 12th Dec 2011) and this news is 7 1/2 months. Am pleased with that :)

The next step is to have my dummy embryo transfer and 3D SIS. this needs to be between day 6-14 of my next cycle. (Next cycle is due 15th August)

All being well I would then start Primolut again on CD14, and injections on the following cycle. We need to get another three embryos! This would be done as a fresh cycle, not freezing like the last two. Our 7 frosties will be thawed and tested along with any that we get in cycle three.

We still have a long way to go, but I now feel like we are at least at the startline....

Third set of Blood Samples

Took more blood samples in today. This is the third lot. Hubby went last time. It was nice for me to go to the lab and personally say thank you :)

Next stage of PGD testing

I have received some tubes for some more blood samples. The hospital is ready to move on to the next stage of the PGD test which is to test on single cells. They need the blood to be fresh to do this and have asked to receive the blood on 24th April. We can get the blood taken locally and post it.

We will hand deliver, rather than rely on the postal service! This is great news as it looks like things are moving forward! I'm not sure how long this stage takes, but I think it is less than what has been done so far.

Quality!

I just had a call from the clinic, once again all the fertilised eggs are top quality. All surviving, and the embryologist said "They couldn't be doing any better at this stage".

So pleased!

Below are the two IVF protocols together:  33 injections this cycle!

Round Two!

It has been a while since my last update, not down to lack of activity! I have just completed another IVF cycle. I don't want this blog to be cumbersome for anyone to read from the beginning, so I don't plan to repeat things I've already experienced and blogged before.

I had my egg collection yesterday. The main difference with my protocol on this cycle was taking the growth hormone from the start. I was also switched to a higher dose of Menopur and lower dose of Gonal F a couple of days earlier. My trigger drug was Pregnyl last time, but Ovitrelle this time. I preferred it because it was in a prefilled pen!

There was a slight concern again that the follicles were small. Perhaps mine just like to put on a spurt at the end! My last scan on Sunday showed 5 follicles on LHS (one was too small) and 2 very small follicles, maybe 3 on RHS.

Egg Collection was a breeze this time. I felt completely fine. I'm a little bloated/swollen, but no pain at all. We got 8 eggs collected, which was a wonderful surprise. I was hoping for more embryos this time. 4 have fertilised (last cycle was 3). We'll find out the quality tomorrow and they will be frozen Friday. Fingers crossed for 100% survival rate !

Until tomorrow ...

IVF Consultation Day

We had our appointment with Dr Paul Serhal today at 12. I deliberately made our blood test for the PGD workup earlier so we could get it out of the way. We arrived at 11am and had our blood taken at the same time by two nurses - 3 vials each by Nathalie and a name I didn't quite catch (Tahlia)? I was sitting up for the blood test and was fine.

We went over to the Alexandra Wing and sat in the waiting room filling out lots of forms and signing every page. I was so pleased that Karen Fordham popped in for a chat while we were there. I asked her the question that has been bugging me for a couple of days... Will I have 3 IVF cycles whilst waiting for the PGD workup to be completed (which can take 1 year) and have 3 lots of embryos (if we get any!) frozen. Usually I guess you would only go for another cycle if the first has failed. Karen understood where I was coming from completely and she had also be considering this. She suggested I mention to to Dr Serhal, but advised us to see how the first cycle goes. We'll have a better idea of chances and progress once the egg collection and fertilization is done.

Dr Serhal was friendly and reassuring, and I loved the fact that he had a montage of baby pictures 'successes' on his wall. I said it must be so rewarding when he can help couples fulfil their desire to become parents, he agreed strongly and added that it was equally frustrating when things didn't succeed.

He asked me a few medical history questions and when my next cycle was due to start. He then talked us through the medication I needed to take:

Next cycle:

Day 14: (should be about 4th Jan) - start taking Primolut tables twice a day morning and night up to and including day 25 (prevents ovarian cysts and regulates hormone levels)

New cycle:

Day 1-7: Cetrotide injections (Block ovaries, prevents egg release)
Day 1-3 Visit CRGH for a scan, to confirm ok to start stimulation drugs
Day 3: Injection to produce eggs (didn't say the name of these) for about 10-11 days
During this time I need to go in for regular scans and blood tests to check hormone levels and follicle development.
Day 14: (ish) Once scan determines all is ready I need to take 1 final (different) injection
40 hours precisely after the final injection, Eggs collection occurs. This piece therefore has to be carefully timed and coordinated.

We agreed the dummy embryo transfer which would normally occur before treatment would wait until we are just before the real transfer stage. No point in doing it now to determine everything is ok, because things may change in a years time.

We then saw Marion who talked us through the drugs in a little more detail, but she was not sure what stimulating drug I would be on. It could be a combination of two (this would mean 3 injections in total on some days!) We can go in for a lesson on the injections nearer the time. One of them would be a 'pen' style, the others would be syringes. (I wonder why the difference?!)

Our drugs would be delivered to our home address, we will get a phonecall soon.

They then took more blood!! This was for a health screen which must be done before any of the treatment.

I left feeling more excited than scared. Everyone was very nice and helpful, so I feel like we will be in safe hands :)

We now have lots of information to read and many more forms to fill in!

Some success

Well I ended up being so nervous, mainly because I had little idea what to expect, apart from having a blood test, which is not something you'd really look forward to anyway!


We got to the unit on time, just before 4pm. We waited, there seed to be some confusion, although we gave our names when we arrived, the information had not been passed to the person who needed to know. I heard my mobile number being read out, then my bag started to vibrate. I looked up and saw the receptionist on the phone, she started to leave me a voicemail asking where my husband was as he had not turned up for his 4pm appointment!!

Hubby went off to 'produce' as they so nicely put it, so I realised as my appointment was now due, I'd be on my own. I was called soon after into a room which had what I could see was a screen from an ultrasound scan, and what looked like half a bed / stretcher. There appeared to be lots of gadgets, and something standing tall and proud and looked like something from an Anne Summers store! The internal scan turned out to be totally painless, but sadly inconclusive. Looks like I am too far into my cycle, so will have to come back next month. No blood test today.

I felt relieved, and won't have any worries about going back there next month. Hope to get results of Hubby's analysis on Monday or Tuesday.