Summer Board 2011

[LYD10]

nicksgam - if you are on suppositores and not on shots than your progesterone is not going to show up in b/w. suppositories act locally on the uterus. if you are worried about that you can always ask for PIO. i was on suppositories with my first pregnancy and it worked out fine.

Ester - some clinics just have such strict rules about freezing. it doesnt mean anything that they decided not to freeze your other ones. the ones inside you are doing fantastic! one more week and you'll be finding out the results!!

AFM - i reconfirmed my beta this morning. because last night i got home and i freaked out - i forgot what the number was - was it 1593 or 1150. anyway i had a freakout. but my doc reconfirmed this morning it was 1593. so it is as good as it could have been. now just have to wait for friday. basically this embie is 4 days behind my DS's embie - that's one way to look at it. my DS started at 80 at 12dpt and this little guy started at ~25 at 12dpt. with 48 hour doubling they are about 4 days apart. i checked with my embryologyst which is very good and she said that she's seen situations like this go both ways - healthy babies or empty sacs. so friday will be a very iportant day - will get to see what's inside! hopefully a happy healthy baby developing!!!!

[Sunshine1576]

Lyd10 Friday will be a very important day, I'm keeping everything crossed for you!

Moorebaby, hang in there as we know how crazytown can be! Lots of movies, tons of hobbies of course I just remembered school started back! I know those kiddos will keep you busy!

Nicksgam, Wishing you the best this Wednesday! We've been through so much together already, much babydust!

AFM: Vegas, one of my furbabies is keeping me company this afternoon as it is about to rain, yes they love us so conditional! About to divire my pizza and then maybe sew the rest of this gloomy afternooon. Need to post some pix of the dress i finished for Belles.

[Sunshine1576]

Sorry the file takes up a whole page, I'm not very technosavy! This is AnnaBelle's new dress (my neighbor's little girl!)

[nicksgam]

Sunshine1576 ~ How cute, she is going to love!!!!

[Ninde]

Evening ladies

Nicksgam: When will you get your bloodword back?

Moorebaby: I'm doing ok Have you a couple of days off work that you can rest? I'm sure the two little embies that are nestling in were the best two, the high achievers

Lyd10: Definately going for the healthy baby option. Sending you lots of good healthy baby dust

Sunshine1576: what a beautiful dress! Belle must love it!

Afm: Tough day. One of my long time clients described her daughter's miscarriage in graphic detail. I have never in my life thought I would have to stop a session because I couldn't handle it but I came close to day. The tears poured down my cheeks and although I wish I could say it was just me being empathic, I just couldn't believe the timing. At one point I found myself fastening my arms over my stomach and silently telling my two litte embies to close their ears, they didn't need to hear this. Apart from that about 2.30 the most horrendous tiredness overtook me, that can happen to me the day or so before my period so I'm really hoping its not that. About to get into bed now.

Ninde

[WeHaveHope]

Dear friends,

So, I am trying to plan for my next FET and I guess I feel like I am obsessing a bit but want to feel like I am a bit more in control then I have been in the past. I spoke to my RE today via telephone to diiscuss what things we could possibly do different this time around. We discussed vaginal progesterone vs progesterone IM injections. He states that extensive studies show that there is no difference in the sucess reate beween vaginal progesterone (Crinone) or PIO (progesterone in oil injections). He said that he feels comfertable doing either one and whatever makes me feel more comfertable. We discussed the possibility of doing the PIO until the Beta and if the Beta was positive we could then do the PIO until such time that we see a heartbeat and then switch to vaginal suppositories. We talked about doing PIO the entire 10 weeks and we also discussed doint the PIO until the positve Beta but the sweitching to vaginal after that. Then of course we discussed just increasing the vaginal suppositories to three per day instead of the two I used last time.

Other things we discussed wer the quality of the embryos we have left. We currently have 6 embryos left. The plan is two transfer two with each FET until such time we bring home a baby or two or have nothing left to transfer at which time our journey will definantely be over. When we froze our embabies in Februrary we initialy retrieved 28 follicles, 25 eggs were retrieved, 19 eggs were determined to be mature, and 18 fertilized. I was absolutely amazed at that time. Out of the 18 fertilized eggs, they lab determined that 10 were of high quality enough to freeze. After my conversation with the embryologist today I found out that some of my embryos were actualy frozen at 5 days and some were frozen at 6 days. I had no idea and only found this out today. Here is what we froze in February, 2011

3AB, 3AB, 3BB, 3BB, 2BC, 3BC, 4AB, 2BB, 3BB, 3BC. The embryos were frozen in two's in the order in which I listed them. I should note that the method that my lab uses to rate blast is the higher the number the better so 1 to 6 with 4 or 5 being realistically the best because most embryos don't make it to a grade of 6. The letter A being the best in the other two categories so A to C. According to the embryologist they started with the 5 day embryos because their statistics show that they have slightly better success rates with day 5 embryos as aposed to day 6 embryos. I also did not know this until today. After I spoke to my RE I also found out that the lab has had slightly higher success rates with grade 2 and grade 3 embryos as apposed to higher grade embryos. Also did not know this until today. So, I just found out this informtion; In May we thawed 2 embryos which initialy were 3AB and 3AB which after the thawing process turned into 3CC and 3CC. I got a BFN with that transfer. In July we transfered what was initialy a 3BB and a 3BB and after the thawing process was still a 3BB and 3BB. This transfer ended up in an early positive with a HPT and an initial Beta of 275 and four days later a Beta of 1,513 to only have a miscarriage at 4 weeks/5 days.

So I asked which straw were they planning on thawing for our next transfer, hopefuly in late September/early October. They embryologist thinks that they may thaw the last 5 day embabies which would be the 2BC abd 3BC. But these two are of lower quality then the 6 day embabies which are a 4AB, 2BB, 3BB, and 3BC. So she said that it would ultimately be up to my RE, me, and the lab director.

So with all this information, what do you ladies think. I am definantely greatful that they have provided all this information. I think sometimes if you are not proactive in asking sometimes they leave little details like this out. And for us right now when time is ticking these little details are definantly very important.

Lookig forward to reading all your suggestions and comments.

[Prayersnpies]

Hey ladies, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. My DH and I saw a little white spec- a pin point on the u/s this morning . It was awesome! Doc said there was a flicker of a heartbeat but wants me to come in next week- I'll be 7 weeks and 1 day next Tues. Long day today, I woke up super early for my appt and its students second day of school. I'm gonna take a nap before DH gets home from work and I'll touch bases with you all later.

[Madame X]

Ninde—Sorry you had a tough day today. How are you feeling otherwise? And stimming is going fine, thanks for asking. I am starting to feel bloated, which I hate the most, I can’t fricken stand it!! It puts me in such a crappy mood, and makes me feel so horrible!!! Also, I had a headache most of today, fun stuff….

Moorebaby—Congrats on being PUPO!! How are you feeling? The countdown to your BFP is on!!

Sunshine—Yes I am from Scranton that the Office sitcom is based on. I was never into the show really, now I catch re-runs on TBS every now and then, it’s cool to hear about where they go because it is all so familiar to me. Like restaurants and bars and stuff. Bella’s dress is super cute!! She will love it!!

LauraN—2 days till beta!! I love that you put the HPT’s back on the shelf!! You will have that real BFP before you know it!!

Nicksgam—Congrats on the BFP!!! Did get any info back regarding your progesterone? One of the things on my bucket list is to RV cross-country and go to Yosemite! My DH thinks I am nuts b/c I am not the camping type, but every time I see a RV or camper type thing on the road I say to him, “Look there we are on our way” (probably why he thinks I’m nuts… oh well)

LYD—Awesome beta news can’t wait to hear about the u/s on Friday!! Try not to stress, I know it’s easier said than done….

Prayers- Congrats on seeing your baby’s heart beat flickering!! How exciting and you get to go back again next week!!

Mandarae—Wondering how you are doing? Good luck at your app tomorrow, let us know how it goes!!

Lauren319—AF show her face yet?

Wehavehope—Wow that was a lot of info for me to take in. I also don’t really understand the grading of the embryos fully, but I do think it is awesome you have so many frozen and have the opportunity to do FET/s. It also seems to me that your clinic has really good thawing rates!! I really think with all of these embies and options you will have your BFP before you know it!! Between you, your DH, your RE, and the lab director I think all the best decisions will be made!! Best of luck, let us know what the final decision is for the next FET!!

AFM: I am turning into bloatzilla!! Oh and the best is I am in a wedding in 3 weeks and I got the call today that our bridesmaid dresses are in and I have to go get fitted, DH better look out that day, bloatzilla will be in her prime….. I’ve done 250 IU Follistim for the last 3 nights, went for b/w today, Estrogen went from 18 to 586. RE told me to take Follistim down to 150 IU tonight and tomorrow, heading back in Thursday for more b/w and an u/s.

[LYD10]

hi wehavehope - i think you have a good plan of transferring 2 a a time. you just have to be patient. my only other suggestion would be to transfer 3 at a time - given your history with the previous FETs. looking back that's what i would do differently with my 2 fets - transfer more at a time. but the way your embies are frozen doesnt look like its even an option. i guess one other option would be to thaw 4 and transfer the best looking 3 if you didnt want to transfer all 4. but since you are not planning to do another fresh cycle perhaps you dont want to waste embies and want to give everyone a chance. at your age i dont know if they will let you transfer 4 - and i think you mentioned you didnt want twins. those are my random thoughts... keeping my fingers crossed for you!

[WeHaveHope]

Madamex-thank you. I know, I was also so extremely confused with the embryo grading. There are different grading systems used by different labs and it is also different for grading blasts SNF for grading embryos that haven't made it to blasts yet. It's always a good idea to find out what method the lab uses for graphing. Below is the one my lab uses to grade 5 and 6 day blasts. 3 day blasts or embryos that havent made it to blasts would not be graded using the system below. I will see if I can find that grading system and I will try and post this a's well. The system below is widely used by many labs. Hope this helps other better understand the grading process. My lab also always does AH (assisted hatching) for all their FET's which also helps.

Lyd10-at my age the most my RE would be comfortable with transferring would be 3. But 2 being the most widely accepted and recommended number. This is why they froze them in twos'. We initially were against yhe idea of having twins given the fact that DH has two children that live with us full time and I have a son from my previous marriage who also lives with us full time og course. But we rethought that after our first BFN with our first FEZt and that why we transferred two high quality blasts yhe second tome. Three would be s stretch for us in many ways but we will take whatever God sends our way.

Expansion grade Blastocyst development and stage status
1 Blastocoel cavity less than half the volume of the embryo

2 Blastocoel cavity more than half the volume of the embryo

3 Full blastocyst, cavity completely filling the embryo

4 Expanded blastocyst, cavity larger than the embryo, with thinning of the shell

5 Hatching out of the shell

6 Hatched out of the shell


ICM grade Inner cell mass quality
A Many cells, tightly packed

B Several cells, loosely grouped

C Very few cells


TE grade Trophectoderm quality
A Many cells, forming a cohesive layer

B Few cells, forming a loose epithelium

C Very few large cells

[WeHaveHope]

For anyone interested the site below explains the grading process for day 3 embryos. It was too long to post.

http://www.advancedfertility.com/embryoquality.htm

[Ninde]

Morning ladies:)
Prayers : oh that's so lovely that you saw your little one. And you can go next wk too. When will you get a picture?

Madame x: I found peppermint tea quite good for bloating (just check its ok to use, I assumed it was!) Maybe that's worth trying? And thanks for asking, I feel alot better today. I really felt quite "periody" last night.

Wehavehope: I'm amazed at how much information is shared with you. I have encountered a real "you dont need to know that " attitude which is infuriating. I dont think they mean to be, its medical arrogance. To. I think with something as specialized as grading you may have to take their advice as they are the specialists. I think best case scenario would be a second opinion from another specialist. Would that be possible?

Ninde

[leorira11]

Maria/LYD/anyone else who cares --- I totally understand the confusion about how many to transfer.... we've done transfers with 2 great blasts and gotten BFNs... the next cycle we transferred 2 'okay quality' mourla and got twins. I have also gotten a BFP transferring 1 embryo (miscarriage) but I know someone who has done only 2 SET cycles (first fresh and then a FET) and just had her second healthy baby boy.

There are no explanations. There is no way to guarantee twins and no way to guarantee a BFP. It sucks.... and now we are only 'allowed' to transfer 1 at a time (because I'm so young and our history with twins being born premature). But I hate going through all of this to transfer only 1 embryo - I want a higher chance of getting pregnant. There are no easy answers - I wish there were.... sorry.

[moorebaby]

1 more week ....................................................................................................................................

[mandarae]

Hi Ladies!

Moorebaby- Hanggg in there!! You are soo close

WeHaveHope- thanks for sharing that great information.

MadameX- "Bloatzilla"! I love it. You have got to find some sort of humor in this process!

Prayer- Woohoo on the great u/s appt. I am hoping that you have many more awesome scans!

Ninde- That had to be so hard hearing about a miscarriage like that. I worked as a home visit caseworker for young and underprivilaged mothers. I know how hard it is to hear the stories of anybody who is down and out. Sometimes I would come home with the sick feeling after hearing or seeing some things. Just keep telling your little embies not to listen.

Lyd- keeping my fingers crossed for you for Friday!!

Thinking about you all!

AFM: I went to my b/w and u/s visit. A sonographer was there and she was the nicest lady ever! She explained everything to me and answered my silly questions. At this point, she still see's the three measurable follicles and one maybe (because it might be a part of the empty follicle thats been there all along). She also said that it could be pressing up against that empty one (wouldn't that be something?). I asked her if she saw anything more and she told me she saw 4 small ones @ approx 7mm So, at least I know that there are others, even though they wont be usable. Does anyone know how big they can be to be mature? What she did tell me was a story about a 20 something year old having 50 eggs!!! but getting a bfn and a story about a 30 something having 6 eggs and getting twins! So, that made me feel a little better and suppose that it's all a crap shoot. You just never know. It's quality vs. quantity. I find myself talking to them and imagining them as being strong as the poster of the 1940's working woman!! Have a good day!