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@yellowbeach: @Mrs Lavender: Sending you both so many good thoughts for tomorrow!!
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@yellowbeach: good luck!!
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@Mrs Lavender: fingers crossed!
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13 retrieved - not quite as many as I expected but Iβll take it. We will get a phone call tomorrow and know how many fertilized successfully.
π€
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@yellowbeach: thatβs so exciting! And 13 sounds amazing to me!
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@yellowbeach: 13 is great! Hope you're feeling good. Rest up and fingers crossed for tomorrow!
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Oh and I snuck a peak since I could not remember but our two remaining frozen are a 3AB and 3BB.
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@Mrs Lavender: any updates on today??
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@yellowbeach: Yay! 13 is great! Keep us updated on the progress.
As for me, lining was at 8.7mm and tri! Bloodwork looks good and transfer is scheduled for March 14th.
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@Mrs Lavender: Woohoo! We can weather the 2WW together
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Report this morning, bad bad news:
π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯ (13 eggs)
β―οΈβ―οΈ (2 fertilized embryos)
Another update in 2 days. -
@yellowbeach: oh wow, that is really rough. Maybe explains some things? But still not good news. At least you have two! Iβm hopeful between the two you have now and the two you just got, there is one perfect babe in there
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@yellowbeach: Iβm so sorry! Ugh, this process is so stressful. Any idea what the cause would be for low fertilization? How many of your 13 eggs were mature? Did you do ICSI? π€ you have 2 beautiful embryos in the end.
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@Mrs Lavender @LazB: my RE is calling me later to discuss more details. That was my big question to the nurse - did the eggs look weak, were they all mature, did DHs sperm look ok?
We had planned on sending these for PGS testing, but now Iβm rethinking it. IDK... the damage rate is low, but my perspective is skewed after we harmed our whole 1st batch doing an extra freeze/thaw for PGS. My RE thinks it was the freeze/thaw that weakened them and not the biopsy for PGS, but in my head which is swirling full of emotions, the two are interchanged.
I guess I just need to mentally prepare that these two might not even grow out to blasts.
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Ok ladies, need your experience and opinions. Just got this email from the RE nurse:
I spoke with Dr. RE and Dr. Embryologist. They report the eggs were unfortunately the main issue - they looked very immature. He did say three more eggs that were immature are now mature today, so the embryologists are going to perform ICSI today. He said this typically does not yield good results, but it is definitely worth a try.
He does want to ask if you and DH are ok with either
A. taking the chance that none make it to blast to be biopsied for PGS (he is estimating a 30% chance of one making it to blast) and continuing with the FET on Tuesday
B. not doing the FET and transferring the embryos on day 3 (Sunday). In this case though, we have no idea the chromosomal condition of the embryosLet me know your thoughts. If you want, you can wait for Sunday to decide to give the embryos a few days to develop and we can reassess if Dr. RE and Dr. Embryologist believe if they will make it to blast or not. Dr. RE could call you that morning with an update and you can decide to do the transfer that day (around noon).
So IVF warriors of HB, WWYD? The big downside to plan B is risk of a chromosomal issue and need for a repeat TFMR. But, this might be our only chance...
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@yellowbeach: obviously Iβm a newbie at this, but since my reasons for ivf are strictly for getting a healthy embryo, Iβd do the testing, even if it meant you had none to transfer.
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@yellowbeach: It's hard for me to answer what I would do, since I never had to go through a TFMR. But if I had to decide and only had 1 or 2 make it to blast. I would probably want to hold out until day 5 and do a fresh transfer if they make it - no pgs testing. If the doctor suggested transferring at day 3, I'd take their suggestion. If the embryos are looking weak and only having 1 or 2, I would not want to risk damaging the embryo. I'm sorry you are in this position. It's so hard to make these decisions.
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@yellowbeach: Well crap. While I didn't start with 13, you know I only ended up with 1 and we had to do unplanned ICSI to get that one, so I totally get it. Here's how I might think about it if I were in your shoes:
I would hold off on the FET. I would wait and see which from the new batch make it to blast, and based on that, know whether to transfer one from your first batch or hold off on all transfers and do testing on the new batch. Because you've experienced a TFMR and I'm sure don't want to go through that again, I'd be a lot more likely to want testing, even on the small number (we didn't do testing on our 1 embryo, but we had no history). I'd do testing on what makes it, get the results, and plan a transfer of the best-looking embryo from your total embryos from all batches after that.
I'm so sorry. This is such a cruddy position to be in, running through every scenario in your head constantly. Ugh.
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@foodiebee: Thanks for the perspective. Avoiding a TFMR for us is a huge factor. Just to clarify, the 2 frozens we are looking at transferring on Tuesday have been tested (they are leftover from ER#1 in July 2016) and are both normal.
Just got off the phone with my RE. Apparently in addition to the 2 that fertilized, today 4 more eggs have matured and are eligible for an attempt at fertilization by ICSI. They are going to do that later today.
Apparently when they retrieved the follicles yesterday, all of the eggs were immature. Usually when that happens, he said they normally don't mature - they just stop doing anything and essential die. He called my case "an anomaly" "something never seen before by he or the embryologist." I asked if that meant we could write it up and publish a case report (medical humor). So I don't think they know what to expect out of this batch.
He said the cause of immaturity comes from 2 issues: 1) Egg quality or 2)HcG. We discussed my HcG shot, that I took it right when I was supposed to and none squirted onto the floor, and that this must be related to my eggs.
So... we are planning to move forward with the 2 frozen PGS-normal embryos for transfer on Tues. He said one big difference for these two might be that my estrogen is +1200 right now instead of ~200-300 as with our other FETs the past few months. DD was conceived when we did our first retrieval and my estrogen was >1200, so maybe my body likes the thick lining better. Relatively speaking, our chances with the 2 frozen embryos look much better than anything with this new batch as it stands.
We will get another update tomorrow morning and find out if any of the 4 that matured today and underwent ICSI actually fertilize and keep going. So, best case our 2 could turn into 6! God a girl can dream. Worst case, no one grows out to blast at all, and we have nothing to send for PGS testing.
There is some utility in doing a 3rd retrieval though. He seemed to have ideas about changes to the medication protocol that might help with the immaturity issue.
Man the wait this weekend is going to kill me...
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@yellowbeach: What an update! So glad to hear you have some more eggs that matured. Fingers crossed they end up fertilizing for you, and for Tuesday!!
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@yellowbeach: how interesting! I hope they are just off to a later start and get going now!
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Update: 2 of the 4 that matured in vitro yesterday were successfully fertilized with ICSI. So we now have 2 Day 2s and 2 Day 1s
Also of interest, they will get biosped on separate days but be sent to RGI on the same day for PGS testing. More waiting!
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Big day tomorrow - embryo update in AM and transfer at 2:30pm. Iβm nervous!
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@yellowbeach: Just wanted to say good luck today! π€ this is the one!
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@yellowbeach: Sending you all the good vibes!!
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@yellowbeach: good luck
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@Mrs Lavender @FoodieB @LazB: Thanks ladies!!!
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Just got home from our transfer and man... I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll go chronologically...
So literally as we are walking out the door, DH tells me he isn't sure he wants to transfer 2, and would prefer to just discard the last embryo from last cycle (assuming it wouldn't survive yet another freeze/thaw). Now mind you, we decided on 2 (our RE's recommendation) and signed the consents WEEKS ago. He didn't have any strong opinions then and I thought the decision was made. SO As I am driving to the transfer appointment, we have one of our worst ever arguments... I explain to him now is not the time to change things up, and that he's had weeks to think about this. He tells me it's all out of concern for my safety and that he has a right to consider my safety at anytime. I blew a gasket. He's been so disinterested this entire retrieval cycle, and then 30 minutes before transfer, decided to engage and blow up the whole plan. Emotionally, that was the last thing I needed. I couldn't have dreamed up a worse stunt for him to pull at the time. I would have welcomed that conversation earlier at any point. Ugh.
So we show up and I'm fighting back tears. I'm also expecting to get bad news now on top of all this - expecting that either one or both embryos didn't survive the thaw, and that our 4 little contenders from this most recent retrieval stopped growing.
"I have good news, and good news," said my RE. "Both embryos survived the thaw and look great." And "let's sit down and go over this in detail, but an additional egg that was immature and doing nothing magically matured on Day 2." So now we have 1 blast, 2 near blasts and 2 that fertilized and are still dividing - for a total of 5 contenders! I was floored. Based on how the last hour had gone, I was fully expecting him to say we had none. He thinks 4 of the 5 will make it to biopsy for PGS testing.
So, then DH launched in to asking our RE 100 questions - which was fine - I think it's what he needed. We talked for 30 minutes (and probably killed his schedule for the rest of the day). In the end, our RE said if it were his wife he'd recommend 2. So that's what we did.
I'm emotionally spent.
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@yellowbeach: I'm so sorry. Emotions sometimes pick crappy times to come out, and this was obviously one of them. I hope that you guys are able to sit down at a future time and have a good convo about everything so that you can feel better. It won't change what happened, but it might help make the TWW easier for you. This sounds to me like a self-preservation kind of thing, up until the moment he couldn't deny it any longer and had to confront it. What awful timing, and you're stressed enough right before transfer without that!
Now let's pause and celebrate those 5 contenders!! IVF is hard any chance it can get imo, so this is worth a fist pump!
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@yellowbeach: well holy crap.
I'm glad your RE was able to abate your husband's concerns... BUT what terrible timing!
Congrats on the extra egg though.
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@foodiebee: Yeah - I really should focus on the positive... getting these extra 3 to even have a chance feels like a miracle after being told we only had 2.
I just realized I may have to eat crow if we end up with twins.
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@yellowbeach: I don't think he can rub it in your face too much when you each have a baby to hold
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@yellowbeach: what a day! I'm glad it worked out, but tensions so definitely run high with this stuff, don't they?
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@yellowbeach: Oh lord! I got anxiety just reading that. Hugs to you.
The fact that you now have these extra fighting embryos is amazing news! Go embabies go!
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Todayβs update:
βThe lab has just reported this morning the following information about your embryos: there is a day 6 Blast 5BB (this one is from the original fertilization) and from the second day ICSI: Blast 3BC, Blast 2, and two that are cellular only. They have biopsied and frozen the day 6 Blast 5BB and they are going to re-evaluate this afternoon to assess and biopsy any if available from the second day ICSI.β
Does that mean they are calling it quits on the remaining 4 if they donβt see progress this afternoon?
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@yellowbeach: I think day 7 is the cut off for most IVF labs but I could be wrong. I'm confused what you mean by Blast 2, is 2 the grade they are giving the embryo? Or are they 2 blasts that are not graded yet? I wonder why they wouldn't biopsy those.
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Itβs transfer day!!
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@yellowbeach: Huh. It does read to me that they're going to re-evaluate/quit on the final four if they don't show progress by this afternoon. I too wonder why they wouldn't biopsy the Blast 3BC and Blast 2 that they mention.
@Mrs Lavender: So excited for you!!!!!!!!
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@Mrs Lavender: Ooo! Very exciting! Going with just one this time?
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Just got this morning's update:
"Two more embryos were biopsied for a total of three. These embryos include a Blast 5BB, Blast 3CC and Blast 3BC."
Better than the initial 2 that we didn't even think would make it to biopsy!
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