Update on the popsicle kids

We heard from our nurse today that an additional one out of the five embryos were added to the eight blastocysts from Thursday. The four others stopped growing. It's nothing to worry about though; combined with last cycle we have 13 embryos frozen, 10 of them blastocysts! I'm not sure how many FET (frozen embryo transfer) cycles that equates to, but at least it gives us the opportunity if this cycle is a bust. We certainly hope to not have to think about that for a few years when it's time for a sibling!

Grade-A blastocycst transfer

FANTASTIC NEWS! We walked into the transfer room today having absolutely no idea how our 15 embryos were doing. There was a picture of them up on the computer screen, but we had no idea if they were healthy.

When the embryologist came in, he said that they were absolutely "gorgeous" BLASTOCYSTS! They made it to blast stage!

When the doctor doing the transfer joined us (it's a full room: me, Jonathan, ultrasound tech, embryologist, endocrinologist) he said again how "gorgeous" our embryos were. I asked him how many they were going to transfer because I knew that our doctor's protocol for this cycle had said "up to three" embryos. That's when the endocrinologist and embryologist both said that there was no way they'd transfer three because the embryos were of such great quality. He showed us how thin the outer shell was on each. The shell starts out thick, and as the embryos get ready to literally hatch out of it, it thins out. This means that they didn't have to help them hatch out, they're taking care of it on their own!

During the transfer procedure, the doctor said I had a little bit of bleeding still left over from the retrieval, but nothing to worry about. Again, I got to see our two "kids" (or the air bubble they were riding on) travel right into my uterus on ultrasound. So very cool. I was instructed to start taking the heparin tonight so I get to wear a really awesome *cough cough* bracelet just in case something happens to me and I'm unconscious and can't tell medical personnel that I am on blood thinners.

I know everyone wants pictures and I aim to please, so.... tada! If they look different from last time, it's because they are. Like I mentioned in my post from a couple days ago, they change a lot in 48 hours, or at least have the potential to. It's a completely different animal (see the Eight-Celled Children post from September if you want to compare). These are more like 100-150 celled-children.

If you can see the dense cluster of cells (easier to spot on the left embryo, at about 10 o'clock), those cells will become the baby. The scalloped cells on the outer edge will be the placenta. Pretty neat to realize that each one of us starts out this way.



As for the fate of the other 13 embryos, 8 were fantastic enough to freeze today and the other five will be observed for a couple more days to ensure that they could survive freeze. I should have an update on their status early next week. I am excited that we have 12 total embryos frozen as of today, 9 of them blastocysts. I would love to see the other five make it as well, but I'm extremely happy with our "stash."

I really really really cannot thank you all enough for your support. We are so very blessed not only to have this opportunity to pursue our dream, but to have incredible friends and family to back us up. I have received so many countless phone calls, emails, comments, and text messages and we never, I mean never get tired of them. I wish we could name a kid after each one of you. :) The pregnancy test will be on November 16, so keep thinking of us!

Transfer scheduled

The transfer will happen tomorrow at 11:30am. I am very happy that we've made it to five days, but I have no idea how the embryos are doing at this point. Truthfully, I don't even think they'll bother them until right before doing the transfer tomorrow. I guess we'll have to wait until then to find out the quality and if they made it to blastocyst stage.

Either way, Jonathan and I are going to take ourselves out to a much-deserved sushi lunch afterward.

I'll give everyone an update (and hopefully a picture of the "kids") as soon as I know.

Thank you for the continued prayers, comments, and support. You have no idea how much easier this process is being able to share with friends and family who love us. Sweet Aunt Marcy, you better hope for at least one girl if you have any hope of a child being named after you! :)

Five-Day transfer!

Nancy call me this morning and told me that we would not be transferring the embryos today! Yahoo! That means that we will be doing a five-day transfer on Thursday. This is really great news. It means our embryos look healthy enough to keep on growing in that petri dish. The process will weed out some of the weaker embryos in the next two days, and allow a great success rate for us!

If you're interested in the details of why this is the case, here is an article for you. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2700692/

Nancy will call tomorrow with a transfer time for Thursday. I'll keep you posted on our appointment time.

Recovery/waiting for transfer

I'm back! I appreciate everyone's prayers during the entire weekend. 15 embryos is great: it's a 50% increase over last time!

Some of you have heard, but my egg retrieval was not as fantastic and easy as last cycle. In August, when I woke up after retrieval, I felt fantastic, better than I did before going under. Saturday was not so easy. I woke up during the retrieval, which the doctor doing the procedure confirmed. He said I "got a little uncomfortable on the left side." Well, obviously if I managed to wake up during my drug-induced stupor and remembered it. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist knocked me back out in a hurry and next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. I was in a good deal of pain but Jonathan got that under control quickly enough and I was able to sleep for pretty much the next two days. I'm not sure what was different this time. My guess is that the follicles were just harder to aspirate.

Despite all of that, if it means we get pregnant, it will be completely worth it! I've got a tentative appointment tomorrow at 11am for transfer but we're hoping that the embryos can hold off until Thursday for a 5-day transfer. That will mean they're bigger and happier and better chances for a baby!

So please continue to pray for the 15 tiny Strunks in the petri dish. We need them to hang on just a few more days!

15 embryos!

Good morning!
Melissa just gave me the report, and they have good news!
They have 25 mature eggs and 15 embryos. This is very good news from the Strunks!
Have a happy Sunday!

Jamie

And the total is...

OK - Johnathan just texted again....and the total is (drum roll, please) ....

25 mature eggs!
Melissa is doing fine; she's a little sore, but nothing too bad.
Stay tuned!