Monday, April 8, 2013

Two Little Embies Transferred

I've been trying my best all weekend to have faith our embryos would be strong and ready once we arrived for our transfer today. I kept having those pesky thoughts creep into my head that we would arrive and they'd say, "Sorry, we regret to inform you that none of your embryos survived." GASP! I know I know....stop worrying so much! I can't help it though. We have so much riding on this IVF, and I don't think I'm totally abnormal for wondering "what if." Needless to say anytime I had those thoughts, I immediately stuffed them deep down into oblivion where they belong. Rightfully so, because there was no such bad luck today...quite the contrary.

After my pre-transfer acupuncture session we made our way to the fertility surgery center, the same place we had our retrieval done. The best part of the appointment was seeing my husband in this...
That's the spirit!

They also outfitted me with these fancy shmancy skid free socks...

Safety First! haha!
Totally saving these for my 91 yr old grandma.

I don't know about you, but I have never seen such fancy hospital socks before, and I appreciated the effort from the facility to give us a good laugh with our ridiculous apparel.

The embryologist then came in with a report on our embryos and asked us to confirm how many we wanted transferred. I am not the most knowledgeable on the whole "embryo grading" thing, but the embryologist seemed very happy with their progress. He brought in pics of the strongest embryos; Ones which were already "freeze quality", meaning that if we wanted to cryopreserve them today, they were developed enough to do so. To explain...Just as an embryo is stronger at Day 5 than it is at Day 3, it's even stronger once it reaches freeze quality. Typically they give extra embryos about 7 days max to develop after they are retrieved to reach freeze quality and have a chance at cryopreservation, so the fact three had reached their benchmark at Day 5 is good news as far as we're concerned.

We discussed number of embryos to transfer once again with Dr. Vaughn before making our final decision, and we went with two. However, Dr. Vaughn felt the top two embryos we'd be transferring today were strong enough that he put our risk for twins around 30-40%. Even though the twins rate at my clinic for women ages 35-37 is only 19.4% according to the clinic's 2011 SART data, he felt that the quality of our embryos were pretty strong, so that alone increased the chances of twins occurring in his eyes, should we become pregnant. Still, this is a risk we are willing to take.

The risk of transferring only one embryo would have simply been less chance of us becoming pregnant at all.
The thought of that was enough to make us choose two to be honest. Remember, we were given only a 40-50% chance of this IVF working. We didn't come all this way NOT to get pregnant. Of course, there are women of AMA (Advanced Maternal Age) who transfer 3+ embryos and still only have one baby or no baby at all. The embryo grading process isn't all that predictive either. There are AA embies that don't end in a baby, and then there are BC embies that do. It's all a big fat game of roulette really, and no one can predict what will happen. We've done all we can, and it's out of our hands now!

We had an ultrasound guided transfer done, where the RE uses ultrasound to visualize the catheter with the embryos going in and shows exactly where the embryos are deposited in the uterus. Very interesting process! We watched on a large flatscreen as the embryologist in the adjacent lab retrieved our chosen embryos into the catheter. He then brought them to Dr. Vaughn, who explained exactly what he was doing with each step as we watched on a different monitor. Just me with my legs in the air, hubby in his sexy hopsital garb, and about 3 other people positioned straight beneath my hoo-hah....soooo romantic. I dare anyone to say this child wasn't conceived out of love!

We also got a pic of the two embryos that were transferred...

Our best embie: BB quality embryo (150-200 cells)
2nd best embie: BC quality embryo (150-200 cells)

The embryologist was confident about both of these embryos, because of the differentiation between the trophectoderm cells (outer cells along the perimeter which become placenta) and the inner mass cells (separate cell mass inside cell that becomes baby). In fact 5 of our embryos in total were showing "distinct differentiation."  Two shown above we transferred, one is being frozen today, and the other two embryos we anticipate may be freeze quality by tonight or tomorrow. Here is a rundown of all 12 embryos' progress as of this morning:

3 embryos freeze quality (2 were transferred, 1 frozen today)
2 embryos approaching freeze quality (hoping for freeze tonight/tomorrow possibly)
4 embryos still developing...wait and see if they reach freeze quality by Day 7
3 embryos not doing much


The way it's looking so far, after the two we transferred, we are fairly confident we'll still have 3 more for cryopreservation. The embryologist couldn't guarantee anything, but he said he didn't see any reason why we wouldn't have at least 3 make it to freeze. WOO HOO! This is fantastic news, and we are extremely grateful for the prospect of this happening. Not only because it will give us a Plan B if this fresh IVF cycle doesn't work (for a cheaper second try with FET/frozen embryo transfer), but even if this fresh cycle does work, we can always use the other embryos later for potential siblings if we have difficulties conceiving on our own again. Having frozen embryos is basically like an extra layer of insurance for infertile couples...at least that's how we look at it.

I had a second acupuncture session following the transfer, and hubby chauffuered us home. Now my only orders are to laze about. I figure there is no better way to do that than to snuggle up in bed and watch Sex and the City re-runs on E!  I will say, the other good thing about having a 5DT is that you wait less time until the pregnancy test. Ours is scheduled for Wed. 4/17, so nine days from now. Please, please, please Lord, let this work!

18 comments:

  1. Yay! Congrats on an awesome transfer! Hope these next nine days fly by!

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  2. What beautiful little embies! I'm praying that they're getting nice and comfy in your uterus :)

    Also - not sure what I love more - your hubby's attire for the transfer or the amazing hospital socks that you got!!

    xoxo

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  3. I'm so excited for you, everything looks like it's going so well! I have been refreshing your blog all day, I couldn't wait for the update :) If we get to the place where we are ready for IVF, I'm going to your place, I love the socks! Seriously though, if they care that much about the socks, they must be really great at everything else. Your hubby looks so cute, you'll definitely have to put that one in a frame and put it in the nursery. Keeping you in my prayers!

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  4. I have some pretty intense sock envy! Those babies are sweet! What a beautiful looking embabie! Dare I say it - this all seems so hopeful Em! I am hopeful for you! My beta is the day before you! Fingers crossed!

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  5. Praying, praying, praying! So glad that everything went picture perfect today! And by the way, your embabies are BEAUTIFUL!!! This is going to work, I just know it! Hope this 9 days flys by!

    Hugs,
    Kara

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  6. So happy to hear that it was a great transfer! YAY!!!

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  7. This all sounds excellent! Keeping fingers crossed for you and hoping you stay sane through the wait!

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  8. Girl, you are going to be so pregnant after this! Here's hoping for healthy twins ;)

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  9. Yay! Love your husband in the outfit, love the socks, love the pictures of the embryos! Everything is going so well, I'm so happy and excited for you. And twins sounds like a great thing to me :)

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  10. Beautiful embies!!!!!! I am crossing toes, fingers, eyes and praying my heart out for you!!! Hope this is the most restful and fast 9 days ever!! Cannot WAIT for that exciting post next week. xo

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  11. Yay!! I'm so excited for you!

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  12. Emily, your embies are gorgeous!! I love the socks and your DH's outfit. I am so excited and hopeful for you guys! I am praying really, really hard this works for you. I can't wait to hear your BFP announcement. Take it easy girl!

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  13. Praying, praying and more praying. And holding my breath!

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  14. Em, sounds like everything went smoothly yesterday. I am keeping you in my prayers, hoping this is it for you. I know it will be. Those embies are gorgeous. Cant wait to hear an update.

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  15. I'm so happy and excited for you! It sounds like everything went as planned, and only waiting nine days, that's awesome! I hope you are feeling good! Enjoy relaxing and rest up!

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  16. It's happening! Im so excited and anxious for you!

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  17. Omg those are gorgeous embabies and with two of them you really have a strong chance of this working. Can I place my bet now that you'll end up with twins? I'll put $5 on it. :) Let the 9-day countdown begin!

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  18. Yay! Stick around, little ones!!!

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