Pregnancy Test

NEGATIVE. Oh well, we'll circle the wagons and try again in January.

Another Nephew!

We have a new nephew named Avery. He's 6 pounds 11 ounces, 18" and was born yesterday afternoon. Welcome to the family little dude.

The Little Embryo That Could

I think I can, I think I can, our embryo kept repeating. Low and behold, this morning we received a call from our embryologist who told us that our embryo looked beautiful! Our last remaining embryo had fully transitioned to the Blastocyst stage and is "text book" in appearance. Both our doctor and embryologist are very much fascinated by this little embryo. I realize it is hard to grasp the drama of the situation without being in the moment, but our embryologist (who handles thousands of embryos a year) told us "this is one embryo I will always remember." There is still some concern regarding the fact that this little guy took 7 days to mature, but as best we can guess this emby is just a late bloomer. So we sent it home and transferred it back to the Pod (Denise). Let's hope it gets comfortable and sticks around for a while. Who knows what's next, so keep your fingers crossed and lets hope we get a positive pregnancy test on November 26th.

Still No Transfer

Upon viewing our embryo this morning, it was observed that growth is still happening but the desired stage of blastocyst has not yet been achieved. After much deliberation with both our doctor and embryologist it was decided that we would keep the embryo in the incubator for one more day and see how it develops. We should have a much more definitive answer regarding the health of our embryo tomorrow. This is somewhat uncharted territory because our doctor, who has performed thousands of these procedures, has never gone to a 7-day transfer. This is very unusual but should determine whether or not our embryo is viable to be transferred.

And Then There Was ONE

When the goin gets tough, the tough gotta hang in there and keep holding on. The embryologist called and said we lost another emby, and are down to just one. We were scheduled for the transfer this morning but are now getting pushed to tomorrow so they can monitor the progress of the remaining embryo. Our one remaining embryo has not made the jump to the blastocyst stage yet, so we will wait one more day to see if it can make the transition. If emby makes it to a blastocyst tomorrow we will transfer, if not, we will abort the mission and regroup.

Emby Update

We received a call today from the Embryologist who informed us that the development of one of our 3 embryos had arrested, but the other 2 seemed to be developing on schedule. We are scheduled for an embryo transfer tomorrow morning at 9:15am if everthing looks well in the am.

BUSTED!!

Kona was busted on hidden video, getting on the counter.

Grow Baby Grow

We spoke with the Embryologist this morning and 3 of the 7 eggs fertilized. Now we need these little guys to grow into strong Blastocysts. We've got our fingers crossed that the embryos grow properly for a 5-day transfer, which will be scheduled for either Monday or Tuesday if everything goes well.

Eggs Away!

We had the egg retrieval yesterday morning and everything went as planned. 7 eggs were retrieved, which is actually 1 or 2 more than expected based on the estrogen levels. The next step is to get the eggs to fertilize and grow into wonderfull little embryos. We should have another update later today when the embryologist calls and tell us how many of the eggs actually fertilized. Finger crossed!

Mondays Dr. Appointment

The egg retrieval is set for Wednesday a day earlier than we expected, at 9:15am. We had an almost disaster tonight thanks to me. I have been so flighty with the medications this time, I guess with all these hormones getting pumped into me, my brain is not working on all cylinders. My HCG shot needs to be given at 10:15pm tonight, this is what makes me ovulate and release my eggs, so its very important. Thank goodness for my SUPER HUBBY who at 8:30pm said "lets get the shot out and make sure its all ready to go", I'm like no no its fine, he said get it out, so I did. Well come to find out that I did not have the right stuff, I had the water that mixes but not the powder. This stuff is not easy to come by, so I had to beep our IVF coordinator who was not very happy with me and told her what happened. We searched like crazy, calling pharmacies to see if they had it. You have to order fertility meds through a special pharmacy. I came up empty handed but Ilene found a Walgreens that carried it and we picked it up at 9:30pm!!
I am tired and going to bed and am glad we are done with meds, for now...stay tuned.....

Sundays Dr. Visit

Things look good this am and my estrogen was 796!! Its never been that high before so we are very excited. I have about 10 follicles with 6 to 7 growing well, the others may catch up. They want us back in tomorrow to watch me closely and see if we can do the retrieval a day early, stay tuned....

UF Vs VANDY

We went to the Gator game this weekend with our friends Nelson and Tommy and had a great time. Nice weather, good company, good football what more could you ask for. Chris Leak was there signing autographs by the alumni building but we didn't realize what was going on until about 2 minutes before he was leaving, so I snapped a quick picture. OK so its not the best picture but its something.

1, 2, 3 little follicles, 4, 5, 6 little follicles

Recap for the week, we had a doctors appointment on Wed and Friday, and things are looking pretty good. We started off with about 13 follicles and are down to about 9 with 6 so far that are growing well, the others may catch up. They range from 14.6mm to 10.9mm. I am on 2 different injections and they started me on a 3rd this am, with an increase in my medications. Michael enjoys the mixing of the meds and sticking me in my belly, which is feeling heavy and full. The meds make me feel irritable and stupid, what a great combo, and I feel pretty tired later in the afternoon and evening along with some dizziness and headaches. This is new because I did not feel this way last time, guess that's what happens when your hopped up on hormones.
We are headed up and back for the GATOR GAME tomorrow with a few friends so we are looking forward to that. We are back at the doctors Sunday morning for another follicle/estrogen check, so we will see what happens. We are scheduled for the egg retrieval on Thursday Nov, 8th but should know more by Sunday. On another note, we lost one of our KOI fish tonight, Moe, and had a burial for him by sea in the bathroom, we are down to 3 fish. We also had another casualty Thursday night, our flat screen TV in our bedroom blew up!! True story, I was watching it and sparks came then smoke and POW, no more TV. This was right in the middle of Greys Anatomy so you can understand when I tell you this was upsetting, I had to go finish the show in the living room. And the best part, the warranty was up in May, this is now our 2nd TV in 3 years that has bit the dust. More to come on Sunday, stay tuned...