Thursday, January 14, 2010

Chapter 3 - Egg Collection & Embryo Transfer


Well, here we are again! My posts have been infrequent of late, but Chapter 3 is now in motion and there's no time like the present to share our updates...

First of all, let me say that I couldn't be less stressed. It is odd really. I'm sure it is largely due to having so much work on my plate that I barely have time to sleep! That aside, I think there is just a nice 'calm' that comes with knowing the process and understanding the need for patience...and trusting your doctor implicitly. Yes, we LOVE our doctor.

Egg Donor:
We liked the donor from our first pregnancy and we were thrilled with the donor from our second pregnancy, but we LOVE this donor. I've sat and stared at her photo until I feel like I know her. She has the most beautiful smile and I have felt from the time we selected her that she is the one - the one that will bring us our family. She was a first time donor, but had two children of her own. We had no expectation of how many eggs she would produce or what the quality would be. Well, let me tell you how surprised we were when Dr Shivani called to say she collected 32 mature eggs!!! WOW! So, I started to do the math - assuming a 70% fertilization rate we would have 20 embryos - assuming 50% of those were good quality we'd have 10 embryos - 4 for now and 6 to freeze for a second attempt if needed. Are you following my math? Well, let me once again tell you how surprised we were when Dr Shivani called to say that 29 of the eggs fertilized (90% fertilization) and 26 of them were Grade A and 3 were Grade B!!! We transferred 4 Grade A today and froze 22 Grade A and 3 Grade B embryos!!! Enough for probably four more attempts, God forbid we need them.



We have 25 excellent quality FROZEN EMBIES :)


Dr S was thrilled with the results.

Surrogate:
Now, this was the tough thing. Surrogate K (from our last cycle) is what Dr S calls a 'dream surrogate'. I laughed when Dr S said there are 'no shenanigans' with K - I love that word. She takes her meds and never complains. Well, unfortunately, K began bleeding a few days ago and was unable to go through with the embryo transfer today. Fortunately for us, Dr S stayed up most of one night organizing a back up plan. She was able to move another surrogate into our cycle and now K (who is now better) will go to another set of Intended Parents - I think next week. We wish her the best of luck...

Pregnancy test is January 26.

And, if we get a negative, we'll be just fine with 25 fabulous embies in storage!

:)

22 comments:

Mandy said...

WOO to the HOO!!! I am sooo happy to hear all this news. It just made my night!! I was buried in work and this has put me in such a GREAT mood. She is the mother HEN!!

sorry to hear the 2st surrogate didnt work, but it will definately work out!

Glad to hear from u guys and what a way to start the NEW YEAR!!

lots of love sent your way for a BIG FAT POSITIVE!! u guys are gonna be great parents. no worries.

Mandy said...

Oops, i meant "sorry t o hear the 1st surrogate didnt work" - TYPO

GeekByMarriage said...

Omg congrats on the super donor! That's amazing news!!!

Todd said...

What fabulous results for you so far! Your ED is highly prolific and those are super fertilization results... our experience is that this bodes well for very good implantation success! Best wishes to you, you are so deserving of this turn in good fortune!

George said...

what great news guys
im so happy for you
ive been following your journey since i started mine

all the best guys

G

jojo said...

It's great to see you guys so excited! It's a really good sign that your gut is saying yes, yes, yes!

I'll be hoping and praying at this end.

We just need one or two of those gazillion beautiful embies to stick and we'll be laughing.

stick, embies, stick!
xxx

jojo said...
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Phoenix said...

Incredible!!! Can't wait for the positive result!!!

Will and Michael said...

Good luck all sounds positive!! Is great to hear that you guys are relaxed and taking things in your stride (hopefully something we can start)!! The 26th is Australia day so here it is a public holiday and we will be relaxing and having a few drinks + a barbie & hopefully you guys will be getting some great news!!!! fingers crossed....

Danielle said...

Congratulations! That's fantastic! You are going to be dads so soon.

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Edward said...

You couldn't have much better news at this point in your journey. We are keeping you both in our thoughts to see things work out THIS cycle. Wow. Did you say 25 frozen? Really? That's more than 2 dozen...in the freezer. Wow!

Twins4Abed said...

Great news and wow with the 29 embryos. Good luck! I just got back from India yesterday. We transfered 2 Blastocyst eggs on January 7th, and now we are waiting for the results. We should have it by this weekend.

wish us luck and Good Luck to both of you.

Amber and Brian said...

Wishing you tons of baby dust. I really hope to read good news soon.

Anonymous said...

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Doug and Bill said...

Loved reading your post -- what great, positive news!!! We'll be thinking about you guys next week. Positive thoughts!!!

Niels and Alexander said...

Wow, so many! Look forward to your next post, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Anonymous said...
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jojo said...

i'm saying my prayers for you boys! xxx

jojo said...

ps - is it ok if i use your photo of Dr Shivani in a promotional vid I'm making? If not, I'll find something else to use. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsxYeaqGHow

xxx

Terry & Steve said...

Jojo,
Of course you can use the photo!
xxxx
T

jojo said...

thanks so much! it's such a lovely one of her.

x

ps - looking forward to hearing the results tmrw. I got a good feeling about this one.