Finally, Our Transfer Date

I have been waiting for my May transfer date and protocol all week.  I knew I would get it by Friday because Katie, the nurse's last was was Friday.  On Thursday, I heard that some of the ladies on the FB embryo adoption/donation group had received their protocols.  Yet, I still did not get mine.  I knew that in the past, my transfers were usually towards the end of NEDC's cycle because I was transferring blasts.  So I assumed mine would be towards the end again.  I was getting pretty anxious.  So Friday morning, I sent Katie an email saying I still have not received my protocol yet.  I received an response that she was working on the protocols then and hoped to get them all by the end of the day.  At a little after noon, I finally received my protocol.

My transfer is scheduled for Friday, May 16th.

I was pretty excited to get my transfer date and a little earlier than I had expected.  Then I noticed that the stage of my embryos to be transferred is 2PNs (day 1 embryos).  I was a little surprised as I was expecting to transfer blasts (day 5 embryos).  I called Katie and spoke to her about this.  Because our new donors has both 2PNs and blasts, NEDC's normal process is to thaw and 2PNs first and grow them into multicells (day 3) and transfer them.  That way if none of the 2PNs survive, NEDC would still have time to thaw the blasts and we would not have to cancel our transfer.

I'm a little torn about this.  We selected the donor family based on the fact that they had blasts, and we were planning on transferring blasts.  The fact that the donors also has 2PNs was more of an afterthought.  I am worried that we will not have a successful an outcome with 2PNs as with blasts, though I know many people have had success with transferring blasts, multicells and 2PNs.  On the other hand, Dr. Keenan had suggested we consider transferring different stage embryos this time around since we had transferred blasts the last two transfers.  I think we had decided on blasts because we still had leftover blasts from our last donor family.  I had asked Katie about the success rate of embryos from different stages and she assured me that many pregnancies have resulted from all three stages and the success rate is the same.

Katie said that if we really wanted to, we could call the embryologist on Monday (she was out of the office) and talk to her about it.  We do have a total of 7 2PNs and 5 blasts, so it is possible that we could have enough blasts to transfer if we really wanted to.  However if none of the blasts survive the thaw, then our transfer would be cancelled, though this is highly unlikely.

Babe and I need to talk about this a little more and decide if we should just go with the normal NEDC process as they obviously know what are doing, or if we want to push transferring blasts.  I think I am just a little shaken up realizing that we may not be transferring blasts after having setting my mind on it.  But maybe that is not such a bad thing.  I just have to shift my thinking a little.  I will be praying about this.

After getting my protocol, I called the pharmacy to order my medications for this transfer.  This time, I ordered only what I really need to get me through the transfer and my first beta.  I still have some leftover meds from my previous cycle too.  Plus, with the new pharmacy, and maybe this year's coverage has changed, the some meds cost a lot more than before.

When we were still working with Briova, the PIO (progesterone in oil) only cost me around $20 and $4  for 4 vials each time.  This time around, it cost me about $60 for 2 vials!  I'm so glad I ordered the PIO from Briova last time, even though I didn't need it then.  Also, now I have to pay for the syringes and needles, whereas in the past, it came free.  I'm waiting to order needles and syringes since I have a lot of extras from past transfers and a fellow blogger friend who is now pregnant sent me her extras.  I thought it was unnecessary then, but now I am grateful for them.  Es.trace is still super pricey, costing me about $3.50 each tablet (and I need about 70 to last me through my beta).

And this showed up at the door yesterday morning via overnight service.

It is a lot less than my usual order of meds, but like I mentioned earlier, I only ordered what I absolutely need.

• 2-week Lu.pron kit + extra syringes and needles
• 2 vials of progesterone in oil (PIO)
• 15 tablets of Es.trace
• Albuterol for transfer
• Diazepam (Vali.um) for transfer

Next step, I'll be starting my Lu.pron shots on Tuesday.