Today's the big day! My precious embryos are being thawed at NEDC today.
We adopted five 2PN (day 1) and seven blastocysts (day 5) embryos from our donor family. My understanding is that NEDC will thaw three 2PN embryos and hope that we will have at least 2 that will grow into healthy multi cell (day 3) embryos. If we get at least 2 healthy ones, then 2 will be transferred, possibly 3 if the third is of low quality or is not expected to survive. If we get all 3 to be healthy multi cells, then one will be refrozen for future use. If none of the 3 survive thaw, then NEDC will thaw the blastocysts to be transferred. This is at a high level of what will happen.
I don't know all the details and I'm not going to worry about it. Carol the embryologist is an expert and super experienced in this area. I trust her expertise will leave it all in her hands. Please pray that the embryos will survive the thaw and grow into healthy multi-cell embryos.
Tonight, we hop on the plane to Knoxville! It's kind of amazing thinking that my little embryos are thawing and growing into bigger embryos, and on their way to meet us. And we are hopping on the plane to make our way toward them. Looking forward to meeting these little ones.
By the way, it's a gorgeous sunny day here today!
2 days to transfer!
Hours to our plane ride to Knoxville!
Showing posts with label 2PN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2PN. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
And So It Begins.... Again.
And so it begins.... again.
I started Lu.pron tonight. I have been on birth control pills since March and will continue till Saturday night, but the Lu.pron shots officially (to me at least) marks the beginning of my protocol for my May transfer.
After talking over with Babe we have decided that we will stick with 2PNs as per NEDC's normal process for donors with both 2PNs and blastocysts. Yesterday, Carol the embryologist called me after hearing that I had some concerns but I assured her that we have decided to stick with NEDC's usual process and go with the 2PNs.
According to Carol, they will thaw three 2PN embryos 2 days before our transfer, with the goal of having at least 2 of those will survive and grow into healthy multicells. If all three are of great quality, they will only transfer two, and will refreeze one for future use. According to her, this is the best stage to refreeze embryos if needed. She also said that 2PNs do very well at thaw and have pretty good pregnancy rates. The pregnancy rate for 2PNs is the same as multicell and blastocysts.
The other thing Carol mentioned is Dr. Keenan tends to recommend patients going for their third try at NEDC to try embryos from a different stage than the previous attempts. This is true as Dr. Keenan did suggest trying embryos that are not blasts this time around. It just so happened that while looking at donor profiles, most of the donors that seemed right for us had blasts. The family we selected just happened to also have 2PNs, so like I mentioned in my previous post, they were more of an afterthought. But we have decided this is good thing, using 2PNs. In the end, we are ending up to use embryos at a stage suggested by the doctor anyway.
One more thing that will be different for us this transfer. Because we are using 2PNs, NEDC will have to do assisted hatching on the embryos, which at the time of transfer will be at the multicell stage. There is an additional cost of $525, but that in the end, the cost is just another part of the process of working with embryos.
I have scheduled my 2 ultrasound and lab appointments for 4/24 and 5/12. My endometrial biopsy is also scheduled on 4/24. In addition, I have scheduled an ultrasound to check my uterine lining for polyps. My gynecologist has suggested having the biopsy and ultrasound on the same day so I could save a trip to the doctor's office. Unfortunately, the ultrasound tech is not in the office the day I need to have my biopsy, so I have to go in to the doctor's 2 days in a row. My gynecologist wants to have the ultrasound done as close as possible to the biopsy so he has the most current results. I also checked with my gynecologist if there are any other testing that can be done for recurring chemical pregnancies and he said no. Dr. Keenan said the same thing, so I will let that rest.
So right now, all my appointments are scheduled, my calendars are updated with appointment and reminders to take my medication on my phone. I just have to remember to do my shots and take my meds.
Next up, I need to book our flights, hotel and car rental.
I started Lu.pron tonight. I have been on birth control pills since March and will continue till Saturday night, but the Lu.pron shots officially (to me at least) marks the beginning of my protocol for my May transfer.
After talking over with Babe we have decided that we will stick with 2PNs as per NEDC's normal process for donors with both 2PNs and blastocysts. Yesterday, Carol the embryologist called me after hearing that I had some concerns but I assured her that we have decided to stick with NEDC's usual process and go with the 2PNs.
According to Carol, they will thaw three 2PN embryos 2 days before our transfer, with the goal of having at least 2 of those will survive and grow into healthy multicells. If all three are of great quality, they will only transfer two, and will refreeze one for future use. According to her, this is the best stage to refreeze embryos if needed. She also said that 2PNs do very well at thaw and have pretty good pregnancy rates. The pregnancy rate for 2PNs is the same as multicell and blastocysts.
The other thing Carol mentioned is Dr. Keenan tends to recommend patients going for their third try at NEDC to try embryos from a different stage than the previous attempts. This is true as Dr. Keenan did suggest trying embryos that are not blasts this time around. It just so happened that while looking at donor profiles, most of the donors that seemed right for us had blasts. The family we selected just happened to also have 2PNs, so like I mentioned in my previous post, they were more of an afterthought. But we have decided this is good thing, using 2PNs. In the end, we are ending up to use embryos at a stage suggested by the doctor anyway.
One more thing that will be different for us this transfer. Because we are using 2PNs, NEDC will have to do assisted hatching on the embryos, which at the time of transfer will be at the multicell stage. There is an additional cost of $525, but that in the end, the cost is just another part of the process of working with embryos.
I have scheduled my 2 ultrasound and lab appointments for 4/24 and 5/12. My endometrial biopsy is also scheduled on 4/24. In addition, I have scheduled an ultrasound to check my uterine lining for polyps. My gynecologist has suggested having the biopsy and ultrasound on the same day so I could save a trip to the doctor's office. Unfortunately, the ultrasound tech is not in the office the day I need to have my biopsy, so I have to go in to the doctor's 2 days in a row. My gynecologist wants to have the ultrasound done as close as possible to the biopsy so he has the most current results. I also checked with my gynecologist if there are any other testing that can be done for recurring chemical pregnancies and he said no. Dr. Keenan said the same thing, so I will let that rest.
So right now, all my appointments are scheduled, my calendars are updated with appointment and reminders to take my medication on my phone. I just have to remember to do my shots and take my meds.
Next up, I need to book our flights, hotel and car rental.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
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.
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
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