IVF Embryo Transfer Archives

Waiting Zone

December 1, 2010 By Carol Leave a Comment

This round of IVF seems to be taking ages. The Intralipid treatment went well. I was in hospital with another lady who was also having the treatment. Although she finished her treatment before I did, I was happier this time as my veins actually seemed to take the infusion better than last time.

The embryo transfer also went well. I had a female doctor do the transfer this time. Of the 3 remaining embryos I had, one didn’t survive and other two did although both were at various stages of development. I had the two Day 3 embryos put in though. One of them had started compacting which is a good sign but as I know from experience there is a high attrition rate after Day 3. The other embryo was very slow to develop and was only a 5 cell embryo. Ideally it would have been better for this to be at 6 cells or better. Still you never know, sometimes the cells develop better than expect. Unfortunately, there is still a lot unknown about embryo development and their chances of getting to the next level.

So at the moment I am in the waiting zone. Seems to be taking ages but it has been an eventful month in other regards. For one I have resigned from my job so I finish up in a few weeks time. I have not been happy where I am for a long time. I don’t like being micro-managed and it seems the more layers added to the hierarchy since I have been there, the more micro managed I have been.

Since I resigned, work has been pretty relaxed as my projects have been handed over to other people. The only downside has been the travel to Tasmania for the commercial run of a new product I am launching. I just got back from Tasmania yesterday afternoon.

Travelling when doing IVF can be a pain since I had to take a little esky bag and ice block to keep the pessaries at the right temperature and I also had to pack the injections into my luggage. My needle disposal unit was so full, I decided against taking it with me so I had a few used needles in the box along with my injections but they were well secured.

My stomach is really bruised from all the injections but I seem to be getting better at injecting and I seem to be getting smaller bruises. I think the art is all in how you pinch the skin and also the speed at which you inject. I now also put bandaids on my stomach after I inject as I have noticed that I sometimes wake up with blood on my bedsheets from the injections. Anyway the process seems to be getting a little easier although I am not sure I can continue the treatment I am doing and do a full on stimulated cycle – if I did it would mean 4 injections a day and judging by the size of the bruises I would run out of room on my belly. Anyway – time to fly. Still in the waiting zone and I am getting impatient. Secretly I feel that I will have the same outcome as before. Til my blood test outcome.

Frozen Embryo Transfer with the Colorado Protocol and Treatment for Natural Killer Cells

August 1, 2010 By Carol 1 Comment

Wow! I thought the drugs when you do a full on IVF cycle quite tough. I reckon just counting the drugs you need to take when you have natural killer cells and are doing a Frozen Embryo Transfer amazing. Imagine if I have to do both full on IVF and treatment for Natural Killer Cells. I reckon doing that would be the end of me.

As I am about to commence another frozen embryo cycle, I am amazed and what my treatment will now become like. Here is the sequence of events:

Dexamethasone and Astrix / Baby Aspirin (day 1 onwards) – one does things to reduce your immune system and the other thins your blood
Book in for intravenous feeding of Intralipid – I get lay down for half a day while the anaesthetist drip feeds me.
Pee on Ovulation test kit from daily day 10 until you detect a surge
The day after the surge, commence Augmentin DUO twice a day for 5 days
The day after the urge, start injecting yourself in the tummy with Clexane
Have intercourse the night before transfer so it upsets the endometrium and makes it more receptive for the embryo to stick
Commence Crinone Gel for 15 days on the day after embryo transger
Commence Estradot Patches on the day after transfer

Amazing collection isn’t it. Imagine if I have to do both full on IVF and the treatment for Natural Killer Cells. The drugs I would have to take would more than double! That is mind boggling – I never expected to take so many drugs at my age. I thought it was just something my people did when they got old.

I never thought of myself as being brave doing 13 rounds of IVG but now I really have to consider that I really am brave just doing this. I am not too happy about the effects it has my immune system and my blood.

I also need to be careful not to bruise myself because the aspirin and clexane thin my blood. And I can be quite klutzy. Lucky I happened to walk into a park bench yesterday and cop the big bruise on the leg (which is still sore) while I was just on aspirin and not clexane. I need to watch and bruising and be ready to report to nurse if the bruising does not subside.

The other good thing is that I am just recovering from a cold. The Intralipid and the Dexamethasone lower my immune system so I reckon I would be best off avoiding sick people.

If I am confirmed pregnant then I still have to continue Crinone, Estradot, Asprin, Dexamethasone and Clexane.

Meanwhile I still need to continue taking my naturopathic medicine such as Elevit, Omega 3 Fish Oil (EPA/DHA), CoQ10, Vitamin C and Chinese Herbs. Here are some of them pictured below. The Chinese herbs are missing from the picture and yeah I forget to mention the acupuncture treatment I also have.

One or Two Embryos

February 15, 2010 By Carol 1 Comment

After surging LH levels for 3 days and ovulation now probably occurring today, I am concerned that the length of time between ovulation and my next cycle will be short and that my body will not have enough time to support the embryo that is planned to be implanted on Friday.

Maybe I am being paranoid but I don’t want to put my little blastocysts at risk. We’ve had 10 cycles now (although I am losing count) so any problems could mean yet another cycle to go through. Even worse, we had planned to have 2 enbryos transferred. Now I am reluctant to have both implanted as my cycle has been really strange this cycle.

For a start, I noticed on day 13 that there was a slight surge in LH levels but not enough to say I was ovulating. Every day after until Saturday, there had been no surge and now I have surged for 3 days. My basal temperature also tells me that I have not yet ovulation. Whilst it is normal for me to ovulate a little late, the fact that my LH levels have been surging for so long is not normal.

I am putting the interruption to my cycle down to the fact that I had been travelling early last week and severely lacked sleep due to the travel in different timezones and the lack of comfortable bed.

So the question is do I change my consent form from 2 embryos to 1 or do I just skip this month and start again the following month? We really haven’t had much luck in the baby department so far so I am reluctant to put my little embryos at risk and head back to the baby making factory for yet another round of IVF.

Day 5 IVF Results

November 27, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

Embryo transfer on Tuesday went off without a hitch – apart from the fact that I think I unsettled the embryologist. No necessarily a good thing when they are the custodian of your embryos. The embryologist came in as usual and informed me that they had chosen a mature blastocyst that was just starting to hatch. I saw a lovely picture of it. I asked the embryologist if there were any more blastocysts suitable for transfer. I think I may have taken her by surprise.

She asked me if I understood the risks of having two blastocysts transferred and that the one they had chosen was top quality. I told her I understood the risks but I did not mind if I had a multiple birth. I told her that I was 40 and I didn’t care. I told her that every time I came to clinic I had promising blastocysts but by the next day there were never any left apart from the one that got transferred. I said I that given this, I thought it would be better in me! I wasn’t having a go at the clinic for saying this – it was more the fact that it has been so disappointing not to have any more embryos left.

She said that there were a couple of early blastocysts but that they would have to go back and reassess which one would be suitable for transfer. I mentioned that I had filled out the relevent paperwork that outlined that we preferred to have the option if having one or two transferred. I wasn’t sure of the protocol but had wondered when they were going to check with me if I wanted one or two transferred. The end result was that the clinic ended up transferring two. The whole experience was a little more relaxing than normal – for a start there was soft music playing in the background and for some reason I felt more relaxed than I had in ages. Maybe it was the acupuncture I had? Maybe it was the fact that I am no longer working for same manager who I used to work for (talk about stress me out).

After the transfer the embryologist reappeared with the paperwork in hand to ensure I had given consent for two. After looking at the paperwork she realised that we had already nominated this on the form so from her end everything was OK. I had suspected that I had unsettled her but that fact that she reappeared with paperwork confirmed it. Believe it or not, after my discussion with her I had to wait for 2 days to find out how many embryos survived to day 5. I had been expecting that we would get the same results as usual – no embryos left for freezing but I was pleasantly surprised. We actually had three surviving blastocysts so now have them on ice! How exciting! Could it be that extra care was given to my little embies after my discussion. Probably not – but it still makes me wonder. Doesn’t matter – I have spares. This is the best news – no more drugs for a little while. So it is now the third day since my transfer and I am in the dreaded two week wait. Back to breast groping again.

Embryo Transfer Entourage

October 5, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

On Saturday I had my last frozen embryo transferred into my uterus. Nothing unusual about that apart from the fact that were several people present during the transfer that normally would not be there.

Besides the usual suspects of having the Doctor, Nurse and Embryologist in the room, I also brought three other very important people in my life along – my husband, my mother-in-law and my mother who had flown in from Perth to help me celebrate my recent 40th birthday.

Picture this. Three scientists plus my two mothers and my husband all watching as I put my legs in stirrups and spread em! Who would have thought this was possible. After 7 rounds of IVF and several doctors, nurses and embryologists later, you become de-sensitized to normal thoughts of modesty. Seriously though, it wasn’t so bad.

My family had back row seats and were solidly behind me when all this action was taking place. They had the privilege of watching the big screen – only trouble was that there was no Gold Class seats. Lets just say that the tiny little room was somewhat cramped.

In any case, all went on without a hitch. My mother was treated to a once in a lifetime opportunity for watching her potential grandmother hood on the ultrasound. My mother-in-law got to see science in action. My husband on the other hand was over it.

Maybe having the support around might act as a good luck charm. Who knows – maybe I am suspicious but my mother is a devout Christian so I figured getting her and God into the act might help my cause. Am I clutching at straws? Probably!

Next steps – live in the two week waiting zone.