Testing one, two, three...and for a change not me

We are now in the testing phase. Dawn, her husband Ron, and my husband Matthew all have to be run through a battery of tests and exams to make sure they are all healthy.

We will all meet with the same therapist that cleared us for egg donation last year.

Once all that has been completed we move on to...more testing! The same sorts of testing I have completed each cycle including saline sonogram, ultrasounds, and mock transfer.

Once all that is done, we move on to medications. If all goes well Dawn will start her medications in January and plan to transfer at the end of January.

By the way, we have to squeeze Christmas in here with all the other festivities. It will be a busy couple of months!

Same blog, same characters, different tagline.....

Welcome to the new chapter in our ongoing saga. When we last left our heroine she had just failed her latest pregnancy test. It was then that she called her sister and asked, "Do you still want to be my babies Momma?" Without missing a beat, she said yes.

So...we are off again! In case the last post was not a good clue, we are planning the transfer for the end of January.

If you thought egg donation was complicated, wait until you hear about surrogacy!

Calculating due date with assisted fertility

When planning a fertility cycle, everyone wants to know one thing...when will the baby be due?

Well with assisted fertility this is no easy question. However, you can find the answer by doing what I did...Google it.

http://www.ivf-infertility.com/calc_preg.php
is a great little calculator to find the answer to this very question.

So for example: if you transferred 5 day embryos (blasts) on January 30, 2009, then you would be due on October 18, 2009. Pretty nifty huh?

It is official

We are not pregnant. I guess we have some healing and thinking to do.

Theresa

Tears and yet more injections

Still nothing on home pregnancy test...it should be positive by now if it is going to be, so I am losing hope. Last night was really hard, I cried the entire time Matthew was giving me my shot, the pain in my heart is killing me.

Why does this have to hurt so much. Blood pregnancy test is Friday.

frowns and looks at test

I can't believe it still says

Not Pregnant

Blood test is Friday. Perhaps we will just have to wait until then to know for sure.

HPT negative this am

If it is negative, then I want the nausea to go away!

Boo, anyway try again tomorrow.

For all the family and friends who do not understand this obsession with pee on sticks I offer the following from a fellow cycler. Keep in mind this is a quote from someone else not me.....I have not yet had a positive test.

"My transfer was monday and I started on friday, I know it was too
early and would get a neg but i did it anyway. 2 days and 13 tests
later I finally tested positive last night. My beta is wed"

Theresa

Hooray I threw up tonight!

Ok, maybe not an occasion you want to run out and buy a cake for, but I am happy!

Not yet positive

This morning I did a home pregnancy test and it was not yet positive. We are 4 days past 5 day transfer. Our last pregnancy was positive at 5 days past 5 day transfer, so we will see what tomorrow holds for us. Many people to not test positive until 7 days past 5 day transfer. On our first transfer we never got a positive home pregnancy test and still had a positive blood test.

For those of you not in the fertility game, 9 days past 5 day transfer is the day your period should be due. We still have many days to test between now. We will keep you posted.

Here is an amusing exchange. My husband wrote an email updating his family after the transfer. Here is part of the email and the response from my not so subtle sister-in-law whom I love to pieces.

Husband: By the way, the IVF transfer went very smoothly yesterday, more smoothly than the others had, giving us a very good feeling. Unfortunately someone rear-ended us on the way there when traffic slowed abruptly on 880, but the damage is very modest and no one was hurt. Theresa is now enjoying her rest. We will know more officially when we do the blood test on 11/14, but Theresa might do home pregnancy tests before then.

Sister-in-law: Theresa "might" do some tests before them? Might?
Either she's had a major conversion or you are the king of understatement!
Which is it?:)

Talk about feeling "antique"

Today we went out for a bit to a nearby area called Niles, that has many quaint little antique shops. As we were shopping I had some rather intense cramping and I broke out in a terrible sweat. I asked my husband if it was hot in the shop, and the lady behind the counter said, "I think it is hot, but I am usually hot" and made that knowing look like it must be menopause. Well I can't tell you how old this made me feel. I am now a member of the perimenopausal and postmenopausal club of woman who suffer with hot flashes.

On the upside, I am being treated like a princess at home. My husband is very attentive and supportive. I guess even a princess has to endure a little nausea and a few hot flashes now and then.

Home pregnancy tests are usually not accurate this early. The earliest I have heard of positives is 9 days post retrieval and that was with twins. I tested positive at 10 days post retrieval during our cycle in July this year. Since we transferred on Wednesday and they were 5 day embryos so the earliest will be Monday and that will be 10 days.

Hooray bedrest is over!

So this morning I got up and started cleaning the house. After about 20 minutes I got nauseated and started gagging. So I sat down for awhile. When I started back up, I once again got really hot and started gagging. Hmmmm.....now we know that progesterone which I am getting by the butt load (literally) can cause nausea. Still, isn't it fun to hope it may be something more?

Update

Good news of our 5 remaining frozen embryos, 2 were thawed and both
survived the thaw! Hooray leaving us with 3 on ice.


Also, because this is my third time back "in the saddle" I was able to
advocate for myself in regards to the best position and the like and
so the transfer was very fast. Those 2 embies were in there new home
in record time.

Bad news, the camera was not working in the lab and so we have no pics
of these embies. Also, we were involved in a car accident in route to
the fertility clinic. Just a fender bender, someone hit us from behind
of the freeway. Still it was a crazy way to start the day.

BETA is in 9 days, obsessively peeing on sticks to start in 5-6!

update

Our transfer has been moved up by one day. We are transferring Wednesday the 5th instead of Thursday the 6th.

Wish us luck!

Theresa