Skip to main content

IVF #2

Frozen Embryo Transfer take 2.

After the ERA test results came, we decided to go ahead with round two of an FET with the second (and only) remaining embryo I had. This is a CB embryo (compared to the last one which was BB), so I was a little concerned, but everyone at the clinic told me not to worry about the grading of the embryos. 

With my RE Dr. Rehman in the
recovery room after the transfer
Anyway, so with the second cycle, I decided to go under anesthesia because there was a lot of poking and prodding going on, including two water ultrasound tests I went through. I know the embryo transfer is a very non-invasive process, but I hate the feeling of the speculum inside me. I need to stop being too hard on myself, I thought.

On Saturday, September 15, I had the embryo transfer in the afternoon. The day before, I was at work till a little after 5. In a software company, the entire office is almost gone by 4 on Fridays, so I was practically alone on my side of the floor. From the 17th floor, I could see almost the entire Eastside of Lake Washington. A warm afternoon Sun was shining, I was ready to send the stuff I was working on for a code review and I just felt so happy. I don't know why, there was no reason for that happiness, but I felt that. And very hopeful. 

After the transfer, I tried to stay as normal as possible. Two things I did not do (that I did before) are - 1. symptoms hunting and 2. searching the Internet. Whatever symptoms I got, I told myself, they are from the hormone shots (which most of them are anyway), and for the Internet search, I just stopped myself.

Also, I told Arnab that this is like adding a new feature to an existing software. If the feature works, very good, if it doesn't, then also that doesn't take anything away from the working software. Yesterday night, right before going off to sleep, I had trouble convincing myself to not be hopeful, or rather to stop obsessing about the result. Then I came down firmly on myself. I told myself that this is something I am trying to do as an experiment. If it doesn't work, that doesn't change me, my health, my quality of life, or basically anything. I would still be the same person that I am today and the world (the Universe) would stay just the same. Then I fell asleep.

Today I found out that the embryo has stuck. 

I have not rejoiced. A person who has undergone a miscarriage and a failed IVF does not rejoice at pregnancy news (neither her own and definitely not of others). I am happy, I am positive, and I am cautiously optimistic. We have a whole set of tests lined up now, and I am going to stay cautiously optimistic for a long time now.

Final verdict is, you can't bypass science. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ERA tests -1 and 2

Endometrial Receptivity Analysis (ERA) is a test that measures whether the uterus is ready to accept the embryo, leading to further implantation. There is an implantation window during which time, if the embryo comes, it gets implanted. However, as a student of statistics, I am not surprised to know that there is a bell curve, with 84% women falling in the +5 days region. The rest 16% have their own window of implantation. I am not a person who really fits in the box, I knew that already. So it is a surprise that I don't fall under the 84%? I need two more days of progesterone, because my implantation window is shifted by 2 days. As for my last transfer, the embryo was sent on day 5, my uterus was not ready to take it. Hence, it was rejected. Generally, if the embryos are healthy and the uterus and uterine lining don't have any problem, but still the embryo fails to implant, this test is done. It is a pretty new test, so this isn't yet done for everyone. But who knows...
Post a Comment
Read more

Preparing for the embryo transfer

Now we are approaching the most physically painful part of the process - the progesterone shots. On March 3, I went through a baseline check ultrasound to see how thick the uterine lining was. At this time, as I was on Nuvaring, my lining measured 4 mm which is pretty thin. From March 7, my Delestrogen shots started. They are basically the hormone estrogen that thickens our uterine lining in preparation for a cozy spot for the embryo to snuggle up to. For an embryo transfer, they expect the lining to be around 8-13 mm thick. The way to do that is by the estrogen shots. These intramuscular shots go in the butt and if you were one of those people who was taking the subcutaneous ones by yourself, now you would need someone to give you these ones. These are water soluble injections, so they are not that heavy. Also, I had to give them twice a week.  On March 23, I had another ultrasound to check how my uterine lining has thickened up. In the mean time, I ate normal healthy food...
Post a Comment
Read more