The rundown...

My doctor suggests drinking 6 to 8 ounces of water before my appointment so that I'm "full but not desperate". I brought a bottle of water in the car. When I first got there I was doing okay. After 45 minutes, when we hadn't yet heard anything I decided to go to the bathroom, though I didn't "empty". After we had been there for an hour, a nurse finally came out and told us that the PGD results from the lab were not in yet. She said they generally get there by noon and it was about a quarter after. She suggested I pee, and told us she'd be back as soon as they got something.

Twenty minutes later I peed again. I figured there was no way of knowing how long we'd be sitting there, and once we got back to surgery it would be about fifteen minutes anyway, so I'd just keep drinking my water and peeing when I had to.

A full hour and a half after my appointment they finally came and got me. We still didn't know if we had anything to transfer. Not until she told me to get changed and said the doctor would talk to me when I was finished- I figured they wouldn't have me put on a gown if there was nothing to transfer!

Of the nine embryos thawed, seven survived to biopsy. Two of those did not progress after biopsy. Of the five remaining, two were abnormal (one w/down syndrome). Of the three that appeared to be normal, one was a day 5 blastocyst and two were day 5 morulas. Dr. Z was in the surgery that day- its the first time he's done any of my procedures! He gave us the option of transferring the blast and one morula, then seeing if the other morula progressed enough to be frozen, transferring only the blast with the potential of freezing both morulas, or transferring all three. I asked him if, considering my history (chem preg with 1st 2 emb IVF and one implantation with 2nd 2 emb IVF) combined with what we now know about what my insurance requires, if it was reasonable to transfer all three. He said it was certainly not “too crazy”, as long as we were aware of the “risk” (meaning a multiple pregnancy).

So we did. Unlike the last time, III decided to come into the OR with me. (We went to a bball game for his alma mater yesterday, and they squeaked out a win, just like they did last year when we went. I told him he was good luck for them, and so he told me he figured he should come in with me just in case he could be a good luck charm for us too.)

They took a photo of the embryos for us, as usual. By the time they took the photo of the embryos, one of the morulas had already progressed to an early blastocyst! The transfer went well and easily.

They wanted me to have my beta on the 16th- I was very surprised! I didn't think it would be that early. But we're going to be out of town from the 13th to the 21st, so the beta will have to wait until the 22nd. At least it's likely to be all or nothing at that point. And I'd guess that if it's going to be negative I'll have already had some warning (spotting or maybe even my period).

I've been going to acupuncture for my mood and energy and it's really be helping. She has obviously been focusing on the fertility stuff too, and today she came in special on a Sunday since I had my transfer. She's feeling very optimistic and excited for me.

So I'm feeling more hopeful than I have in a long time, and to be honest that hope scares me. This whole thing has been such a mess... the idea that it could actually work this time just seems too far out of reach...