Final post from yesterday's ET...

Here is a photo of our ultrasound. Our embies are the bright lights in the middle of the picture. The dark object is my full bladder that is droopy on one side (LOL). What a day!

Other photos from yesterday's Embryo Transfer...

Doesn't Steve look cute in his scrubs and hat?? Maybe he should've been a physician. Just kidding...

First photos!!

Well, the ET went well yesterday. We transferred 2 8-cell A+ embryos. It was probably one of the happiest days of my life. I had no idea what it was going to be like, but I was overtaken with emotion. It was so cool to be able to see our Dr. Awadalla actually put them into my uterus and we saw them both on U/S. My prayer is for them to stick soon. I'm trying to practice good visualization techniques right now.

Steve and I were both a little slap happy in the room. He was taking pics of Dr. A, the IVF nurse, me, equipment, etc.: a little out of control...Me? I actually sang them my favorite song while I was waiting on the table after the transfer. I hope they like music. :-)

Below is their first photo. We also have their little petri dish, too. I can't believe we got to keep these special keepsakes. We are already in love with both of them. I hope they both snuggle in for a 9 month nap.

Of the 13 remaining embryos, all are still dividing, although some more than others. Dr. A is allowing them to grow out to blastocyte stage. So, we will be freezing the ones that make it. We won't have a full report on them until Monday.

Now for the 2ww...any ideas to take my mind off of this craziness for the next two long weeks??

A little more specifics on ICSI

Several people have asked us about ICSI, the procedure used in yesterday's egg retrieval. ICSI is a procedure used to assist in the fertilization process. ICSI is short for Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, and means that a single sperm is placed directly inside the egg using micromanipulation equipment. ICSI has really revolutionized IVF over the last few years and improves fertilization rates in an IVF cycle.

Once eggs are retrieved and sperm are collected, the embryologist uses a tiny pipette to secure the egg and injects a single sperm into the egg's cytoplasm. Remarkably, when the needle is withdrawn, the egg will re-seal and assume its original shape. The resulting embryo is observed for normal cell division and, when appropriate, transferred into the uterus. This will probably be Thursday for us!!

Fertility Report is in!!

Good news! Of the 33 eggs retrieved yesterday, 21 ended up being mature. They used ICSI on all of them and we now have 15 embryos at the 2-cell pro-nuclear stage. We are absolutely thrilled! I was going to be happy with any number, but this is just wonderful. So, embies, listen to Mommy and grow, grow, grow!!!

The office has us tentatively scheduled for a 3 day transfer on Thursday at 10:30am. That morning we'll get the official call on whether it's a go for Thursday or if we are postponed (for a good reason) until Saturday. With all of these embryos, we've got a good shot for a 5 day transfer. So, we'll just wait and see. Thanks to all of you for all your prayers and support. We love you!!!

Well, I'm back from the egg retrieval!

Verdict: 33 eggs retrieved! Who knew I could possibly house a small village in my little ovaries? While I would've never have guessed a number that high, based on how I feel today, I'm not surprised.

Dr. Awadalla was very pleased with the ER number. We are using ICSI in order to give us the best chance for fertilization to occur with all of the eggs. Realistically, we are expecting no more than 15 eggs to be fertilized, but we just have to wait until tomorrow to get the fertility report to know for sure.

I've never felt this bloated in my life! I'm in serious pain. I feel like someone has taken a Louisville slugger and beaten my ovaries good! Yikes! And, every time I stand up, I feel like my uterus is going to fall out. Okay, enough graphic comments. You get the picture.

Hope this is over soon. I also hope the ET is such kinder to my body. Grow embies grow!!!! Mommy and Daddy love you all already!!!!

My final shot!!

Well, I just triggered a little while ago, so no doubt about it--I'm doing an egg retrieval on Monday morning. We are scheduled for 1st case at 7:45am. Yeah! For those who don't know, a trigger injection does just what it sounds like--it triggers ovulation to occur in exactly 36-40 hours. My doctor will harvest my eggs in 35 hours, however, just before the eggs are released from the follicles naturally. Talk about a specific medicine!!

My last u/s and b/w was this morning. My u/s showed: a lining of 10.4 (which is really good) and according to Dr. S had nice signs of being ready for implantation to occur (yahoo!). In my right ovary, I have 8 follies at 18-20mm (perfect sizes) and in my left ovary, I have 6 follies again at 18-20mm and 3 follies at 13-14mm (my little stragglers). B/W showed E2=1636 and LH still low at 0.4, but I'm not going to worry about it. So overall, everything looked great for my trigger tonight.

I'll try to give an update when my sedation wears off on Monday. Steve and I are so happy and excited for this to be our BFP cycle. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that we will get pg on IVF#1!!!