Good News

The progesterone definitely did it's job by postponing my new cycle (yay!), however, it was getting to the point where we were beginning to wonder if we were actually pregnant! Two failed tests later (boo!), and a new cycle has begun. We are officially on schedule to transfer some of our little totsicles in a couple weeks! The good news is that we will be going with my natural cycle, which is fairly predictable and consistent. I have an ultrasound appt. next Thursday (February 11) to see how close I am to ovulating and if everything looks good, my doctor will tell us when to take my hCG trigger shot to release my egg. Once my egg has released, we will transfer 3 of our blastocyst embryos 5 days later. The idea is to transfer them into the same environment at the same time that they would have naturally been in, had we conceived on our own. Since my embryos are 5 days old, we transfer them 5 days after ovulation. If everything goes as usual, we will likely transfer our embryos on Friday, Feb. 19th or Saturday, Feb. 20th. We will have a more exact date after my ultrasound.

The only thing different I am doing this time around is I have decided to take a low dose aspirin every day, in hopes of increasing the blood flow to my uterus. My doctor told me there is no harm in me trying this, so I'm going to give it a shot. Studies have not shown whether or not this actually improves blood flow and implantation, but for $2.00, it's worth trying. We are also going to have our embryologist perform "assisted hatching" again on the embryos prior to transfer. We did this in October for the first time as well. Here is a little explanation regarding this:

The embryo is first placed in a petrie dish containing culture solution. A special pipette is then used to hold the embryo in place. The embryologist takes a hollow needle that contains an acidic solution and places it next to the zona pellucida (the outer shell). A tiny bit of this acidic solution is released from the needle so that it comes into contact with the zona pellicuda. This acidic solution begins to slowly digest the protective layering, creating a small hole. The embryo is then washed in a special solution and placed back inside an incubator until embryo transfer can take place.

The jury is still out on whether this procedure is necessary or makes a difference, but it gives us peace of mind knowing that our embryos can hatch out of their shell.

We are grateful to have another chance at being parents. We are praying that our miracles will implant and grow to be healthy babies for us to hold. Please join us in praying for a miracle!