That reality is that the positive results are the minority, and this cycle we have fallen into the majority.
It's excellent medicine having a manic little ginger screaming around the house - it doesn't leave much space for thinking about anything other than the positive outcome of our journey prior to now and that we've already got what a ridiculously high percentage of couples who seek fertility treatment will never get.
And cue cycle two.
There's a good chance (50/50) that this one'll be Rupert.
Monday 16 August 2010
Sunday 8 August 2010
And, done.
More or less anyway.
The frozen embryo replacement cycle has been quite the doddle, all in all. I started blood testing on day 10 which showed no real ovulation-type action, so I had a couple of days off and had bloods taken again on day 13. Day 13 blood work showed a surge in hormone levels, so I repeated the blood test on day 14 and had a scan which confirmed a follicle was ready to pop, then hey ho, the embryo was thawed on Wednesday and replaced on Thursday, day 19 I think it was (it was a 5 day blastocyst, and so it was replaced 5 days after ovulation, to mimic the normal way of things). Just like that. Nothing much to it. Far too simple really. It's such a huge, uncertain thing, that leaves you feeling a bit 'what next?' like, because it's just done, and there are no bruises to heal, no pain to nurse, no drugs to take, just all done, off home to wait. Wait as though you are pregnant, but ... well.
I had a blood test yesterday, to check hormone levels were such that a pregnancy could be supported if one was underway and as the clinic was only going to ring if there was anything wrong and I didn't hear from them, one assumes at this point that the environment is good and it's all down to the embryo and whether it's strong enough. I can't even tell you what number we're rooting for - 3 or 4 is as much as the lab was able to tell me. Actually, they said it's 3, 4 or 9, but since 9 was busy trying to make a break out of the nurse's room at the time, that narrowed it down to 3 or 4. At least it's not both. Or better not be anyway. 3 seems to have good juju - a factor of 9, a third less ... personality, perhaps? than Cuinn. Perhaps. Or, as a friend (cheers Lynn), cheerfully suggested, three times the life. Ye gads. Four is also good of course - an even number to Cuinn's odd. Even number = even temper? Maybe? Pretty please?
What was uber awesome was that our obstetrician Paul, who cared for and delivered Cuinn, works 2 days alternate weeks at Fertility Plus and it all just kind of worked out that he was at the clinic on Thursday. I don't know if he was always going to do the transfer (there were other specialists in the clinic that day), or if he did it because we asked him if he could when we saw him there (we have Cuinn to thank for the seeing bit actually - having exhausted all the entertainment the water cooler/reception desk/selected rubbish bins/other people waiting in the waiting room could provide, he opted for streaking down the hall on his way to whereever he could make it before he was caught and shot past the office that Paul was in,giggling his head off with Al in pursuit, which caught Paul's attention, thereby bringing his presence in the clinic to ours) but either way, we couldn't have asked for more that someone who has been so involved and close to us with our journey was able to make the transfer. Full credit to his reflexes, he also managed to get a photo of the embryo (well, the fluid that the embryo was in - you can't actually see the embryo) in the split second between it shooting out of the catheter and embedding in my uterus.
So now, we're waiting. There's a pregnancy test within the next couple of weeks, but we're keeping the date under our hats. Just one of those things. We'll let you know though. Of course.
The frozen embryo replacement cycle has been quite the doddle, all in all. I started blood testing on day 10 which showed no real ovulation-type action, so I had a couple of days off and had bloods taken again on day 13. Day 13 blood work showed a surge in hormone levels, so I repeated the blood test on day 14 and had a scan which confirmed a follicle was ready to pop, then hey ho, the embryo was thawed on Wednesday and replaced on Thursday, day 19 I think it was (it was a 5 day blastocyst, and so it was replaced 5 days after ovulation, to mimic the normal way of things). Just like that. Nothing much to it. Far too simple really. It's such a huge, uncertain thing, that leaves you feeling a bit 'what next?' like, because it's just done, and there are no bruises to heal, no pain to nurse, no drugs to take, just all done, off home to wait. Wait as though you are pregnant, but ... well.
I had a blood test yesterday, to check hormone levels were such that a pregnancy could be supported if one was underway and as the clinic was only going to ring if there was anything wrong and I didn't hear from them, one assumes at this point that the environment is good and it's all down to the embryo and whether it's strong enough. I can't even tell you what number we're rooting for - 3 or 4 is as much as the lab was able to tell me. Actually, they said it's 3, 4 or 9, but since 9 was busy trying to make a break out of the nurse's room at the time, that narrowed it down to 3 or 4. At least it's not both. Or better not be anyway. 3 seems to have good juju - a factor of 9, a third less ... personality, perhaps? than Cuinn. Perhaps. Or, as a friend (cheers Lynn), cheerfully suggested, three times the life. Ye gads. Four is also good of course - an even number to Cuinn's odd. Even number = even temper? Maybe? Pretty please?
What was uber awesome was that our obstetrician Paul, who cared for and delivered Cuinn, works 2 days alternate weeks at Fertility Plus and it all just kind of worked out that he was at the clinic on Thursday. I don't know if he was always going to do the transfer (there were other specialists in the clinic that day), or if he did it because we asked him if he could when we saw him there (we have Cuinn to thank for the seeing bit actually - having exhausted all the entertainment the water cooler/reception desk/selected rubbish bins/other people waiting in the waiting room could provide, he opted for streaking down the hall on his way to whereever he could make it before he was caught and shot past the office that Paul was in,giggling his head off with Al in pursuit, which caught Paul's attention, thereby bringing his presence in the clinic to ours) but either way, we couldn't have asked for more that someone who has been so involved and close to us with our journey was able to make the transfer. Full credit to his reflexes, he also managed to get a photo of the embryo (well, the fluid that the embryo was in - you can't actually see the embryo) in the split second between it shooting out of the catheter and embedding in my uterus.
So now, we're waiting. There's a pregnancy test within the next couple of weeks, but we're keeping the date under our hats. Just one of those things. We'll let you know though. Of course.
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