EPT

Well, the early pregnancy test said negative this morning. It should be accurate at this point. I'm 9 days post transfer with embryos that were 5-6 days old. That would be like 14-15 days post fertilization...or the 'day of my missed period'. I have blood tests tomorrow and Monday, but I'm not holding out much hope for them. I guess it's on to the next FET in July (hopefully...our clinic is slow on the scheduling). Life just sucks right now!

Pain in the Butt!

We are still just plugging along, waiting until we can find out if this FET worked. In the mean time, Mark has to give me a shot of progesterone in the butt twice a day. To add to it, it can only be in a small area on the upper eighth of each cheek. This means that both cheeks are super tender and are building scar tissue underneath them. All this makes for literal pains in the butt!

On top of the progesterone shots, I'm on progesterone vaginal suppositories three times a day, oral estrogen three times a day, as well as estrogen patches that I replace every other day (the kind used during menopause). All this makes me one crazy little infertile!

I just thought I would check in and give you the update...or lack there of. Sorry, there will NOT be any photos of the bruises on my hind side (I'm sure you were wondering)! :)

Photos

I wasn't able to get out of bed and use my scanner for my last post, but I thought I would post the photos of our embryos and where they put them in my uterus (sorry, TMI). When I first saw the photo of the embryos I asked the embryologist why they looked so bad. I guess they dehydrate them to freeze them and this photo was taken after the thaw, but before they put them in a culture to rehydrate them. So they are good! The other photo shows a small x where they put the embryos. I know, it looks like nothing, but I thought I would share!

We Finally Got a Shot!!

The FET went well yesterday. They put in the two embryos that they were going to put in for our original IVF. After the freeze and thaw, the embryologist said they looked 'good'. They weren't 'great' but they weren't 'bad'. We are cautiously hopeful.

Success rates for FETs are lower than with a regular IVF cycle. I've seen figures ranging from a 20% to 40% chance of pregnancy from an FET cycle. Fresh IVF cycles have success rates of over 50%. I guess my point is, don't get disappointed if this cycle doesn't work. It doesn't mean I'm doomed to be barren for the rest of my life. It's all a numbers game and with seven more frozen embryos and two more fresh IVFs with the frozen embryos they might bring...we can play that game way better than most!

For now, I'm thinking positive, snugly thoughts for my two little embryos and I'm hanging out on bed rest until tomorrow.

It all seems so strange. It baffles me that success rates are so low. Granted, the pregnancy rate for two fertile adults per month is under 10%, but it just seems like with two good embryos placed in a good uterus, the success rate should be higher than 20-40%. We've taken the guess work out of proper ovulation, open tubes, ability of the sperm to penetrate an egg and form a normal embryo. Literally, all they have to do is implant and grow! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We will know in the beginning of June!

Lining...Check

I had my endometrial lining check ultrasound first thing this morning. It looks good...so we are on for the 5/20 FET (frozen embryo transfer)! So between now and then I just keep taking the meds I've been on (crazy-making lupron and chubby-making estrogen) and I start a new medication regime on Thursday. I should be all set!