.ivf #4.

i can't even remember the last time i posted on this blog..i think i was pretty upset. well, surprise, we have just completed our 4th ivf cycle in las vegas with dr f. love that guy. so i know the details are usually boring for most people (and probably significantly over the head) but i have to document this for future reference. i always forget the fine detail after a few days. so here goes.

cycle meds.
yaz bcp 3 weeks
dexamethasone
folic acid
doxycyline
bromocriptine dropped from 2 a day to 1
lupron 10 units for 5 days, dropped to 5 for 2 days, then switch to ganirelix
ganirelix 0.25 ml til trigger day
follistim 600 for 2 days then drop to 375 for 6 days. total stim days = 8
luveris 1 vial every other day x3 days, then 2 vials the night before trigger

lmp april 8

april 18- drove to vegas with mom

april 19- first appt with dr. f-- about 12 follicles

april 20- scan and e2-- follicles grew a lot. largest follicle 19mm, total of 14

april 21- trigger shot 1030pm- 10000 units hcg

april 23- er, 13 eggs retrieved, 9 mature, 8 fertilized normally! i know unreal compared to our first 3 cycles.

april 26- got a call from dr f. with a embryo update... so we have always just had 2 good ones on day three so we expected a day 3 tranfer again. well to our surprise on day 3 all 8 were still growing, 4 looking better than the other 4 and dr f. said we should go out to a day 5 transfer...CRAZY!

april 28- all 8 embryos still alive but only 4 worth transferring. so we picked the 2 best expanded blastocysts (grade 4AAs) to transfer and they have frozed the other 2, one of them being an expanded blast and the other one a nonexpanded blast. on the GES scale that SIRM uses, 0-100, our two that we transferred were 95s. the frozens are a 95 and an 85.

so all in all, this cycle is 100% better than all of our other cycles combined. so we're not totally banking that this will work, since poor egg quality could still play a role here, but dr. f was hopeful that at least one of these little guys will be viable. he even went on to say that he wouldn't be suprised if both were...these are the "best" that they transfer...i guess it can't get better than that. we're super thrilled because this is our LAST ivf cycle. yeah, if this doesn't work, we'll for sure do our frozen transfer, but this is the last fresh we'll ever do. we have been pursuing adoption...and we still think we'll do that too, down the road.

but i just want to send a shout out to dr f...he has done exactly what he said he wanted to do. last time we talked to him about what he'd do different in this cycle he said he wouldn't change my protocol (which surprised me) but just give me higher doses of fsh to make more eggs to choose from. and what happened? we got more embies to choose from and made it to day 5! i think he's really good at what he does. this experience was just as great as the last time and it's always nice to know what you're in for.. i love their office.

so right now i'm just on some bedrest and we'll keep this updated as the news rolls in.

here's us down in vegas...


and after cam and my dad flew home, it was just my mom and i at the transfer.. thanks mom. love you.