IVF Pt. 2

Our post IVF meeting was bright and early this morning with Dr. Filer. He let us know that there was nothing wrong with our past cycle, in fact everything looked great, we just happened to be on the wrong end of the statistical average. How about that luck! Our next cycle will begin as soon as my monthly friend decides to rear its ugly head, the progesterone shots delay your period but also intensify it because its sole purpose is to keep your lining thick. Awesome again! I will then be on birth control pills to regulate my cycle to their schedule and then the fun drugs begin anew.

This time I will be on Lupron, the hot-flash drug, and Estrace, a pill(finally), that I still haven't figured out what it does. Since they won't be needing me to produce any eggs this time I'm assuming the Estrace will suppress my ovaries some how? And Nat's job will eventually return with the progesterone shots after the transfer.

This cycle is officially called an FET, frozen embryo transfer. If you remember from my blog we were able to freeze 7 embryos from our stimulated cycle. We are again going to transfer 3 embryos so they will begin by thawing 3 and if one of them doesn't survive the thawing process they will thaw another until we have 3. They will then perform a procedure called Assisted Hatching on the embryos, which will puncture the shell of the embryo to create a little break in the shell that will help it attach better to the uterus. Apparently when you freeze these guys their shell hardens a little too much so they need a helping hand. From that point on everything else will proceed exactly like before, the transfer and the wait. I am already dreading the water torture phase where I have to drink until the point of explosion for the transfer, how haven't they figured out a better way to do that yet?!

My transfer will be the week before Thanksgiving, either on that Tuesday or Thursday. I checked the calendar and there is a full moon on that Wednesday, is that good luck or bad luck? I am also going to give acupuncture a try this time. You wouldn't believe all of the women that swear by it for IVF cycles; so I figure what the heck, it can't hurt and maybe it will relax me. I have my first session for that a week from today, so that will most likely be my next post. This weekend is my little sister Sarah's wedding so I will be in full party mode and like my mom said, it stinks that this cycle didn't work but at least I can drink at the wedding! (she always tries to find the silver lining!)

I hope everybody has a great weekend!!!!