FET #3 Transfer of 3 blasts - 4BB x2 and 3BB x1

After taking a 3 months break, I was ready for another FET. Let's use up the remaining 3 blasts. Well at this time, I wasn't too optimistic already. I was given estrade (Estradiol) pills to prepare my endometrial lining. Once the lining was 1 cm, I was prescribed crinone two times a day as well as Duphaston (progesterone pills) to be taken 3 pills per night. This made my head really dizzy so I had to take it right before bedtime.

The funny thing with this transfer was that I was asked to go in at 3:00 pm however I got a call at 1ish pm from the lab asking me why I wasn't there already. I told them I was on my way already and they said all the other patients were already there waiting for the transfer. Anyway I reached the lab at 2ish and when it was time for my transfer, the doctor exclaimed that my bladder wasn't full enough and I got sent back to the waiting room! :( I then took two big cups of water and waited for 30 mins, by which time all the other patients were done with their transfers. I got sent to the ET room again (as the last patient) by which time my bladder felt like it would burst! The transfer was quick however after I got up and wiped, there was so much blood on the tissue paper! Never did I experience bleeding from ET. I was anxious and went and spoke to the lab personnel at the reception and they said this was most likely because the cervix was scraped a bit from the transfer. Left me wondering if the doctor wasn't too happy about my not very full bladder earlier.

Long story short - I started bleeding at 7 days post transfer (7DPT). Called the lab and they wouldn't give me any answers and asked me to call the doctor. I called the doctor and got to speak to the nurse. She instructed me to just keep on using Crinone and taking my progesterone oral pills until day of beta hcg test. I was practically bed ridden, the bleeding had gotten heavier. I decided to go for the beta at 12 DPT instead of 14 DPT. As you can guess, it was a bfn. I inquired (again with the associate doctor) why I bled at 7 DPT and if it was because of insufficient progesterone supplementation. He said it happens sometimes as they body knows best when to shed the lining especially when it gets too plump/thick and there is no implantation/pregnancy. He asked me if I wanted to wait and consult with Dr. Hwu which I didn't see a point so I declined and walked out of the clinic and later cried my eyes out.

Update on the BFP

We returned to the clinic after 2 days and did the 2nd beta hcg blood test early in the morning. The result came in at 329. It was about 1.2 or 1.4 times the original. The associate doctor wasn't too sure what to do so asked me to go to the ultrasound room to check with Dr. Hwu and to do an ultrasound. At the ultrasound room, I briefed the doctor on my status and no embryonic sac was seen on the ultrasound. Dr. Hwu asked me to stop all medications as he said it wasn't a very normal pregnancy and to go back after 2 days for beta hcg blood test to ensure that the beta has gone down. They were afraid of ectopic pregnancy. So I stopped all medications and again after 2 days, I did another blood test, The beta was 190ish this time. The associate doctor said to wait for my period to come and if it does come, then all should be fine.

I was so scared of ectopic pregnancy and was pretty thankful when my period came. Although this meant I had to do a 3rd fresh IVF cycle, I was pretty relieved that there were no other complications. Human reproduction is a complex science. My baby-seeking journey hasn't been easy and I believe that when God decides the time is ripe, he will bless me with a baby.

To my readers, thank you for all the support. It is not an easy road and I wish you all the best in your fertility journeys. God bless.

The much awaited BFP! (and the surprise that came with it!)

We went to the hospital early to do the beta HCG blood work. After that we went to Starbucks and lingered there for a couple hours before we went back to the clinic. When it was our turn, we went in to check the results of the blood test. I looked at the screen and it was a beta of 237!

I wasn't particularly overjoyed but I did feel a little happy that my beta was positive. I looked at the associate doctor who was in the clinic instead of Dr. Hwu, who is in the ultrasound room. The associate doctor (I will just refer to him as doctor) didn't congratulate me and he was frowning instead, appearing concerned. When he did speak up, he said I had a positive beta but he thinks it's a big too low for D4+14 dPT. He then showed me an excel spreadsheet with the stats and said that usually the beta numbers should be well over 800+. He wanted to me do another blood test after 48 hours to see if it doubles or is 1.66 times the original beta. Well, seriously? I had always thought a positive is positive! How naïve I was!

So we left the clinic with a slip for the second beta hcg test 2 days later.... fingers crossed? I wasn't too sure what to think....

Embryo Transfer

Just a quick update:

Of the 15 eggs retrieved, 10 were fertilized and we were asked to go to the hospital for ET on D4 post-retrieval (Morula transfer).

Three morulas were transferred back to my uterus. They were graded M1, M2 and M3. The embryologist said that she was afraid there will be nothing left to transfer if we were to wait for Day 5 blastocyst transfer. She said the rest of the embryos weren't developing too well.

Anyway, we called the lab on day 6 and were told there were 3 additional blasts which were frozen, grade: 4BB x 2 and 3BB x 1. I was happy to hear there were frozen embies to use in case this cycle was also a BFN.

The dreaded two week wait began.....

Egg Retrieval

The egg retrieval was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. which was 34 hours after the trigger shot. I arrived at the operation room at 9:00 a.m. Waited till 9:30 before my name was called and I was led to change into the hospital gown. I waited and waited and waited. I kept looking at the clock.... tick tock tick tock.... hard to stay seated without feeling cold. I was anxious that the 36th hour after administering the trigger shot would pass and all my eggs would just ovulate before being picked up.

11:40 a.m. - Finally my name was called and I was led to the surgery room. They asked me a few questions about previous surgeries, put the IV into my vein, attached the blood pressure monitor belt on my arm and I passed out. When I came around, I was already in the recovery room. I asked how many eggs were retrieved. In total, 15 eggs were retrieved! Hallelujah! I wasn't expecting that number! This was an even better number than IVF#1. I felt happy. My husband was called into the recovery room and he helped me change. As we walked out and were waiting for the elevator, I felt so dizzy and suddenly my whole body went cold and everything went black, I crumbled to the ground. I heard my husband calling out my name from far. Somewhere a nurse came with a wheelchair and wheeled me back to the recovery room where they put me on the bed and an oxygen mask over my nose. I told them I might be low in blood sugar and they just asked me to rest. I rested for 30 more minutes and felt good enough to get out of bed. My husband got food for me and I ate it before we left the hospital.

IVF #2 - Dr. Hwu, Yuh-ming, Mackay Memorial Hospital

So here we are at IVF # 2. I had already forgotten the pains of daily injections from IVF #1. We were ready for another fresh cycle.

• CD 1 : Was prescribed 1 pre-filled syringe of Elonva 150 iu. We were told that this is a relatively new drug where 1 single injection is good for 5-7 days. Yaay! Made my life easier! :) The only downside is that the drug stung and burned when injected but it wasn't as bad as Menopur.

• CD 5 : Returned to the clinic and was prescribed the following:
• CD 5 - Pergoveris 150 iu x 1
• CD 6 - Pergoveris 150 iu x 1, Orgalutran 75 mg x1

• CD 7 : Had quite a good number of follicles. Doctor didn't even bother to write them all down on the follicle monitoring sheet. Trigger shot tonight with Decapeptyl 1ml x 2, Ovidrel x 2 vials

• CD 9 : Egg retrieval

Overall, I feel stimming for IVF #2 was a breeze. Eggs were ready for pick up so fast.

2nd FET - Transfer of 2 Early blasts - Dr. Yuh-ming Hwu

For the 2nd FET, we decided to use up all the remaining embryos i.e. EB x 2 and 4CC x2. We thought we were all set but got a surprise on the day of ET when the embryologist told me only the 2 EB's were going to be transferred. I asked person at reception to check the ovulation monitoring sheet we handed in. She did and seemed like they missed the 4CC's written beside the EB's! She then told me that it was the doctor who confirmed that only 2 EB's were to be transferred and based on my age, she said it was too risky to transfer more than 2 blasts. We were disappointed but went ahead with the ET which ended in a BFN. We weren't too disappointed as we knew the quality of the blasts weren't optimal so we weren't expecting it to be a success. We decided to discard the remaining 4CC's and go for a fresh IVF cycle. Let's keep the wheels rolling!!!