Monday, May 25, 2009

IVF#4 - Day 6 Embryo Report

Just got my call from embryology. I had my expectations set correctly today so that I didn't have to fall off the cliff again. I prepared to hear to worst, that none made it today. This way I would only receive great news if any did make it.

Today I received great news. The compacting and morula from yesterday made it to blast today, were biopsied and frozen. Both are graded 4BB. A huge sigh of relief!

I had a short list of questions, but unfortunately the embyrologist that called made it very obvious that she wanted to tell me 2 made it and then get off the phone. She wasn't even going to tell me the grades. I managed to get very little detail from her about my remaining 8, that 2 more made it to early blast today but they have been discarded, and the rest stopped developing. I was horrified hearing that they were discarded, even if they weren't ready to be biopsied, they could have been frozen without testing. I wish I had more details. I asked to speak to the head embryologist but he's not in today and will give me a call tomorrow. I will be getting the full details then.

We have been given the option to test our vitrified 4AA blast from our previous cycle along with this current batch. Our reservation is that it would be put through 2 freeze/thaw cycles in order to test it. Because they are now using vitrification which has 99.9% freeze/thaw success rates, they are comfortable testing it. I will be asking the head embryologist tomorrow for more details on the level of stress this will cause.

There are a few reasons we want our embryos tested. Please respect that these are our personal reasons. We have tried naturally for 3.5 yrs and have transferred 8 embryos over 3 IVFs. We have not conceived once. We need answers as to whether we can produce genetically viable embryos. If we don't, it's time to give up on our dream of a biological child.

When the genetic viability of an embryo is unknown and with the high cost of IVF, we tend to transfer 2-4 in hopes that we become pg period, but that also puts us at risk of multiples. With knowing the status of my embryos, that gives me the option to transfer 1 with a high rate of success.

We really want to maximize our shot at a singleton. Twins would be risky for me as I'm very short, short waisted and have had part of my cervix removed. I fear that I would struggle to keep them in long enough and either lose them or risk them having problems from premature birth. Yes, I know, plenty of women my height carry twins and they turn out fine. But what you don't ever see is the number of women that lose them and end up devastated for years. If I'm blessed with twins, I will be happy and do everything I can to ensure their viability, but I don't want to intentionally conceive twins.

Another reason is that we would like to avoid the situation of paying storage fees, having false hope that we have a sibling waiting for us, paying $5000 to transfer only to end up with nothing because the embryo was not viable.

We are leaning heavily towards testing our previous embryo but will make our final decision tomorrow after talking to the head embryologist.

So here's our final results:

From this cycle: Day 5 4AA, Day 6 4BB, Day 6 4BB
From last cycle: Day 6 4AA

The embryos have been grown to blast, a biopsy has been taken of their placenta cells and they have been vitrified. The biopsies will be sent off to a genetics lab tomorrow to test all 23 pairs of chromosomes. The results will take 6-8 looonnnnnggg weeks. Our results will consist of normal, abnormal or no result. 30-50% on average come back normal. A no result means they were unable to determine either way. An FET will follow.

While Kerry and I would be thrilled to have all 4 come back normal, we are going to set our hope for all but our expectations for 2.

15 comments:

  1. So happy that those 2 made it! That is a really good result. I think you will learn alot...and I do know how shocking it is to have 10 beautiful embies on day 3 and then whittle them down on days 5 and 6...but 3 beautiful ones is good. And you will likely have 4. I would lean towards testing too- especially since you vitrified it!

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  2. Congrats on the good news! I think if I had to consider testing the previous embryo, I would ask the embryologist about stats on when it's been done in the past. They probably don't have a lot of information on that, but any information is better than nothing!

    I'm sure the wait is going to be torture, but it sounds like it will be better to transfer when your E2 is lower.

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  3. Jill- What great news today!! I am so happy that they had more to biopsy. It seems like my embies take an extra day (until day 6) to make it to blast too. I am so glad you have a great batch to send for testing. That is fabulous news today!!

    I completely agree with all of your reasons for doing the testing. Those are the exact same things that DH and I talked about too. I hope that the 6-8 weeks fly by quickly for you. The 2ww is hard enough, must less the 6-8 week wait:)

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  4. Yay for some more to test!
    I hope you get a good number of normals to work with. And now hoping the next wait isn't torture :) ha ha.

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  5. That's wonderful news that your other two made it to blast and more importantly to freeze...way to go little embabies!!!

    I know this will be a long 6-8 weeks but maybe you can stay super busy finishing that class of yours:0)

    I'm pulling for all FOUR of those embabies and praying extra super hard for the whole siutation!

    love ya!

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  6. Good news about the ones that made it. Praying and believing that all will go well with the testing. Can't wait to hear more.
    Stay busy studying for your test and it will help the 6 to 8 weeks go by a little faster. Lot easier said than done, huh.
    Love you bunches,
    Jean and Crew

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  7. Congratulations, those are great results. I think 2 normals is very possible and it may even be more. Mind yourself now, I found the week or so after the vitrification difficult due to hormone crash and the cycle stress catching up on me but am hoping this does not happen for you xxx

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  8. Congrats on the news yesterday
    looking forward to hearing what the head guy says today.
    You know we are behind you guys 150% for having the embries tested and praying that all come back with good results.
    Hope you didn't study too hard this weekend.

    Love ya

    Sheree

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  9. Congrats on great results!

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  10. What great news!! Now the 6-8ww...ugh...hang in there and don't make yourself crazy searching for this type of scenario on the internet! :)
    Smiles, Heidi

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  11. Praying for more positive news to come your way... The waiting is torture, but you can do it!! You're strong and determined. Good things come to those who wait?!? Isn't that the saying?!? Don't you just want to slap people when they say that?!?! Okay, don't slap me, I have good intentions. :0)

    Hugs to you and Kerry,
    The Other Jill

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  12. That is fabulous news and you have highly graded blasts sent in for testing so I have my fingers crossed for you girl!! The waiting was torture (I dreamed about getting Sue's results instead of mine remember?!) but think of all the information you will have when you get the results. That is worth it. I hope your wait is a lot shorter than you expect and that you get back a bunch of normals!! Good luck!

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  13. I'm so happy you got great news today! I understand your frustration with the embryologist...sometimes I wonder if they really "get" that those potential embryos are our potential babies...we want the details!

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  14. Hi Jill. You're so knowledgable on this subject, but I gathered from your blog that there's still hope in 2 embries. That is good news. I'm sure there's a million more steps and procedures before the final results so I will just pray for the best outcome and results...and I'll keep up with reading your blog and talking to your Mom. Take care and keep the faith...love Aunt Carol xoxoxoxo

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  15. please see the link below for what the fertility industry don't want you to know >

    http://beware-of-the-fertility-industry.blogspot.com

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Thank you for your comment! Hugs, Kerry and Jill