IVF Follow-Up

Yesterday, we had our follow-up appointment with Dr. Heiner. This was very emotional for both of us. I was doing pretty good all day until I walked into his office. I just broke down and cried. He was very empathetic as well as disappointed that things had not worked out in our favor. We told us that we deserved things to work for us. Everything went very smoothly. I reacted to the medications, I produced several eggs and out of 23 eggs, we got 3 good embryos.

He explained that the reason IVF didn't work this time was the genetics of the embryos and assured us that it had nothing to do with either one of us. He exlpained the sometimes the genes of the embryo whe fertilize won't aloow it to develop or it just doesn't have the right genes. He explained that this is very common and that women who ARE able to get pregnant, don't get pregnant every month because of this reason. This made sene to me and answered alot of our questions. It made me feel even better that it has nothing to do with me. Some embryos just don't stick. I asked if this could be a problem with our frozen embryo and he said it's possible. Unfortunately, we won't know until we try. That is where faith comes in.

Where we are at now:
We have a 5 cell embryo in frozen storage that made it to day 6 and blasotcyst. This means this one embryo made it further than the two transfered. The definition of a blastocyst is - an embryo that has developed for five to seven days after fertilization and has developed 2 distinct cell types and a central cavity filled with fluid (blastocoel cavity). The cells in a blastocyst have just started to differentiate. The surface cells that surround the cavity (just under the outer shell) are called the trophectoderm and will later develop into the placenta. The more centrally located group of cells are called the inner cell mass and will become the fetus. So, this embryo is further developed.

Also, this frozen embryo was of poor quality on the day they transfered the other two embryos and was not expected to make it. So, it's a fighter. It went from 'poor' to 'good' in three days. However, our success rate with a frozen embryo is 40% and the success of it surviving the thaw is 30%. Not very high ratings, however I have read and heard success stories of frozen embryos working. If we choose, the soonest we can start again is November which gives us some time to pray and think about our next step. We have not decided that this is when we will try again. We have alot of things to take into consideration. It will also cost less and the medications won't be so hard on my body.

We are feeling more positive after our follow-up. Our doctor was very encouraging and told us after what we have just gone through, we can handle anything. This has been a very emotional rollercoaster, as you can imagine. We are more aware of the risks and the odds and I think we can be more prepared for either outcome. However, we are not giving up. It still hurts and the feelings are still very close to the surface. But we know that we have a great support team and several prayers floating around.

We have come to the decision, that going forward, we are going to keep our next round very private. I will not be blogging or posting anything on Facebook. This was actually a very easy decision for us to make. On top of dealing with a negative result, it was just as hard to spread that news to all of our family and friends and see them hurt just as much as we were.

We want each of you to know how grateful we are for you friendship, prayers, and thoughts. We know that you are rooting for us and that means the world to us. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives. We know that we have alot of people who love us and care about us and I know we could not have come as far as we did without a lot of you.

I am so grateful for my testimony and the Gospel. I'm grateful for my faith and the knowledge that we are not alone in all of this. That has been a great strength to me through out all of this.

We love you all.