Our Fertilization Report - God is so Good!!
Out of the 43 (apparently it was 43, not 42) that were retrieved...
31 were mature
29 fertilized
31 were mature
29 fertilized
We have 29 embabies right now. When I put it that way, it blows my mind to no end. I think that everyone at the clinic was surprised too. I was called by two different ladies, one of which led by saying "I have amazing news for you". Yes, amazing indeed. At this point, I cannot explain it, or even understand it. I just have to give all the credit to God, for the hand he's had on us during this process. He knows how much this means to us and I know he is at work in our lives. That, I have no doubt about. Even still, God, I'm sorry if I underestimated you at any point, but 29?!? :)
Of course I called and shared the news with my Mom, to which she said that my Grandma, the women who we always comment has a "hotline to heaven" was apparently praying that we would get 25. This coming from someone who hasn't a clue about the average number to even pray for. Out of all numbers, she picked that one. lol. So cute and ambitious. I am going to die if the final count at day 5 is 25. That would be beyond amazing. I asked that my Mom relay to her that people are impressed to get numbers in the high teens, or low twenties. Maybe that's a detail I should have shared before she started praying. :D
While on the phone, my Mom told my Dad the news by starting off saying I AM a "Fertile Myrtle" after all, to which my Dad says that he actually had a Grandma that was named Myrtle who had twelve kids. Go figure. I can't say we're shooting for 12, but surely having a Fertile Myrtle in the fam has to be a good omen, if nothing else.
Whew. Talk about some kinda Saturday. I should add that, today, I've actually been feeling worse than yesterday. Yesterday, the pain was mostly right where my ovary must be (pretty low and two the left). Any pain was nearly relieved by going pee, which was nice. Last night, I woke up about every 40 minutes starting at 2:30 to go relieve myself. Who thought there was that much in me. The only thing that stinks about going to the ladies room is that each time I go, it hurts. A cross between when I had my abdominal surgery all those years ago and what it feels like to pee during a UTI. So that's fun.
At this point, I'm trying to take the pain in strides. It's still bearable, but a bit worrisome, admittedly, because now the tenderness has risen all the way up slightly above my belly button. My abdomen feels VERY bloated (uncomfortably so) and hurts when you push on it anywhere in that area. I've also found myself walking slightly bent and on my tip toes from time to time to help relieve the pain. And SLOWLY! For goodness sake, heaven forbid I make a quick move and - BAM! Tons of pain.
At this point, all of this is leading me to be decently concerned about OHSS. I wasn't alerted of this at the clinic, but I have read about and heard about it from friends. While I wasn't totally oblivious about this possibility going into it, I guess I expected them to tell me "be on the lookout". But they haven't. Not sure if that means they honestly weren't concerned, or if they just neglected to mention it. I never did find out what my final E2 number was on Wednesday; as of Mon & Tues, they weren't dangerously high. Some other women I'm cycling with right now had numbers in the 6,000/7,000 range. Mine was low 3,000. So, from what I know, that's good. However, the fact that they aspirated that MANY follicles is something that ups the chances of OHSS, I do believe. This link did a good job of explaining the reason why... I'm assuming it's correct.
As a result, I'm having pains and now I'm unsure of when I should really start becoming super concerned. It seems like if my ribs are extended, I start throwing up, I gain weight fast, or stop urinating what I'm putting in, I should begin to get really concerned. I don't feel like I'm totally there, but am probably showing some signs of something mild. For peace of mind, we called the after-hours line at SIRM this evening and were told it sounds like what I'm experiencing is fairly expected, but that yes, we should keep an eye on it. She said that after ER, the now empty follicles actually fill back up with blood which causes some of the pain and bloating the day after and that signs of severe OHSS don't typically show up until close to a week after ER. I've also read that for those who get a BFP, their OHSS can be exacerbated.
Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to trying to sleep tonight. The idea of laying down that much and getting up over and over just isn't appealing. As for coping, this site suggests (like many others) lots of fluids and gentle exercise like walking to keep the blood flowing and kidneys working. I've also been keeping a heating pad on my tummy, which I suppose isn't harmful. It does a pretty good job of soothing it somewhat. Lately, I've found that it actually feels better to sit upright, rather than lie down for a long length of time. With all those things in mind, we're just taking hour by hour, hoping it gets a bit better by later tomorrow in time for work on Monday. Of course, in the back of my mind, I'm really wanting to make sure it's better by transfer, most likely on Wednesday or Thursday. It would be sad if it had to be canceled because of it, so please pray that we can avoid that.
What lies ahead...
Our next fertilization report comes on Monday. That's typically the day they make the call to do a 3-day transfer, or wait it out until day 5. When I talked to our coordinator today, she said that with our high embryo count, she knows confidently we'll be waiting until day 5. In the back of my mind, though she didn't say this, I almost wonder if they'll also be considering a day 6. In either case, that would put transfer on either Wednesday or Thursday of this next week. Wow. Of this week! Still seems so surreal!
Prayers are being heard!
Thanks again to everyone who is following our progress. Your comments and support means so much. Your prayers are unbelievable! Looking forward to sharing SUPER good news with you over the next couple weeks ;-)
Of course I called and shared the news with my Mom, to which she said that my Grandma, the women who we always comment has a "hotline to heaven" was apparently praying that we would get 25. This coming from someone who hasn't a clue about the average number to even pray for. Out of all numbers, she picked that one. lol. So cute and ambitious. I am going to die if the final count at day 5 is 25. That would be beyond amazing. I asked that my Mom relay to her that people are impressed to get numbers in the high teens, or low twenties. Maybe that's a detail I should have shared before she started praying. :D
While on the phone, my Mom told my Dad the news by starting off saying I AM a "Fertile Myrtle" after all, to which my Dad says that he actually had a Grandma that was named Myrtle who had twelve kids. Go figure. I can't say we're shooting for 12, but surely having a Fertile Myrtle in the fam has to be a good omen, if nothing else.
Whew. Talk about some kinda Saturday. I should add that, today, I've actually been feeling worse than yesterday. Yesterday, the pain was mostly right where my ovary must be (pretty low and two the left). Any pain was nearly relieved by going pee, which was nice. Last night, I woke up about every 40 minutes starting at 2:30 to go relieve myself. Who thought there was that much in me. The only thing that stinks about going to the ladies room is that each time I go, it hurts. A cross between when I had my abdominal surgery all those years ago and what it feels like to pee during a UTI. So that's fun.
At this point, I'm trying to take the pain in strides. It's still bearable, but a bit worrisome, admittedly, because now the tenderness has risen all the way up slightly above my belly button. My abdomen feels VERY bloated (uncomfortably so) and hurts when you push on it anywhere in that area. I've also found myself walking slightly bent and on my tip toes from time to time to help relieve the pain. And SLOWLY! For goodness sake, heaven forbid I make a quick move and - BAM! Tons of pain.
At this point, all of this is leading me to be decently concerned about OHSS. I wasn't alerted of this at the clinic, but I have read about and heard about it from friends. While I wasn't totally oblivious about this possibility going into it, I guess I expected them to tell me "be on the lookout". But they haven't. Not sure if that means they honestly weren't concerned, or if they just neglected to mention it. I never did find out what my final E2 number was on Wednesday; as of Mon & Tues, they weren't dangerously high. Some other women I'm cycling with right now had numbers in the 6,000/7,000 range. Mine was low 3,000. So, from what I know, that's good. However, the fact that they aspirated that MANY follicles is something that ups the chances of OHSS, I do believe. This link did a good job of explaining the reason why... I'm assuming it's correct.
As a result, I'm having pains and now I'm unsure of when I should really start becoming super concerned. It seems like if my ribs are extended, I start throwing up, I gain weight fast, or stop urinating what I'm putting in, I should begin to get really concerned. I don't feel like I'm totally there, but am probably showing some signs of something mild. For peace of mind, we called the after-hours line at SIRM this evening and were told it sounds like what I'm experiencing is fairly expected, but that yes, we should keep an eye on it. She said that after ER, the now empty follicles actually fill back up with blood which causes some of the pain and bloating the day after and that signs of severe OHSS don't typically show up until close to a week after ER. I've also read that for those who get a BFP, their OHSS can be exacerbated.
Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to trying to sleep tonight. The idea of laying down that much and getting up over and over just isn't appealing. As for coping, this site suggests (like many others) lots of fluids and gentle exercise like walking to keep the blood flowing and kidneys working. I've also been keeping a heating pad on my tummy, which I suppose isn't harmful. It does a pretty good job of soothing it somewhat. Lately, I've found that it actually feels better to sit upright, rather than lie down for a long length of time. With all those things in mind, we're just taking hour by hour, hoping it gets a bit better by later tomorrow in time for work on Monday. Of course, in the back of my mind, I'm really wanting to make sure it's better by transfer, most likely on Wednesday or Thursday. It would be sad if it had to be canceled because of it, so please pray that we can avoid that.
What lies ahead...
Our next fertilization report comes on Monday. That's typically the day they make the call to do a 3-day transfer, or wait it out until day 5. When I talked to our coordinator today, she said that with our high embryo count, she knows confidently we'll be waiting until day 5. In the back of my mind, though she didn't say this, I almost wonder if they'll also be considering a day 6. In either case, that would put transfer on either Wednesday or Thursday of this next week. Wow. Of this week! Still seems so surreal!
Prayers are being heard!
Thanks again to everyone who is following our progress. Your comments and support means so much. Your prayers are unbelievable! Looking forward to sharing SUPER good news with you over the next couple weeks ;-)
8 comments:
WOW, look at you! You are very fertile! What are you going to do with all those babies? Please don't tell me you plan on having 20+ kids, lol! :) How many are you transferring?
babyparamore.blogspot.com
Oh my God...honestly, your numbers are amazing!! I didn't tell you yesterday but the E2 levels didn't match at all the number of eggs they retrieved! So I was a bit worried that possibly a lot of them were going to be immature...but no!! So that must mean that your E2 levels went quite high since your last time! The fertilization rate is super, you didn't need to worry about the steroid-shot your husband had! I am so confident you'll have lots of snow-babies too.
Now on the OHSS. I had only a mild touch of it on my first cycle, but one thing the clinic was adamant for me to do, was to check how much fluid I was taking in and how much I was eliminating. Basically I was to pee in a jug and make sure that the equilibrium was mantained. Please plesae do it too and if you are worried go to the clinic on monday and let them scan you, if you are building up fluids they can drain them. One tip for sleeping a bit better for me was to use two-three pillows which kept me more upright. Lots of love, Fran
Congrats on 29 .... Wow!
Given your liklihood(with SO many follies) for some form of OHSS ... Please consume: V8, tons of Gatorade, and top ramen soup (for high sodium). Let's ward off that darn OHSS!
Looking forward to Monday's update,
Polly
29 fertlitized??? Holy crap, I'm just going to call you Superwoman from now on!!! Seriously, that is AWESOME!!!
OMG Cathy!! That is FANTASTIC!!! I'll be thinking and praying for you and Jay while you wait for transfer! Congrats on GREAT numbers!
Jenny
Wow, 29 is awesome! Wishing you nothing but great news (no OHSS and a perfect transfer followed by a BFP)!!! Hope you are feeling better today!
Busted!!!!!!
I didn't know you were a Stirrup's Fan blogger!!!!! It's "Evemomma" here from SIRM boards surfing on my daily LFCA read when I saw the term "43 eggs, 29 fertilized" and I KNEW it had to be you!
My blog is "Infertility Rocks", I'm a pretty new blogger, only been doing it for about 9 months now. It has definitely been my saving grace, though.
I'm so excited with your 'brood' of embies! HOpe you're taking care. I'm feeling pretty good today and yesterday, but I only had 11 eggs retrieved, what do I know? (LOL!)
Come visit me!
Grow babies, grow :o) Glad to hear all is going well!! Lots of prayers that you're feeling better and that everything goes perfectly on Wednesday!! Take care of yourself!
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