madison

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My IVF Journey Day 26

Today is day 26 of our IVF Cycle.

I've started spotting... Some brown and some red blood.

I spoke to my nurse this morning and she isn't concerned as this can happen and can be attributed to "implantation bleeding".

I have cancelled Sara's swimming lesson for today, (fourth week in a row!), and am doing NOTHING at all today. I'm not even going to cook dinner! I'm going to order take out or call Rob's mum to make me her amazing chicken soup!

Just quietly I'm freaking out as I I had a strange feeling last night that I wasn't pregnant, but I really don't want to believe that this could be true, and nor can I believe that I have even let this thought out of my head to share with you.

I want to have faith that this pregnancy WILL WORK.

I HAVE to have faith that this one will work.

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Implantation bleeding is just one of several typical pregnancy symptoms and it usually happens around 6-12 days after ovulation and fertilization, within 1-2 days after arrival of the blastocyst in the uterus, usually around 9 days after ovulation (dpo), with a range of 6-12 days. At the time of implantation bleeding, the blastocyst is barely visible to the naked eye, probably smaller than the dot above the letter "i". Once implantation happens the blastocyst becomes the embryo.

My IVF Journey Day's 13 - 25

So Friday came and went without a hitch and NINE eggs were able to be collected!

Personally I thought that this was fantastic, but kept it real telling myself that not all would survive and grow into embryo's once fertilized. Which is true and how right I was.

We were called on Saturday morning by our IVF Nurse who informed us that 5 out of the 9 eggs had fertilized that morning. They were going to wait and see how things progressed but at this stage they were aiming to be able to transfer a 5 day old embryo, (called a blastocyst), on Wednesday. They would call me on Tuesday to confirm all the details!

On Wednesday the 16th March, we were impregnated with a tiny ball of cells that will hopefully grow into a beautiful healthy baby for us!

We also found out on Friday 19th March that out of the 5 embryos that had fertilized on Saturday only 2 survived until the 5 day or blastocyst stage, the others had all stopped growing at various stages in the last 4 days. The one remaining blastocyst is being grown until a 6 day stage and if it survives it will be frozen for us in case our current transfer doesn't work. It didnt survive!
 Whats next?
I am instructed to take it easy, get lots of rest do very little and above all RELAX! I also have a blood test scheduled for the 28th of March which will confirm whether my hormone levels are increasing, if they are then it looks promising. However, Monash then schedule you in for another blood test 2 weeks down the track to check these levels again. At this stage if they are still increasing then its going to be a viable pregnancy, if not then it looks as though it may not work!

Monash IVF
The blastocyst is an early preimplantation embryo, which by day 5 has begun to differentiate and consists of a sphere of cells with an inner and outer layer surrounding a fluid filled cavity. The outer layer of cells, the trophectoderm, give rise to the placenta and extra-cellular tissues, and the inner group of cells, the inner cell mass, give rise to the foetus.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Today I'm grateful for..

My beautiful baby girl!

She turns two today and I cannot imagine life without her, she is the sunshine that lights up my life!



I am eternally grateful for the joy you bring me and the mere fact that I have you in my life seems more and more like a miracle each day!

xox

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

My IVF Journey - Day's 2 - 12

Our IVF journey to date, (it's now day 12), has been a whirlwind event and as I havent been an emotional wreck like I imagined I would with all the hormone injections and other drugs I've had to take, I feel there really isnt anything to blog about. 

I just feel like a pin cushion.. That's all!

The scan from Monday indicated we have 7-8 follicles that are of a good size, so we have our egg collection now scheduled for Friday. There is no guarantee that any of these follicles will contain eggs and if they do they who knows if they are going to be of a high enough quality and mature enough?

We wont know this until after the egg collection!!

So we wait with baited breath, day by day until then....

Cross all your fingers and toes for us!!