What everyone has been waiting for-- What is next? When is it coming? And you know what, this time, I kind of have an answer!!
I emailed the Nurse Coordinator yesterday to let her know that CD 1 had arrived just to keep her in the loop and so that she could record it in the chart (I have been doing this since my screening). Also it happens to be L's cycle time too so IF we were doing a fresh cycle, we would already be synced! But we are not so our cycles being synced actually doesn't mean anything!
So here is the current plan- L will be starting her medication protocol and we are looking at a February 3 egg retrieval. We have a date! Not just a month-- but a date now! Of course this can change because there will be many ultrasounds that L will have to have to check out the status of her ovaries and to make sure the follicles are maturing.
During the preparation for an egg retrieval, many medications are used to help stimulate the ovaries to produce many eggs. During this preparation, usually birth control pills are used to quiet the ovaries to help prevent cysts on the ovaries. Unfortunately, there is progesterone in the birth control pills and L is allergic to the BCPs. They are usually only used for 14-28 days before beginning the medications and Dr. Levvy feels that it is more advantageous for L to take that medication for the cycle than the risks of her allergies. When she takes BCP, she has hives on her legs, a dry cracked tongue that swells. It is no fun but it is worth it to her to have a chance to have a biological baby. And when you consider the low dose of this medication, it makes it easier to see the eventual decision made to go to surrogacy.
Next, the medication added is a synthetic FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone). Both of these hormones are present in a normal fertility cycle but when tinkering with a woman's cycle, they are injected usually in the fatty tissue in the abdomen. These are usually used for 10-13 days and are used to stimulate the development of many eggs.
From there, as the eggs mature, the doctors want to make sure the body does not signal early release of the eggs or ovulation. Then the doctor would miss the opportunity to retrieve them and that would be bad!! This is not always needed in retrieval cycles, but it is available if necessary.
Then is a one time shot that matures the eggs and then it helps to release them all at the same time. Sometimes the medication used is hCG which is the same hormone that the body releases during pregnancy. These are usually given IM (or in a large muscle like the thigh or the upper buttocks)
Then of course the retrieval. I am unsure about how that process works but from what I hear, the IM or Egg Donor gets really bloated and uncomfortable in the week leading up to retrieval. For the retrieval, a needle is put through the vaginal wall and the fluid around the egg is removed. This is uncomfortable so usually an IV medication is used to help make the patient more comfortable.
From there, the eggs will be introduced to the sperm in a petri dish or in some cases, a single sperm will be injected into the egg (ICSI) to fertilize the egg. It is then known as an embryo and it will grow for 3-5 days before it is either transferred into a patient or it is frozen. Before the embryos are frozen for our cycle, Shady Grove will do a genetic screening on the embryos. What that means is they will take one single cell and take it from the embryo and test it for genetic abnormalities and to make sure the appropriate amount of chromosones are present in the embryo.
It takes about 2 weeks for the genetic screening to come back then we will see how many quality embryos we are working with. At that time, I will start medications to plan for a frozen embryo transfer and the transfer should take place around 5 weeks from the egg retrieval.
I will say that PGS (or the genetic screening) does come with a risk. They are taking a single cell away from a 3 day embryo that is only 8 cells. Now we are talking about 10.25% of the embryo away during the biopsy and it can actually damage the outcome of the growth during thawing. Usually if an embryo is damaged, it will just arrest during thaw. It does not increase the chances of miscarriage or disability/deformity in the baby. Now this is good and bad news because they will be transferring a genetically sound embryo when it is time for transfer but sometimes some moms/donors don't have a lot of decent embryos to start with and the biopsy could destroy an otherwise perfect embryo. One of my FB friends (also an IM and agency owner) said "When PGS is done on a 3 day embryo, they take aaway a single cell which is 1 of 8 cells. When it is done on a blastocyst, they biopsy multiple cells in order to get more accurate pictures of the genetic health as the cells of a 3 day embryo are mosaic." I know for certain our clinic did say PGS because I had never heard of this when in reference to genetic testing in the past.
That is our update! I know it is long-winded (as usual!) but the take away from this is
Egg retrieval will be at the beginning of February
Transfer should be around the beginning - middle of March!
Send your GROW EGGIE vibes to L-- if you have chickens, talk to your hen girls and tell them to lay more eggs, caress the eggs they give you, rub your pregnant bellies, kiss your husband's bald head, find a 4 leaf clover, break your wishbone, wish on a shooting star, find the end of the rainbow, rub the lamp with the genie in it--
WHATEVER IT TAKES-- Let's have some good feeling vibes because we are over here (across the giant pond from each other!) giddy and excited to get this cycle started!!
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