BETA Countdown

So far Aunt Flo has respected my request to stay away. Merci, merci, merci!

Here's a short summary of my activities and how I've been feeling physically since my FET.

Monday: FET in the afternoon. Feeling good the rest of the day. Stayed in bed most of the time and did some light cooking in the evening.
Tuesday: Feeling good and stayed in bed for most of the day. Did some light cooking for lunch and dinner.
Wednesday: Had mild cramps in my lower back in the afternoon for about an hour. Made lunch and dinner.
Thursday: Had mild cramps in my legs early in the morning for about an hour. Made lunch along with some light cleaning around the house. Went out for dinner with friends.
Friday: Cramp free day. Did the cooking and went grocery shopping.
Saturday: This morning started having some mild cramps in my abdominal area, but after a good rest and lunch in bed, the cramps went away.

Each day I don't have my period, I consider it a small victory, since this is the time of the month that it comes, like clockwork. With each day that passes my hope grows, but these cramping episodes do throw me off, however when I normally get menstrual cramps they don't go away. For the moment, since the cramps go away after about an hour, I feel reassured. 4 more days until BETA!

Aunt Flo Stay the Hell Away From Me!

The transfer is over and now it's the waiting game. Rather than going stir crazy, You Tube has a great variety of my favourite sitcoms such as Frasier, Roseanne, Cheers, Taxi, Everyone Hates Chris, etc. They say laughter is the best medicine. Perhaps I'm not sick, but I'm certainly sick of waiting.

6 more days until the the blood test, unless I get my period prior, which is a possibility. Yesterday late afternoon I started feeling cramps in my lower back, a sign of Aunt Flo knocking at my door. I was quite alarmed and went running to the bathroom, checking for any type of spotting. Nothing thus far (hallelujah!). During my sleep I got some mild cramps in my legs, so again I went running to the bathroom and again, nothing (phew!). The cramps didn't stay for too long, but my body usually have these types of cramps prior to a visit from Aunt Flo.

Stay home Aunt Flo! Take a break for 9 months or better yet go on a holiday! Heck, I'll welcome you back with open arms after 9 months, but just this once in my life I want you out of my life on a temporary basis. Please oh please, forget about me, forget my name, forget I exist!

On another note, I'm unable to post comments on other blogs for some strange reason. When I try to post, blogspot does not recognize that I am signed in. Really frustrating! Any help would be welcomed.

Hysteroscopy, Cervical Dilation, Transfer Test, FET

This past month I've been getting ready for my FET (frozen embryo transfer).

Started Gonal F injections earlier this month with minimal dosage prescribed. Went for the usual blood tests and ultrasounds to monitor everything.

In March they could not do the transfer due to the catheter getting blocked in my cervix, so I had a hysteroscopy, which confirmed that the entry to my uterus is very complicated, therefore they performed a cervical dilation, which opened up the entry to my uterus to make transfer easier.

Went in for a mock transfer with 2 doctors and they were not able to place the catheter in my uterus. Cervix still very much tight and closed off.

Went in for another mock transfer with a different doctor. She was able to place the catheter, however with a lot of difficulty.

Had the FET yesterday with not 1 but 2 doctors! They said it was the most challenging transfer they had in their whole career and although difficult, they managed to place the catheter in the right place. This was confirmed with an abdominal and vaginal ultrasound. 2 blastocysts were placed into their new home and hopefully they will feel comfortable enough to stay for 9 months.

Although I've done 3 IVF cycles, I feel like this is the one where I have a real chance. The first IVF cycle was a bust since we didn't produce any embryos. The second IVF cycle was another bust, as they misplaced the embryos during transfer. They did it in 5 minutes and did not notice any cervical complexities. This time, my third and hopefully last cycle, in the hands of a new and wonderful doctor, I've got 5 frozen blastocysts and the transfer this time around was done correctly.

For the moment I'm resting up and I am anxiously waiting to have my first blood test on the 8th June! Can't wait!

A long and winding road...to my uterus

Had an ultrasound and the doctor has concluded that I have a tricky path to my uterus, which twists the catheter. They want me to take a break this month (big sigh). Next month I will have a hysteroscopy. They will go in with a camera, hoping to make a better opening to my uterus and take notes on how to get in for the transfer. Heck, I feel like they need a GPS to guide them into my uterus - go left, turn right, make a U turn and you've arrived! We hope to do the transfer by the end of May. I would prefer that they use an ultrasound as a guide during the transfer, however it seems that in France they don't do that. Strange. It seems like that would be the easier way to do this.

More waiting, however I'm happy and grateful that they are taking every precaution to ensure that I have the best chance of making this work. In the meantime, I'm keeping busy with spring cleaning in my garden. In the south of France, everything grows so quickly and in a blink of an eye our small garden can turn into a jungle. I even planted a small herb garden with parsley, rosemary, coriander and basil.

Last but not least, thanks to those who leave comments. It's very encouraging and I appreciate your positive support! Merci buckets!

Basil, rosemary, parsley and coriander, my favourite herbs to cook with. Smells so lovely!

Awkward Moment

Yesterday, we were at my mother-in-law's place with our accountant, trying to organize our receipts and invoices. In the middle of organizing our paperwork, I mentioned to my mother-in-law that it was Titi's birthday today. Our accountant asked if Titi was our niece and I said no, Titi is our cat. The accountant burst out laughing. Our accountant is a sweetheart and I have no hard feelings towards her, but I did feel quite childless at that moment. I suppose only a woman without a child would mention her cat's birthday. Anyhow, with or without child, I love my cat, so Happy 8th Birthday to my sweet Titi.

Good News & Bad News

The good news is that all 5 embryos survived the 5 days (I think 5 is now my lucky number) - yippee! Furthermore, the doc says that all 5 are of very good quality - double yippee! At this point I was on cloud nine, I couldn't have imagined a better outcome for the embies after 5 days.

The plan was to transfer 2 and freeze 3. Went in yesterday for the transfer, all happy and giddy, and like last time, I thought the procedure would take about 5 minutes. Boy was I wrong. The doctor had an extremely hard time placing the catheter in my uterus. They tried using all different types of catheter tubes (soft, rigid, etc.). Then they tried changing my position several times by raising and lowering my butt. Then they looked at past scans of my uterus to see if I had a weird curve to the uterus. After 2 hours, 6 tries and many bent catheter tubes, the doctor concluded that I have some kind of blockage to the entrance of my uterus. She didn't want to take a risk by placing the 2 embryos in the wrong place, therefore, the transfer was postponed and all 5 embryos had to be frozen.

Was I down? Certainly, but I am grateful to have such a conscientious doctor. She asked if my last doctor had a hard time with the transfer and I told her that they did it in less than 5 minutes. My doctor believes that they must have misplaced the embryos last time, because my uterus has a serious blockage. My hubby and I are really upset with the other hospital and we will certainly write a letter of complaint. Thank goodness we decided to change clinics, I always felt like the other hospital cared more about the quantity of patients they had, rather than the rate of success. My doctor felt really bad. She said that there was nothing in my file indicating that the transfer was difficult last time, so she didn't test my uterus for blockage before I started my IVF treatment. It certainly was not my doctor's fault. I am so mad about the year I lost with the other hospital, with a team of doctors that are obviously incompetent and simply don't care. I shudder to think what if I had not changed hospitals, did 4 IVF cycles with them, all failing, thinking I was not capable of getting pregnant, but it was actually due to the fact that they misplaced the embryo each time. Really scary! My husband and I believe that the other hospital operates more like a business, motivated by money. The more clients they can pass through, as quickly as possible, the more money they get. They could care less if their patients get pregnant or not. Really sad and pathetic.

I'm to have an ultrasound in about 2 weeks. She's going to figure out what is blocking my uterus and take it from there. Although I have to wait again, at least I'm in very capable hands and I have 5 embryos waiting for me. Now it's just the waiting game, which I'm an expert at, unfortunately.

A New Personal Record

Got a call from the doctor this morning and she was pleased to advise that we have 5 embryos! A personal best for us! First IVF cycle, we had 0 embryos, second cycle we had 2 and for this third cycle we have 5! Not a world record, but a personal best that's for sure. It totally exceeded my expectations.

Usually transfers can take place 48 hours, 72 hours or 5 days after retrieval. The doctor has suggested we wait out the 5 days, so that they can see how the embryos develop and choose the best one or two for transfer. I totally agree and have read many articles that a 5 day transfer has more of a success rate. The downside is that the embryos may not survive the 5 days, but I'm going to stay hopeful.

Tonight, we are going out for dinner to celebrate our 5 embryos! We'll have champagne and Thai food!

To be continued...