No Veuve tonight....

The second beta today showed declining HCG levels.... so it seems there'll be no pregnancy this time round.

The little one just didn't want to stick.

So the bottle of Veuve will stay inside the fridge door for a little while longer until we decide what to do next.

Thank you for all your well wishes and we'll see you here again soon.

Cheers

GBLC

Test result...oh, hold on

So our two week wait ended on Tuesday.  We received a call mid-afternoon on Tuesday from the clinic, advising us the test had in fact been conducted on Monday and they had a result.  "Oh good," I thought, "at least we have avoided waiting an extra day for the news."

Alas, we hadn't avoided a wait at all.  In fact, what we were confronting was a longer wait.  I assume you're probably scratching your head now!  The long and short of it is that our beta HCG result was equivocal - right on the lower threshold of pregnant but not enough to be sure.  As such, we must wait for the results from the repeat test (to be done today, Wednesday), which we would receive on Thursday.

I know that, if positive, the next 8 months will seem like one looooong wait, but it would have been amazing to have had a definitive result from the first test.  Then again, a 'tending toward positive' result is much more gratifying than a definite 'negative', so I guess the maxim 'Be careful what you wish for' probably applies fairly squarely to our situation!

Anyway, the bottom line is that some extra patience is required.  Despite the fact this virtue isn't one that I would say I have in great quantities, there isn't much more we can do right now!  We will cross our fingers for another day and see what news comes our way tomorrow.  Here's hoping for a celebratory Thursday night dinner which includes that bottle of Veuve Cliquot we've had in the fridge for months!

GBLC

Here we go again...(2WW)

Today we received confirmation that the straw of GB's 3 embryos defrosted, reanimating to give us 2 Grade 1 Morulas.

The embryos were transferred on the 16th of August, although we are a little concerned that they weren't Blastocysts as was expected after day 5 and we did expect the clinic would wait the additional day to transfer (as suggested in their correspondence).

While we're trying to stay positive that we'll be successful, the continuing disorganisation and conflicting information coming from our clinic is not instilling a level of confidence one would hope to have at this stage in the surrogacy journey.

I have every hope that the embryos and the surrogate are of good quality and am positive about them - but the people we expect to apply their expertise and skill in the helping us become parents  is beginning to fall far short of expectations.

So today marks the beginning of the two week wait and we should know on the 29th of August if we have been successful.  Fingers, toes and everything else crossed.  Thanks to all those who have been reading the blog and your continued support.


GBLC

Take 2

Yesterday we received confirmation of our impending second transfer date.  At this stage it is looking to be Thursday 16th August.  We have decided to attempt to grow the embryos to Blastocyst (5 day old embryos) stage in the hope to improve our chances of becoming pregnant. Obviously the downside to this method is an increased chance of multiple pregnancy.  At this stage, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

So only a few days away now before the transfer takes place.

Here's hoping.

Stay tuned....

Back on the horse

So a day or so after our last post, we finished digesting the news and accepted that this is just the way that it is.  Pregnancy is a very strange beast as you can do everything in your power to create the perfect circumstances (or at least appear to have them) and then nothing happens.

As someone who has always found that through diligence and hard work you get the result you want, I find the pregnancy and IVF process irreconcilable with this thinking.  So time to change my view from that to - it will happen when it's ready to happen.  Now for me, this is very difficult.  As a results driven person, putting things out into the universe (different people have different labels for it) or waiting for luck to occur really challenges me.  But low and behold, I accept this position and will go forth with a new found outlook.

The follow up from the clinic following our negative result was utterly atrocious.  So much so, a very terse and frank e-mail was sent through explaining our expectations from here on out.  We think this message has been received loud and clear, but time will tell how successful we've been.

That said, we are due to cycle again in around 3-4 weeks (date to be confirmed).  The surrogate is currently on BC and is due to come off the pill in around 4 days, before the priming meds start again.  We're planning on defrosting and going to blastocyst this time and hope to follow the success of Brent & Charlie's recent attempt.

So for now, we're relying on lady luck lining up her ducks in preparation of our early August transfer.

Thanks to all of those out there who have sent some very considerate messages and posted comments.  It has really shown the support from the community out there and we're thankful that you've taken the time to read about our story.

Until the next exciting installment, take care.

GBLC

Negative

What more can I say?  It seems what ever luck we had has run out and we received a negative yesterday.  It was disappointing to have to prompt SI on a number of occasions over the last 2 days to get our results.  Pretty unimpressed by their lack of responsiveness.

Thoroughly disappointed with our result is an understatement and I can't fathom how people who have gone through 4-5-6 attempts don't feel completely soul destroyed by the experience.

I really thought we had a really good chance given the success we had with our ED and 3 grade 1 embryos transferred.  Apparently not.

I'm going to keep this short as there is a lot I could say right now that might seem bitter and angry, so I will leave it there.  This is a reality of IVF and sometimes the punt doesn't pay off.

Good luck to the others out there who are cycling and we'll be back here again sometime in the future.

Cheers

GBLC

The obligatory 2WW post

Today we recieved great news.  Of the 22 mature eggs retrieved, all were fertilized with 18 considered Grade 1 - 10 for GB and 8 for LC (me). Yesterday was the 3rd day since fertilisation and during the afternoon 3 embryos were transferred into Ms B.  The rest go off to the freezer.

And thus, our 2 week wait (2WW) begins.  Everything to this point has gone well, so let's hope our roll continues.  Bring on the 24th of June.

Fingers & Toes people!