Learning About Cysts

After learning that we were dealing and waiting on a few residual cysts, I've been doing a little research since I hardly know what a cyst is.  Here's what I've learned.  

• Every month a woman's body creates eggs, and once a month at the time of ovulation, they release the most mature egg.  These eggs are protected in fluid filled bubbles calls follicles.  One follicle per egg, though I know not all follicles have eggs.  When a follicle grows larger than expected it's called a functional cyst.  A cyst is essentially a bubble - a collection of fluid with a thin wall around it.  
• Most of the time the body reabsorbs this fluid, but cysts can also cause other symptoms:
• Abdominal discomfort;
• Pelvic pain that comes and goes;
• Pain during bowel movements and sex;
• Cysts can also lead to higher hormone levels and the body won't react to meds the way in should during this process.

           Less often there are more severe side effects but we won't go into that because I'm not concerned            about it.  

• The use of birth control pills stops ovulation from happening, so the egg never leaves the follicle.  Women on BCP have fewer cysts.

So... there you have it.  It would make sense that I have a few given I had SEVERAL follicles grow larger than expected. So, here we wait.  

InCYSTing on Waiting...

Well, Friday was eventful and not very eventful all in one.  I went to Marin straight from work and got there with no Friday afternoon traffic.  A 50 minute drive for a 5 minute check-up hardly seems worth it, but such is life.  After being on birth control pills (BCP) for 11 days we were hoping that the ultrasound would show signs that we were ready to move onto the patches... but we weren't so lucky.   The left side showed a couple cysts (they looked like follicles to me.)  I asked if that's what they were because I'm due to be ovulating right now in my cycle, but he said they were cysts.  After measuring them I asked if it's normal to have them?  He said it's absolutely normal.  They are residual cysts from all the meds and they look "good"as none are over 15mm.  In fact, I only have cysts on my left side, but my right side is perfect.  (It's interesting actually because every month when I cramp, I always cramp from my right side. Maybe my left has issues.) In short, Dr. U wants us to continue BCP for another week and see if they go down.  He says he'd prefer them to be smaller so that no one has to worry about them or keep an eye on them.  I think I'd prefer the same.  So he's in Napa this next week which means I won't have to make the drive.  Especially since traffic on my way home was a PARKING LOT!  Holy Friday afternoon traffic from SF.  I was actually able to kill two birds with one stone...

My Grandma has been moved to assisted living (on the same day actually) and that's been hard for the whole family, though we know it's where she needs to be.  She's now in Sonoma so I stopped by on way home.  It's a good thing because when I got there, the nurses asked if I'd be able to "calm her down?" She had only been there for a few hours and had not been cooperative in the slightest.  I was able to get her to the bathroom, take her out of her room to get a drink, dinner, and some sunlight.  Poor old girl... it's awful watching people get old.  As of yesterday she was even happier - smiling and laughing. That makes me smile.

So, to drown our sorrows... not really sorrows, I'm being dramatic.  Yesterday we took the kids to a jumpy house, the kind full of trampolines.  (Is it bad that we dropped them off and drove to the furniture store down the street?) They're old enough and had a phone to call if they needed to.  We just went to browse and blow time.  In the meantime we found a beautiful couch that was marked 50% off for a tear in between two of the sections.  Our couch is terrible so we've been talking about getting a new one, just haven't acted on it.  So after seeing this one... it was a match made in heaven. It's beautiful and we figured we deserved it.  Last nights family movie night was one of the most comfortable I've been in a LONG time!

So, here I sit, with my feet up on our beautiful new dark brown leather couch, next to our "new" bronze fire extinguisher lamp.... the story behind this one is that it's been in Grandma's house forever and I've always loved it.  My dad made it for her years ago and I've always wanted it.  Now that she's moved out of her place, my mom and dad picked it up and brought to to me yesterday.  I now think of Grandma every time I see it and it's a beautiful new addition.

Though things have not stayed on the exact time frame we had in mind, at this point we are feeling blessed and thankful.  On Thursday I'll have another update and we'll remain positive and hopeful that we receive good news.

Thanks for the continued prayers and support!

Our Little Frosties!

Here I am again and we have some VERY good news.  I got an update yesterday from Dr. Uzelac that we have 6 frozen blastocysts.  These were his words, "This is a GREAT number.  This is what I would generally see from a 24 year old egg donor."  Bring is on 30's… I've still got what it takes! :) I'm honestly not sure how common it is to see these numbers or if he was excited about the numbers due to my low amount of injections.  Either way, we are excited to have plenty to choose from.  From here we just hope that they all survive the thaw (or at least those that we use.) It's kind of a strange and sad thought.  Knowing that our future kids are frozen… standing still.  Weird.  And then to think that we may not use them all and they will remain frozen or get destroyed.  Double sad!

So, from here I'll be on birth control pills, (starting yesterday) for roughly 10 days. I have a  tentative appointment scheduled for next Wednesday so that he can check my ovaries (he wants to make sure they've shrunken back down) and my uterus lining.  His nurse told me today that if that all looks good then he'll start me on estrogen patches that same day or the following day.  You ready for this… 4 patches a day.  That's a lot of flippin' patches.  After 10-11 days on the patches they'll check my lining again and if it's where it needs to be, then I'll move on to Progesterone suppositories.  I know you're probably a little jealous of me right now! I mean, who doesn't want to play with suppositories?! :)  I'd much prefer the suppositories over more injections.  I hear those injections are PAINFUL!  No thank you!  After 6 days of Progesterone… on Day 6 that is, they will do the transfer.  As long as all systems are a GO, then this will all be happening around the end of the month.  Which means I'll find out whether or not I'm pregnant just in time for the school year to end an summer to come.  Now THAT'S exciting!  23 school days left.  Yee-Haa!

Here is a picture of 6 Day old blastocysts taken from someone else's blog - because it's nearly impossible to find pics of 6 day old vs. 5 day old blasts.  So, thanks to eatloveprocreate.blogspot.com for the pic.  These are actually hers and they are beautiful! It's pretty incredible to see the difference a day makes when comparing this pic to the 5 day old Blasts pictured below.  

In case you're interested, below there is some further info in order to get a more in-depth understanding. If you're over it… no worries and we thank you for your love, support and prayers as we journey towards the miracle of a baby! xoxo

This info is taken from www.fssc.com.au

What is a Blastocyst Stage Transfer?

Blastocyst Stage Transfer refers to the transfer of an embryo (hopefully a blastocyst) back into the uterus on Day 5. A blastocyst is the name given to an embryo which has developed into a single-layered sphere of cells encircling a fluid-filled cavity, with a dense mass of cells grouped together (see image below). It has been reported that a blastocyst contains anywhere from 60 to 120 cells. By this stage the embryo has differentiated into two cell types; the trophectoderm, the cells on the periphery of the embryo that forms the placenta; and the inner cell mass, the dense mass of cells on the inside that forms the foetus if the embryo implants.

Figure 3: Day 5 (Expanded Blastocyst)

It is expected that on average only a third of the embryos, which fertilise normally will continue to develop to the blastocyst stage which are suitable for transfer and/or freezing. This is because embryos are driven by the embryonic genome between days 3 and 5. At this stage the embryos continual development is reliant on the embryo itself to provide it with everything that it needs. It is thought that embryos that continue to fail to develop between days 3 to 5 could be associated to sperm quality.

The benefits of culturing embryos to Blastocyst stage:

•  The major benefit of culturing an embryo to the blastocyst stage is as an embryo selection or viability tool. Let’s say during your cycle you have three oocytes that fertilise normally, based on averages, you will only have one which is still progressing by day 5. However it is likely that 2 or 3 of these embryos would have been still developing at the rate we expect to see (6-8 cells) on day 3. Therefore, continuing to culture embryos to the blastocyst stage allows the Scientist to choose the best embryo for transfer, giving you a higher chance of success.
• If an embryo survives until Day 5 it is more likely to be genetically normal. However this does not mean all Blastocyst embryos are genetically normal.
• Increased implantation rates by culturing of the human embryo beyond the activation of the embryonic genome.
• Another possible benefit of transferring blastocyst embryos is that a blastocyst may have better potential to implant into the uterine wall. This is because in a natural cycle, Day 5 is usually when the embryo moves out of the fallopian tube and into the uterus. It has therefore been said that transferring an embryo at this stage into the uterus, is more like a natural cycle with better synchronisation between uterine lining and embryo development.
• Blastocyst cryopreservation is more efficient than cleavage stage cryopreservation. This is because these embryos have higher developmental potential, thus the implantation and pregnancy rates following frozen embryo transfer (FET) of blastocysts are higher compared to early cleavage FET.

- See more at: http://www.fssc.com.au/cleavage-versus-blastocyst-transfer-which-is-for-you/#sthash.5guvgqNX.dpuf

Day 3 Embryos

I'm a little late on this update and there will be another to come sooner rather than later.  Sorry for the delay.  We got a call from Dr. Uzelac on Thursday, as we were anxiously awaiting the news of how our embryos were growing.  He said that out of the 10 fertilized eggs, we had 7 that were right where they needed to be.  The others where a little behind but there was a chance they could catch up so they would continue to grow them and see what happens. We are still thrilled with this news.  I'm fairly certain that we have no intention of having 7 more kids, so even if we go from lucky #13 to lucky #7… we still feel incredibly blessed.

 I did have a question for Dr. Uzelac while on the phone with him however… I've read about embryos being graded (Grade A, AB, B, C, etc or 1, 2, 2.5, 3, etc. or in other ways) so I asked about that.  Do ours have "grades" or the equivalent.  He said, "Yes, that's exactly what we're talking about here.   You have 7 that are exactly where we should see them at this point with 9 cells, so they are considered the best of the best." (I assumed this means we have 7 Grade A embryos?!)  He seemed very pleased with these numbers and we think this is pretty excellent news as well.  Here's a picture of the development that has happened up until this point...

A typical 3 day old embryo will contain 6-10 cells.

9 is sounding like a pretty good number. 

www.arcfertility.com has some good information on this if you're interested.

From here…

The question has come up several times… what happens at this point?  That's a VERY good question. I don't completely know to be honest.  I know that we were supposed to be getting a call either today (Saturday) of tomorrow from the Doctor or embryologist updating us on the embryos.  I've yet to hear anything today which means we'll be hearing tomorrow.  The next step was to wait for my period to start and from that point we start some different meds to thicken up the uterus lining and some other things.  (I don't really know that either.) We were told my period would start about 10 days after the egg retrieval.  Well… it started today.  Not that you really care, but for us, that's exciting! That means that we are that much closer to having our dream become a reality.  So… I've put a call in to the office since I was supposed to let them know when I started.  But since it's the weekend, I'm not sure there's much I can do expect to wait until Monday.  From that point, I've learned that they do the transfer on as many days past ovulation as your embryo is old. So if we transfer a 6 day old embryo, then they will transfer it 6 days past ovulation.  We're looking at a little less than 3 weeks from now.  SWEET!!!! So exciting!

Anyways, I'll post a little sum'n sum'n tomorrow once I hear about our babies in the making!  Thanks for your continues prayers!!

xxxooo