The Embryos

Greetings everyone - may I have your attention? I'd like to introduce you to our two embryos, E1 & E2!
So Tracy and I got a phone call from 'The Center' this morning at 0800 and were told to meet at the office at 0930 to transfer two embryos! Needless to say, we were excited and got everyone ready, including Brooke and Ashley, for the trip to the doctor's office.
Upon arrival, the kiddos sat in the lobby and watched "That's So Raven" while Tracy and I proceeded to a room with one of their nurses. Dr. Robins came in a short time later with a smile on his face and said, "We have two very nice embryos to implant in you this morning!"
He went on to say that considering the stage of the embryos, we have a 50% chance for each attaching, and frankly...I think that is great odds. We never really see much emotion out of the good doctor, but he was in a great mood so I feel good about that. :)
The procedure itself took 15-20 minutes where they load the embryos in a pipet of sorts and guided them into Tracy's fluffy uterus. This is where we hope they both make a home for the next 9 months, but we still have a long waiting game to see if they attach. The picture above shows the two they implanted, but understand it is magnified a fair amount since both are barely visible to the naked eye. Frankly, all science aside, this is clearly the work of God because chance alone cannot take something so small and fragile and create a wonderful human being.
So during this time, please continue with your prayers that we can grow our family by one or two and Tracy can endure a large baby(s) which my family tends to produce. We will continue to give updates as we can, but the next big step isn't for another eight days where they will conduct some blood tests to see if she is indeed pregnant...so let's stop here for now!
Thanks to all of you for your support! Please comment or leave any questions on the blog if you get the chance!

Ugh, what a morning!

• The morning began rather painfully. I woke at 5:30 to 10/10 abdominal pain. I tried to recall my Lamaze techniques to breath though the pain in hopes that it would pass but the ensuing nausea and profuse sweating was too much for me. I woke Dave and explained what I was feeling. Immediately, he called Dr. R. at home for guidance. We were instructed to meet him at the office asap. We called our friend, Jennie, to come sit with the girls. By the time we were ready to leave, the pain had subsided. I was relieved but embarrassed as we entered the office. Dr. R. did a quick exam and ultrasound and determined that one of my ovaries had likely twisted around itself causing the pain (apparently this is rather common after stimulation). The ultrasound showed that my ovaries are still quite large and there is a small collection of fluid in my uterus. He assured us that none of these anomalies require surgical intervention or interfere my egg transfer and encouraged me to just go home take it easy.
• As far as the embryos go, 2 of the 5 stopped growing at 8 cells and will not likely evolve into anything implantable. The remaining 3 continue to grow but are "compact", hopefully they will continue to develop in time to be transferred tomorrow. Dr. R. sat us both down for a heart to heart and encouraged us that it is not over until we say it is and that he believes that there is still hope for a "love child" even if it doesn't happen this series. We left the office fairly discouraged. I felt quite sad that we may have gone through all of this without anything to show. Once we got home and I settled into the couch, Dave contacted the nurse at The Center for a little clarification. She stated that almost 70% of couples have to wait for a Day 6 transfer due to slower growing embryos. She reassured him that she would call first thing in the morning with an update and a game plan.
• For now, I am just lounging around trying to keep all of my innards from kinking off and counting the minutes until we have an answer. Thank heaven for the marathon of Project Runway being aired on Bravo today. This waiting game is not my strong suit. We are just going to lay low this afternoon and keep our eye on the prize. I'll update again tomorrow.

Our "babies" are growing

We got a call this morning that 4 of our 5 embryos have developed at the rate expected by Day 3. At this point, they have divided into 8 cells each (the 5th one is only 6 cells but may still catch up). The embryos will continue to grow in their cozy little incubator for a few more days and The Center will call us first thing Friday morning to either come in for transfer or wait until Saturday.

The girls have been busy this week with Vacation Bible School in the mornings. On Monday afternoon, we went rollerblading on the Centennial Trail by the Spokane River and yesterday I took the girls swimming at one of the local public swimming pools. I will try to take some pictures this afternoon and post them when I can. Now, I gotta run and pick up my big babies from VBS and find something to entertain them this afternoon.

IVF update

This is the fortune that I recieved a few nights ago when Dave and I went to dinner. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come. I had my egg retrieval yesterday. The procedure went pretty well and I felt nothing as it was being performed. The discomfort began as I woke from the anesthesia but was relatively controlled with Tylenol w/codeine. Dr. Robbins was able to harvest 11 follicles. The embryologist decided that in order to increase our chances of fertilization, they would perform the ICSI (intra cytoplasmic sperm injection) method of fertilization. They called us this morning to report that of the 11 follicles retrieved, 6 of them were mature, and 5 of them have fertilized. They will call us again on Wednesday with an update on how they are growing. We are planning on implanting the most mature blastocysts on Friday or Saturday. I am down to one intramuscular injection of progesterone a day in addition to an oral steroid to decrease inflammation from the procedure and oral antibiotic to ward off potential infection.

The girls made it back from thier vacation yesterday evening and were very concerned about my "surgery". Ashley kept insisting on seeing my incision (the retiveal was a transvaginal approach). Yikes, I think it may be time for me to buy a book to help explain a little about the birds and bees as simply as possible. I am happy to share with them the basics about having a baby and I want it to be clear that it usually does not require this much intervention. They are at Vacation Bible School this morning, maybe they will get distracted and forget all about thier questions. Ha, fat chance! Wish me luck on explaining this one.

Summer Vacation

I just got a few pictures from Grandma Sue of the girls on their trip in Nebraska & Colorado. The first two are of them with their cousins, Camden & Grayson. It looks like they also got to spend plenty of time in the pool and and the trampoline. The last picture is one of them in front of a Mexican restaurant in Denver that features a strolling mariachi band and indoor cliff divers. I am sure that they are having a great time. We look forward to them returning home tomorrow.

It's harvest time!

I saw Dr. R. today and looks like my ovaries are about to blow. All off my follicles are measuring at 19-20mm so it is time to collect them for the next phase. We are moving up my egg retrieval from Monday to this Sunday morning. I am a bit nervous about anesthesia and long needles poking through my netherlands but I suppose that this is all part of what I signed up for. Once my girly follicles are retrieved, we will introduce them to their male counterparts in the "love dish". We are hoping for a large showing of participants from both sides to participate in the orgy. In this case, the more the merrier! In 3-5 days we will evaluate the maturity of the ones that manage to hook up and choose the most robust for the trip back into my uterus. We will likely put 2 back and hope that either one or both of them implant and result in a baby. Dave is quite excited at the prospect of being a "real" dad. Please keep us in your prayers on Sunday and send proliferative thoughts this way.

Its been a stimulating week :)

Since the girls left for Nebraska, Dave and I have been busy stimulating my ovaries. Now, don't you go and think something kinky, trust me it couldn't be any futher from that. I have been doing 3 daily injections and we are finally seeing some results. I had an ultrasound and lab work on Sunday but Dr. Robbins was only able to see one ovary which only had 3 small follicles; the other one must have been hiding behind my bladder that he said was the size of Lake Coer D' Alene (note to self , don't drink the morning decaf latte until after the appointment.) Today, he was able to visualize both and thankfully, the previously hidden ovary had about 8 follicles. They measured in size at about 14-15mm(?). The goal is to get as many as possible to measure 19-20 before my ovaries burst (yes that is a potential complication), hense the frequent ultrasounds. So as it stands we have 10-12 follicles growing, however it is likely that there are a few more that we are unable to appreciate with the 2D ultrasound. So you may be thinking that 10-12 follicles are a lot. The statistics show the following sobering facts:

• About 70% of eggs retrieved will be mature.
• About 70% of the mature eggs will fertizile.
• About 40% of the embryos will develop into blastocysts.

With that in mind, we are praying that the odds will be in our favor. For now, we will continue the stimulation phase and wait until our egg retrieval tentatively scheduled for next Monday.

Schools out for summer!

Yippee! School is finally out for the summer. The girls couldn't be more excited. Yesterday, the girls were only at school long enough for the annual PTO pancake breakfast and to get autographs on their t-shirts from teachers and classmates. We celebrated the last day of school by getting some treats from DQ and hanging out with some girlfriends. Ashley took the opportunity to get a hug from "Red Robin" at our celebratory dinner. Now, the girls are off to Denver then Nebraska with Shane for a week to visit his family and enjoy some amusement parks. I'll post some pic's of their travels if they email me any (hint, hint.)

As for Dave and I, we are planning on catching up on some lost time together and celebrating our anniversary with dinner and a movie tonight. I am dying to see Sex And The City on the big screen (I think Dave is secretly looking forward to it too :) We got hooked when a friend loaned us all of the seasons on DVD a few years ago. So far, my IVF injections are going pretty well. I let the girls each give me one last night. The only side effects I am noticing so far are nausea and generalized aches like the flu. I have an ultrasound and blood work tomorrow morning to evaluate the efficacy of the hormones. I'll keep you posted as the week progresses on the status of my ovaries. Huh, I never thought anyone would be interested but by the looks of the hit counter, someone out there is reading my entries. Please take a second to sign up to leave comments. The girls and I usually check it every day to see how many people have logged on to see them.

The next chapter of our "LOVE" story

Well... here we are. It has been 7 years to the day that Dave first asked me to an innocent cup of coffee and 4 years to the day we were married in Missoula. Today, we are beginning the stimulation phase of our IVF treatments to conceive the baby that we both have been praying for. We all are looking forward to sharing the joy that bringing a child into the world can bring. I started the morning at The Center at 7am to have some blood work drawn to evaluate my current hormone levels. Tonight, I will begin my twice a day injections of 2 hormones to stimulate my ovaries. After the labs were drawn, I zipped over to work for a quick skills review. Now, I am home and just sent the girls off to their last full day of school. Dave is off to Portland for the day & night to help out with some cases (Yes, we are spending our anniversary apart. Do you think this trend may have something to do with our inability to conceive naturally? Just a thought ;) Anyways, that is pretty much what is happening in our world these days. Thanks for the comments and emails, we appreciate your support through this continued journey.

Bathing Beauties

It's another GNO since Dave went to Kalispell overnight for work. The girls scammed their way into taking bubble baths in our tub. I figured since their end of the year pool party got rained out it was the least I could do.

5 W's and H of IVF

Who: Dave and I (duh!)

What: IVF aka In Vitro Fertilization; a procedure that involves the retrieval of eggs, collection of sperm, and then placing them together in a laboratory dish to fertilize outside of the body.

Where: The procedures will take place at The Center for Reproductive Endocrinology and Fertility in Spokane. The injections will be done by me on me wherever I happen to be at precisely 7am and 7pm on the days the doses are scheduled.

When: We have already begun the suppression phase of the protocol. The series will continue through the end of June and hopefully result in a pregnancy (or two) by early July.

Why: Basic junior high biology class taught us that in order for a pregnancy to occur, and egg and sperm must hook up. Let’s just say that any biological children of Dave will not be Olympic swimmers. TMI?

How: Okay, down to the nitty gritty. After a multitude of exams, ultrasounds, blood work, and specimen evaluations the protocol that our physician has prepared for us will be in 5 phases.

1. Suppression: The purpose of this phase is to quiet the ovaries and prepare them for stimulation. This is done by taking oral progesterone tablets daily.

2. Stimulation: The purpose of this phase is to stimulate multiple follicles to grow so that they are of optimum size for retrieval. (Follicles are sacs of fluid and typically each one hold and egg.) Stimulation is done by injecting two different hormones twice a day into my abdomen (Yes, that means 4 shots a day). During this phase I will have an ultrasound and blood work every other day to determine my hormone levels (to ensure medication dosages are adequate) and the size of the follicles in my ovaries. We will be starting this phase on June 12th (our 4th Anniversary).

3. Retrieval: Once the doctor determines that the majority of my follicles are of optimal size, I will take a high dose HCG injection and plan on retrieval 36 hours later. The egg retrieval procedure is an ultrasound guided needle aspiration of the follicles from the ovaries. The procedure is performed under anesthesia at The Center. This is tentatively scheduled for June 23rd. It is at this point that Dave gets to participate. On the day of my retrieval, he will supply a specimen of his swimmers. The sample is washed and spun down to separate the highly motile from the ones swimming in circles. Finally, the motile sperm cells are placed in embryo culture medium with the eggs so they can do their business. In the event there are not enough sperm with a sense of direction, the embryologist may perform the ICSI procedure. I’ll give more details later if we have to go that route.

4. Embryo transfer: After all of the mature eggs and sperm hook up they will incubate in a temperature controlled environment to (hopefully) grow into mature embryos. Once we determine how many of the embryos have matured, we will have some difficult decisions to make including how many to place in my uterus and what to do with any “leftovers”. The embryo transfer itself is a relatively minor procedure that occurs 3-5 days after retrieval (tentatively June 28th). Basically, the mature embryos that make the cut are strategically placed in my uterus via a flexible catheter. Then we wait. I will continue one of my twice daily injected hormones to help foster a hospitable environment in my uterus for the embryos.

5. Follow-up: One week after retrieval, I will have estrogen and progesterone levels drawn to double check drug dosages. Two weeks after retrieval I will have my first pregnancy test. If the result is positive, then… well it is positive. If the result is negative, we will double check it again in a few days, if still negative then we start again at square one. Hopefully we won’t have to think about that.

Well… that is it in a nutshell. There is not a lot else we can say other than prayers for strength, courage, and patience are appreciated. As you can imagine, it has been a long road to get to this point and will be even longer until we have a positive pregnancy test. Your posted comments will be greatly appreciated as we endure the nexy few weeks.

Blogging Mom

Ashley thought that if wasn't fair that I was not in any of the pictures from last night so she took this one of me working on the blog so I didn't feel left out.

Family Fun Night- Global Road Trip

We went to Family Fun Night at Sunrise Elementary last night for Brooke to present a project that she did on Germany for class. The first picture is of Brooke holding a Christmas pickle. In Germany, parents hide it on the Christmas tree and on Christmas morning the first child to find it recieves and extra gift. Ashley dressed up in a kimono that one of the other girls had on display. The girls met up with friends and filled their passports as they toured the world one table at a time. Dave and I just sat back and let them have a good time.

GNO

The first picture is one that Ashley insisted I take while she pretended to be sleeping before the movie started. We watched 27 Dresses and the second photo was what Ashley looked like by the time the credits were rolling. The girls talked me into sleeping in my bed, I hope Dave refilled that Ambien prescription for me. The girls have late start at school tomorrow so they enjoyed getting to stay up a little later than usual, hopefully that means that they will sleep soundly.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaa....Wipeout

Our "girls night" started off with a little trauma. Brooke wiped out while riding her scooter down the street. She managed to skin both of her elbows, her knees, and tear her shirt. She was a pretty tough sport though, no tears. We came home and everyone got showered before settling in to watch a movie.

Ladies Night

Tonight I went to dinner with some of the ladies from my bible study group. We just finished a video series by Beth Moore and are going on hiatus for the summer while the kids are out of school. We dined at the famed White House Grill aka House of Garlic in Post Falls, Idaho. The food and conversation was great but my garlic breath leaves a bit to be desired. They must use at least a few cloves per entree. Yowza! I am sure that tomorow it will be oozing from my pores at the gym, I'll try to stake out the treadmill all by itself to avoid knocking anyone over. Dave will be in Seattle tomorrow night for an early morning case on Thursday at UW so the girls and I plan to enjoy a "girls night". We often take advantage of our girl time by nail painting and chick flicks while he is out of town. I'll try to post some pic's tomorrow night.

Wrappin' up the weekend

It has been a scattered weekend. Friday night we all stayed in and watched movies. Saturday the girls spent most of the day outside playing with friends while I attempted to move the sprinkler around the newly hydroseeded hillside behind our house. After nearly breaking my arm I decided my odds were better just to hope for rain. The girls went to a sleepover with thier friends, Courtney and Ashlyn and they both managed to stick it our overnight. Hurray! Dave and I took advantage of the night by going out to dinner and doing a little wardrobe shopping. He laughed when I commented that clothes are so much more comfortable when you just swallow your pride and buy the size that fits you. Yes, my thirties have caught up to me and I finally decided to quit shopping in the junior sections. Today we met up with the girls at church and then went out to lunch. We spent the afternoon going though our closet and getting rid of all of the clothes we have been saving for when we lose a few pounds. I figure if I get enough motivation to lose it, I will be entitled to a shopping trip. Here are a couple picutres of the girls chatting on the phone with G'ma & G'pa Hill. Now it is time to sort through the backpacks and get ready for the week. Once everyone is tucked in it will be time for me to get showered and ready for work at 11pm, Ugh!