New year, new cycle

Hello family-

Just wanted to thank you for all your encouragement over the past month. We are going to begin our second attempt officially in February, but the process begins next week with a month of birth control to let my body rest a month from the previous stimulation process.

Keep us in your thoughts, prayers, and meditations...we really need and appreciate your support. We couldn't begin this process again without each of you.
Sending his love from the ether...Teenie Weenie Beanie is doing well and taking a month of vacation. He apparently was able to bail out before things got "really bad". He wouldn't give me details... but wants you to know he's still waiting for the perfect DNA suit to put on, and will see us all sooner than we think.

Love you,

M, J, and S (too)

Oh, BTW, we're thinking about adopting a new fur baby, too. We'll keep you posted.

Unfortunate news

Regretfully today's blood test came back NEGATIVE, followed up by a negative home pregnancy test.
It's taken the wind out of our sails, but we'll be fine.

We plan on taking the next week to decompress and speak to the Dr. about a new game plan.

We are sad and frustrated but will continue on the path when we can.

Thank you all for the love and support,

Jason, Melissa and Scooter

The weather outside is frightful

So... Dr Manara's is closed today. We'll test tomorrow(?) at 0800.

It started snowing at around 1000 Sunday, 12" accumulation of light, dry snow. 
Now, the sky is starting to show, and the snow is sparkling.  25 degrees, winds 20 gusting to 45, wind chill = 7. Brrrrr....

I’m Mr. White Christmas, I’m Mr. Snow
I’m Mr. Icicle, I’m Mr. Ten Below
Friends call me Snow Miser
Whatever I touch
Turns to snow in my clutch
I’m too much

Christmas came a little early @ the Laudieros'

Only 257 more days to go...

We're PREGNANT!!

Christmas Greetings to you (and yours)! Hope your holiday is as spectacular as ours!

J, M, S, TWB 1, & TWB 2

MFM's 7dp3dt Update

http://www.cafepress.com/sk/holidayuniques

                                           Seven days and still baking!

7dp3dt: 7th day after (post) egg retrieval and  3 days post embryo transfer; I learned this shorthand from the fertility/pregnancy forums : )

So, we went to Dr. Manara's for bloodwork to check my estrogen and progesterone levels. Progesterone is "> 40" and estrodiol (E2) was 1600. So the hormone support is doing well, and everything still optimal for TWB 1 and  TWB 2 to stick- hang in there embies!   

http://www.justmommies.com/articles/progesterone-pregnancy.shtml

Progesterone Level Chart

Progesterone during menstrual cycle
Day 1-14	>1 to 1.5ng/ml
Day 15-28	2-28 ng/ml
Progesterone during pregnancy
First Trimester	9-47
Second Trimester	17-147 ng/ml
Third Trimester	55-200 ng/ml

Everything's on track

Hey everyone-

Nothing to report baby-wise for a while, we're in the nail-biting 2 week-wait period. J says he's going to install a porthole so he can check on things.

Physically, I can tell the progesterone/estrace supplements are working. Emotionally, J and I are beginning to let ourselves get a little excited about the whole experience. It still seems a little surreal though...and there are moments where time seems to completely stop. I'm not quite sure what that's all about, but it's pleasant, so hey, I'll roll with it.

Love you,

J, M, TWB 1, TWB 2, and S

Additions

Teenie Weenie Beanie is the pic to the left- 6 cells at time of transfer. The pic to the right is the sister he chose(after interviews-of course)- I count 7 or 8 cells with her. Both of them were hatched to assist with development.

Over the next 3-7 days they will need to attach themselves. They were placed as high in the uterus and as deep as possible, so now we just wait (2 wks)- like J said.

The kids: First pictures!

For those that are parents, I now get it! Here is the first pictures of the kids (no names yet).

Bean is fine she is sleeping (she was up all night to stay on a night schedule). They implanted the two best embryos. We will not be freezing any due to the other embryos' formations. We will not know if these two stick until Christmas. 12/27 they will do a blood test to see how Melissa's body is doing. 

Keep in mind that I am writing this, so when Bean reads it there maybe some corrections. Anyway, thank you all for the Love and support! It means a lot to all five of us (Scooter). If you would like to order 8 x 10 prints let me know!

TWB Day

Hey everyone,

Got the call, and transplantation day is tomorrow @ 11:30 EST! We have a total of 7 embryos now, so J's going to tell them to pick the 2-3 cutest ones. 

Keep dividing little ones

5 good quality embryos

Great news everyone--

Of the 13:

 5 good quality embryos.

4 others are moving slowly

2 eggs did not fertilize

2 eggs were poor quality and discarded

No transfer day yet, because they want to see what the 4 are going to do.

My bet is that we're going to have a Saturday transfer, the good news about a day 5 transfer (for us, Saturday) is that the embryo will have hatched from it's shell, and be able to implant right away when placed  in the uterus. The live birth success rate with these transfers is doubled, as compared to the day 3 transfer (Thurs).

TWB, you're doing well!

Cleavage

And, no (sorry J), I'm not talking about female anatomy....

This morning at 01:00, the fertilized embryos started the cycle of cleaving. If they remain healthy, each cell will divide into two more every 12-24 hours until it reaches the blastula stage. Here's what it looks like now:

Publish Post

In embryology, cleavage is the division of cells in the early embryo. The zygotes of many species undergo rapid cell cycles with no significant growth, producing a cluster of cells the same size as the original zygote. The different cells derived from cleavage are called blastomeres and form a compact mass called the morula. Cleavage ends with the formation of the blastula.

13 on the 13th!

Hey everyone, it's just MFM,

Teenie Weenie Beanie is back in the lab watching the (hopeful) fertilization and development of the 13 eggs "harvested" today. We will find out tomorrow how many embryos we have.

We were at Dr. Manara's around 0720, and I was gowned by 0800, met my new best friend- Bob the anesthetist (CRNA- go nurses!), who did a quick intake history, threw in an IV, and gave me fentanyl.
Fentanyl, for me, was like the feeling after you've finished a full glass of wine- warm and a little tipsy/happy. I fell asleep within a couple minutes, and woke up after the procedure (1 hour). Apparently the anesthesia I got was propofol (which I give to my patients) and ketamine, with a little morphine to diminish cramping.
I tell you what... I was a happy girl! Pretty much in control, but definitely a little buzzed after the procedure. Surprisingly, there was no bleeding and very minimal cramping after the procedure.

On the way home, I really wanted a snack, so J took me to CVS where I proceeded to buy $25 worth of worthless junk food- I mean... everything looked sooooo good. I came home had some chicken noodle soup and cheesy popcorn, then went right to bed. I got up 2 hours ago-- and I feel great! (Better than I have in a few weeks)

Enough about me..here's what's going on at the lab right now:

Once the eggs were retrieved, they were separated and placed in nutrient media to further develop for 3-4 hours. (about 1:00 pm)

Then the microbiologist introduced the sperm.

By this point, some have made it through the egg's shell, and fertilized the eggs, and some are still working on it. By 1:00 am, Tuesday, the eggs that can be "naturally" fertilized, will have (personally, I'm hoping for 6 strong/good quality embryos).

Picture of IVF fertilized egg at high magnification
Male and female genetic material (DNA) is in the 2
pronuclei (circular structures) in the center
Polar body is seen at one o'clock - just under the shell

Night before egg retrieval

T'was the night before ER and all through the home, not a creature was stirring but my future mom...

Okay, so I'm a little anxious. We worked really hard to get to this point, and have been extra careful to follow all orders- dotting every "i" and crossing every "t", so everything should be fine. Whatever is meant to happen will, right??

Cross your fingers, say a prayer, because 07:45 will be here soon...

Ultrasound Day 8

Hey everyone-
MONDAY'S THE FIRST OF TWO BIG DAYS!

Monday 0745- Egg retrieval...TWB will finally make a choice. It looks like there's at least 6 great quality eggs, soooo....

Fertilization happens Monday, too. They will watch the growth of the embryos (with a microscope) over the next 3 to 5 days.

Theoretically if all 6 form good quality embryos, they will pick the 3 best for implantation. The other three will be frozen, and cryogenically stored, until we decide to use them again.

Science is cool...literally

Ultrasound Day 7

Great MD visit. Looks like Monday is going to be the retrieval day- bloodwork tomorrow will confirm it.

Sizes: 17, 16(2), 15, 14(3), 13(2), 12(4), 11(2), 10(1), and multiple follicles < 10mm.

The meds are working, this may be the last day I have to take the stimulation shots. WooHoo!

Day 7 by MFM

Hello everyone-

Just wanted to thank you for the overwhelming support. We are excited to share this experience with you (good, bad, or indifferent).

Today, as funny as it seems, I'm a little worried because I don't have any discomfort at all- no aches or pains- like I've had on previous days. Hopefully tomorrow's Dr. visit will show that everything is progressing as it should, and that I'm just having an easy time with the whole process.

The only really bothersome side effect is being tired all the time AND not tolerating wearing blue jeans (due to carrying the equivalent of two clementine tangerines, because of the hyper-stimulation)

Still taking the shots (3 of them/day), multi-vitamins, and calcium like I'm supposed to.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Send out a prayer, or good wishes, our way!
Love you,
M

Day 5 Ultrasound

It's the Teenie Weenie Beanie again, with the latest updates. It's been an eventful day!

1. The follicles are growing like they're supposed to. The largest were 15mm, 13mm, 12mm. There are 5 that are 11mm, 3- 10mm, 4- 9mm, and 2-8mm. So that makes 16!

I'm glad that MFM's body doesn't act it's age, because we either wouldn't have as many follicles, or they wouldn't get big enough.

2. The blood work was great today, too. The Estradiol level- aka E2 (which measures how well the ovaries and follicles are functioning) is already 1400!

To give you an idea, when the follicles are mature (18mm+), the E2 level for each one will be between 200-600. So for example if you have 5 mature follicles, the E2 level will be between 1000-3000.

3. There was a near disaster averted today. MFMs Leutenizing Hormone (LH) level was 19, which is very near the mark (>20) that would cause her body to spontaneously release the eggs (ovulation), ending this IVF cycle.

Since the labwork was done just in time, Dr. Manara decided to start Ganirelex - a med that suppresses the LH surge- right away. It should bring down the level to less than 10- where it should be.

4. More good news, MFM gets to save another $100/day, since the dose of Follistim was reduced again by 50 IU.
It looks like we might have enough meds in the house right now for the entire cycle. If so, we've only had to pay $170 in co-pays...which is a far cry from the $3600 AETNA wanted MFM to send. Once again... thanks Mandell's Pharmacy... you rock!

In a few days, I'll have several eggs to choose from. I'm definitely going to start interviewing other Beanies for the role of future brother and/or sister.
We'll know better Friday when the expected retrieval date will be... In the meantime, I've got to get back to watching over the follicles...they're like my little flock.

Teenie Weenie Beanie signing off

Note from MFM

Hi Family-
Today I got my meds for the next 10 days...

OMG... It looks like Pharma Claus threw up on my coffee table.

Hey Scoots, do you mind getting that?

As a sidebar, I can't believe how easy it is to get emotional right now. Yesterday I was brought to tears when a local radio station food drive collected more than twice their usual amount of food... I mean (sniff, sniff), you know, people are great..even in this tough economy (sniff), they give.. knowing, even though they have it bad (sniff), someone out there has it even worse than they do (action{fanning my face, blinking the tears away})

I'm such a sissy

"Comments" Fixed

Hello family- You can now post comments. I just had the settings set incorrectly.

Technical Difficulties

Hi everyone,
It seems like the comment link isn't working properly. We'll let you know when everything's functioning correctly.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Teenie Weenie Beanie, the newest member of the family (in the making). I want to keep you up to date on the exciting adventures and "developments" (hehe) in my life.

Right now, it's Day 4 of injectable treatments. My future mom (MFM) has been giving herself follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) injections- Follistim and Menopur. According to the ultrasound and bloodwork, things are progressing well. I have 16-18 follicles to choose from (which will determine 1/2 of who I am), but have my eye on the 3 largest, which are already 9-11 mm around. Looks like maybe after I've made my choice, I'll have to find other Beanies to join me.

The doctor is keeping a close eye on the immature eggs (follicles), attempting the delicate balance of encouraging eggs to grow fast, but not toooo fast. The instructions MFM got today said to slow down on the Follistim (reduce from 225 IU to 175) since there are so many follicles, and at least 4 (and up to 10)more days of maturation to go. MFM says that's fine with her, because every 50 IU less of follistim, she saves $100.

Overhearing all the phone calls, IVF is an expensive and intensive experience. One pharmacy wanted to charge almost $8600.00 for the medicines. Luckily, MFM talked to other IVF survivors and found a pharmacy who's already saved them $4500.00-- Thanx Mandell's for my once in a lifetime chance at being in the Bean-Laudiero family!

I've got to go and watch the follicles grow... I'll check in with you soon.

Heart you already,
Teenie Weenie Beanie