Day 2 Embryo Count and Grades, Side Effects of Current Medications, When Will the Embryo Transfer Happen?

Current mood . . .

In the late morning, while we were nervously trying to have a relaxing Sunday, the lab at the Victoria Fertility Centre called to provide with an update about our embryos. As mentioned in the last post, eight eggs fertilized normally (out of our clutch of 10), however, it is common for not all fertilized eggs to make it to the next day as embryos. We were therefore amazed when the embryologist told us that all eight embryos were growing. Today is day 2 for the embryos.

And since it is day 2 for the embryos, they can now be graded. The Victoria Fertility Centre likes embryos to be of a grade of 17 or higher (it is a 20 point grading scale with 20 being the highest grade). The embryologist told us that almost no embryos achieve a grade of 20. 19 and 18 are excellent grades. 17 is high average, 16 is average, and 15 is low average.

The following is the number of our embryos at each grade:

We were blown away that all of our embryos had made it to day two and that there were so many excellent grades. We were also amazed that our IVF embryos did so well, as we had had some concerns about morphology in sperm in past samples (that is why we chose to have half of our eggs fertilized by ICSI, where one good looking sperm is injected directly into one egg, instead of a group of them fighting it out in vitro to fertilize an egg and leaving it to chance). I guess it goes to show that you never know what's going to happen when it comes to infertility and fertility treatments. After all, we still don't even really know why we can't create a baby the old fashioned way, as we have unexplained infertility.

I said "wow" on the phone and the embryologist said "that's what I said." The embryologist said that she was impressed by how many grade 19 embryos we had and that all of our embryos survived to day 2. She said that as there are so many high grades, they might wait until day 5 to do the embryo transfer. However, they have to see how the embryos fare over night.

The lab will call us about 8:30-9:00 AM tomorrow to report how the embryos are doing and whether or not we will suddenly have to come in for a day 3 transfer (if the embryos are suddenly not doing well) or if we will likely be waiting until Wednesday for the embryo transfer (day 5 transfer).

We cannot tell what will happen in the next few days. There is often a significant die off of embryos in vitro from day 3 to day 5. Embryo transfer may be scheduled for day 5 if the person had several high quality embryos to begin with around day 2-3, otherwise it might be done on day 3.

Needless to say, this is a very nerve-racking time. While we were overjoyed with the news of the embryos, we feel nervous to get too excited about the numbers, because we have had such bad luck in the past when it comes to fertility (the most recent example being a fetus that I miscarried at six weeks, on the eve of starting my first cycle of IVF, which then had to be delayed). It has not been a good year. Indeed, the last six years of me taking a prenatal vitamin and us hoping for a baby have been very stressful and heartbreaking and we are so beaten down by this point that even being in the hands of competent professionals, undergoing the most extreme fertility treatments possible, doesn't completely vanish our fears and doubts (one need only look at the live birth rates for women in my age group undergoing IVF- in Canada the average is 28%, not great odds, though much better than our almost non-existent odds of getting pregnant and carrying a baby to term unaided).

Now for the side effects that I'm experiencing so far on my cocktail of four prescription medications, the low dose aspirin (81 mg), and the continuation of the prenatal vitamins, extra folic acid, and Vitamin D as prescribed by Dr. Hudson. As I enumerated in my previous post, I am currently on Estrace (6 mg), Endometrin 200 mg, Dexamethasone (1 mg), Doxycycline (200 mg), in addition to the low dose aspirin (81 mg) and vitamins.

No design awards being won here.

As readers might recall, I've been on Estrace (estradiol) before a couple of times, but the dose was always 4 mg a day and now it's 6 mg per day. I found it awful before and no doubt it is contributing to how crap I feel now.

Estrace is dainty and pretty and makes me feel unpretty.

I've never been on Endometrin before (progesterone) and this has been horrid so far. I started it yesterday morning and felt sick (abdominal cramping, diarrhea). The evening dose before bed sent me into writhing stomach pains, abdominal cramping, gastrointestinal distress including diarrhea, and I felt nauseous. I had a horrid headache all day yesterday, but I've had that consistently through all of the hormonal stimulation, so I can't attribute it to just the Endometrin. I could not settle last night and did not fall asleep until past 2:00 AM even though I had been in bed since 9:30 PM. I felt agitated, restless, and anxious. I don't remember feeling quite that bad on Estrace in the past, so it must be the Endometrin to at least some degree. Also, it happened right after the evening dose of Endometrin (I took the third dose of Estrace around dinner, so I think it was more likely that it might have been the Endometrin, but I can't prove or disprove this theory).

Who doesn't want to be effervescent?

Today, while happy for the news of the eight growing embryos, I felt lethargic, very bloated, had a terrible headache, felt sick to the stomach, had very tender breasts (I didn't really on Estrace, so this must be a progesterone deal), felt awful stomach cramping most of the day, gastrointestinal distress, and had a sort of constipated diarrhea on and off from last night through to this afternoon. No doubt the antibiotics are not helping my digestive tract (especially since I had them a few weeks ago for a urinary tract infection too), but I feel that at least part of this, if not all, must be pinned upon the Estrace and Endometrin. My back feels sore still around where the ovaries are located, so no doubt they are still swollen as they will be for some time. Hormones have a very powerful impact on the body and Dr. Hudson is currently manipulating mine to maintain its "beautiful" endometrium (Estrace) and make it feel like it's already pregnant so that it might be more likely to successfully implant an embryo and maintain a pregnancy (Endometrin).

No doubt the antibiotic is wreaking some havoc on my digestive tract.

With regard to the Dexamethasone, other than being hard on the stomach if taken without food, I have found one interesting side effect with this pill that I have now been taking for about two and half weeks. I have noticed that while I sometimes would get really stiff and achy in the hips and back if I didn't exercise enough or exercised too much (beast mode weight lifting), I haven't lately (other than to be expected soreness from too much time in bed when feeling awful or the sore ovaries) because of its anti-inflammatory properties (it's used for conditions like arthritis). But this is the only positive side effect that I can think of for any of my medications for this whole IVF cycle.

We're not content being round or square.

And now we wait for the next call from the Victoria Fertility Centre lab to report how our embryos are doing and when our embryo transfer will be.

If that damn stork doesn't come soon, I will completely lose my . . . That's what Lamont's thinking.