Next episode in the soap opera that is IVF - Brooke and Thorne discover a terrible secret!!!

Mini soap opera in the making. Brooke and Thorne are actually brother and sister and have to have their marriage annulled. Brooke was abducted by her wicked step-mother and sent to Peru to live off the land. And Thorne (aka Prick) is actually gay. Or whatever.

This is all so exhausting that I am bordering on not caring any more. Embryologist called. Of the four they PGD’ed, they were only able to get results on one (1) lousy embryo. That one is normal for T21 (downs) and T13. All I can say is thank god I am not paying for this PGD or else I would seriously demand my money back. What a total waste. Apparently there was insufficient DNA material available for testing on the other three slides. I am the clinic’s first PGD patient, so there are (clearly) lots of kinks to still work out, not least of which is the fact that the only genetics lab is one hour’s drive away. To be perfectly honest I think they fucked up somewhere.

I am very very very pleased I have my three advanced kids in a dish in the lab, plus the 9 other slightly slower critters. Apparently they did not freeze them on day 3, which means that the chances of a successful FET goes down to about 1% as my clinic has crap thaw rates with blasts. But it is good news for me cos it means I should have at least 10 blasts to choose from tomorrow, about that number, I have lost count of how many embryos I have now. The 9 slower ones were busy compacting into morulas by yesterday afternoon. In non-technical terms for those of my (normal) friends reading my blog, we should have about 10 five day old embryos to choose from tomorrow to decide which two to put back. They will choose the strongest/best looking embryos, which unfortunately is less science than art and crystal ball gazing. Or so I believe any way.

And that’s another thing. After being adamant that I will only put back two, I am now leaning towards three. I am in ‘I don’t care I just want to get pg’ mode. Chuck them all back. Have 10 babies. Ok, in light of previous ‘chucking them all back’ episodes I clearly won’t put four back again. But three? Should I maximize my chances with a small’ish risk of all three taking? I am pretty sure I wont be able to carry triplets to term. Or just put back two and hope like hell one of them is a keeper?

Oh shit this is hard.

If this was a soap opera on TV they would pull the show, the story line is way too complicated to be believable.

Comments

[Bella]

How frustrating! At least you will still have some great looking embryos to transfer. IVF is such an enormous rollercoaster. Having ridden the IVF kind six times, I never understood why people elect to ride actual rollercoasters simply for the "thrill" of it.

[Kat]

Do you really want a piece of advice about this choice? If so, I'll tell you my story...

[Moxie]

How nervewracking. And how difficult it is for *you* to have to make the decision.

[Tertia]

Kat, please tell.

[Lauren]

Sounds like you are going through what I did wondering 2 vs 3 last week. This is a tough decision but I know you'll do what is best for you. Glad you have choices.

[Jodi]

Difficult decision, I always wondered what I would do if I ever had more than two eggs to transfer. Sometimes I think I would put all three back, since I come from that Jewish Irish stock that gives me great birthing hips (it is the only thing nice I can say about them). But thinking about handling three infants at once makes me very nervous. I would probably put two back and hope they both implant. I will probably have the same decision to make in October.

[Kat]

I have not read through your whole blog, though I'm sure I'll get to it. Maybe you've already experienced something like this...;

Ok, here goes. I do not have my own blog, found yours through Julie's. So I lurk around as y'all are the most interesting and smart and funny women!

Anyway, I had tried for about two years to get preg., docs found stage IV endo., cleaned me up and did IVF. I'm 33 so they placed two embryos fertilized through ICSI. It was a day 3 transfer, which my RE tells me makes my story even more surprising. Apparently, this is more common in a 5 day transfer.

Anyhoo, both embryos split. I was pg with 2 sets of identical twins. The doctors were in a panic, telling us selective red. was our only choice as apparently 2 sets of identicals is more dangerous than your average fraternal quads.

Luckily??? one of the twins pulled the vanishing act and the hard decision was not needed to be made. But I am now pregnant with triplets. Just something to think about...

Whatever you do, I know it will work out exactly as it needs to for you. Good luck! I'll watch your story with interest.

[Julie]

Tertia, I want to talk with you about this because it's something that concerns me as well. Paul and I have always said we'd put back two if they're gorgeous, three if they're crappy. And yet today when we heard we only have three embryos, we admitted we're leaning toward transferring all three, if we should be so lucky as to have them two days from now.

Tough.

[Tertia]

Kat, I put four back last year and all four took. This was on my fifth IVF! So I wont take the chance of putting four back again. Good luck with your trips. How far are you?

Julie, I think that is what I am going to do, check them out and if excellent, then put back two, if crappy, put back three.

Do you have three embryos? Thats completely frustrating after your 11 egg haul. I checked for an update on your blog (obsessively). You will clearly be doing a three day transfer then? I would put back all three if the quality is even slightly iffy.

My Dr is getting all authoritarian on me though, trying to act like he is the one that knows what is going on. So he might just over rule me. Where is going with that attitude?

[Julia]

I have no experience whatsoever in this, but I'm pretty sure I would opt to put back three in the hopes that one would stick. I think it's some weird cocktail cooked up by my Hope Addict and my Inner Pessimist that makes me think I'd still be lucky to get even just the one.

Clearly - these are factors to be pondered solely by you and yo' man.

[Kat]

Wow. I have skimmed more of your blog and see you've already been through SR. So I'll just shut my ignorant little mouth. I am sending you the best wishes and prayers my little atheist heart can send.

[runnerwoman]

I'm having the same quandry about how many to transfer. My RE swears up and down that if you have excellent quality embryos, at day 3 OR day 5, transferring 3 only increases your odds of HOM, not your odds of a pregnancy. And yet, I don't believe him. I can't help but think that chucking back as many as possible can only be a good thing.

This is all pretty premature for me, since I don't even start stims for another week and a half. What can I say, I'm efficient. Good luck with your decision, I know you'll do the thing that is right for you and your husband.

[Kelly]

lurker here - just wanted to share my thoughts.

After failed IVFs putting back two "perfect" embryos each time and many, many, many IF procedures and never getting pregnant we made a different decision on our last IVF. Based on our situation, we decided to put back three very high-quality embryos - I didn't think it would work so the thought of triplets didn't even enter my mind. I felt like putting just *one* more in gave us a slightly higher chance. At the transfer my RE said "are you sure you want to put all three in?" I am 29 so it was risky but I wanted to give it our best shot - we were ready with the name and contact information of an adoption agency if the IVF failed because I just couldn't handle doing any more IVFs. I did get pregnant and am 26 weeks along now with twins - maybe we would still be pregnant with twins or a singleton if we transferred two but I think we made the right decision based on our history. Good Luck!

[Julie]

Tertia, I updated just now. It took me a while to put my thoughts, which are extremely muddled, into words more articulate than "Shit! Fuck! Piss!" or "Yay!"

Kat, I was so happy to see an update from you. Your situation had been on my mind. You must be so relieved — I hope you can settle in to an uneventful and joyous pregnancy at last.

[Belinda]

Well here's hoping the trips, Thorne, Blade and Brock make it and thrive long enough to give you grey hairs.

[getupgrrl]

How frustrating - can we beat someone up? I've got my flail in the car.

[Danae]

I have such a hard time making these decisions anymore that I've finally just handed the duty over to my husband. Of course, if he makes the wrong decision, I can always have it overruled.

Best wishes to you and your husband. I'm rooting for you!

[Bridgette]

I can't offer any advise or words of wisdom, but I can stay away from ciggys in honor of you (but just say the word, and I will smoke one for you, if it will make you feel better), and bite all my freakin finger nails off waiting with you.