No real confidence yet, but something

My beta was 44.9 and my estradiol was 176 and my progesterone was 127. The nurse said they were all good numbers. However, the beta still seems a bit low (the median for betabase on this far along is 101), so I can't be worry-free just yet.

Last time with the chemical pregnancy my beta on 15dpo was 29.9 and there was spotting going on. This time I have no spotting and a higher number on 14dpo. I hope that means good news, but I cannot be confident in it yet. :-(

I am not crazy!

Digital confirmed with a "yes" this morning. I'm praying for my beta tomorrow and this baby/babies sticks around for a long and snuggly nine months.

Am I Crazy?

Or does the full size picture of my test stick addiction appear to be giving me a slightly darker, although still impossibly light, line over time?

http://i54.tinypic.com/24g2gx5.jpg

Embryo Report

All 5 of my fertilized eggs are dividing. 3 are in the 1/2/3 category of being "better" and 2 are in the 4 category of being not so good. The embryologist wouldn't give me a specific count on how many were in each of the better categories because they are still actively dividing. Grow, babies, grow! I'll see you Tuesday. :-)

Also, PIO shots may not hurt at the time, but the morning after? OUCH!

5 Alive!

Of the 8 eggs that we retrieved, 7 were mature. Of those 7, 5 were fertilized with ICSI. Now I'm on pins and needles until Sunday to see how they are doing. It's so weird knowing that my babies are growing, and it's not inside of me.

Egg Retrieval

Today we had our egg retrieval. Thankfully my husband was in town for this (although not for the trigger shot and I had to give that one to myself in my own thigh - ouch!) and everything went well. We retrieved 8 eggs, which is within the average of 5-12. Tomorrow we will know how many of those eggs were mature and on Sunday we will receive another report on their progress. The transfer is scheduled for Tuesday at noon.

Part of me is scared. Out of however many eggs you retrieve, only about 70% are mature. Of that number, only about 75% fertilize. And of THAT number, only about 40-50% make it to day 5. I think at best we'll still have two to transfer but I'm not holding out hope for any frosties.

Right now I'm doing my best to be zen and keep saying, as the ladies on the message board have been encouraging me to do, "eight is great"! :-)

Monitoring Blues

I had to get up at 5:00 this morning and drive almost two hours to have a thirty minute appointment at the RE and then turn around and drive almost two hours back. Blargh.

My follicles are coming along nicely, even one made it to 1.8 already, but I'm not ready to trigger. I have to go back in tomorrow morning to see. I am going to do everything in my power to push the trigger to Wednesday because of nasty class scheduling business - but of course will bend to the will of the doctor.

I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Everything else is flexible. If I trigger on a Tuesday and have the retrieval on a Thursday, the transfer will be the next Tuesday and I'll miss two sets of classes. I would really, really prefer not to do this, especially as early as it is in the semester and with the realization that I might have to do the whole thing over again relatively soon. I know it's a bit bratty to complain about timing like this, but I am only in class two days a week! It shouldn't be that hard to work around.

The good news is since I won't be doing the retrieval on Wednesday that my husband will be in town for it, fresh sample and all. :-) He's really been super involved in this whole process, much more so than with IUI, so he's invested in being there at the retreival. For his sake more than anything I hope it works for us this time. I caught him crying at church during a children's service last week and it just about broke my heart in two.

Expect another update tomorrow on my progress! :-)