Countdown to final result

Pee-d on the stick this morning. Just had a thought to just do it since i bought the stick already. The stick and its generations seems not to like me. Everytime its always show a single line.

Haiz.

Whats new?

I dont actually feel sad. As i dont really have any feeling when i peed on it. I was in urgency to urinate so was a relief to end it all.

Told Mat the result, he said not to care about the result as this Thursday result would be more comprehensive and better result. Which i think is true also la.

I REALLY hope they can detect a high HCG level to determine that this 3rd ivf is a success. Otherwise, i'll feel dejected having to answer to those surrounding me on the failure again. Taking a 3rd week of hospitalization leave and having my work being covered by someone and at the end of it, i got no happy news to share on the outcome - just dont feel good.

At least if its a BFP result, those 3weeks of me missing from office will justify sweetly.

One more day to countdown. Tomorrow, lucky Mat will be having his IPPT and will be hope halfday so can spent the day with me. before we go down on Thursday morning for the final countdown.

Uber nervous ^.^

Day 15? Counting down to 14th June

Is it Day 15 or 14? Since my last post of Day 12 is on 8th June. Embryo transferred was on 30th May (Day 2).

This week is my final week to bed rest. The end of 3 weeks hospitalization leave, hopefully. Am dreading the outcome of my Outlook email quantity once im back at work.

For now, im still refusing to take a peek at those work related emails. I need to calm and do happy non-stress related things. So, thats a No-No.

I will be going down to Raffles Hospital for the final test, pregnancy or HCG test? Read up and its a BFP if the HCG level are high and possibilities of multiple pregnancy if its way up over 2000k readings.

Am scared and nervous.

So far, it has been good. No spotting. No trace of brown stains found when Crinone gel was inserted inside. Last two IVF rounds, before the 2ww are up - i found traces of dark brown stains on the crinone gel stick. Several days later, bleeding - which after that was confirmed as Ms Flo.

It has been no stain up til now. Whats changes is the frequent pee-ing. Kept on going to the toilet in less than 2 hours even though i didn't drink lots of water. Hope that's one of the good sign.

Appetite, one day good. Another day, felt lazy to eat. OR maybe its bloated?

I've finished up my protein shake drink as well as my steroids medications. Whats left now is insertion of daily Crinone gel until Friday as well as the Progesterone tablets to help support the progesterone? Forgot the nurse's explanation.

Am still eating my daily egg whites - 4/day. Hope when i met Dr Thong this Thursday, she'll say i can stop with those eggs since i didnt get OHSS this time. Was truly delighted! Thank god i managed to succumb and get over the OHSS phobia and did the 3rd IVF. The whole IVF journey for this third time is smooth sailing. Mostly because, i believe the gynae made effort in making sure i do not go through the same ordeal as past two times as well as she's taking double precaution  in my every milestone of ivf.

Am so thankful.

But am also afraid to meet her this Thursday. Maybe i shall wait outside while the husband goes inside and if its a good news then he can call me in. But i dont think he'll let me do that. Tsk

I havent peed on the stick yet. Nervous!

When? Tomorrow morning or Wednesday?!

Otherwise, if im really panicky - will jst wait for the result from the nurses report. around noon on 14th June. This is nerve-wrecking! Hope it'll be a good news then Dearest husband will have an unforgettable start of Father's Day gift!


How awesome that will be!

For now, im in great urgency to pee - AGAIN!

Day 11: Questioned the Questions

Today, am feeling a bit low.
Been having thoughts about many Qs.

"Is it all good when until now there is no spotting sighted ever since the ET (Embryo Transfer)?"

" Are you two embryo(s) doing okay?"

"Is this normal feeling im feeling normal"

"after day 11, what should i be experiencing? cramps? breast tender? whutt???"

"been feeling dehydrated since yesterday, am i depriving the embryo(s) of liquid?"

The thoughts are never ending.

Felt a bit dizzy going on with the head. The throat is like forever thirsty. The throat also feels like a bit nausea.
Thing is, im very bad with feeling. I'm a heck-care attitude when it comes to body feeling. Believe me, until now - i don't really know much of my incoming menses's symptoms. My husband would normally detect and will say "i think your menses soon as you normally will feel cold, feverish or puked." and he's correct.

Chia-lat. Don't even know my own body symptoms. I do know la, its only that i can only predict it on the menses's eve. Before that, I'll be still thinking its not menses yet.

Yesterday, the TCM physician took a longer reading at my pulse. Saying that she detected a weak signal and is trying to read it. Erk?

She asked if i felt breast tenderness? Er, no.

Dont even feel like typing any post initially. Sat at the laptop and stared blankly which url to go. Just wanna lie on bed and stare at any dvds.

Gosh. Still got one more week :(

Just buy it, la

Finally decided to buy the kit. One box got two tests.

Let's see. From the knowledge i've collected, if embryo transfer is Day 2 or 3 - Day 11 can test. Which is tomorrow.

But im scared. Shall do on Sunday or perhaps Monday?

The TCM physician said she sensed a weak signal from the pulse. Above that the pulse still okay and normal.

Thats the thing. I feel normal too. Haiz. Is it a cause for concern? Even if i call Raffles, they will say dont worry - as long no bleeding, all's good.

So confused.

Still got a week more to go. Homebound :(

Day 10: so far so good

Waiting turn to be acupuntured. So far, im feeling and behaving normal.

Haha.

Should buy that stick or not???

Day 9: To test or not?

Brekkie everyday must is the above Protein Shake + 4 egg whites.

These is to help me overcome OHSS. Alhamdullilah, till now i've got no symptom of OHSS. Looking forward for acupunture tomorrow. Hope, the pulse is good. Will only visit Dr Thong on 14 June. Nerve-wrecking. Been staying seated mostly still. Dont want to risk any precentage.

Im playing with the thought of buying several pregrancy kits tests to test at home. Of course, i would like to experience the happiness, of seeing the two lines on the pee sticks!

Should i?!!??!!!

Mat mentioned to just wait for the blood test. In case, i'll be dealt with a sad blow. How?!

I've been feeling normal. Except that im still walking slowly as i dont want to impose stress to the uterus if i walk as normal. Even going to Raffles is via cab instead of taking bus which i love to sit and plug in my ipod playlists of Kpop.

So far, all's good. Only debris of Crinone gel leftovers. Been taking my pills daily too. Only sometimes, i will feel slight backaches.

Should i test? Hee! But, i goggled that the test should be on Day 11. AH! Stress ah!

Day 5: implantation, pls implant embies!

Yesterday while sleeping, i feel cramp on d right side of belly.

Read up that some will experience cramps during the implantation as it burrows deep into the lining, which explains some have implantation bleeding.

Woke up, checked. No blood, only wiped away bits of Crinone gel.

Day 2: Post Embryo Transfer

After the transfer, the nurse inserted the crinone gel inside the vajayjay. This crinone gel is important.
As extracted from this website,

The Comfort of Powerful Progesterone Support

Progesterone deficiency can make it more difficult for women to become pregnant or to maintain pregnancy.

Crinone 8% provides safe and effective progesterone support for women who have a progesterone deficiency and who are undergoing infertility treatment.

Crinone 8% comes in the form of a vaginal gel that is easy to apply once a day. In several clinical studies, women undergoing infertility treatment consistently preferred Crinone 8% over progesterone intramuscular injections, progesterone vaginal suppositories, and progesterone capsules administered vaginally.

Also, while im at the website i clicked for more information. Read up, it's interesting.

Progesterone’s Role in Pregnancy

The hormone progesterone is often called “the pregnancy hormone” because it plays 2 important roles in pregnancy:

1. Progesterone thickens and prepares the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium, for implantation of a fertilized egg
2. After implantation, progesterone is important during the first trimester to maintain pregnancy. This role continues through birth

Progesterone thickens the endometrium

Throughout an average 28-day menstrual cycle, the thickness of the endometrium varies. (The menstrual cycle begins on the first day of a woman’s period. For more information on a normal menstrual cycle, click here.)

During the first 14 days of the menstrual cycle, the endometrium is relatively thin and begins to thicken before ovulation. After ovulation, the endometrium continues to thicken. If no pregnancy occurs in this cycle, the endometrium will shed during a woman’s period and become thinner. If pregnancy occurs, the endometrium will remain thick to support the pregnancy.

Click on the chart below for a larger view.

The difference in the thickness of the endometrium varies depending upon the amount of progesterone in the body. The endometrium is thinnest during the first half of the menstrual cycle, when progesterone levels are low. The endometrium becomes thickest after ovulation when progesterone levels rise.

The increasing levels of progesterone after ovulation are important to prepare the uterus for implantation of a fertilized egg.

Progesterone supports pregnancy

After a fertilized egg implants in the endometrium, the ovaries continue to produce progesterone to provide a nourishing environment for the growing embryo.

During a normal pregnancy, around 8 weeks after implantation, the placenta takes over the production of progesterone from the ovaries. The placenta produces a significant level of progesterone to maintain a healthy pregnancy.

No wonder the nurse injected me with Progesterone at the buttock before the transfer. This wasnt done at NUH. At Raffles, they asked me to insert the crinone gel twice daily (morning and night). While at NUH, its only morning.

Continue.

So after the transfer, i went up for acupunture - to boost the blood stream and strengthening the uterus ir something like that..

After which, i need to heed back for a consultation with Dr Thong.

This time, my poor husband who has been waiting at the operating theatre and did not sleep at all - as he's afraid if he sleep, they would push me out without him realising :(

I was actually walking. Hee!

Dr Thong explained and showed my husband the embryo's photo. The balance three are being frozen, etc..

We asked why the is one embryo that is already split into 3 was not chosen and instead embryo that was split into two was chosen?

She explained, it doesn't matter how many split as what matter is the grade quality. The two cells are of better quality instead of the three cells which is average.The cells are going to end up splitting anyway. First, its a one-cell. As it started to develop and grows, it will split into 2, 3 and 4 like now. Once inside you, they will still split and by Day 5, it will implant itself onto your lining.

Thats the crucial moment.

No major movement, try not to move much from Day 5 to Day 11. Just stay on the bed. As if there's much walking, the cervix will compress and instablize the implanting.

Dr Thong also mentioned that she observed that i had water lining while scanning me and mentioned that i could have a mild OHSS and asked me to take good care and if anything, call them.

What she explained was so detailed. There was no post transfer consultation over at NUH for both times.This time round, i am more hardworking. Googling and reading up on internet on anything embryo, ivf, progesterone, etc..

Google-d and the explanation of Dr Thong is same as the facts from these website below.

The Significance of Blastocyst Transfer
http://www.ivf.com/blastocyst.html

In a typical non-blastocyst in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle, a woman's eggs are retrieved and fertilized. If all goes well, the embryos are transferred into the uterus three days later. Due to the fact that it is difficult to predict on day three which embryos are more likely to produce a pregnancy, four or more embryos are frequently transferred in hopes that at least one will result in a live birth. Until now, this has been a reasonable approach in order to achieve acceptable pregnancy rates.

However, with blastocyst transfer, only two or three embryos are transferred, practically eliminating the possibility of triplets or greater. And the same pregnancy rates are achieved as would be expected when four or more embryos are transferred on day three. Some centers report achieving even better pregnancy rates with blastocysts. Implantation rates of 48-50% and pregnancy rates of up to 66.3% have been reported in patients who responded well to gonadotropins.
What is 1 Blastocyst?
A blastocyst is a highly developed embryo that has divided many times to a point where it is nearly ready to implant on the walls of the uterus. A blastocyst has come a long way from its beginning as a single cell.
During maturation, an embryo rests inside a protective shell called a zona pellucida. You can think of this protective shell as being much like a chicken egg. But, unlike chicken eggs, human embryos do not remain inside a shell. Instead, the embryo hatches (breaks out of the shell) on the fifth or sixth day so it can attach to the uterine wall (implantation). Just prior to hatching, an embryo becomes a blastocyst.
Embryos developing to the critical blastocyst stage have a much greater chance of implanting successfully and resulting in an ongoing pregnancy. That is because these embryos have passed an important test. During the first few days, the embryo relies on the mother's egg for all its nutrients. However, in order to 15 survive past day three or four, the embryo must activate its own genes. Not all embryos are successful. In fact, only about one-third of the embryos become blastocysts. Yet these embryos are more highly-developed, healthier, and stronger, and have a higher rate of implantation when compared to day three embryos. Due to the higher probability of survival, we transfer fewer back into the uterus.

Getting to Day Five For many years, infertility practitioners have known that day three transfers were too early when compared to what is physiologically normal. In naturally conceived pregnancies, a day three embryo resides in the fallopian tube, not in the uterus. The embryo does not even reach the uterus until the fifth or sixth day. Yet traditional IVF has always transferred on day three because, up until now, we have not been able to delay the transfer to day five. Previous laboratory culture media could only sustain an embryo's growth for three days. Now we have the ability to develop an embryo to the blastocyst (day five) stage.

Frozen Blastocyst Cycles
Blastocysts tend to have a very good survival rate after cryopreservation (freezing). Menezo and his colleagues have reported that "the recovery after thawing is equivalent, if not superior to, that of thawing of earlier embryonic stages."
Because blastocysts are superior to earlier stage embryos in terms of development, they are easier to freeze, store, and thaw. Additionally, because blastocysts have higher implantation rates, it is possible for a couple to go through IVF once and have enough blastocysts for the current cycle as well as any future cycles.

After IVF Embryo Transfer, what you need to know

http://www.ivfconnections.com/forums/content.php/569-After-IVF-Embryo-Transfer-What-You-Need-to-Know

A lot of anxiety builds up after an embryo transfer. Questions and worries swirl around until the two week wait (2ww) is over. Should I be on bed rest for the first two days? Are the embryos going to fall out? What foods should I eat? What foods should I avoid? How active can I be during the two week wait? How much spotting is normal?

Let's take it one step at a time so you can see what the post-transfer period is like.

An image depicting the process of an ultrasound-guided embryo transfer. Note the ultrasound wand and the path the catheter has to take to transfer the embryos in the optimal spot.

Won't My Embryos Fall Out if I Walk Around?
Thankfully, they won't. You will probably feel like tiptoeing around on a layer of foam for at least the first few days, and if that makes you feel better then go ahead and do it. But there's no need. Remember that in a spontaneous pregnancy, the egg is released from the fallopian tubes, the sperm travels all of the way up the vaginal tract, through the cervix, all the way through the uterus and into the fallopian tube. Fertilization typically takes place inside the fallopian tube, which is where the egg and sperm usually meet. The tiny embryo moves through the tube and into the uterus, where it can, given the right circumstances, implant in the uterine wall.

If oocytes or embryos could "fall out" of the uterus, not many people would get pregnant at all. The uterus is defined as a potential space; that is, it is completely closed with the inside walls all touching, and can expand as needed to create space for a growing baby. Think of your uterine walls like a deflated balloon made out of sponge. In its normal, resting state the balloon will be small, the spongy walls will all be touching, and there will be no air inside. If you start to inflate the balloon, it expands to accommodate the volume of air that is put inside it. But while it is deflated and the walls are touching, you could put a marble inside and it would stay where it is until you start to inflate it.

Does Spotting Mean Its Over?
No. Please breathe now - you're turning a remarkable shade of blue. Your body has been going through a lot during your IVF cycle. Hormones, injections, stress, egg retrieval (if it is a fresh cycle) - none of these should be discounted. And during the transfer your doctor probably used a speculum so he/she could visualize your cervix, then the catheter had to pass through the cervix, and then the catheter may have irritated a tiny bit of the lining. In addition, you are likely on some hormone supplements including progesterone, which can cause spotting. Any of these things could cause a little spotting, and not necessarily immediately.

There is another thing that can cause spotting, and this is a happy possibility: it's called implantation spotting. Implantation spotting happens when the embryo burrows into the uterine lining and implants, so that it can begin growing. Implantation spotting often looks different from other types of spotting; the color is a light pink or light brown and it may be "streaky" in appearance.

Hope this two website helps. Its so interesting to read up on God's magical gift!