Player Two Has Joined The Match

Last Thursday, my blood test results again came back showing that I was on schedule for embryo transfer. Yesterday we traveled to Christchurch in preparation for the appointment today. After finding that my bladder wasn't full enough last time to visualise everything properly on the ultrasound, I made sure I drank close to two litres of water over the course of the morning. By late morning when our appointment time arrived, I was very uncomfortable!

As before, on entering the clinic and being taken to a private room, I was asked to confirm my name, date of birth and address, before the nurse advised us that our remaining embryo had survived the thawing process and was ready to be transferred. They gave me all the paperwork and lab forms for aftercare and the next blood test I would need. I changed into a gown, and they led us back through to the theatre to the waiting nurse and specialist doctor. Dave was again seated on a chair just at my shoulder. This time, they had no trouble finding my bladder with the ultrasound, (if anything it was a little too big!), but they were able to visualise my cervix and uterus. Having a full bladder apparently helps move other organs such as your bowels out of the way, and flattens and straightens out your cervix and uterus into positions that are easier to see with the probe. They had no trouble inserting the speculum and threading the catheter through my cervix, and could see it on the ultrasound - the catheter shows up as a thin white line in the grey distortion. Again, this was a little uncomfortable, but not painful. When they were happy with the position, they indicated to a third nurse who handed them the embryo contained in a syringe from the lab. The embryo was then passed through the catheter and into my endometrium (uterine lining). The doctor waited a few moments before withdrawing the catheter, allowing the embryo time to 'settle'. The fluid from the syringe that contained the embryo could be seen as a small dark spot on the ultrasound. Once the embryologist double-checked the syringe to ensure the embryo had been transferred, we were set to go. We are hopeful that things going more smoothly this time is a good start.

Diagram showing ultrasound-guided embryo transfer.
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSYkjZR4xmE

The next step is a blood test in just under a fortnight to see if this one takes. In the meantime, I am to continue taking the Progynova, Utrogestan, folic acid, and my probiotics. And on it goes.

Here we go again!

At the start of this week, I called Fertility Associates to notify them of day 1 of my cycle, and started taking the Progynova (estradiol) tablets again. After checking the usual details (Have I been consistently taking folic acid? Have I been well in myself? etc) the nurse entered my information into the system, and I waited for the embryologist to call me with a plan.

I'm back on the Progynova. Three times a day, every day.

The plan: the same as last time, more or less. I am to have a blood test late next week to check my body's response to the Progynova. This time they haven't requested a scan, most likely as last time they were happy that the results of my blood test were a good enough indicator of how thick my endometrium (uterine lining) is. All going well, two days later I'm to start the Utrogestan (progesterone) pessaries again. Then on the 25th of June we have an appointment in Christchurch to have the remaining embryo thawed and transferred into me. They have emailed me another set of consent forms (we must complete more for every cycle), a copy of the plan/timeline, and a request form for the blood test. Let's see how we go this time!

Maybe next time

At 8:00am this morning I had a blood test to check my levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), which is the hormone produced by certain cells that surround a developing embryo. This is also what many home pregnancy test kits detect. At 4:20pm Fertility Associates called me (after I had already called and left a message since I hadn't yet heard anything) to say my hCG was less than 5mlU/ml, which is a negative result for pregnancy.

Table from Wikipedia showing reference ranges for hCG from last menstrual period (LMP)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin#Testing

We are fine as we hadn't allowed ourselves to become particularly emotionally attached to anything yet. At this point, we're mostly feeling frustrated about the logistical side of things dragging out even further. The plus side is we still have one frozen unaffected embryo, and we can go back to Christchurch next cycle to try having that one implanted. In the meantime, I am to stop taking the Progynova and Utrogestan, and to call Fertility Associates on my next day 1. All going well, we could potentially have the remaining embryo implanted in a month or so. Onwards and upwards!