Once Again...Negative Beta...

As I expected, we got the confirmation that we are not pregnant. I don't know how much more of this we can take. But we can't give up either. We talked to Dr. Schmidt today and he felt that everything was perfect last cycle. He is suggesting that we stimulate, fertilize and then immediately freeze all of the embies. Then put them back during a semi natural cycle. He feels that there may be an issue with the stim drugs and what they do to my lining. Everything looks great (my lining is always over 12 and the proper texture) however, he says that any chemical imbalance in there can be enough to cause the embies not to implant. It sounds like a strange protocol to me. But he suggested the Clomid with stims last time and we had our best cycle yet....so I am trusting him.

In Australia & the Negative HPT's Are Piling Up.

Well, I am certainly enjoying Melbourne. I have managed to see a lot of the city during the hours that I am not working and it is just lovely. Unfortunately, as always, the hCG trigger tricked me into believing I had some faint positive HPT's starting at 5dp3dt...but alas the lines have gotten lighter and as of this morning (8dp3dt) have totally disappeared. I have 4 tests left. One for each morning that I am here. But I am pretty certain this IVF, like the last two, didn't work. The only symptoms I have had are:  the inability to sleep (this may be due to the time change) as well as very very vivid dreams for the last few nights. I am sad, yes....but have not given up on this cycle completely yet.

Transfer---Four little Embies...

Well we had the transfer today. We transferred a total of four little ones...two 6-celled (soon to be eight celled) Grade I embies and two 4-celled (soon to be six celled) Grade I embies. The fifth little guy was a 3-celled Grade V  embie. They will let him grow until Thursday to determine whether he is freezable...but it is unlikely. We are optimistic and happy with our results. It turns out that there were only 3 mature eggs out of the 8 retrieved....but one of the embryologists stayed late just to watch the rest and during that time, 3 more matured! Wow....that was wonderful. So that may explain why the two four celled are a few hours behind the other two! They also told us that Paul's sperm count was 31 million per milliliter (the highest it has ever been!) but with only 10% motility. Still, the month we got pregnant his count was 6 million with 48% motility....which would be about the same amount of motile sperm. This is good...really good. I leave for Australia in a matter of hours....not sure when I will be able to update again. Please say a prayer for the fabulous four!

And we have a 5- Pack of little Embies!

I received a call from the lab today. They said after they spoke with the nurses yesterday, another little embie fertilized. So as of today we have three beautiful 2 celled grade 1 (the best) embies, One 3 celled grade 4 embie (I think that may be the worst quality) and one little guy that is a day behind and has yet to divide (he may not divide at all). But all in all, I am pretty happy and excited. We have never had three perfect embies at the time of transfer....so we will see what tomorrow brings! Please keep praying for our little 5-pack of Carsons!

Fertilization Results

Well, we retrieved 8 eggs. Apparently 6 were mature (as they only ICSI'd 6) and of those 6 -- 4 fertilized over night. So there we have it. So much for having 5 to transfer or any to freeze for that matter. But hey, it is one better than we have had in the past....so we will see. I leave for Australia after my transfer on Sunday. I am going to be a good girl and not carry anything over 15lbs. and rest for the majority of the 24 hour trip. I will be in Australia until March 15....(My birthday is March 10) so I will know whether or not I am pregnant while I am away. I am going to buy some HPT's for my travels. I will post at some point with the results. Say a prayer for us.