Plan B: Frozen Embryo Transfer

I don't think I've really blogged much about our baby plans since we had the official negative beta, so I suppose I ought to bring everyone up to date.

Those who are playing along at home will remember that our IVF cycle resulted in three frozen embryos, and the plan is to transfer all of them a week from today, July 1.

Yes, all three of them, based on Dr. E's recommendation. She says that's our best bet for actually getting Shrike pregnant. Given her age and whatnot, our odds of having one of the three stick is only about thirty percent, the odds of two is something less than ten percent and the odds of getting all of them is more like two or three percent.

In case you're wondering, though: One. We're hoping for one. And all those "Hey, maybe you'll have triplets!" jokes really are not so funny, thanks.

The transfer date was arrived at after much confusion, and scrambling and changing and emails back and forth, regarding Shrike's vacation schedule, the lab schedule, and oh, I don't know, the alignment of the stars and planets or something.

A couple of weeks ago (June 12) Shrike had a day-two ultrasound and blood and everything looked hunky-dory to begin the cycle, so that afternoon, I gave her the first of many (many, many, we hope - if she gets pregnant, they'll continue through the first trimester) butt-shots of estrogen.

The shots have been a bit of an adventure, because of the five that she's gotten so far (they are given every three days) there have only been two that I gave her in the comfort and privacy of our own home.

The second one was the day that Peeper and I headed to Texas, which was a complicated procedure in and of itself. Shrike was working a way-too-early shift that week, so Peeper and I got loaded up and met her at work, where I gave her the shot in the parking lot, while she stood outside the car, between the open doors, and then we headed to the airport.

The next two shots happened while we were gone. She'd talked about having her mom (an RN) do them, but she ended up giving them to herself. In the butt. That's impressive. And limber.

I did today's before she left for work, without incident, other than some bleeding, which seems to happen a lot when I'm the one giving the shot. Sorry, honey.

(If I didn't think she'd kill me, I'd tell you about how she was singing "And then you stabbed my ass, now I'm a buh-leeder!")

Monday's shot could be tricky, too, because (assuming Peeper and I are feeling better and Shrike hasn't gotten sick by then), Shrike's parents are taking us all to a toddler-oriented amusement park that's a few hours away.

The plan (I think) is to go on Monday, do the park, spend the night and then come home. The shots are supposed to be at about the same time each day, so that should put us right in the middle of the park at mid-afternoon shot-time.

Oh, and she'll be getting two shots that day, because on Sunday, we go back to the clinic (the one an hour and a half away, because it's the weekend, of course) for a lining check, to make sure that her uterus is looking all cozy and welcoming, and assuming that everything is good in there, then she starts the daily progesterone shots.

In a natural cycle, progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum, which is what's left behind in the ovary after ovulation, until the placenta takes over production, a few weeks into pregnancy.

With a frozen cycle (or recipient cycle - what I did when we made Peeper), you have to take progesterone shots, because you didn't ovulate, and don't have a corpus luteum.

The effects of the progesterone on the uterus depend on how long it's been exposed to it, so when the embryos get there and start trying to implant, they need to find a uterus that's been getting progesterone for the right amount of time.

With Peeper, I started the progesterone around the time of egg retrieval (I'm wanting to say the same night that Shrike triggered - 36 hours before retrieval), but this time, because the embryos were frozen at five days old, they will be expecting to find a uterus with about five days worth of progesterone in it, sooooo, after the lining check on Sunday, if everything is a "go" she'll start taking the progesterone shots daily until the transfer on Friday.

From there, it's pretty much the same as before.

She'll be on bedrest for 24 hours (although we'll probably go ahead and stretch that through the entire next day) and will beta 13 days after transfer, with translates to 18 "days post ovulation."

(In giant quotes, of course, because these little guys/gals were actually ovulated and conceived back in April!).

Of course, she'll be testing early, but probably not as early as last time, because that was just silly.

If there's any news to be shared we will, of course, share it as soon as we're comfortable.

With Peeper, that didn't happen until we saw a nice high beta at 13 dpo, because I just didn't have enough faith in the pee stick the half a dozen pee sticks I'd seen over the two previous days to justify making a big announcement yet.

Also, for those of  you who are counting on your fingers right now, if this works we'll be looking at a due date of around March 18, at which point Peeper will be about five weeks shy of 3 1/2.

(And Shrike will be exactly the same amount shy of 43 and I'll be two weeks shier of 44. What the hell are we thinking?!)