Two Months Before Pregnancy?

My nurse never sent me an email to schedule a post-embryo cryopreservation consult with my RE, like she did last time.  So I emailed her and asked for one.  She responded saying that one was not necessary because we’d do another cycle with the same protocol and Dr. No Nonsense would be gone most of the rest of October and most of November.  If I wanted to chat with him I’d have to wait until November or even December.

What???  So I wrote her back asking her to ask Dr. No Nonsense a few questions about my next cycle: same protocol? Estrogen priming? Cycle again without a break? And most importantly, I would still like to schedule a phone consultation with him to discuss the plans for transfer.

She responded a couple of hours later answering all of my questions.  Yes I can cycle again next month with the same protocol including estrogen priming.  To my pleasant surprise, she said that my RE would call me that evening between 5 and 7pm.

I was very happy to be able to talk with him.  That was the day when we found out that we now have frozen two 4-celled grade 1 embryos from this cycle.  It would be great to discuss with him about how great and unexpected this cycle had turned.  I was also grateful that I didn’t have to wait for a month before being able to just talk to him on the phone for five minutes.

I deliberately chose a route where I could quickly stop the car and talk to Dr. No Nonsense.  He called at 6pm from what I assume is his cell phone.  Now I have his cell phone number but I don’t dare calling.  Anyways, the first ring of the phone didn’t connect us.  I stopped the car right at the tail end of Ocean Beach and waited for him to call again.  Luckily we got connected the second time.

I was so touched by Dr. No Nonsense’s excitement about the outcome of the cycle.  He sounded so pleased with our two 4-celled grade 1 embryos.  We talked a little bit about it.  Then we went onto the very important questions: When to transfer and how many embryos to transfer.

He asked me the number of embryos we wanted to transfer.  I bounced the ball back to his court and asked him for his recommendation.  His answer shocked me.  He said, “Let’s put them all back in!”  I was like, “What? All five of them?!?!”

He asked me how old I was.  I told him again.  Then he said, “We’ll transfer four in December.  If we get one embryo for that fresh cycle, then we’ll thaw three embryos and put back four.  If we get two embryos, then we’ll thaw two and transfer four.  If we don’t get any embryos, then we won’t transfer.”

I was still a bit shocked at the number four.  I know that my embryos are day two embryos… but four sounds like a lot.

He said that for my age, they usually recommend transferring three to four.  At my age, the chances of the embryos being abnormal are quite high.  So he would like to increase my chances and help me get pregnancy as quickly as possible.  So we’ll thaw the best looking embryos in December.

Wow… we have a plan.  Next month, barring any cysts, we’ll start Cl.omid again.  We’ll continue freezing any embryos that we may have.  Then in December, we’ll stim to get any eggs to make embryos and transfer them with some thawed ones.

Dr. No Nonsense actually said that I could try to cycle even with a cyst.  The cyst may or may not grow with Cl.omid.

I am a little concerned about Cl.omid thinning my lining.  He asked me what the lining was at the last scan.  I said 8mm.  He thought that was perfect.  Don’t we want something higher than 9?  So he asked, “Do you want to make embryos?”  I said, Of course.  Then he said, We’ll use Cl.omid again.

I still have to digest transferring four embryos.  They are day two embryos so I understand why it may be a good idea.  My dear friend who lost two of her triplets asked me this very frank question:

“I am debating whether to even ask so I apologize if it comes across too personal, but have you given thought to selective reduction and how you would handle that?  I don’t even need an answer, but it is something you should at least give some thought to it have a general idea of where you think you would stand.”

I think that this is a very fair question.  There is a slim possibility that I could be pregnant with multiples.  But I also know that we’d be lucky if any of our embryos is chromosomally normal.  I know where I stand with selective reduction.  My goal is to strive for a healthy singleton pregnancy.  But if God has another plan, that’d be His choice.

So friends, here is THE plan.  I was notified by my nurse that the lab will be closed on December 21 and will not reopen until mid to end of January 2015.  I would really LOVE to do a transfer in December before the lab closes.

Let’s pray that cysts will not be found so we can cycle in November.  I am really ready to get pregnant in two months.  I am sure Bob feels the same way.  Only God will be able to have the power to make that happen.  We continue to choose to trust.  And we’ll continue to pray for the number four in terms of the number of embryos to transfer.  Bob and I would like to have complete peace with it before proceeding with the transfer.