Tag: Fertility Investigations

And the Frozen Finalists are…

And the Frozen Finalists are…

by eggandspermraceblog ♥ 1 Comment

… Embryo samples 2 and 5: Sven and Olaf.  We have two normal embryos!!  I AM SO RELIEVED.

H and I were so nervous – especially H.  Normally it’s me, but this time he was pacing up and down the waiting room, so we excused ourselves and got a coffee and some fresh air before taking a deep breath, walking back into the clinic and our appointment.

Funny enough, our two normal embryos are two of the day 6 embryos (BB quality), the stragglers, and not the one which looked to be of best quality (a day 5 AB quality embryo).   Elsa and Anna are out of the game (and so is Kristof).  This makes me think that if we had not done PGS testing, the day 5 AB embryo would have been transferred on day 5 and would have either not implanted or I would have miscarried again.  I find this fascinating.

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Frozen Five’s PGS results day

Frozen Five’s PGS results day

by eggandspermraceblog ♥ 1 Comment

Today is a BIG day:  we find out if H and I have managed to produce any genetically normal embryos.

After three failed IVF rounds and no embryos in the freezer, we were (naturally) starting to suspect that there might be an egg quality issue. We have tested H’s Sperm numerous times, including performing a DNA fragmentation test, which showed that his sperm contain a whopping 98% normal DNA!!  Considering my age, 38, only approx. 30% of my eggs are likely to be normal  (the age range of 37-38: 30%-40% of eggs are normal).  My AMH is 10.4 (down from 13.2 last year ☹) and shows low-ish fertility for my age, so the odds aren’t great – if 30% of my eggs are normal I’ll take it!   This fact sucks, but it’s reality and we have to work with what we have.  As an aside, I wish that someone had told the younger me about the reality of rapid declining fertility after 35 (it is NOT a myth)…

So, what is PGS testing?

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Tick Tock, Tick Tock – My TTC, Asherman’s and IVF Timeline

Tick Tock, Tick Tock – My TTC, Asherman’s and IVF Timeline

by eggandspermraceblog ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello,

I started this blog back in January shortly after our second IVF-round had failed.  As I’m sure you know if you’re reading this, the infertility journey has its ups and downs and some days, weeks, months are harder than others.  After the second round, my heart was shattered and I couldn’t muster up the energy to write.  Quite a lot has happened since January: I have had a few more tests done and completed our third IVF-round (a fresh cycle) in March and it was brutal for many reasons.  That too failed and, truth be told, my heart was heavier than ever before.  We are doing a second ERA now in May and a fourth egg collection round in June.  I have no idea how that will go, but I’m ready to write again.  So, here we go…

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Asherman’s Syndrome – Diagnosis and My Very Own Hole-in-the-wall

by eggandspermraceblog ♥ 1 Comment
I had my hysteroscopy scheduled for 18 April 2017, the Tuesday after the Easter weekend.  I walked to hospital in the sunshine and remember feeling very positive.  I was almost skipping down the street – in hindsight this might seem like odd behaviour for someone who was heading to hospital to be put to sleep…. who doesn’t love a daytime nap?!
I figured I wold be under for 5-10 minutes – after all this was just a quick check that everything was as it should be in my uterus.  I thought I’d be out for a few minutes, wake up, recover and then skip out of the hospital into that beautiful, sunny spring day.  I met the anaesthetist, the surgeon and signed the usual consent forms.  All set.  “See you in a little bit”, I said to H and then casually strolled into the theatre in my [sexy] hospital nightie (you know the one with an open back where you’re showing your bottom to everyone else on the ward).
I woke up hours later in a daze and in a lot of pain – and I could hear H saying “can I take a picture of the records” followed by “is that negligence?”. I  was wheeled into the gynecology ward where they wanted to monitor me over night. I remember feeling confused: (a) why was I on the ward; and (b) why was I in so much pain?

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