Fertile Friday (a.k.a. Friday the 13th)

Weeeeeeeeeee're Baaaaaaaack - and ready to blog! Why? Because we're still working on getting pregnant of course!

During the past few months, we spent time working with Dr. H at the Clinic to identify another donor since the last donor just didn't work out. Too many of her eggs wound up being immature, none of the embryos seemed to develop properly, neither of the two implanted "took", and none of the fertilized embryos survived to freezing - pretty much an all around failure! Dr. H assures us that her remaining eggs will be destroyed, and that she won't be used as a donor again. Whew!

Our new donor (a.k.a. 414), is a proven donor (just as the last one was), but is also commonly referred to internally as a "super donor", as she has donated many eggs which have all resulted in healthy babies (including twins). Granted, there aren't any guarantees, but we're hoping to not break her success rate!!! :)

This time, we spent a lot more time focused on the frozen egg vs fresh egg debate. This isn't exactly a very easy decision, as it seems that there are so many conflicting opinions out there, and there appear to be very few quantifiable and scientifically-based studies to help in the choice. Though the CDC does have a great site dedicated to these statistics (specifically check out the Assisted Reproduction Technology Report which includes fertility clinic updates by state/clinic), the data can be several yers old. Issues to consider include the changing regulatory lansdscape and technology... Advances in cryopreservation and the technological (and legal) ability to grow embryos out to five days are relatively newer advances, which make it even more difficult to interpret the officially reported numbers to the CDC against the backdrop of assurances from embryologists and fertility clinics, and doctors alike that the success rate of fresh vs frozen is now equal to each other. We ultimately chose to go with frozen eggs for a variety of reasons.

Meanwhile, Jane has been awesome! We can't say enough good things about how excited we are to be working with such a wonderful surrogate who has become a friend. We know that this hasn't been easy for her or her own family, as it inevitably creates a major disruption, yet her ability to maintain a positive attitude throughout the process has been especially helpful and encouraging for us. Jane cycled back onto her medications this summer and has been doing great - according to the Clinic, her system is ready to be pregnant! And, of course, so are we!

Friday the 13th (yesterday), became known as Fertility Friday. Frozen eggs were thawed, and we drove to the clinic to do our FDA required labwork, and provide our specimens for fertilization. Due to scheduling reasons, we didn't have an opportunity to discuss the status of the frozen eggs with the embryologist, but expect a call today to learn their status, along with how they fertilized.

Don't worry, we'll update the blog MUCH more regularly now that we are back on track!

Oh, and in keeping with the theme of Fertility Friday (as opposed to the ever spooky Friday the 13th), we are looking for something to rename the day after Thanksgiving, commonly referred to as "black Friday", since that is the day we will find out if we are pregnant!

Any suggestions?