Ugh. We lost the babies again.

Jane's hormone levels dropped.

No babies again.

Ugh.

Now for the NEXT hurdle!

So...

As you might suspect, there are many hurdles two gay men need to overcome in order to have children. The next hurdles consist of blood tests to verify that the pregnancy is moving along properly.

On Monday, 8/23/10, Jane goes to the Clinic again for more bloodwork. They will be looking for her hormone levels to have doubled since Friday's bloodwork.

On Thursday, 8/26/10, Jane goes to the Clinic again for more bloodwork. They will be looking for her hormone levels to have doubled again since the 8/23/10 tests.

Typically, if the numbers triple or quadruple anywhere along the line, that would suggest that there are multiples (as in twins or triplets)...

If all is fine on Thursday, 8/26/10, then we schedule the ultrasound to determine just how many babies we have!!

:)

I'll update everyone Monday once we know how the bloodwork went!

Potato #1

Looks like good things DO come to those that wait!

Just posting quickly while on the road...

Jane had her bloodwork this morning at 7am...

Results were available around 9ish!

Her Beta bloodwork numbers were 29 which are good for frozen embryos (though of course it differs from woman to woman)...

So...

WE ARE PREGNANT!

Woohoo! :)

More info coming soon!

Cycle #3 Update, 8/11/2010

Oops... I just realized that I forgot to post the updates that I had been editing - sorry!  But here is the latest!!  :)

Cycle #3 Update:

1. Lupron start date: 7/4/10
• Started!
2. OCP (birth control pill) stop date: 7/9/10
1. Done (and many thanks to Jane's husband)!
3. Approximate date of suppression check: 7/15/10
• Done, all looks okay!
4. Estrace start date: 7/16/10
• Started!
5. Approx. date of endometrial lining check: 7/30/10
• Done - Jane's lining looks great!
• Slight schedule adjustment... Embryo transfer originally scheduled for 8/9/10 has been moved to 8/11/10... all good!
6. Last dose of Lupron: 8/2/10
• Stopped!
7. Begin progesterone & prometrium: 8/3/10
• Started!
8. Begin prednisone and doxy: 8/4/10
• Started!
• Spoke to the clinic and confirmed the embryo plan.
• Potato #1 and Potato #2 each have one(1) pair of "Grade A five-day embryo blasts", with each pair coming from a different egg donor.
• Following an extensive review of each egg donor's "proven productivity", Dr. H. suggested that we start off with (2) of Potato #1's embryo blasts, and (1) of Potato #2's blasts.
• Once the (3) embryos are thawed out, the geneticists and Dr. D will review them, and if any of the embryos appear to have any "issues", then we will thaw the 4th embryo.
• Yikes - learned that Jane is experiencing morning sickness - something she didn't go through with her own children... :(   Gosh, thanks so much for doing this for us!!! :)
9. Embryo transfer is scheduled for Monday, 8/9/10 Wednesday, 8/11/10
• Transfer scheduled for 10:30am... Jane needs to be there by 10:00am - we will be there too!
• When we got there, we found Jane wearing green nail polish (mani/pedi) and a green tshirt... according to other surrogates wearing green "helps"!
• We also met a couple from NY, that were also having their first transfer done today - good luck guys!!
• FYI: Vitrified/Cryopreserved embryos thaw within 90 minutes or so, as they are moved from dish to dish within the incubator(s).
• According to Dr. H. and the geneticists, all three embryos thawed at "100%", so the decision was made to move ahead according to plans!
• Potato #1's embryos are displayed below:

• Potato #2's embryo is displayed below:

• Note, that the Clinic waits until at least the surrogate is in the office before they start the embryo thawing process (which makes total sense, if you ask me)!!
• Dr. H. transferred the embryos to Jane; everything went well!
• Jane rested for a little while to let gravity "help"...
• We ran out and got her some french fries (another "surrogate helper")...
• And then we all went out and had a REALLY GREAT MEAL/TIME at Joey Garlic's Pizzeria, where we got to not only enjoy great company, but an awesome and yummy meal!!

Next steps:

1. First Beta on Friday, 8/20/10 (9 days out)
• Note that it takes longer for the body to actually generate the hormone levels that are measured by the Beta, so it is considered somewhat "unwise" to do a home pregnancy test, since it is looking for much higher hormonal levels.
2. Subsequent Betas, scheduled as appropriate...
• And will be reported here as soon as we know!!

All in all, we had a really great day, and are REALLY excited.... statistically speaking, it looks like we are "due"...

:)

Cycle #3...

Here is our Cycle Schedule for Cycle #3. 

Completed:
Lupron start date: 7.4.10

Coming Soon:
OCP (birth control pill) stop date: 7.9.10
Approximate date of suppression check: 7.15.10
Estrace start date: 7.16.10
Approx. date of endometrial lining check: 7.30.10
Last dose of Lupron: 8.2.10
Begin progesterone & prometrium: 8.3.10
Begin prednisone and doxy: 8.4.10
Embryo transfer is scheduled for Monday, August 9th, 2010
 
:)

The countdown to Transfer #3 is about ready to begin!

Following a very much anticipated conference call with Dr. H., it appears that we are ready to create the timeline for the Transfer #3, which should be finalized by the end of the week!

Each of us now has two frozen "Grade A" five day blastocycst embryos ("five day blasts"), and the idea at this moment is to transfer three of them to Jane.  Which three of the four isn't really a concern - we're just hoping for at least one healthy baby!

Woo-Hoo!!

2 More Frozen Embryos!

We were notified by the clinic today that two of the embryos fertilized by Potato #2 made it to nice Day 5 "blasts" - YAY!!  They are still keeping an eye on the third one, but we are excited, as we now have two nice frozen embryos each - almost enough to take over the world with!!

And there is another egg donor coming in this week, whom we also hope to receive more eggs to fertilize from.  So, though we are trying really hard to temper our excitement, we are really excited!!

Woo-Hoo!!!

WooHoo - there's an update!

Gee, sorry for not posting in so long - but there just wasn't anything to post.  :(

Now, after over a month of silence, we are happy to report that there is finally something to update everyone about!!

The clinic contacted us during April about an egg donor that will have eggs retrieved during the week of the 17th (if not sooner).  So, we while Potato #1 has two happily frozen 5 day blasts, we decided to use Potato #2's sperm for these eggs (assuming we get any).

Then this week, the clinic contacted us at the last minute about an egg donor  (literally for the next day).  We wound up with 3 eggs which were successfully fertilized with Potato #2's sperm.  Now the wait is on to see how many might actually grow to become happy 5 day "blasts"!  What a blast, man!  :)

Yay!

:)

And the wait continues...

We followed up with Dr. Handsome to make sure we are still on the radar, and are relieved to hear that we are.

At this point, we have two frozen "grade a blastocysts" and are just waiting for more available eggs to fertilize.

Ugh.  Thank goodness we are patient people!  :)

"Oh Sugar!"

We just learned that none of the last batch of eggs made it to cryopreservable embryos.

Bummer.  Ellen - are you following?!?  You really should put us on your show so that you and your audience can follow us along our journey towards parenthood!!

Oh well, we'll just look toward the next fertilization batch.

:(

Embryo Update...

According to Dr. H, the Clinic was able to cryopreserve two "Grade A (the best grade) blastocysts" today.

Tomorrow, perhaps some of the others will also make it to the blastocyst stage and they will be able to freeze them also, but at least today "we have two beautiful ones."

Woo-Hoo!

:)

Moving forward...

Hola everyone!

To paraphrase Mark Twain (and the Lowell Shallot), "rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated" and we are [albeit] slowly moving forward towards Transfer #3! 

Following several strategy discussions, here is our general plan of action:

1. We will be using eggs from several donors.
2. Both of us potatoes will provide our sperm, which will be frozen and thawed as needed for fertilization.
3. Donor eggs will be fertilized, and any resulting "good day-5 blastocysts" will be cryopreserved.
4. Once we each have a good number of frozen embryos, they will get thawed and transfered to Jane.
5. Assuming that several embryos attach, anything over two will be selectively reduced.

Today, 2/10/10:

• Both of us went to the Clinic and provided our sperm.
• Several "very nice looking mature eggs" were retrieved from an egg donor.
• The first batch of eggs were fertilized.  We should gain a better sense of how many fertilized tomorrow, and how many resulted in blastocysts on Monday.

Woo-Hoo!!     :)

And today's word of the day is...

dis-ap-point-ment   [dis-uh-point-muhnt] / [dɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt] / hear  **

-noun

1. the act or fact of disappointing: All of his efforts only led to the disapppointment of his supporters.
2. the state or feeling of being disappointed: Her disappointment was very great when she didn't get the job.
3. a person or thing that disappoints: The play was a disappointment.

Origin:

1. 1605-15; DISAPPOINT + -MENT

Synonyms:

1. failure, defeat, frustration
2. impasse
3. setback
4. fiasco
5. mischance
6. dissillusion
7. false alarm
8. flash in the pan

** Compliments of Dictionary.com (An Ask.com Service)

We received the call at 11:23am to let us know that we're not pregnant.  We immediately called Jane (not knowing if she had already received the results), and sure enough, she already had.  Needless to say, all of us were somewhat shocked.

Dr H called us this afternoon to follow up with us and discuss options.  Hearing from him really helped; more on that later.  For now, we are all trying to stay upbeat as we consider our next step in this journey.  Jane is doing okay, and though the Potatoes are a little bit mashed up, we haven't beome French Fries yet...

My apologies for not updating everyone sooner, but I'm sure you understand. 

Thank you all for your good thoughts, well wishes, and prayers.

Potatoes 1 & 2

We have frozen Embryos (yes, that's a GOOD thing)!!

This morning, the Clinic notified us that two of Potato #2's embryos had achieved the desired blastocyst stage, and had been vitrified/cryopreserved and stored!  YAY! 

I was also made aware of a great site that does a wonderful job of explaining the advanced assisted reproductive techniquest that we are using.  It provides a timeline, pictures, and statistics, and we really wish we had known about it before hand, as it is likely that it may have impacted some of our decisions to date!

Jane also went to get her estrogen and progestorone levels checked today, and they are "perfect."  The Clinic wanted her estrogen above 250, and her progesterone between a 10-47; Jane's levels were 357 and 25.9 respectively!  YAY!

So, we keep praying and hoping for good beta results next Friday, and really want to thank everyone for their continued well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers!

Thanks!

Potatoes 1 & 2

Embryo Pictures!

WOW - what a difference good eggs make for good embryos! Below are pictures of the two "perfect" day three eight-cell embryos (according to the embryologist and Dr H2) that were transferred to Jane today (on Day 3).

Potato #1's is a Day 3 EIGHT-Cell Embryo who, like his papa, likes Cuban food, long walks on the beach, Star Wars, Star Trek, playing guitar (with his extra fingers), pondering world peace (for which he hopes to one day receive a Nobel Peace Prize), and playing with his doggies. 














Potato #2's is a Day 3 EIGHT-Cell Embryo who, like his papa, likes Italian food, long hikes, gardening, family, and playing with his doggies.














Scroll down the page and compare these Day 3 embryos to the Day 5 embryos that were transferred to Jane back in August, and against the "generic" sample of a Day 5 eight cell embryo shown further below.

All I can say is "WOW!" I guess THAT is what a Day 3, eight-cell embryo is supposed to look like!!!

YAY - Now comes the hard part - the waiting!  We need to wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving to find out if we are pregnant (well, actually... if Jane is)!!  It is going to be difficult (not to mention wierd looking) to be walking around with all of our fingers and toes crossed for the next couple of weeks!!!

Fertile Friday Update...

Dr. H called us a little while ago and gave us an embryo update:

• (14) Donor #414 eggs were thawed; and separated into two batches (one for each of us Potatoes)
• (1) Donor #414 egg wound up being immature
• (6) Donor #414 eggs in each were successfully fertilized (way to GO, sperm!)

Dr. H commented that this really is great proof of the quality of Donor #414's eggs, and that since so many fertilized and looked good, it appears likely that the transfer will actually occur on day 5 (Wednesday), rather than on day 3 (Monday).

Since they don't like to distrub the embryos, they will be next checked on Monday morning to see how they are progressing and give us a call with an update.

Yay!! :)

Yesterday is History. Tommorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. THAT is why it is called the present.

Ah... what wise words of wisdom from Kung Fu Panda!

So...

We regrouped with Dr. H, discussed our options, and agreed to move forward with another attempt, from another approach by asking Dr. H to help us narrow down the donor selection process by recommending his most fertile donors (commonly referred to as "super-doners") for us. Dr. H told us that he was relieved to hear that we were open to options, as that is exactly along the lines of what he would have recommended. Great minds think alike. Dr. H's commitment came through loud and clear - it was pretty obvious that a failed transfer makes him work that much harder to make this work! Thank you Dr. H for your support!

Tuesday we have another conference call set up with Dr. H to discuss donors. We will definitely have another update then.

Jane is officially off her meds, and doing well. Everyone feels pretty bummed out about this transfer not working, but Jane is really encouraging and helping us stay positive. Timeline-wise, Dr H suggested that it would be 10-12 weeks at the earliest (mid November to December) before we could try another transfer. We figure that means we have approx 4 weeks to dig in to the donors and figure out who the next Suzie will be.

We're trying to keep ourselves upbeat, which isn't too difficult to do when you have a cute new little puppy in the house (Addie). Daisy our 'doodle and Addie are getting along great, even though it seems like Daisy is regressing a little (as if she never knew how to "stay").

Otherwise, while I can't say that everything is great, we really are trying to stay focused on the next attempt.

I seriously doubt we could do this a third time...

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and wisdom!!

- Potato #1

Mr. Sperm, please allow us to introduce you to Ms. Egg. Please skip the hanky panky, and just GET IT ON!

Wow. I don't know how else to sum up today.

We arrived at the Clinic at 11:00am, checked in, and met with our handsome Dr. (whom we will refer to as Dr. H). Dr. H is the Medical Director at the Clinic, and is "the" guy responsible for the technology behind the journey we are attempting. Personable, charming, able to talk to us at our level (without the mumbo jumbo so many doctors often spout), and committed to helping us have kids, Dr. H is really great, and we are excited to be working with him and his wonderful team!

Dr. H told us that Suzie's egg retrieval went well, and that the eggs were in the process of being prepped and reviewed, and he told us that "so far, everything looks great."

We wrapped up our individual appointments, in which we provided our sperm samples, and were later told by the folks in the Sperm Lab that they seemed "fine."

From there we did some paperwork, and Dr. H stopped by to see how we were doing and help with any additional questions we might have.

From what we understand, here is basically what happens next:

• The embryologists are basically in control.
  
• The eggs and sperm are allowed an opportunity to acclimate themselves to the environment they are now in. The eggs are quantified and qualified. Since we are conducting a "shared" cycle, we have contracted for a specific quantity of eggs, with the remainder going to the Clinic for use with other couples.
• The eggs are stripped of surrounding cells and prepared for fertilization. In the meantime, the semen is prepared for fertilization by removing inactive cells and seminal fluid.
  
• The eggs we are receiving will be separated into two batches; one for each of us potatoes' sperm to fertilize.
• The eggs and sperm are reviewed to determine whether they will be allowed to naturally fertilize, or whether assisted fertilization is necessary. This will be determined today, as the goal is to fertilize ASAP with all of the fresh material.
• The sperm and the egg are incubated together at a ratio that may vary from clinic to clinic, but is typically around 75,000:1 in the culture media for about 18 hours.
  
• The eggs and sperm start to date. The rules are simple. No long-term dating. They need to get down to business and get some home runs going ASAP! We have asked for pictures, but understand they may be shy.
• In most cases, the egg will be fertilized during this 18 hour period. This is not one of those long term relationships that go nowhere. The fertilized egg will show two pronuclei.
• The fertilized egg is typically passed to a special growth medium and left for about 48 hours until the egg consists of 6-8 cells.
  
• We should get a call tomorrow informing us of just how many embryos were fertilized and how they are doing.
• Over the course of the next two days (Thursday and Friday), the embryos are checked, evaluated, and reviewed for "assisted hatching" as necessary.
• By Saturday morning, the embryologists should know if they want to conduct the transfer of the embryos to Jane on Saturday (day 3) or on Monday (day 5).
• I believe we will receive pictures of the embryos on transfer day. :)
• The remaining embryos are frozen (through cryopreservation).

Jane's bloodwork will be regularly checked during the next 8 weeks to verify pregnancy and hormone levels, but most importantly to make sure she is doing okay. It is critical to point out that Jane's health is of foremost importance to us. She has a wonderful family, and beautiful kids. She is a really wonderful and amazing person, and the our appreciation for her help in making this possible for us is difficult to put into words.

That's basically today in a nutshell. Wow.

More as it develops!

Thirty Nine (39) Hours Until Fertilization!

According to "Baby Central" (the Clinic), we are now at 39 hours until fertilization, and everything is proceeding on schedule!

Suzie is scheduled for egg retrieval early Wednesday morning, and we are scheduled to provide our "samples" at 11:00am.

By 11:15am, the "samples" will be busy doing their thing.

We should know on Thursday morning how they did.

Let us all bow our heads and pray.

Let the Egg Harvesting Begin!

Everyone's monitoring is continuing along smoothly!

Potato #2 and I went yesterday morning to get our second round of labwork completed. The young lady that did the bloodwork was very pleasant, and excited for us!

Suzie's follicles continue to grow, and folks at the Clinic tell me that they expect her eggs to be mature either this weekend or early next week, at which time they will inject her with Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to cause the eggs to complete their maturation. Once hCG is administered, we are given our 48 hour notice to get to the Clinic to produce our sperm samples for fertilization, embryo culture, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD; only if necessary), transfer to the surrogate (Jane), bloodwork and follow-up.

Fertilization
Suzie's eggs will be divided in half, with half going to the Clinic (because we are doing a "shared donor"), and half being set aside for us. The half that go to the clinic are cryopreserved via oocyte (egg) freezing. Our half is further divided in half, with one half to be fertilized by Potato #1's sperm and the other half to be fertilized by Potato #2's sperm.

The sperm from both of us are added to the eggs on the day of the retrieval (typically within an hour or so). Oddly enough, the embryologists like to give the sperm an opportunity to fertilize the egg "naturally". If a problem with fertilization occurs, the embryologists then turn to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), where a single sperm is chosen ("the chosen ones") and injected directly into each egg (of course, this would be done to each of our batches of eggs).

Embryo Culture
Once the eggs are fertilized, they are cultured for 2-4 days before the resulting embryos are considered ideal for transfer. During this period, the embryologists monitor the embryo development through several crucial cell division stages. One critical cell division stage may require the embryologist to "hatch" the cells in order to assist in implantation. Embryos may be graded based on their appearance or on PGD.

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
It has been determined that in our IVF case, PGD does NOT apply, so there isn't any need to perform PGD on our embryos, but because of the significant debate PGD presents, I thought worth writing about it to "make you think"... of course, if you would rather not think :) you can just skip ahead to the Transfer section!

PGD utilizes an embryo biopsy (where the embryologist separate one of the cells from each embryo) to evaluate the genetic composition of the growing embryo in order to determine the true genetics of each embryo prior to their transfer and subsequent pregnancy. The thought is that by using the results of the biopsy, the embryologist can identify the embryos that are "truly perfect" from others which may look good but may have chromosomal disorders which could lead to miscarriage or birth defects. Some argue that the mere process of biopsying an embryo may subject it to so much strain that it may impact its long term viability, or cause other issues. Others argue about the actual tests performed against the biopsy: (1) chromosomal testing (aka aneuploidy screening) and/or (2) genetic testing.

The chromosomal testing ensures that the embryo does not contain an abnormal number of chromosomes, which may lead to a failure of embryo growth, miscarriage, or birth abnormalities such as Down Syndrome. Women who may benefit from chromosomal testing include older women, women in whom embryo quality is a concern, and women who have experienced multiple miscarriages or prior births with genetic disorders.

The genetic testing is usually done for a specific disease by detecting a specific gene defect that can be inherited from one or both parents. These defects include ones that may lead to conditions such as cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, hemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Tay-Sach's disease. There are many other genetic disorders for which PGD can be used following proper genetic counseling with the intended parents and/or donors.

Needless to say, PGD raises many potentially ethical questions, and I think both of us are relieved that we don't have to deal with them. Coincidentally, I read in the NYTimes today that Yury Verlinsky, considered "the" expert in the field of Embryonics Screening, and credited with developing the techniques to detect genetic disorders in embryos through PGD just died recently in Chicago. I'm sure that his work has helped many families, and that his loss will be felt far and wide within the IVF community.

Transfer
Embryos are generally transferred on either the third or fifth day after harvesting, in order to allow the embryologists to observe the way they develop and grade their quality. Based on experience, the embryologists select the embryos with the highest chances of pregnancy based on embryo quality. The number of embryos being transferred to Jane is anticipated to be two - one from each of our batches of fertilized eggs; the remaining embryos will be cryopreserved (frozen). Assuming all goes well, we wind up with twins that are genetically related to each through the egg donor, and genetically related to each of us through our sperm.

Bloodwork and Follow-Up
An initial blood pregnancy test is performed on Jane two weeks following the embryo transfer date, the Clinic will follow Jane closely for the next 8 weeks, with some visits and bloodwork. Within five weeks of the embryo transfer, they should know how many embryos remain viable.

Gosh, this is starting to get so damn technical - lets bring on some babies!!

:)