Transfer Canceled

As you can tell from the title of this post, this morning’s monitoring appointment did not go well. My lining was actually THINNER than it was on Friday, just 4.4 mm, down from 5.6 mm. I had an agonizing day waiting to hear from the RE’s office. My surro-sisters and IF’s had to listen to a teary, worried mess of a girl all day. I’m so thankful to have such supportive friends, and I’ve said it before—I’m a lucky girl to have J&S.

So I just finally heard from the RE that they are canceling this cycle. No transfer for me this weekend because my uterus was being a bitch and decided not to get fluffy in time. Strange thing is that my hormone levels were all exactly where they should have been, so my body was absorbing the estrogen properly. For some reason though, there was some disconnect with my lining increasing. Stupid uterus.

Anyway, so my instructions are:

1. Stop Lupron effective immediately (easy to do since I'm out of syringes).

2. Continue taking one Estradiol twice a day (by mouth now instead) for 7 days. It's going to be a little weird putting these pills in my mouth again after where they've been going for 2 weeks!

3. Tonight, begin taking one Provera (progesterone) pill every night by mouth for 7 days.

4. Once these meds are finished, I should start a "good, cleansing" period shortly after that. Then we'll start cycling again.


The ED is still going through with her retrieval on Friday, and then they will freeze the embryos. New estimated transfer date, depending on when AF shows up, will be August 16th. It will now be a frozen embryo transfer, instead of fresh. If AF takes too long to show her face, transfer won't be until the middle of September (since the clinic's lab is closed for the last 2 weeks of August).

Wait, you say.

Didn’t you have some major fundraiser for your disabled daughter on September 14th?

Yes, in fact we do. So keep your fingers crossed that the transfer date will fall AFTER the 14th if we have to do it in September.

My IF's are so supportive and worried about me, and of course I feel bad for them. They thought they were getting pregnant this weekend. I thought we were getting pregnant this weekend. The ED was already in Connecticut, and so is S!! He flew here all the way from Sweden for this!! I can't help but feel like I failed them before we even got started. I'd obviously prefer a canceled cycle over a failed transfer, but this sucks.

End Rant.

Monitoring Appointment #3

So today was my third monitoring appointment, and what I thought would be my last one before our trip to New York/Connecticut for the transfer next weekend. (Side note: I still do the Connect-I-Cut spelling trick I learned in elementary school). Apparently, I will go back at least one more time, on Tuesday, for another lining check. The egg donor has her last monitoring appointment on Monday, and then we should finally know exact travel dates. Planning around a fresh embryo transfer is not easy!

The blood draw was much better at this appointment, and the ultrasound was fine too. My uterine lining measured 5.60 mm, up from 4.05 mm last week. I was really surprised, because a 1.5 mm increase was all I'd had the week before. That was why I started Smurfing the estradiol (yep, I said it) instead of taking it orally (ha...I'm leaving the rest of that sentence alone). The nurse seemed to think my lining wasn't very thick either, although she didn't tell me where she thought it should be. So I left there all worried that the transfer might get cancelled or postponed, and I was frustrated because I've followed all of the doctor's instructions perfectly. I know it's not easy for J&S to fly all the way here from Sweden, even when only one of them is coming. I hated that it might all be messed up because my uterus wasn't getting plumpy enough.

Thankfully, our actual IVF clinic called me very soon after the appointment. (This may or may not have had something to do with the pretending-I'm-calm-but-sounding-like-a-wreck message I left them before I even pulled out of the monitoring clinic's parking lot). I was completely surprised when the nurse said to continue everything exactly the same! She didn't sound worried at all, and said I only need to be at 7 mm in order to do the transfer. So that's good news, but I was still feeling a little worried. It's hard not to when you want something to work so badly! Plus I read all these surrogacy blogs and IVF sites, and hear all about the "triple stripe" every surrogate hopes for. The triple stripe is when the two uterine walls are so thick that they touch in the middle, creating an image on the ultrasound that looks like three stripes. It happens around 12 to 13 mm, and it's supposedly the perfect lining measurement.

I was a straight A student...I expect no less of my uterus!

Speaking of being the teacher's pet,

I heard that there are ways you can naturally increase your uterine lining.

Lots of water...and orgasms.

I am off to do my homework like a good little student.