An Appointment and Molecular and Stem Cell Research

It is hard to believe that yet another appointment went well. No red lights or even yellow lights... ALL GREEN!

My lining was 7.9 mm, which I was told was good at this time. Each side had the same size and amounts of follicles. I had one and 11mm and two and 10 mm, and 8 small ones right behind. That is a total of 22 follicles!

The RE was super pleased with the progress and said things were right on track and to decrease the Gonal-F to 75 for Thursday night. She said that many of the smaller follicles would catch up, but probably not all of them (which she said was a good thing). She reminded me that we are looking for quality over quantity. Think about it, what good does it do to have 35 eggs if they are poor quality and won't fertilize? So, this cycle we are working on quality. While reviewing my last cycle she mentioned that I was stimulated much too fast last cycle while on the study drug, which could have contributed (along with the faulty trigger shot) to the empty follicles and the poor fertilization rate we had last time. (30 follicles, 9 eggs, 4 fertilized).

I go back for a check again tomorrow. As it stands we are looking at Tuesday the 21st for egg retrieval. I feel SO much better than I did last time. At this point last time I was extremely uncomfortable. Today I am only slightly uncomfortable. I read that a protein rich diet aids in the quality of the eggs and can help with how I feel. I have been loading up on the protein and cutting back on the carbs. I have also been drinking my Gatorade. This morning I managed to eat 44 grams of protein in one meal! Grow nice and strong little eggies.

We decided to donate our arrested eggs and embryos to Stanford for research. Our options were: research or discard. To me it was a no brainer. Discard sounds horrible and this way maybe some good will come of our eggs and embryos that didn't make it.

We donated to:

Molecular Research – this is research on human development, studying eggs and embryos to learn more about early human development, ovarian function, embryo quality, studying abnormal development, and improving IVF clinical outcomes. They will also do genetic testing on our embryos and let us know if they find anything abnormal.

Stem Cell Research – this is research to develop the technique of creating stem cell lines which can possibly be used in the future to treat patients who have genetic diseases and disorders such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, neurological disorders, etc.

Many people are against it, but we are not. If our arrested embryos can help someone else, why not?

Crossing fingers for another good appointment tomorrow!