Homeward Bound

You would not believe what can happen in a few short days, but believe it or not, I have lots of news to share. Starting with the most important, and also the most fun, our embryo count. This isn't the final report but we have 6-7 high quality embryos that are already in the cryogenic freezer and another 4-5 trailing behind those that are scheduled for freezing today! Really, it was the best news we've had since we started this process and we feel a huge weight lifted knowing we have healthy embryos in storage :) They keep saying that "no news is good news" so we probably won't hear anything on the final report for another 7-10 days, but we do know that this family is about to get a little bigger!

Since I posted last, my ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome went from mild to moderate and the flu-like symptoms I was telling you about were the signs of it's progression. I ended up back at the clinic for an ultrasound to check for fluid on my abdomen and sure enough, it was there in force. My originally walnut sized ovaries had ballooned to the size of grapefruits (fluid and blood filling all 22 follicles) and fluid had accumulated in the spaces in my abdomen. It explained my feeling of indigestion, nausea and shortness of breath, which really was my stomach being pushed up into my diaphragm and causing an increase in pressure in my lung cavity. My left ovary had a cup of fluid and the right, about three-quarter cup. I was so uncomfortable! I was literally flat on my back for two days! I couldn't sit up due to the pressure and couldn't lie on either side because I could feel my respective ovary sitting on my hip bone. The clinic thankfully brought me back to life with some IV fluids and IV anti nausea meds and I went from functioning at 30% to a strong 75%. Currently, Tylenol has been taking care of my discomfort and oral zofran my nausea, so I feel I'm at about 85% functionality and improving. My abdomen is still round with fluid but the clinic has me on a high sodium diet to help pull some of the fluid into the digestive tract. I've been induldging on Doritos, pickles, tomato soup, Gatorade, and French fries. By the end of this, it may be hard to decipher fluid from lard :)

This may be an obvious statement, but they did NOT put any embryos in my highly toxic uterus. They prepped us for implantation; we even went as far as checking into preop, signing consents and dressing in surgical garb. I was scheduled for transfer at 12:15 and it wasn't until 12:30 that my doc came back and told us we had options to freeze since the embryos looked beautiful! Huge relief (especially since I was still feeling like I escaped death)! Fun fact- growing embryos change every 20 minutes!

For now, I'm off the injections and expect a period in the next week or so and then it's back on birth control for a full cycle to allow my ovaries to recuperate. After that, we can decide when implantation works into our schedule (so funny how they can do that) and they will re-start the protocol on the appropriate date. While I was disappointed when they told me they would not implant if the embryos looked good, I feel it really is a blessing! I'll have a chance to get my body back in order and I won't be starting at the bottom of a long hill, rater at a high crest. Thanks for all the encouraging words. I read them in the dark of the night, when I couldn't muster a happy thought and it really did help me get through the rough patch.