Pages

Thursday, May 31

Tempered Optimism

Holy shit I passed.

I started writing this whiny "oh I don't know about this" "man I'm scared" kind of post at 10 or so this morning and put it to the side.  I cried driving to the clinic.  I've done next to nothing at work, just moping along, thinking of all the bad things that the clinic could say in calling today.  Would it be an HCG number of 8 where yes, I'm technically pregnant but we all know this isn't going anywhere.  Or flat out nothing happened and every change in my breasts is just from the prometrium?  That happend the first cycle, IVF/FET do not have success rates of 100%, so this is always possible.

111.  One hundred and freaking eleven.

So let's get some perspective on 111.
  • Most of my chemical pregnancies are under 20
  • One that lasted a little longer started at 54 and was at 34 two days later
  • My first miscarriage with the clinc was 71
  • Home tests are sensitive to 25
There is an article here on the probability of outcome based on HCG levels 12 days after transfer on day 3 embryos  from 2002 by P. Poikkeus, V. Hiilesmaa and A. Tiitinen.  This chart is of particular help in seeing the potential outcomes.  No one more than I knows that passing a pregnancy test does not mean you get a baby.  I am also a little different from their test subjects in that I had a day 5 embryo and thus tested on day 10.  From a cycle perspective, it's the same, but day 5 embryos do show a better success rate because some of the weaker ones would not make it to day 5.  Still, this is good guidelines on what 111 means.

http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/7/1901/F2.large.jpg

111 puts me in the 107-131 range with what looks to be about a 68% chance of a live singleton, 22% of miscarriage.  I am the kind a girl that drives that 22%, but you can see what 111 means in a relative sense.  It's good, not so good to expect twins, but good.  Also interesting about this research:  "Male factor infertility and ICSI are associated with relatively low HCG values in viable pregnancies."  We get a tick in both boxes.

Next steps?  Pregnancy test again on Saturday at 9am, if that goes well I'm scheduled for another round of intralipids on Monday morning.  HCG levels should double every 48-72 hours, if it's not going up at that rate, then odds are things will not progress to that mythical live singleton.  I'd want to see 200 or so on Saturday.  This is also why I did not mention my longest pregnancy, it was natural so we didn't find out I was pregnant until I was well over 600.  It's not a fair comparison if you don't hold the cycle day constant.

I will not be able to post the results on Saturday because we should be out and about in Toronto.  Mr. Lina has friends from university who presently live in Vancouver visiting for the weekend.  We've promised spending the day with them and Mr Lina's ex and her husband.  As soon as I can get myself near a computer, I will upate you all because that means more to me than today.  I've been here before. 

But it feels damn good right now. 

11 comments:

  1. Wow!! I am so happy to hear this news. I will continue to hold good thoughts for you. XXXOOO

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am seriously keeping my fingers crossed. So far so great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Keep them crossed, we're not out of the woods yet. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't comment much I know but I wanted to tell you that I'm following this journey with my fingers and toes crossed for you. So glad you got some good news today and all my good vibes for a positive outcome are being sent your way :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. crossing fingers and toes and arms and legs and so on. Praying for you both.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh golly....so much good luck and good thoughts going your way! I am crossing everything that can be crossed. I even did the Catholic cross (I'm not Catholic) and crossed Lila's paws. Now she's cross with me, ha.

    Thanks for keeping us updated...and don't be afraid to post the outcomes whether they're up, down or sideways.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lol... I thank Lila for her contribution of crossing, although I can't blame her for being cross and confused.

      Believe you me, you are all on this roller coaster with me. We aren't going to tell our family for a little while to save them (and us, it sucks bringing bad news) the heart ache, so I need an outlet. :)

      Delete
  7. Sending lots of good thoughts and fairy dust your way! Looking forward to more good news next week!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments, I love to have a two way conversation. I seem to be getting a lot of spam from anonymous users and am turning off the ability to comment that way. I really would like to hear from you so if you do want to add your two cents without an OpenId, email me at seraphinalina at gmail dot com.