Leah was drug-free for ten days.
One week after the egg extraction she got her period. It arrived a week earlier than if she had a regular cycle. This is perfectly normal. I called Lynn to let FTC know of Leah's status, and Lynn said that this was perfectly normal. There was nothing to worry about, but we should come in to the office as soon as possible.
We went in Friday afternoon.
Lynn sat Leah and I down and went over the report from the embryologist. Eight embryos went into the freezer. Somehow, the embryologist grades our embryos. Leah and I are both over-achievers (we met at the Honors College at the local university--Leah lived two doors down from I at McClintock Hall). Grading brings us great anxiety.
Two embryos graded "Good." Another six were graded "Fair/Good." No explanation was given for the grading process, or what the grades mean. We didn't ask, in part because we were speechless in gratitude that we had some success. Hours after our meeting, Leah worried about the "Fair/Good" embryos. Despite the rest of our meeting.
There was another sequence of signing, initialing, and dating. We re-signed the statement of Patient Responsibilities. This document outlined responsibilities I hope would be automatic for anyone who is about to invest $15,000.00 or more in the process. We promised to show up for our appointments on time. We promised to take our medications every day when instructed.
The second sheet outlined a more difficult decision. Lynn said that the embryologist recommends that we transfer two or three embryos at the end of our protocol, and that Dr. Rychlik would likely make the same recommendation. There is some chance that all three embryos would implant, and that we would have some chance of "higher order multiples," triplets or more.
We have no desire to become octomom and octodad or even nonomom and nonodad. But for the first time I am understanding the impossible decision that Octomom Nayda Suleman faced. There's no question that Suleman was irresponsible in transfering so many embryos during her IVF cycle. There's even less question that her doctor was deeply irresponsible, not only to his patient but to the embryos for which he surely bore some responsibility, in performing such a transfer.
But once the embryos are transfered and begin to develop, one procedure remains available. That procedure is called "selective reduction." I am uncomfortable with euphemism as a general rule. Selective reduction refers to the doctors returning to the patient's uterus and (I assume) disloging several embryos to give the remaining embryos a chance to develop.
This procedure is unsavory in the best of cicrumstances, but when it is put to a patient who has made such an investment in a successful procedure, it must seem abhorrent. I would think this is one of the reasons that FTC has us sign up for the procedure before the transfer is performed. Perhaps the patient can be reminded of their decision once they are facing it. We declined the option of selective reduction in the hope that we can be responsible before we are faced with such a decision. Leah has an extraordinarily small frame. Right now, it's difficult to imagine one or two other people inside of her, much less four or five.
During our meeting, there was a shift in the language that Lynn used to refer to our project. In the past, Lynn would use the future conditional in speaking about success. "If you get pregnant," then this or that will happen. "If you get a positive pregnancy test," then we'll come in and take another one. With this visit, her language changed.
Now she says "when you're pregnant." When she first said that, I got really excited. I waited for her to say it again, just in case she misspoke the first time. She didn't. Leah doesn't think the change is remarkable, but this is the fifth time we've gone through the process, and it has always been "if" not "when."
I'm thinking this is because it's not the implantation that is the difficult part of maintaining a pregnancy. When we talked to Dr. Rychlik after our fourth artificial insemination cycle, he said that he's seen a 47 year old woman who is still capable of carrying a child. What is the difficult part is actually conceiving the child. Leah produced 19 mature eggs. Of those 15 fertilized. Of those, 8 survived well enough to be frozen until next month. It's a wonder that any of us make it this far.
Leah is back on birth control now, and will be for three weeks. She thinks that the birth control is making her angry. I'm just excited that the doctors seem like we're almost there.
One week after the egg extraction she got her period. It arrived a week earlier than if she had a regular cycle. This is perfectly normal. I called Lynn to let FTC know of Leah's status, and Lynn said that this was perfectly normal. There was nothing to worry about, but we should come in to the office as soon as possible.
We went in Friday afternoon.
Lynn sat Leah and I down and went over the report from the embryologist. Eight embryos went into the freezer. Somehow, the embryologist grades our embryos. Leah and I are both over-achievers (we met at the Honors College at the local university--Leah lived two doors down from I at McClintock Hall). Grading brings us great anxiety.
Two embryos graded "Good." Another six were graded "Fair/Good." No explanation was given for the grading process, or what the grades mean. We didn't ask, in part because we were speechless in gratitude that we had some success. Hours after our meeting, Leah worried about the "Fair/Good" embryos. Despite the rest of our meeting.
There was another sequence of signing, initialing, and dating. We re-signed the statement of Patient Responsibilities. This document outlined responsibilities I hope would be automatic for anyone who is about to invest $15,000.00 or more in the process. We promised to show up for our appointments on time. We promised to take our medications every day when instructed.
The second sheet outlined a more difficult decision. Lynn said that the embryologist recommends that we transfer two or three embryos at the end of our protocol, and that Dr. Rychlik would likely make the same recommendation. There is some chance that all three embryos would implant, and that we would have some chance of "higher order multiples," triplets or more.
We have no desire to become octomom and octodad or even nonomom and nonodad. But for the first time I am understanding the impossible decision that Octomom Nayda Suleman faced. There's no question that Suleman was irresponsible in transfering so many embryos during her IVF cycle. There's even less question that her doctor was deeply irresponsible, not only to his patient but to the embryos for which he surely bore some responsibility, in performing such a transfer.
But once the embryos are transfered and begin to develop, one procedure remains available. That procedure is called "selective reduction." I am uncomfortable with euphemism as a general rule. Selective reduction refers to the doctors returning to the patient's uterus and (I assume) disloging several embryos to give the remaining embryos a chance to develop.
This procedure is unsavory in the best of cicrumstances, but when it is put to a patient who has made such an investment in a successful procedure, it must seem abhorrent. I would think this is one of the reasons that FTC has us sign up for the procedure before the transfer is performed. Perhaps the patient can be reminded of their decision once they are facing it. We declined the option of selective reduction in the hope that we can be responsible before we are faced with such a decision. Leah has an extraordinarily small frame. Right now, it's difficult to imagine one or two other people inside of her, much less four or five.
During our meeting, there was a shift in the language that Lynn used to refer to our project. In the past, Lynn would use the future conditional in speaking about success. "If you get pregnant," then this or that will happen. "If you get a positive pregnancy test," then we'll come in and take another one. With this visit, her language changed.
Now she says "when you're pregnant." When she first said that, I got really excited. I waited for her to say it again, just in case she misspoke the first time. She didn't. Leah doesn't think the change is remarkable, but this is the fifth time we've gone through the process, and it has always been "if" not "when."
I'm thinking this is because it's not the implantation that is the difficult part of maintaining a pregnancy. When we talked to Dr. Rychlik after our fourth artificial insemination cycle, he said that he's seen a 47 year old woman who is still capable of carrying a child. What is the difficult part is actually conceiving the child. Leah produced 19 mature eggs. Of those 15 fertilized. Of those, 8 survived well enough to be frozen until next month. It's a wonder that any of us make it this far.
Leah is back on birth control now, and will be for three weeks. She thinks that the birth control is making her angry. I'm just excited that the doctors seem like we're almost there.
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