Down, but not out

I wish I could say the news is great, but that would be too boring and easy. It all looked good going in, but it seems we may have triggered too early. (This is my take on it all anyway.) Before I get to the count, here are some of the reasons we are not yet giving up...........


1) THE POWER OF THE TIKI

Laura over at Laura's Mommy Journal first wrote about these tiki cups here. She and her husband drank pina coladas from these cups on New Year's Eve as they were kicking off their baby making journey the following year. They are now the proud parents of twin boys. Laura did a bloggy giveaway last May and passed these great cups on to BB and MTB over at BabyQuest. BB and MTB wrote about it here. She and her husband toasted with the cups, became pregnant on their first IVF, and welcomed their daughter to the world on January 28, 2009!! BB and MTB were sweet enough to pass the cups along to M and I in hopes that the power of the tiki can give us that added boost to make this last chance cycle work!! Here they are in all their glory:




To say we are touched is an understatement. I only hope we can hold the cups to their high standard. We toasted the morning before we hopped on the plane for CCRM, hence the oj. We couldn't think of a better way to leave. Thanks, BB and MTB!!

BB and MTB also was sweet enough to remember my love of the Blizzard and included a DQ gift card. Mmmmmmmmm......



2) FERTILITY GOD

My sweet officemate R made a little care package for us just before we left including a traveler's guide to CO, a Denver area map, a card of encouragement, and this little guy:
R and her husband travel alot and picked this guy up on an adventure to Tahiti. She doesn't know how lucky or well he works, but he has gone to every appointment with us in my purse.


3) QUAN YIN and FLOWERS
I was lucky enough to get to meet up with Phoebe recently. Not only did she treat me to lunch, great conversation, and a beautiful walk, but she loaned me her good luck charm to wear through this cycle. It is a Quan Yin which is the goddess of compassion and mercy in the Buddhist tradition. It hasn't left my neck since she put it on me and has brought me a great deal of daily comfort.

Phoebe was also so kind as to have this gorgeous bouquet delivered to our hotel room during our egg retrieval yesterday. It completely made my day and really helps to brighten up our home away from home. Thank you, Phoebe for your kindness and generosity!! It is amazing to turn a great online blog friend into a great IRL friend. Thank you, sweet friend.



4) GREAT FRIENDS
In addition to all the great comments my blog friends have left here, so many of you have also sent encouraging emails and snail mails just to check in and see how things are going and wish us well. As many of you know, we are in the closet with most of our families for various reasons so this support has really been a lifeline through all of this. Thank you!!! I can't express how much this means to me.


5) INJECTION MEMORIES
We have to be able to share some of the entertaining injection stories with our future children. They are just too good to end here.
While still in CA, I was stuck in a test working off hours and knew we would have to do injections at work. I slipped away for a few minutes to meet up with M at his new office only to find 2 of his co-workers working in the lab just outside his office door. It would have been more awkward to close the door so we did our best to quietly do one IM shot in the hip, one sub-q in the belly, and one sub-q in the thigh. We were like a couple of quietly giggling schoolkids hoping nobody would "catch" us.
The next was here in CO. We took a drive up to Breckenridge on our CCRM nurse's advice to see some ice sculptures and got stuck in traffic on the way home. We had taken our meds along and ended up pulling into the parking lot of this place to inject.



6) LUCK OF THE IRISH
With my Irish heritage and maiden name, I pulled out the lucky clover card and bought this t-shirt for egg retrieval day. Imagine my surprise when my CCRM ER nurse turned out to have a very strong Irish accent and a great love for my shirt. Yup, I'm pulling signs out of my ass now, huh?



7) THIS GUY
It's hard to give up when I have this guy on my side. Upon learning our fertilization report, he held me through my tears and reminded me that it isn't over yet. There are more that have matured in the lab and there could be more. It may not be what we were hoping for, but we can still hope that Schoolcraft's lab can do some magic. He isn't giving up on me or my eggs so how can I.


So here it is.....
Eggs retrieved: 16
Eggs mature: 6
Eggs fertilized: 3
They were able to mature 3 more eggs in the lab overnight and will try to ICSI them today. They are also watching the other 7 closely to see if they might mature too. We are scheduled for a 3-day transfer on Monday at 1PM and the lab will update us tomorrow as to where the rest of our eggs/embryos are at. Nothing we can do at this point and we are still holding onto hope, but it sure doesn't make these emotions any easier. Rollerfuckingcoaster.