P.S. Forgot to add that it was a FET, not fresh cycle.

Oops, one more thing...the only other FET where I did get pg, my HCG was 51 and I ended up m/c. The quality of the embryos for that cycle weren't that great...best was early blast B. This cycle they put back 2 hatching blast As .. one degraded only 10% during thaw and the other 15%....much better than 1st FET but much worse HCG #

First of all, I didn't even know you had any totsicles to do an FET with, so this is awesome. How many total totsicles did you start out with? How many did you have to thaw to get 2 to transfer back? Just curious, because I only have one totsicle, grade B minus, expanding blast, I believe.

I think you already know my story, I had a low positive 12 dp3dt, it was 28.2, two days later it went to 49.1, six days after that it rose to 791 (never as high as my RE would have liked), and I have my fiesty three year old munchkin to show for it! I think Parrothead had a low positive in the teens that went on 'till she was in the 20 week area, and then she had a miscarriage, but If I remember correctly she had some uterine issues she wasn't aware of that might have caused that.

So this sounds promising! I'll give you an early congrats! Will you go in for another beta in a few days? Are you doing PIO shots?

Hi Yvonne...first off, when did DS change...very new reply site. Yes, I have about 21 frozen embies. They thawed only 1 vial which had 3...2 were hatching blasts A and 1 was a blast B. I only put 2 back but now it looks like I should have put more back.
My concern is that I never had a beta this low before. If I had low ones in the past and went on to have babies from them, than fine. I know some women have had that happen but I wonder if all of their pregnancies had low betas. Also did some research on-line and opinions are conflicting. One chart says that beta over 5 is ok for test if done 4 wks after LMP which is where I was at when tested. Another says anything less than 5 means you're not pg, anything over 25 means you are and anything btwn 5 and 25 is inconclusive. I'm at 18, which is better than 15 but not as good as 23. While yours was low, it was still above 25. And so, while it's not hopeless, it's not very hopeful either. I'm just praying and picturing my little one growing ... hoping my good thoughts will help.
Thanks for letting me know about Parrothead...it helps to hear about others with similar betas who made it past 1st trimester.
I'm doing suppositories instead of shots but 3x/day as opposed to just 1x for shots. Having my beta tomorrow...in the late morning. Should find out results by late afternoon along with e2 and progesterone levels. Different opinions there too...one post said prog shld be at least 10, another said 15 and a 3rd said 20.

Wow Michele - 21 frozen embies is awesome! Are they from the girl's cycle? I'm keeping my fingers, toes and everything crossed for you for today's beta. I hope it rises nicely so that you can be confident in this pregnancy.
I'm glad you are not having to do the PIO shots - those are not fun at all.
I checked my journal to see if I had blogged about E2 & P4 levels during any of my cycles and I had noted that my RE likes E2 to be over 400 and P4 to be over 20 - hope that helps.
Good luck today!

Thought of another thing, when I had my low positive, I thought I might have had a late implanter, so I ate all kinds of fresh pineapple as I'd read it helps w/ implantation. Not sure if it helped or not, but it made me feel like I was doing "something" and at least I didn't feel as helpless in the situation.

Yes they are from the cycle that gave me the girls. For the cycle that produced Liam, I had 18 frozens but all I got from them was a preg which resulted in a m/c. Then again, I did PGD for the first FET (where I did get pg) b/c I wanted a girl and who knows, maybe if I hadn't done so, I would have had my 2nd child from that batch. I believe my RE wants P4 to be 20 but article I read said 10 or above for regular pg and 15+ for IVF cycles. I think he wants the E2 to be 60+.
I actually ate a whole container (16oz) of cottage cheese with pineapple yesterday and put lots of chopped up walnuts in it. Then I read on line that the pineapple is only good for the first 5-7 days after ET and it's now been 11 days since mine so I don't think the extra pineapple will help anymore. Still waiting for phone call from RE. Last time I had a BFN (fresh cycle with a donor who produced not a single full blast for transfer), my period started the day after my 1st HCG. I'm now 2 days after and no period...not even any blood stains on tp and I'm always checking! I should know by 5p. Keeping the faith! Will let you know.

That's a good sign that you have no period yet, my fingers are still crossed for you. Waiting on an update (a good one hopefully)!

Did you do PGD when you got your twin girls? Do you have a gender preference this time?.

I can totally understand why you didn't put back all three - especially after having twins last time. Your donors were/are rock stars! I can't believe how many frozen blasts you got! I have one lone totsicle!

I haven't heard anything about walnuts, are they supposed to help too?

Didn't find out last night until right be4 I had to leave to p/u kids from schools. HCG went down to 9 so I had a chemical pregnancy. I'm very disappointed it didn't stick but am trying to look at it as half full instead of half empty...at least I got pg. Have to meet with RE to discuss failed cycle...I do have some ?s. Will also ask if he can help me out financially b/c I do want to try 1 last time as I was so close. In hindsight, it took 2 failed cycles with my own eggs be4 I had Liam with a fresh donor cycle. Then 2 more failed FETS, plus a failed fresh donor cylce (with nothing leftover to freeze) be4 I got the girls so it just seems that I always have to try more than once. However, if it doesn't work the 2nd time, I will take that as a sign that it's not meant to be.

I did PGD with leftovers from Liam b/c we wanted a girl. At first I wanted to do it, then I was on the fence b/c it cost extra $3500. Steve said why not so we did...wish we hadn't but that's the past.

Yes, walnuts, pineapple (fresh, not canned) and yams (but the "real" version, not ours) are all supposed to help

Are you going to do FET with your totsicle?

So sorry your HCG didn't rise like it was supposed to! I hope your RE will help financially. You must have a reasonably priced one because PGD costs 6K here in AZ and you think we'd be cheaper than So Cal!

With as many totsicles as you have left I bet you could even do more than one more FET (but I hope you don't have to, of course)!

Hoping to do an FET this year, since the clock is ticking!

Thanks Yvonne. I'm meeting with my RE on Friday so I'll know what's going to happen then. I think PGD may be cheaper out here b/c there are so many IVF clinics in SoCal and so that keeps the cost down. I really don't want to do more than 1 more FET. As I'm okay about selective reduction, next time around I will simply have more embies put in so as to hopefully guarantee a preg that will last. I do know of someone that reduced from 3 to 1 and if it comes to that, I will ask her about her experience.

I think you're at the perfect time to have another with July being 3. I wish I had put some more years btwn Liam and the girls. It's tough at times but mainly b/c of having twins. I think in another year when they're 4, it will be much easier as their vocabulary will continue to expand and they might be more responsive to reasoning.

Oh forgot to say that much as I love girls, I want a boy for Liam but will not do PGD. I will be grateful for whatever baby I can have.

I can totally understand not wanting to do more than one more FET, you've been through so much already! That's great that the competition where you live keeps down the costs. We have a total of 7 IVF clinics in the Phoenix area (more REs than 7 though because some clinics have multiple REs in them), I guess that's not enough to get the costs down though.

Good idea putting back more embies, especially since you're okay w/ selective reduction (which, btw, I am too).

I think July's a good age to become a big sister, by the time a baby would be here that is. Ideally, if time was on my side, I'd love to have 5 years between children, get one off to kindergarden and have more time to focus on the newborn, but given my age, I won't try that much spacing. How many years are there between Liam and the girls? I have a gender preference for a sister for July, but if we are blessed enough to have our totsicle stick and it's a boy, I'll be overjoyed too.

Hmm, not quite sure how many we have here but, I know of someone in my IVF group who used a center in San Diego. There's Orange Co, and the valley too in addition to L.A. so there must be at least 30 clinics and I think most of them have more than 1 RE.

I too think July is at a good age for you to try again b/c by the time the baby arrived, she would be 4. I think that really is great spacing for kids, maybe 3 1/2 years if you want to push it. Anything less than that, in my opinion, is difficult b/c a 3 yo is still kind of a baby. There are only 29 mos btwn Liam and the girls and if I hadn't lost the baby I had with my 1st FET after Liam, there would have only been 19 mos btwn Liam and the next child...that would have been really difficult but, I was only pg with a singleton at that time. Twins have pros and cons ... less cons if you're a couple, more if you're a single mom. I do plan on getting a mother's helper if I do have another child. Heck I may even get one if I don't to help me out for a couple of hours every other night and for a few hours on Sats.

Not sure how it is in AZ but many preschools here have full days. The one the girls are in is like that... works out ok for the providers b/c the kids take 2+ hour naps in the afternoon so that gives her some down time to catch up with stuff.

I'll definitely let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Oh Michelle, so sorry! I hope you have a good meeting with your RE. Bless your heart! Please keep us updated.

Hi Michele,
Please update when you can, would love to know how it went at the RE appointment.

Wow, So Cal does have a lot of REs! That's great!

I can see how you could really be able to use a mother's helper - I'd get one w/ three children for sure!
Have a good weekend.
Yvonne