New Surrogate

Thought i'd update everyone as it's been nearly a week.

Not exactly the best week of our lives but we are getting through and found out yesterday that they have found a new SM! This is great news. We were prepared to use the original SM but the Doc in Bangkok advised against it as she produced an antibody which attacks embryo's in her womb. He was suprised that she has a son already as her body produced quite a high level of this antibody. So unfortunately we have to let the first SM go, it's quite a sad choice but we need to carry on and hopefully one day bring home our baby.

The new SM is young (22) has one son already and is ready to start taking Progynova after her next period, so all being well in the next 6 weeks we should have another transfer. It's our last three blastocysts from the previous cycle. We don't know how many will make the thawing process, but its estimated to be 60+% so hopefully 2 will make it!

Great news to all the expectant parents out there! Its great to read your profiles and feel that having a baby and taking it home HAPPENS! fingers crossed to everyone out there and we'll be reading your blogs with anticipation and excitement. I look forward to posting some good news soon :)

Sad news......

We had a very sad, heartbreaking day yesterday. We were waiting for the beta results and first scan to see how many gestational sacs our surrogate would have and unfortunately some time in the last few days our SM miscarried, she hasn't passed on the embryo's yet but they did not continue to grow and her beta level was only 12.

We are extremely upset by the news as we were content with how things were progressing. Its hard to say how it feels to finally get pregnant and lose it so soon. We are being strong and will not give up on our dream of having our own family. We are making plans now for our next transfer as we still have 3 blastocysts frozen and ready. The agency advised us that its the first miscarriage they have had in 50 pregnancies, so they are concerned that it could be to do with our SM rather than the embryo itself. We are waiting to hear off the doctor today to shed any light on what happened. We are not giving up at all.....we have come this far, which I never thought was possible and we'll continue until we take our baby home with us. We want to thank everyone for all your support so far and please keep your thoughts with us as we will hopefully continue our journey soon. Best wishes Adam and Michael x

It's all about the Beta's!!!

So we just had an email yesterday from the Doc in Bangkok about our Beta numbers. The HcG levels are now on 165, which is good for 14 days post transfer. They should be around 5-400+ so progressing well but definitely not a multiple!!! It started on 70 on Monday the first and by wednesday just over double, so we're happy!! Our lovely SM has her scan on 17th March or their abouts , so our baby will be 6 weeks and a day by then. This is when they'll check heart beats, gestational sacs etc....so fingers crossed till then!

Its still a shock that we're pregnant and over the moon with all your support and kind wishes. We hope the same for everyone else and have been checking your stories regularly too. So fingers crossed our baby continues to grow stronger and we'll post again soon!!

Yes, yes, yes!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely great news, after a day of stomach-churning waiting (and receiving the news 2 hours later than planned) we received the following sms message from the agency:

'She's not pregnant...(I'm kidding)'

It's quite difficult to see the funny side in that on reflection, as my stomach did perform an impressive somersault when I read the first three words!!!

Phewwwwwwww!!!!!! We are obviously thrilled and can't describe how happy we feel. The hCG level from the blood test was 70, so not as high as people might hope for but certainly not the lowest. The Doctor says that for 12 days post-blastocyst transfer, this is a reasonable average.

12 day post-transfer hCG level for a 3 day old embryo should be between 17-429

For 5 day old blastocyst, 2 days have to be taken off, so the ideal level is 17-147 so we are slap bang in the middle.

Not being the highest or the lowest, and being comfortably in the middle is possibly the best place for us to be... trying to balance the thrill of today's news with the anxiety to come is no mean feat but it's quite difficult to come down from this high!

The SM has another blood test on Wednesday, so everything extremely tightly crossed that the hGC level will double tomorrow then double again on Wednesday.

Time for a beer, cheers!!!!!!!!!

20 Hours to go....

Well we're in the final stretch of our 2WW and i'm extremely nervous and apprehensive about tomorrow. This 2WW feels like its been the longest two weeks ever....I have wished it away but now it's nearly finished I just hope to god that it continues with positive news. We find out Monday around 12 p.m. Hong Kong time which is GMT +8. We've done all we can to make sure this pregnancy happens, even letting the little ones get to the blastocyst stage as we knew there was a risk that most of them wouldn't even make it to that stage. The SM has been taking all her injections regularly with supplements and we know her period is due tomorrow. So either way we will know tomorrow! She hasn't felt any different which I don't know is a good sign or not and it's quite difficult now not to feel negative as we are so far away from the SM. We're just praying for good news! The embryo's should of been transferred around the 12-15th Feb, but as the SM lining wasn't ready they allowed the embryo's to proceed to the blastocyst stage and they were eventually transferred on the 17th Feb. Although its only been 11 days since embryo transfer, it has been 16 days since the embryos were created, so hopefully they are growing nicely in their new home!! We'll post again tomorrow but would appreciate any positive energy or thoughts that come our way!! Fingers crossed x

Blast off!! Blastocyst Embryo's

To keep ourselves occupied, we have downloaded pictures of our Embryos, the first one is of 3 that were transferred to our surrogate on the 17th Feb and the other picture is of 3 Blastocyst embryo's that were frozen, and two that were too small and underdeveloped at that stage. We have a weekend of waiting to come, which wont be fun at all but Monday is soon here! If you don't know what a blastocyst is, I'll try and explain in a roundabout way......Are you seated comfortably??? :)

During normal conception the embryo doesn't normally reach the uterus until day four or five after fertilisation, and by delaying transfer, the blastocyst can be placed into the uterus at the same stage that it would arrive naturally. Usually only 30-50 percent of embryos grow to blastocyst stage, so by doing this process you are giving the embryos the best chance of development and also stop the chance of implanting embryos that would not have developed naturally. Still with us???

Hope that makes sense and you can work out what the pictures actually are. In the three that were transferred, the thinner layer around the outside eventually turns into the umbilical cord and the small group of cells becomes the baby! (everything crossed!) We'll update on Monday x

5 More Days

Well, we're half way through the dreaded 2WW.....it feels like sometimes it's taking ages and at others going fast, we have 5 more days left and should hopefully hear on Monday. I feel like I can concentrate on nothing else at the minute and it's affecting my work at school. It's hard to concentrate when you want something so badly that you feel your head could explode at times! We can do no more than just wait and hold our breath! We heard off Amp yesterday who said the surrogate is doing well and still injecting to help the embryo's attach and grow.... Don't have much to say but thank you all for your love and support over the last few weeks, it means a lot to us to have your thoughts with us over this horrible wait. We'll update again on Monday so watch this space...keep everything crossed!!!

Wednesday 17th, Transfer Day...

Surrogate had another check-up on Monday, but her womb lining still wasn't ready. So the 11 embryo's we're allowed to culture to the blastocyst stage. Was worried that any other good quality embryo's other than the best three (for implant) might not be able to be frozen, but got told that with a different combination of chemicals, blastocyst embryo's CAN be frozen, although it does cost more.

Another check-up for the SM was scheduled for Wednesday (today). At 10am, 3 good quality blastocyst embryo's were transfered. We met Amp, the surrogacy agent early afternoon and received the following news:

From the original 11 good quality embryo's, by day five, 8 had progressed to blastocyst stage, but only 6 were good quality. So three have been transfered today, and the remaining 3 have been frozen.

Now the dreaded 12 day wait..... fingers EXTREMELY tightly crossed!!!!

A long weekend of waiting........

This weekend was Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, and everyone has disappeared. Information is very thin on the ground. There is probably not much news to give, but the wait is killing me!!!! I dread to think how awful and tense the 'two week wait' is going to be when the embryo's are finally transfered.

SM was scanned on Sunday, and her womb lining still isn't the desired thickness for embryo transfer. So more injections, and she will return to the hospital on Tuesday for another scan.

Still have 11 good embryos (as of Tuesday afternoon), so the hospital recommend allowing 4 to develop to the blastocyst stage, with a view to implant 3. The other 7 have now been frozen. This means that embryo implant will either take place tomorrow or Wednesday (day 5). Fingers very tightly crossed that the SM's wall lining will have been given every opportunity to develop to the desired thickness!!!

Going to the hospital tomorrow to meet the doctor, see where everything is at, and will probably go to the UK Consulate to enquire what documents I will need to issue any children born a UK passport.

Egg Donor

We selected our egg donor from a list sent from the agency about 2 months prior (we decided around Christmas time). This allowed the hospital and agency time to find a potential Surrogate Mother (SM from here on) and ensure that through medication, they could synchronize their periods.

During our first weekend in Bangkok, whilst donating sperm, the egg donor had 35 eggs extracted (yes, 35!!!!!!!!!!) at the same time. Of these, 23 were good quality according to the lab. After fertilizing these with the sperm on Friday 12th Feb, we was informed by email Saturday morning that we have 11 good quality embryo's developing, amazing news!

The hospital advise that we use three embryo's for implant, and we freeze the remaining 8 for further use if the first attempt is not successful.

According to the hospital, the SM had more injections on Friday to increase her wall thickness (it needs to be around 7mm) She will have another scan on Sunday (Valentine's Day) to see if she is ready. If she is, they will transfer the embryo's on Monday 15th.

We have been given the option to develop the 3 embryo's to the blastocyst stage. This means that the embryo will be more mature and potentially stronger (with 120 cells) than implanting an embryo at a lesser-developed stage (with maybe 8-16 cells). This costs an extra THB10,000, but might only be necessary if the SM's lining is not thick enough, allowing extra time for the wall to increase whilst maintaining the quality of the embryo's without freezing.

We are waiting for the hospital to get back to us tomorrow (Sunday 14th) to see what stage the SM is at, if she will be ready for embryo transfer on Monday, or if we have to wait a day or two more...