Sunday

Wow -- you folks really know how to come through for a girl! We had a fabulous, fabulous meeting with our RE on Thursday. DH was out-of-town Monday through Friday (yep, it's been a week around here), so my sweet Mom came down on Monday when our loss was confirmed and then again on Wednesday night to be there for Thursday morning's appointment. Anyway, we met with our RE for about 45 minutes, which is like 6 hours in doctor time, and I was the one who wrapped it up when I ran out of questions. He answered everything I asked and then filled in some blanks that I didn't realize were there.

Here's a recap:

• Positive things about this cycle: my body responded well to the stimulation medications, we had beautiful embryos (he got out a textbook of "what embryos should look like" and pulled up our images, and they looked just alike!), my uterus accepted implantation, and the embryo(s) progressed significantly after transfer. All good things! Most of all -- we got pregnant. According to him, that's huge.

• What we're going to do differently this time: I'll definitely be on the PIO shots (this time was oral and Crinone only), so that's going to be a challenge for me (remember, DH does NOT do shots). He is also considering diluting the Lupron dosage in an attempt to get more eggs. He was "perplexed" that we didn't get more eggs (only 8) when my estrogen level was so high (2750). I asked that he be as involved as possible for our next cycle and requested that he do the retrieval this time (another doc in his group did it last time), and he agreed that he would unless he's out-of-town - that's fair.

• Supplements/alternative medicine: He suggested acupuncture, so we're doing it. Has anyone else done it? How have your experiences been?? I'm up for whatever increases our chances, at this point.

• Cause of miscarriage: He said that there was nothing (that he could tell) about the miscarriage that showed it was related to the IVF/ICSI, and believes that we just fell into the 25-30% of pregnancies that, for whatever reason, end. I'm thankful to be normal, for once.

• Status of endo: He thinks that being pregnant, even for as short a time as I was, will have a positive effect on the growth of the endo, and does not plan to repeat the surgery before we try again UNLESS I start having a lot of pain (which I'm not now) or large cysts show up on ultrasound.

• Schedule: We can start back as early as my January cycle which, for now, is the plan.

All in all, very encouraging news. Thanks for all of your suggestions on what questions to ask -- I felt very prepared and equipped for the meeting.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!