1 November 2011

Post "BFN" Consultation with Dr Prashant

I was very nervous while waiting for 1+ hour to see Dr. Longest I've waited to see Dr. But Dr also prefered to speak to us last, since its gonna be a long discussion. Which I totally agreed. I was hoping that I don't melt down and create a drama in front of him. Luckily I didn't.....


After my ET Dr mentioned that he'd be surprised if I don't get pregnant. Apparently it's due to 2 reasons.


1. My uterus lining was perfect on the day of transfer (I think it was 8mm)
2. My 8 cell embie was compacting which means edges between the cells are getting blurred, so it's becoming harder to count the number of cells. Compacting embryo has more chances of implanting compared to my 2nd embie which was 6 cell.


Ok, in that case 'Why didn't I get pregnant?' No answer for that. This stage is beyond anyone's control. So we have to leave it to fate.


Could it be due to my dry cough? No you cannot clearly define the cause for BFN.


Dr believes that we should continue to try. He firmly believes that I can get pregnant due to these reasons.


1. Age Factor I'm going to be 34 
2. We got good quality embryos.


But my problem is getting matured eggs, since my eggs were not matured enough it had been difficult to retrieve them.


So challenge now is to get matured eggs. For which Dr recommended I should continue with my medication. 


I want to take a break, I really don't like dumping whole loads of tablets into me. So both of us can start medicine 3 months before our next cycle. And of course loosing weight could help to improve egg quality and uterus lining.


Also it is believed that fish oil, royal jelly, green tea, acupuncture and Co-Q 10 could improve egg quality. But I'm not sure if its ok to take all these together.


Dr recommended a change in approach for our next cycle. Which could be freezing the embryos and transferring them after a natural cycle. Sometimes patients uterus can be sensitive to stimulation hormones. Scan cannot determine this sensitivity. (Japanese usually practice this method)


Also getting the embryos to blastocyst stage and doing D5 embryo transfer is another option. But in my case I'm not sure if I'd get embryos till blastocycst stage, because during past 2 cycles I only got 2 embryos.


Other important factor facilitating implantation is stress levels. More positive, stable and cheerful you are greater the chances of implantation. This is proven in an Israeli research where clowns performed to patients for 15 minutes after the procedure. “Medical Clowning” improved pregnancy rates compared to a group not exposed to a clown on the day of implantation." In conclusion patients who are less stressed and are positive in attitude had better outcomes.  (See source article)


Since having this kind of entertainment is not available everywhere, we can take our own entertainment devise with us to keep us relaxed after ET. Also figure out our own means of being cool and calm during the whole treatment process. It could be meditation, exercise, yoga, acupuncture.....


Ok now my focus is on weight loss and on improving my egg quality.


One major relief is Dr's strong belief that I can get pregnant. sigh....our journey continues...