Slow embryos on days 1-3=bad eggs?

I got my records from my RE and on day 3, 4 of our embies were either 2 or 3 cells. I had 1 at 4 cells and another at 5 cells. Those last 2 went on to be compacting embies on day 5. The others all arrested on day 3. Aren't they supposed to be at least 6 cells on day 3? All had about 25% fragmentation. So I’m wondering if this is an egg issue? We're dealing with male factor infertility and ovulation issues with me so I guess I'm sort of surprised to see our status on day 3. I guess there is no test to test for bad eggs - that test is IVF in fact. So you never know what you are going to get until you actually get the eggs out. Something to bring up at our follow-up consult I suppose.

Vitamins, vitamins, vitamins!

While we are waiting to hear about what happened with our last cycle, we are moving on and gearing up for another IVF cycle in a couple months. I have added 1000 (don't know the unit) of Royal Jelly to the rest of my supplements. I was already taking vitamins E, C, B complex, prenatal, omega 3, & coq10. I also started taking myoinositol, melatonin, and L-arginine. Hubby is on multi, vitamins E, C, B12, Lcarnitine, Larginine, coq10, zinc, selenium and just started him on pycnogenol & royal jelly. PHEW!! Don't even want to begin to think about how much $ I've spent so far on vitamins alone. But I have realized that there are a lot of deals to be found regarding vitamins if you are willing to look around. My grocery store and CVS routinely has buy one get one free sales and also have found a lot of good deals online - www.swansons.com is a good site that has cheap vitamins. I may have gone off the deep end with the supplements but we'll see what happens! Really believe that they can make a difference. I feel really good when taking them, so hopefully that's a good indicator!

Cycle recap

My period came last Wednesday morning (the day of my beta ironically) and beta came back negative. Hubby & I spent all day weeping and feeling sorry for ourselves and then dragged ourselves out of the house the following day to go spend Thanksgiving Day with hubby's family. It was the best thing we could have done - to be around normal happy people. We didn't tell any of them about our IVF procedure so there weren't any questions or anything and we were thankful for that. The following day I set up a WTF (what the fuck) appt with our RE for Dec 6th, did some research on what to do for our next cycle, & did some looking at other clinics.

To recap our previous IVF cycle, my stim response was borderline OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome). I was "coasting" a lot. I didn't feel uncomfortable at all, but my E2 (estradiol) number was too high. They put me on Cabergoline to prevent OHSS after triggering ovulation with HCG and got 10 eggs, 8 mature, and 6 fert normally with ICSI. By day 5 we had 2 compacting embies - no blasts or morulas. Usually about 1/3 of fertilized embryos will make it to blastocyst stage on day 5. - but ours were slow We transferred both of the embryos that were still alive and did not have any frosties. I had a positive outlook up until our embryo transfer day when we didn't have any blasts. I kept my negativity to myself but just didn't have the best feeling. The embryologist said not to worry, that they see embies like ours make it to blast by day 6 all the time - but that didn't really appease me. I spent the next 1.5 weeks trying to relax and distract myself. But last Tuesday night my cramps and spotting started and I broke down. Hubby was still positive, said that he read stories about women spotting and cramping during early pregnancy, but I just knew. Sure enough, my period showed up that following morning. I was on progesterone suppositories too - so not really sure why my period showed. My nurse said that "that happens sometimes" though so I guess I won't worry about that.

It's official... BFN

Well, this cycle is officially a bust. Aunt Flow showed her ugly face this morning and beta just came back negative.

Don't have a good feeling

I really hate to be a downer but I had a meltdown today. I started spotting and having period-like cramps at work. When I finally got home, I broke down. My hubby did some quick googling for me and told me to relax - that from what he could see, lots of ladies have spotting and cramping when they are preggo - but I just don't know. This feels like the ugly witch is on her way even though I'm still on progesterone. I am not expecting much from my beta tomorrow morning if the witch stays away that long. Just trying to keep it in perspective - if it's negative, I'm not going to die or anything - we'll just re-group and try again.

Not testing before beta

I am not testing before my beta test on Wednesday. I just can't do it! I am enjoying the dream too much to ruin it and create too much anxiety:( I so want to know though! I'm only 2 days away - well really only 1 day now. So if I got thru the past couple days without testing, I'm going to wait. Just starting to get so so so nervous! At least we have plan B - trying again immediately when our insurance rolls over next year... trying to stay positive though.

5dp5dt update

I am 5dp5dt (5 days past 5 day transfer) today and am surprised at how easily I've been able to resist testing. Cramps did come back for me last night with some pretty noticeable pinches and boobs are slightly tender. But all can be explained by progesterone I guess. I am wondering when the Aunt Flow typically arrives in an IVF cycle if it fails? After progesterone support stops or does it just come when it usually comes? Well, time will tell - hopefully my period will just stay away for 9 months!