A plan is forming...

I can't say it's a good plan, but it's the best I can come up with under duress.

Yesterday, I spoke with a Dr. at the local clinic DH and I got treatment at prior to the one we're at now. He's actually the one who did the last transfer to my GS. We do still have some embryos frozen there. I haven't said much about them because they are untested. And, out of the 3 blasts transferred to me from that batch back when I did the fresh cycle and 3 blasts transferred to my GS back in Nov., we only had the one pregnancy which she miscarried due to an abnormal embryo. So, I'm far from optimistic for the remaining embryos. We have 2 Day 6 blasts, 3 Day 2 two cells and 3 Day 2 three cells. At best, I'm thinking 1 of the Day 2's may make it to blast and we'd be able to transfer 3 (assuming both blasts even survive).

Anyway, the Dr. there said DQ Alpha/HLA matching was something that was a popular topic of interest with a group of Dr.'s back in the 90's. However, no good research ever came out to prove it has an effect. He did a search for me of current research but did not find anything. He said some Dr.'s rely on their own anecdotal experiences with their patients to support their theories. He doesn't feel it's an issue and they don't even test for it (which seems to be the case with most clinics). However, I did go to the Las Vegas clinic because they deal with more difficult cases so it's reasonable to believe there are more obscure issues behind the failures. I'm not sure what to think at this point. I do feel comfortable with just going ahead and transferring the remaining embryos at the local clinic to my current GS. She is geared up to do a transfer. We do have to use those embryos at some point. And, granted, I suppose there is a tiny chance one normal one might sitting there in the few we haven't used yet. And, despite what the other Dr. said, I'm still quite convinced that she has a better chance for a good outcome than I do. Nonetheless, we're all setting our expectations even lower than very low for this one. Since she was on bcp's, we're just converting her over to this clinic's protocol and should be able to have a transfer around the same time in May as we were expecting to at the other clinic.

The other part of my plan is still the same. I'm still searching for a new GS for the embryos at the Las Vegas clinic. I really do not want to resort to using an agency (and the extra $ 13,000-$15,000 fee they charge) but may have to since I'm not having any luck finding someone on my own so far.

DH and I still haven't decided about doing an 8th fresh cycle. I feel like, if we're going to such a huge expense to get another surrogate, isn't it kind of silly not to do more than one transfer if one doesn't work? Usually, contracts cover up to 3 transfers. Then again, doing another cycle would also cost a lot of money and, after last time, I'm not feeling very optimistic we would get anything out of it.

Meanwhile, after completion of our last fresh cycle (which we thought was our last), DH has reverted back to his bad habits (well, bad for sperm anyway) of having a few beers after work, taking scalding hot baths and not taking any of his antioxidants. I feel like that puts us at least 3 months away from another cycle as it is. He told me to let him know if we're doing another cycle so he can go back to his "Quaker lifestyle". I really can't decide what to do. :{