Here is your biweekly dose of IVF content 😉
I had my retrieval surgery last Thursday. This process is all too familiar with me now so I knew exactly what to expect. If there is a favorite part of this, the medicine they give me to knock me out would be it. I try to see how long I can stay awake each time. Recovery was a little tougher this time. For some reason, my throat was killing me when I woke up from the surgery. I am guessing it had to be the tube they put down my throat. I vaguely remember the nurse putting it in, but I was quickly out right after (and didn’t feel a thing). So here it is…
We had 11 eggs retrieved (12 were retrieved the first round). I was happy with this number. The day before, my doctor said she thought she would be able to get 10 from looking at my follicle numbers so 11 was a nice surprise. My doctor always reminds me, quality over quantity!
8 eggs matured and ICSI’d (selected sperm is directly injected into the egg) *I didn’t know what that stood for a couple post ago but I do now!
7 eggs from that matured normally (we had 5 the first round)
We had 7 embryos in the lab and those would go through the blastocyst stage (refer to “As you recall…” post)
They tell you right away how many eggs were retrieved within minutes after the surgery. You find out on day 6 which of those 7 embryos made it past the blastocyst stage. Typically it’s between 40%-50% make it.
We had 3 make it (we had 2 the first round so one more this time!)
Those 3 embryos will be shipped off to Miami for genetic testing. They do not transport the whole embryo. Those stay snug in a fridge (non medical term). They only take a little biopsied piece of the embryo and ship it off. We will know within the next week or so how many of our 3 embryos are healthy enough to transfer (if any). This is the part that halted the process for us the first time. We are hoping, praying 1 of those 3 are healthy. But we just don’t know and we’ll just have to wait until then. Craig and I are very guarded this time. We are not letting ourselves think about the good or the bad. We are just kind of…blank right now (if that makes sense).
It was a lot of medicine this time. A lot of needles! I had 9 days of medicine the first round. I had 12 days of medicine this time – that’s:
36 shots total for 12 days (that’s 9 more then last time)
I would take a picture of my stomach and all the track marks, but I’ll spare you. Starting tomorrow, I will go back on birth control. This helps decrease the chances of creating cysts that could interfere with the cycle. It also allows my doctor to control the timing of everything.
Craig asked me the other night if I get sad when I see other people announcing their pregnancies. I have never envied anyone else in this kind of situation. I never think, “why them and not us”. Have I cried, yes. Mostly because it just reminds me how much we have gone through and how much more there still is to go. But when we do finally get there, it will be awesome! I am so thankful for Craig. It’s funny, he can technically go to a strip club right now and have boobs (and other things) in his face but he has yet to be able to go to one appointment with me and stand in a corner. I’ll leave you with a quote from the great Tupac Shakur:
“Through all the rain and the pain,
you gotta keep your sense of humor.
You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit”.
― Tupac Shakur
Until next time…