Our IVF cycle is starting to turn 3rd base and we are sprinting toward home base! Last week we had our egg retrieval on Friday and since it has been the craziest rollar coaster ride. I expected IVF to be emotional and I though ceasing hormone injections would help decrease the crazy, but I was oh so wrong!
Post egg retrieval you go into this pattern of waiting. Waiting to see how many eggs were retrieved, waiting to see how many eggs are viable, waiting for the fertilization report, waiting for your ovaries to feel normal again, waiting for the bloating to die down, waiting for embryo updates, etc.
In addition to waiting on EVERYTHING, you also begin progesterone. This is no joke!!! I will be sobbing out of control, then be immediately happy, then tired, then starving, then irritable. It is like your PMS symptoms on steroids. My poor husband; I really do feel bad for him right now more than ever.
While we are still waiting for transfer and a Day 5 update, followed by the intimidating 2ww. (2 week wait to find out if it worked), we have certainly learned this is a statistics game. Higher top numbers, typically mean higher embryos that are good to transfer. I support the skates function at my job, and they are always talking about a funnel for metrics. This is the same thing. Who knew those nut cases actually had a value add to my life without even knowing about it!! That being said, we like to shake it up in our house and are basically doing everything off of the bell curve.
The average cycle consists of 10 eggs retrieved, 8 mature, 6 fertilized, 4 day 3 good quality embryos and 2 day 5 blasts.
Currently we stand at 21 eggs retrieved, 15 mature, 11 fertilized and 8 day 3 good quality embryos. Most declination happens between day 3 and day 5 so I am a nervous wreck. But what is crazy is when we initially got our fertilization report only 9 had fertilized (que pity party), this morning another 2 had, they were just late to the party! I was so excited!!!
Our final injection(trigger shot) and my egg retrevial
I am sure I will be posting and rambling post transfer but today, I am emotionally shot. I wanted to wrap up by certainly giving glory to God. He is so good to us, and has blessed us in this process beyond measure. And for those who have stood with us in hope and faith and prayed for our embabies before they even existed, my sincerest thanks.
House of Holts 