Eggcellent

It has been a while since I have last posted.  A lot and not a lot has happened since then.  Last Monday, June 8th, we started injections to begin our first egg retrieval in our IVF cycles.  It has been a new experience.  My husband and I went to a class that explained how the entire cycle should go assuming everything goes according to plan.  At this class they had us practice mixing the medications we would likely be using.  Once the time came to start the injections it was exciting!  We were finally starting IVF.  After giving myself a shot for two nights at the same time they had me go in for a blood test to make sure my body was reacting appropriately and not getting to much or too little.  Two days later I had an ultrasound and another blood test.  At this ultrasound, only 5 days after beginning the injections, the counted and measured all the follicles growing in my ovaries.  They found quite a few.  It was exciting to think that one of those little follicles that looks like a hole in my ovary could one day be a child.  Everything looked good.  Two days later I had another ultrasound and blood test.  They measured the follicles once again and I couldn't believe how big they were getting.  I asked the nurse how much they grow and she said your ovaries start as the size of a walnut and by the time we were ready to retrieve the eggs my ovaries would be about the size of a grapefruit!  The ideal follicle size was about 19 millimeters or the size of a quarter.  Crazy!  I couldn't believe her except I could feel the pressures and pains from my overgrown ovaries.  Needless to say it was not time to take the shot that would trigger me to ovulate which is a high dosage of HCG or a Lupron shot.  They have found it causes ones body to trigger ovulation exactly 36 hours later.  This knowledge allows the doctors to go in at hour 35 and retrieve the eggs at the peak of their maturity!  One more day to go...I went in the next day for another ultrasound to measure the follicles.  Some of the follicles had grown 3 to 5 millimeters.  Which is crazy considering they expect them to grow 1 to 2 militers a day once they reach a certain point.  I had 9 follicles that were mature and 4 more that were a millimeter short.  As of right now I am waiting for the nurse to tell me if I get to take my trigger shot or if I need to wait one more day so as to allow the remaining few follicles to mature.  On Tuesday June 16th I had an ultrasound and there was a large number of eggs that were mature.  They had me take my trigger shot that evening.  I did a Lupron shot because they were nervous I was going to hyper stimulate.  Ovarian hyper stimulation Syndrome is usually uncomfortable and can lead to serious issues if not monitored by a doctor.  I took my trigger shot at 10:00 pm on Tuesday and was scheduled for 9:00am on Thursday morning.  We had to get there at 8:30 so my husband could make his deposit so everything was ready when the eggs were harvested and rested for a little while.
The had me out on a hospital gown and a hair net.  I wasn't supposed to wear anything too smelly because embryos and eggs are sensitive to smells.  Weird huh?  My husband and I waited for a little while and they finally took me back.  They had me lay in a chair kind of like a dentist chair but it had stirrups at the bottom.  I laid down and the anesthesiologist talked to me.  Then the embryologist explained his role and then I was out!  I took a great nap for about 30 minutes.  I woke up quickly...they say and was on my way home within a half an hour of waking up.  They told me they had retrieved 28 eggs!  That is a lot apparently.  Before we left the Dr, talked to me and told me that women with PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) usually make a lot of eggs but the eggs are a poorer quality resulting in a poorer quality embryo.  I didn't get what he meant until a few days later.
They called us the next morning telling us that of the 28 eggs, 19 were mature and 16 fertilized normally.  I told my husband happy fathers day...you have 16 children.  I was laying flat for the next few days as I didn't feel the best.  The nurse called us on Sunday morning...day 3 of embryo development and told us we still had 16 embryos.  They rated the embryos this day.  Kind of like giving them a grade.  We had 2 excellent, 8 good, 3 fair and 3 poor.  She also mentioned that not all of them would survive to day 5 when they were to biopsy.  On day 5 she called me again and our embryos were not ready to biopsy so we had to wait another day.  On day 6 she called and told me they were able to biopsy and freeze 9 embryos.  Of the embryos they froze they were only fair and poor quality.  These can still result in a child it's just a little less likely.
As of right now we have 9 children or embryos and are waiting to do our second and final retrieval  before testing the biopsy samples.  9 embryos is a lot!  Unfortunately they aren't the best quality and  them having survived this long doesn't mean they are free of the genetic mutation we are trying to avoid.  Only time will tell if IVF is going to work.