Embryo update

This roller coaster ride just won't end.  (But when it does, I hope we are left with a smile.)  I was reading another woman's blog of her journey in trying to conceive.  She said, "Life as an IVF patient means that you pretty much live in a state of constant suspense."  She couldn't be more right.

Our egg retrieval on Monday resulted in 9 eggs of 12 follicles.  On Tuesday we got the first call from the embryologist regarding the fertilization results.  Of the nine eggs, only seven were mature, ready for fertilization.  Of those seven mature eggs, only three fertilized normally.  Three.  How could it be only three??  We started with 12 follicles and now we are down to three fertilized eggs.

The problem is my endometriosis and the effect it has on my eggs.  Each of the seven mature eggs had to have any endometriosis cells removed, which also removes the binding agent that the sperm needs to fertilize the eggs.  In addition, the endometriosis attacks the eggs, leaving them with poor quality.  This is why we are left with only three normally fertilized eggs.

Once again, I felt heartbroken.  I realize that three embryos is better than zero.  But, at the same time, three is so few.  And if anything happens with those three, then we are left with even fewer embryos.  The fewer the embryos we have, the lesser the chance of a successful pregnancy from this cycle of IVF.  Some people go through multiple rounds of IVF, so if it doesn't work out the first time, maybe it will the next time.  But, I don't think we will have a "next time."  It's expensive; it's REALLY expensive, especially when insurance won't pay a penny.  Looking at Chase, we know that you can't put a price on having a child.  It's the BEST experience in the world, and we would pay any price to have Chase all over again.  But, the worst part of IVF is the stress, the emotional toll it takes.  And we are not sure that it would be healthy for us to go through all of this again, especially with Andrew's heart condition.

The tables turned again today when we got the day-2 embryo update from our embryologist.  The three embryos that made it to day-1 are still going strong.  They have made it to day-2!  Two of those eggs have divided into four cells and one of the eggs has divided into five cells.  On day-2, they look for four cells; that is what's ideal.  But, the 5-cell egg does not pose any problems right now, and all three embryos are of good quality.  The picture below will help you better understand what the embryos should look like at each day.  We hope that all three eggs make it to day-5, the blastocyst phase.  On that day, we will have the embryo transfer.

The embryologist will call us again tomorrow with the day-3 update.  They don't open the incubator on day-4, so tomorrow will be the last update we get until we go in for the transfer on day-5.  We will try to stay positive until then :)