A week in review...

Wow, the week has flown by, and I just realized that we haven't posted any updates since before the egg retrieval!

On Saturday, 4/23 we had our third and final egg retrieval.  While we retrieved fewer eggs than expected, it was still the most we've ever gotten during a retrieval--11 eggs.  The next day, the embryologist called us with the fertilization report.  Nine of the 11 eggs were mature, but only five fertilized.  They tried to mature the other two eggs in the lab, but it was unsuccessful.

We were happy to have five fertilized eggs.  On day three, the embryologist called again with an update.  All five embryos were continuing to grow!  They were all within the normal range of cells for day three.  They also look for fragmentation of the embryos.  Two of ours had little to no fragmentation, and three had no fragmentation.  The embryologist told me that this indicates good quality embryos.  I was all smiles!

Today is officially day six.  The embryologist called us this morning with the blast report.  Three of our embryos stopped growing in between day three and day six, and two embryos made it to the blastocyst phase.  Both embryos have the exact same grade--day 6, 4BB.  For reference, a day 5, 5AA is best.  So, our embryos, once again, took longer to get to the blast phase.

I'm really not sure how to feel right now.  On one hand, I'm happy to have two embryos to work with.  On the other hand, I'm disappointed in the grade of both, and it's really hard to get excited for a transfer.  But, these roller coaster emotions are all part of the infertility life, and we are used to it by now.

We will likely have our transfer within the next two months.  But, first, we are going to regroup with our doctor to find out if we should transfer one or two embryos and to make sure that my body is truly ready.

It's trigger day!

I have been stimming for 13 long days now, waiting for follicles to grow.  My belly is bruised, swollen, and sore from all of the daily injections.  But, it is coming to end, and I am ready for my third and final egg retrieval.

At our first follicle check this round, I had very few follicles, and I starting doubting our decision to go for another round with my eggs.  But over the last 13 days, the follicles have continued to grow, and we now have a total of 15, which is a great number for me!  It is estimated that 13 of those follicles will have mature eggs (based on their growth).  This is our best round so far.  I'm trying to stay positive without getting my hopes up, because it all comes down to the quality of those eggs.  I hope that the acai, vitamin cocktail, and changes I've made all come together to help create good quality eggs that fertilize normally and make it to blastocyst.

The egg retrieval is on Saturday.  After 1-2 days, we will get our fertilization report -- how many eggs are mature and how many fertilize.  Another 4-5 days later will find out how many embryos make it to blastocyst.  From there, any embryos we have will be frozen while my body detoxifies from these horrible fertility drugs.  We haven't chosen a transfer date yet, but I imagine it will be approximately 2 months after the retrieval.