Retrieval, Fertilization, and Biopsy Results

Sorry for the delay but here is how things went:

Retrieval went well. It was on a Tuesday. Kevin said it only took half the amount of time it took last time and Dr. V said that my ovaries "felt" healthy based on the resistance she had while retrieving the eggs. I woke up to great news - 23 eggs retrieved! She was worried about OHSS however and had me take my one leftover Ganirelix when I got home and start Cabergoline for 8 days. I felt crampy (but less than last time.) However, I think Thursday was the roughest because I went back to work Wednesday and by Thursday I was barely waddling. K went out of town for a marathon and thankfully my aunt came from out of town to take care of me and E, since he was too heavy for me to lift. We had a great time.

The day after retrieval I got an email saying that of the 23 eggs 16 were mature, 3 were immature, and 4 were empty zonas. They attempted ICSI on all of the 16 mature eggs. 12 fertilized to a 2 PN which is the normal first stage of fertilization, 2 fertilized abnormally to a 3 PN stage, and 2 did not fertilize. So we had pretty good maturity and fertilization rates. On day 6 I hadn't heard from the clinic, but I saw a charge go through on my credit card from Genesis Genetics so I was pretty hopeful that that meant there was something to biopsy. I called the clinic and finally got a call back a few hours later that 2 embryos made it to biopsy. We elected for a batching option with instant results through Genesis that is a set price for as many cycles as it takes to get a normal embryo. I was very nervous with only 2 embryos, but one of my good IVF buddies kept my spirits up. I was told results would take 7 days, but after only 2 days I had a message while at work that my results were in. I had to wait a few hours to get in touch with the geneticist at my RE, but I finally got a call back. The first embryo had an unbalanced translocation that is consistent with K's balanced translocation :( but the second embryo is genetically normal! It was the best news in months!

We couldn't do a transfer right away because my clinic requires 1 month of birth control prior to transfer. We also have plans to go out of the country on an adults only trip in March, so we decided to wait until after our trip for the transfer. I started birth control with my period after IVF and will stay on birth control till March 8th, when I will stop it. I go in for labs and an ultrasound to make sure things are good to go on March 13th. If things are good I will start oral estrogen. We are planning for a regimen similar to the FET that I got pregnant with E. Then I will go in for a lining check on March 23rd. If things look good I will start progesterone in oil when appropriate for a transfer on March 31.

They gave me the option of any day March 31-April 3 for the transfer, pending things going as panned. If we did April 3rd it would mean a due date of 12/25, which was my due date for my first pregnancy/miscarriage. If things worked out it would feel like a good redemption, but if things went badly I think Christmas would become even more painful, so I decided to avoid that day.