One finished line crossed, a few more to go.

Hi all-

A quick update on the egg retrieval today. It went great. I thoroughly enjoyed the propofol and spared the nurse anesthetist any bad Conrad Murray/Michael Jackson jokes. The whole procedure only took 15 minutes and Dr. Compassion did not have to go through my abdomen. He retrieved 3 mature follicles that held 3 eggs. This was a huge relief as I was terrified that although I had follicles, they would be empty. 

Right before the procedure, I had a quick conversation with Dr. C regarding  ICSI. ICSI was initially used when the fertility issue was severe Male Factor. Since this has never been our issue, we never thought we'd go down that route. Well, as I wrapped my head around the idea that we were only working with 3 eggs, it seemed more appealing to actually force their fertilization. Dr. C agreed. So, now I wait to clear this next hurdle. Tomorrow at 9:30ish, I'll be getting a phone call from the lab to see if these eggs fertilized via ICSI.

The next topic covered was the idea of transfer. I was hesitant to plan too much, because before we can transfer we need fertilization to occur. But, Dr. C wanted to mention it. So we had the conversation. You may hear a lot of talk about 3 vs 5 day embryo transfer. In my case, we may not even wait 3 days. When there is concern over egg quality and when you are working with a limited number of eggs, there is a growing push to transfer embryos back on day 2. As Dr. C put it, I'm a better incubator than the lab.

Hope he's right.

But tonight, I take my mom's advice and am thankful for a successful retrieval. I'll say my prayers for good news from the lab tomorrow.

Thanks all, for your messages, good wishes, phone calls, text messages, emails and support. It has meant a tremendous amount to me. 

Love,

Mrs. T