Retrieval & Fertilization Report

After my monitoring appointment on Thursday I got a call from the nurse that they wanted me to trigger that night for retrieval on Saturday!  I was shocked, I figured I wasn’t triggering until Friday, but I was glad I wouldn’t have to take any unpaid/sick time at work.  Dr. Sherbahn wanted me to do one last shot of FSH ASAP on Thursday so when I got home from work I did one last injection of 150iu of Gonal & then did my trigger of 10,000 HCG that night at 11:30.  Our retrieval was scheduled for 10:30 AM on Saturday.

We got up early Saturday and made the drive towards Chicago.  It was really foggy so we left a little earlier than we needed to & the drive really wasn’t bad so we got there about 9:30.  They got me in a recovery room right away & had me give a urine sample and get changed into that lovely hospital gown with the open back.  They were running a little bit behind schedule, but not much.  We got all of our post-retrieval instructions and met with the anesthesiologist.  He got the IV hooked up and shortly after they took me back to the procedure room.  The best part is they give you the anesthesia right away and you have no idea what’s going on.  You don’t have to suffer through the torture of the speculum & the poking and prodding for once.

After the procedure I woke up pretty quickly and was very talkative as always.  I also go a bit nauseous so we stuck around for a bit longer than I had expected we would.  Dr. Sherbahn came back and told us that he retrieved 16 eggs!  I was sooo happy with this number as I was hoping for between 15-18.  I wanted to meet right in the middle of our other 2 cycles and that is exactly where we were.  He said that we would treat this as though we will do a fresh transfer, but he expected enough of my eggs to fertilize and that we would more than likely be able to do the PGS testing.  I slept for most of the ride home and relaxed on the couch feeling bloated and sore for the rest of the day.  Joe made me a grilled cheese and some soup and I went to bed early.

On Sunday I got up and did some errands.  I was nervous about hearing our fert report.  By the time I got home from town the doctor’s office had called to tell us that of the 16 eggs retrieved, 15 were mature, and 11 had fertilized with ICSI!  Once again I was so happy because I was hoping for at least 10.  The embryologist said that we are right on track to do the PGS testing and that we will hear back from them on Thursday.  Fingers and toes crossed that our embies continue to develop & progress!  I’d really love to have 6 embryos to send off for testing, if not more!

A lot of people have been asking about when our transfer will be, referring to a Christmas baby, and curious as to what PGS testing is so I thought I’d just quickly explain how that all works.  PGS testing is a screening for chromosomal abnormalities within an embryo, it tests for certain conditions like Down’s Syndrome.  Only 5+ day embryos can be tested so there is never a guarantee that testing will be done, it can only be planned for.  If there are embryos that make it to day 5/6, then those embryos are biopsied & the cells are sent off to a genetic testing lab.  The actual embryos are frozen and kept at the doctor’s office. It will take about a week to get results.  Because of this process we will actually be doing a frozen transfer in January if we have embryos that end up tested. 

Because there is a chance that the embryos may not develop and progress to day 5 as we would like them to, they also prepare us for a fresh transfer so we have started all the necessary meds like progesterone shots just in case.  In the end it is up to us whether we want to have what makes it to day 5 tested.  If we only had 1 embryo make it that far, then the $5000 out of our own pockets for testing is probably not worth it, but if we have a nice number (like the 6 that I’d like to see), then we would feel more confident about spending that kind of money to have this done. 

As always, appreciate all the sweet comments, thoughts, prayers, love, and support over these last few days!  Fingers crossed for good numbers on Thursday!