Donor Retrieval & Fertilization Report

Happy Monday!  I am still in shock by how quickly this cycle is flying by!  I remember just a short few weeks ago I had so much worry that we may not even by cycling this month, now we are just a few hours away from leaving for Georgia! 

On Wednesday at Amy’s monitoring appointment Dr. Servy gave Amy the option to retrieve Friday or Saturday with Saturday being the better day & giving us a better chance of retrieving more mature eggs than we would on Friday.  Amy is a nurse and has a very set schedule & does not get paid if she has to call in.  She had used most of her vacation time for her family trip they had taken right before our cycle and Friday was her scheduled day off so we were really hoping to get her in on Friday.  She made the decision to have the retrieval on Saturday & had to call in to work and miss a day of pay.  Bless her heart!

So Saturday morning she was to be at the doctor’s office by 8:15 to meet with anesthesia and prep for surgery.  She was constantly updating me & if you’ve been through IVF then you know that retrieval only takes about 20 minutes total so I had heard back from her pretty quickly that they had retrieved TEN eggs!  I was very happy with this number.  My hope was 12, but I know that it’s quality over quantity and was totally satisfied with this number.  Amy said that she was feeling good and was going to take it easy the rest of the afternoon.  I was happy that her part of this cycle was over & she could finally relax and recover from the stims & the retrieval.  It’s so much to put your body through, especially for another person!  Thank you Amy!

The day after retrieval is considered day 1 and that’s usually the day you receive your fertilization report.  I was pretty anxious in the morning while I awaited the call, but I was also recovering from a slight hangover from my birthday party the night before.  We had about 30 people over Saturday night to celebrate my big 3-0 and it was such a blast!  It was a Happy Camper themed party and it turned out so cute & we had such a blast!  Thank you to everyone who came to help me ring in this new decade & to my best friend & husband who organized it all!

By noon I was starving and I still hadn’t heard from the doctor so Joe and I jumped on the bike and took a nice ride and went for lunch.  I was still pretty anxious that I hadn’t heard but I figured, every clinic is different, maybe they don’t make Sunday calls, maybe it’s different with donor eggs, etc. etc. trying to come up with reasons as to why I hadn’t heard.  Before we got back on the bike to head home I sent an email to my IVF nurse coordinator asking her for an update if she had one.  I hated to bother her on a Sunday, but I figured it was the only way I’d be able to find out. 

We got home & relaxed and watched movies the rest of the evening.  I was getting texts from lots of people asking for an update and I was as clueless as they were at that point & figured it’s a Sunday, there is nothing I can do.  Joe and I had just headed to bed & were getting ready to do my PIO injection for the night when I got an email back from my nurse saying that EIGHT of our TEN had fertilized and were doing great!  I was thrilled!  This is definitely the best fert report we have ever received. 

We will get another update on Tuesday with transfer on Thursday!  Our flight leaves Wednesday bright and early at 6am so we will be heading for Chicago around 2am.  I’m very excited to spend a few days down in Georgia with Amy and her family.  We have dinner plans & I booked a hotel with an outdoor pool so that my day of “bed rest” I can at least work on my tan!  Most importantly we will have another baby on board and we hope that this one finally decides to stick around.  At this point we are set on transferring one embryo, but that could of course change depending on how many we end up with by Thursday.  I am very confident we will have around 5 or so blastocysts by Thursday which leaves us plenty of siblings to freeze for now.  As always I appreciate the continued support that we have received from everyone as we navigate this new journey.  Continuing with the positive thoughts and vibes that our embryos continue to grow and thrive!