IVF update

This is the fortune that I recieved a few nights ago when Dave and I went to dinner. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come. I had my egg retrieval yesterday. The procedure went pretty well and I felt nothing as it was being performed. The discomfort began as I woke from the anesthesia but was relatively controlled with Tylenol w/codeine. Dr. Robbins was able to harvest 11 follicles. The embryologist decided that in order to increase our chances of fertilization, they would perform the ICSI (intra cytoplasmic sperm injection) method of fertilization. They called us this morning to report that of the 11 follicles retrieved, 6 of them were mature, and 5 of them have fertilized. They will call us again on Wednesday with an update on how they are growing. We are planning on implanting the most mature blastocysts on Friday or Saturday. I am down to one intramuscular injection of progesterone a day in addition to an oral steroid to decrease inflammation from the procedure and oral antibiotic to ward off potential infection.

The girls made it back from thier vacation yesterday evening and were very concerned about my "surgery". Ashley kept insisting on seeing my incision (the retiveal was a transvaginal approach). Yikes, I think it may be time for me to buy a book to help explain a little about the birds and bees as simply as possible. I am happy to share with them the basics about having a baby and I want it to be clear that it usually does not require this much intervention. They are at Vacation Bible School this morning, maybe they will get distracted and forget all about thier questions. Ha, fat chance! Wish me luck on explaining this one.