My egg retrieval was on a Thursday morning, so my mom, my fiance and I headed to the clinic at 7:45 am. After meeting with the nurses and the anesthesiologist, they inserted the IV and brought me to the operating table. Last time, I was so so nervous about the surgery and anesthesia given it was my first time having either. This time was much better because I survived the first round. I also brought my ear buds and a podcast to drift off to when the anesthesia set it. (You can read my IVF diary for this round here, and can read diaries from my first and second round of IVF as well)
Before you know it, I was being woken up and given some incredible news. They retrieved 17 eggs! That’s a huge improvement over the last two rounds of IVF and I think it’s because of all of the lifestyle changes and supplements I have been taking. In our first round, we had to call off surgery because I had barely any eggs. In the second round, we retrieved 7 but none of them lasted through testing.
We are thrilled with the outcome, but know there is a long road ahead to viable embryos.
My first few days after surgery my stomach is slightly bloated and feels like it has pressure on it. It hurts when I walk and such, but is by no means unbearable. I don’t even take Tylenol for the pain.
The following week, the embryologist calls. My day 6 testing of the eggs came back with 6 viable eggs to be sent to testing. We may get a few more tomorrow, but the chances of additional eggs are slim. I am immediately deflated. Last time, of the 6 eggs, four were good enough to send for testing, or 67% of them. They all came back abnormal and had to be discarded.
This time, 6 eggs were good enough to test out of 14. So, just 42%. We know that statistically, only 40% of eggs that are tested are chromosomally normal, and that’s in an average person. My case is more complicated because of my low ovarian reserve and because last round 100% of the eggs came back abnormal. Now, we are bracing ourselves for yet more bad news in two weeks once the testing is complete. My only hope is that my supplements and lifestyle changes will result in good quality eggs without abnormalities, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think anything has changed.
Then, it was the waiting game. It takes around ten days for your eggs to be tested to see if they are normal or abnormal. Abnormal eggs are discarded. On a Friday afternoon as I was about to leave work for a friend’s wedding, my phone rang displaying my doctor’s number. I took a deep breath and answered the phone, timidly. She could tell I was nervous and asked if I was ready to hear the news. Her voice was less somber than the last round when none of our eggs were normal, so I thought that maybe we had one good embryo this round. To my surprise, she told me that ALL six embryos were good!
Now, this is was an 180-degree turn from the last two rounds. I nearly cried with relief when the doctor told me the news. It proved that all of the supplements I have been taking and the lifestyle changes I made actually worked. You can read more about how we set about improving my egg quality this round here.
The timing was perfect, because my fiance was picking me up for a wedding we had to go to that weekend. I waited until I was in the car to tell him in person and he also was in shock. It made the rest of the weekend a giant celebration and took so much pressure off of us.
We are still going to do one more round of IVF because it is covered by my insurance, but these six embryos should hopefully give us a security blanket of sorts and take some of the pressure off.
The plan now is to continue all of the supplements and lifestyle changes until after the next round. At that point, I will allow myself a little caffeine and alcohol, but will keep up with the supplements because they also help to get pregnant naturally.
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Read More of Our IVF Coverage:
IVF Diary: My First, Unsuccessful Round of Egg Freezing
IVF Diary: My Second Round of Egg Freezing
IVF Diary: Egg Retrieval, Recovery & Embryo Results
IVF Diary: My Third Round of Egg Freezing
IVF Diary: Results From Our Third Round of IVF
We’re Pregnant! Inside our Embryo Transfer
The Supplements I Take To Improve Egg Quality
Improving Egg Quality With “It Starts With The Egg”
Eliminating Toxins & Chemicals for IVF
How To Pay For IVF & Egg Freezing