June 21 - Day 42 of IVF

At some point today, Jennie & I will find out how many eggs were fertilized yesterday. It is possible that all 32 eggs decided to create life, but not probable. During the IVF class we attended, we were told that a 50% fertilization rate is considered a success (so, if 16 eggs become embryos, we should be ecstatic).

While Jennie's mid-section continues to recuperate, she is spending the day in bed propped on with every pillow in the house. She slept fairly well through the night, but her right shoulder and ribs are sore from lack of turning while snoozing. This morning she appears to be in good spirits and has a little more energy than yesterday.

In less than two weeks, Jennie will be finished with her daily injection of progesterone in oil. Her basket of medications is no longer intimidating. No more Lupron, no more Bravelle, no more HCG. She does have to take a Tetracycline and a Medrol pill for a few more days and if necessary, she has some pain pills. But, she can finally see the end is near...



MORNING UPDATE: Great news! We received a voicemail from the IVF lab at 9:14am today. Out of the 32 total eggs, 19 of them were candidates for ICSI and 16 have become fertilized! Yay! We will find out tomorrow how many of them have begun cellular division, etc. Once they arrive at the 8-cell blastocyst stage, the two best looking embryos will be selected to implant on Monday, June 25th. (NOTE: Unless they decide to implant three embryos on Saturday, June 23rd)

The remaining 13 eggs (that were not used for ICSI) will be given the opportunity to become a fertilized embryo in a "side dish" with my remaining, left-over sperm. This will probably not yield more than one or two embryos at most. It's a nice gesture that they don't simply flush away the "leftovers", but they will usually not be relied upon as first choice.


LINK OF THE DAY: Need something to do?

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.