The Retrieval

After 10 days of injections and medications, Natalie finally went in for her eggs retrieval on November 9th. The appointment was scheduled for 9AM. On the way to the appointment, Natalie was advised to take a couple of Valium. The LOL's ensued soon after Valium #1, 30 minutes prior to the appointment. Valium #2 & #3 were taken as soon as we arrived at the doctor's office, approximately 15 minutes prior to the procedure. Natalie went in to the "procedure room" and was prepped for the retrieval. The doctor came in and gave Natalie words of encouragement and gave an explanation as to how the retrieval was to take place. Since Natalie was 3 Valium's in by this time, silliness ensued; slurred speech, silly questions and statements and that glazed over look. Natalie was hilarious.

The retrieval took approximately 15 minutes and was a success. The doctor informed us that 26 eggs were retrieved, which was more than average. Natalie was still a bit hazy from the Valium and was told to take it easy the rest of the day. The doctor informed us that we would be notified of the results of the retrieval the following morning. So after a day of restlessness and anxiousness, we were informed that of the 26 eggs, 22 were mature enough for fertilization. Out of those 22, 12 were strong enough to fertilize completely. The doctor informed us that after fertilization, we would have to wait 5 days while they biopsy the cells to make sure they were healthy enough for the transfer. During these 5 days, Natalie began to feel discomfort and pain in her abdomen. The pain was so severe, that we had to take her to the ER for a check up due to the pain. An ultrasound was conducted and no damage was found. Natalie was told to visit her doctor for follow up. After a follow up with the IVF specialist, Natalie was told that one of her ovaries was "mispositioned." Due to the fact that so many eggs were retrieved, Natalie's ovaries mispositioned themselves when settling back to their original position. It was definitely a painful few days for Natalie, but luckily, everything is back to normal and she is well.

5 days after the retrieval and fertilization, we were told that only 5 eggs were fully fertilized and strong enough for biopsy. During the biopsy, an embryologist would remove a cell from each of the remaining 5 eggs and send that cell to a PGD lab for genetic analysis. Natalie was contacted by the PGD lab to discuss the PGD process and its success rate. The PGD representative told Natalie that based on their statistics, only 1 out of 9 eggs were found to be healthy and fully mature for transfer. Immediately, we became nervous, as we only had a 1 in 5 chance. Several days past by of constant positive thinking and prayers. When we finally received a call back from our doctor, she informed us that 1 egg was fully mature and ready for transfer! We were ecstatic. The IVF process was heading in a positive direction and getting us closer to being parents.

The next step in the process is the transfer. Natalie will have to wait until the early part of December for the transfer. We will then go in approximately 2 weeks for pregnancy results. So we continue to pray and think positively. We can't thank everyone enough for your kind words and positive thoughts. Happy Holidays to all of you, we're truly blessed to have you as our friends and family.