Fertilization Report Is In

So far this morning, I've received a phone call from the embryology lab, the IVF surgery center, and Dr. Vaughn himself, all making sure we received our fertilization report and that I'm doing OK following yesterday's egg retrieval. I know I've said this before, but my clinic really has their stuff together. I am never left wondering about anything, and they are just so on top of it at all times. I honestly don't even know how they stay so organized, and that says a lot coming from someone as Type A about organization and communication as I am.

The best part is that our fertilization report brought more good news. Here are the results:

17 eggs retrieved
14 mature eggs
12 fertilized normally
*(1 fertilized abnormally, 1 did not fertilize at all, and 1 may still fertilize)

We have a full dozen fertilized eggs hopefully starting to grow and divide right now! That is a 70% fertilization rate, so exactly as we had hoped for. They have one egg they think might still fertilize but aren't sure. They will basically just let that one simmer in the petri dish and wait some more to see what happens. If it hasn't fertilized by Day 3, they will just discard it.

We won't know if we're having a Day 3 or Day 5 Transfer until the actual day of transfer. Early Saturday morning we will get a call telling us if we'll transfer that same day (Day 3) or if we'll be waiting until Monday (Day 5) for the transfer.  I am hoping for a Day 5 transfer. Pregnancy success rates are typically higher when using Day 5 blastocysts. Waiting until Day 5 gives the embryologists more time to differentiate between the developing embryos and gain a better picture of which ones are truly the strongest contenders. Only the strongest ones last until Day 5, so this allows for an extra element of natural selection to enter the decision making process regarding which ones will be transferred.

Of course, plenty of couples have Day 3 transfers which result in successful pregnancies and healthy happy babies. In fact, my clinic has a Day 3 transfer rate of about 60%, meaning most of their IVF cycles do in fact use a Day 3 transfer. I am content with whatever Dr. Vaughn's recommendation is, and I trust the decision made jointly by he and the lab. I am just here to follow dr.'s orders!

In other news, I'm doing pretty well following the ER. I became super uncomfortable the second half of the day yesterday. It is the strangest feeling following that procedure...almost like you're walking around with a huge bag of marbles in your abdomen. It feels weird to walk, like a heaviness with each step, hurts to get up from a chair if you don't take it slow, and feels really strange and uncomfortable to even go pee. It's really hard to describe. I took extra strength Tylenol twice which helped, and luckily I woke up to seeing most of the severe bloating gone. I think the really bad part of the bloating happened early for me and I'm already over that hump. Still taking it easy today, because I'm just moving around so slowly and would rather not granny it into public if I don't have to. I'm sure I will be back to normal tomorrow and plan to go downtown for my weekly volunteer shift as usual.

So, that makes one more successful step completed in the process. Hopefully no surprises to come, other than maybe that additional egg fertilizing. We'll know in less than 48 hours when our transfer will be!