It was a "Good" Friday. Day 2 of Embryo Implantation

We got the call from Karen ( with whom I can always tell what kind of news it is given her tone), in regards to how many of our 28 embryo's had successfully fertilized and were viable. She said "we have 8 embryo's so far and counting! We are still working and there could be more".

Chris and I were thrilled with this news as it was quite a few more than our first IVF cycle ( our first IVF cycle we had 3 successfully fertilize out of 14...however we did not do ICSI or AH with that cycle).

She then told us to be at the clinic at 9:00 AM Good Friday for our embryo implantation procedure. Good omen? We certainly hope and pray so!

Quick recap of the last few days prior to our Egg Implantation yesterday, Good Friday.....

I do have to say that I have felt pretty awful since the embryo retrieval. Extreme abdomen bloating, cramping, painful gas, my whole lower half of my body was tender to the touch, and bad, REALLY bad nausea. Such a difference from the first IVF series but they did have to literally retrieve twice as many eggs this time.

The Phenergen knock off anti nausea meds they called in for me did help but it also causes some kinda strange side effects. Dizziness (which doesn't really help if you feel nauseous), drowsiness (this one wasn't bad), and face flushing. My face was so red I looked like I had a bad sunburn. But all of that is better than being sick at my stomach in my opinion so I took it when needed. 

Karen and Dr. Steinkamph both advised Chris and I that this was all normal and to let them know if it got any worse. I then proceeded to do the dumbest thing you can do when you really aren't feeling well.....I googled the symptoms. 

When you google symptoms I swear a skull and crossbones should just pop up and say..."you are completely F&^%$# dude". I basically had convinced myself that I was overstimulated.  Overstimulation is what it sounds like, your ovaries have been stimulated to the point of extreme swelling and some other not too pleasant symptoms which can result in procedure cancellation and things as scary as aspiration (needle inserted to remove the excess fluid).....now you see why I got so freaked out right?

Needless to say I didn't sleep very well but Chris and I woke up bright and early ready to head to the clinic to "pick up our 8 or more babies". I didn't even feel well enough to shower that morning so I threw on a baseball cap, Chris's super slouchy PJ pants and slowly made our way.

The Egg Implantation Procedure:

The waiting room was filled with other patients and couples who were waiting to have their procedures. A very sweet couple saw me sipping my Gatorade (they tell you to arrive with a very full bladder for the procedure) and asked "Are you here for your embryo implantation as well?" I smiled and hid under my ball cap thinking I looked like death and said yes, are you? 

She then started talking to me about their experience, this was their second attempt at IVF, they had over 20 eggs retrieved and she had been in so much pain after the retrieval that she had her husband call Dr. Steinkamph to call her in some pain meds. She said it made her feel like a wimp having to do that but I shared with her our experience over the last few days and hopefully made her feel better. 

We then were called back to Dr. Steinkamph's office to discuss our embryo's. He pulled up the pictures on his computer monitor of our embryo's. I didn't take any pictures this time of them because I was so concentrated on what he was saying to us. 

File on our IVF cycle attempt 2

File describing our embryo's "rank" 

As our doctor explained to us and showed us pictures of our little embryo's he began explaining that we had 3 nice 8 cell division embryo's and the rest were still slowly maturing. According to him "the gold standard of embryo's on day 3 is 8 cell division by 2. Ours are 8 by 3 so we are classified as "middle ground", not great, but not horrible. Embryo's are ranked 1 being the highest and best quality to 4 being the worst. 

I started to panic a bit but was assured this was good news. No one ever gets a perfect rank on their embryo's and an 8/3 was considered decent. He then started to discuss that we may have "an egg issue" due to the fact that only 8 out of 28 successfully fertilized even with ICSI (where they inject a sperm into each egg). That didn't make me feel great I have to admit but I am choosing not to dwell on that at this time. 

He then told us that he recommended we implant 3 embryo's this time again. I started to panic once more thinking this was a bad thing and that our embryo's weren't as good as he previously stated. We said he wanted to improve our odds and then had us sign the above forms. 

We then walked back to the "gurney room", put on our cap and gowns once again and entered the procedure room. Karen reassured us that these were great quality embryo's and that because we had previously attempted IVF with no success they recommended transferring 3. 

They put in the catheter, made sure I was Amanda Baker and proceeded with the transfer. It wasn't comfortable (feels like at IUI but a bit more invasive) and you are pretty much naked but they do try to make you as comfortable as possible. It took a few attempts since I have a tilted uterus to line it up just perfectly and then.....they transferred our 3 little guys. 

You see the tiny letter "E"in the middle of the screen? That's pointing to our embryo's 

They wished us luck, gave us a big hug and sent us on our way. Now starts the "2 week wait". We go back to the clinic for a blood test on April 16th and will know either yes......or no. 

Chris has been taking great care of me and I stayed in bed all day yesterday after we got back from the clinic. Movies and chinese take out :) For some reason I was craving Wonton soup and man was it good!