I still intend on telling the full story from yesterday, but just jumping on to give the fert report.
Of the 17 retrieved
16 were mature
9 fertilized
It seems that is a bad sign. With my crappy eggs we never had less than 82% of the mature eggs fertilize - meaning that we would have had 13 embryos now instead of 9. I was really expecting fewer mature eggs since Belinda had one ovary growing follicles faster than the other. I guess I was prepared for 12-14 mature and 10-12 fertilize. I'm not sure what to think now.
Does anyone know why we would have such a low fert rate? I have asked the embryologist to call me back, but probably won't hear from him for several more hours.
**Update**
I just got off the phone with the embryologist at my clinic. The short answer is that he is not concerned that 7 mature eggs didn't fertilize. "Not even a tiny bit?" I asked. "No, not at all." What a relief! Thanks again to everyone's continued support.
My husband, best friend, sister and Belinda are probably a little upset with me for freaking out. I recognize it wasn't exactly the best response given that I knew I didn't really have enough information. I recognize that we would all be better served if I learn to react differently in the future. I'm just not sure that is going to happen within the time frame of this cycle. I will be working on it though.
For those of you who are interested - the long story. We knew that she had 10-12 follicles growing at the expected rate and several that were behind. The embryologist suspects that many of these immature eggs created a polar body during the aspiration process and so looked mature even though thy "matured" by the aspiration process and not by maturing in the follicle. My apologies to Dr. B if I completely misunderstood his description. Oh, the other 1/2 of the equation looked good too. The official next update will be Sunday.
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13 comments:
I know 9 is disappointing as it's a drop, but chances are they are all high quality. That gives you NINE good ones to work with ! I'm not a merry sunshine gal, but I think that's a decent number to work with. My RE said they aim for 8-12 good quality embryos to work with. Hope the next few days fly by for you.
Nine seems like a ton to me. Try to think of it as nine all normal instead of 15, but only one or two being able to grow into a baby. Good luck!
Nine seems like a bumper crop to me! But I do understand your disappointment.
Think of it this way... If you were going to be okay with 10-12, then 9 is only 1 away from 10. I know it's splitting hairs, but I'm struggling here to say something to make you feel better.
The thing I do know is that my clinic consistently stresses quality over quantity. Lots of eggs sometimes means compromised quality.
I'll have everything crossed and I'll say 1,000 prayers that you have a large selection in a few days when deciding what to put back.
Will you put back 1 or 2 blasts?
I'm glad the Dr. was able to reassure you that the fertilization wasn't a big concern. Its hard not to worry and see the negative after all you've been through. But like I said, nine is a great number and I'm hoping you get good news and have lots of great quality embies. Hang in there and good luck to you.
I know it's hard not to fret, but nine fertilized eggs would be my dream scenario right now!
xx
J
Doesn't a journey through IF just seem like a series of adjusting one's expectations?
Glad you have 9.
Lori - You couldn't have said it better.
Thank you all for the support when I really needed.
EXCELLENT Lori!! Kami, sending you extra thoughts this weekend! You have come a long wayand I know it doesn't mean much but i think you are handling all of this extremely well!
Hey, don't loose hope!
A girlfriend of mine...had 20 eggies, 7 fertilized! ONLY 7. Guess what...they froze 4, used 3, and their son just turned 1 last month.
I am still pulling for you!!!
Okay since everyone else has said what I planned to say, I'll just add it takes just one to go the distance!
Congrats on the 9. Pamela's right...it only takes one.
I've got all my fingers crossed for you! Grow, babies, grow!
You know, when you're struggling with Infertility, and every single little egg or sperm counts, we start suffering from the squirrel syndrome: hoarding as many as we possibly can for "in case" we might need just one more. I recognize it in myself sometimes that what might be enough to others seems totally inadequate to me. We need to be so very well prepared that we want to have lots and lots of reserves, so when we're getting less than we expected, we're out of sorts and disappointed, and even though we don't want to be, it just happens, understandably so! Be kind to yourself, you just need one little egg and one little sperm - and I'll pray very hard that it will work for you this time.
PS: I really really hope this came over in the soft and caring way I meant it. If not, I apologize: it wasn't meant in any other way!
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