Read Part 1: Our Infertility Journey – Where It All Began
Read Part 2: Our Honeymoon – Babymaking time…Or Not?
Read Part 3: Semen Analysis – Strict Kruger – Abnormal Sperm – Now What?
Read Part 4: Selecting A Reproductive Endocrinologist
Read Part 5: Fallopian Tube Perfusion – Intrauterine Insemination
Read Part 6: Our First IVF Attempt – Ovarian Stimulation Time!

December 2008

Our egg retrieval was finally here!!! We went in around 6:30 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. surgery. I made sure to be comfortable that day, as I knew once I came home, I’d want to relax in bed the rest of the day.

When we arrived the office, the nurse greeting us promptly and took Mike and I back to the surgical waiting area. The nurse put in my IV and we were set to go, just waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive. A few tears rolled down my cheeks, I wasn’t sad, just very anxious to see how all of this would play out. I walked into the OR right at 7 o’clock and was put to sleep. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the recovery room. The very first thing I asked was, how many eggs did they recover?” I was told “17” – I was really pleased, this seemed like a great number. I relaxed for a bit (thanks to the drugs) and Mike came in and sat by my side. Before long, we were already in the car on our ride home.

The next day was very nerve racking. They were going to fertilize the eggs and now create embryos – how many would actually fertilize?

We finally got a call around 4 o’clock the next day with great news; we had 12 embryos. The waiting game began again…it was either going to be in 3 days of 5 days that I would have my embryo transfer. We were hoping for 5 days, this seemed to be the goal of the doctors as well.

We went in for the transfer very excited. We had made it to day five…this was great!!! We sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before being called back to the pre-op waiting area. There are three beds there and we saw another couple already waiting, so we knew they were before us. I was struggling at this time, because you have to have a full bladder for the transfer, but I had the hardest time gauging how full, is full? After about 30 minutes, we were wheeled in. To our surprise and greatest delight, Dr. M was doing the transfer that day. We were so thrilled at how we lucked out to be able to have him do the egg retrieval as well as the transfer.

I was placed onto a tilted bed with my legs up in stirrups, boy was this awkward! The procedure took about 20 minutes or so and then I was moved back to the “waiting area” to lay and rest for an hour. This was the hard part – trying to relax with a full bladder.

When the hour was up, we were sure ready to head home. I stayed on pretty much bed rest for 3 days and then was up and around for Christmas Day.

It was a very long two week wait – I went in for blood work on December 31st, New Year’s Eve. We were told the office closed early that day and to expect a phone call before noon. We spent the entire day, anxious as hell, and finally received a phone call from Dr. M. stating that “It’s not good news, a positive result but not a pregnancy.” – meaning that I wasn’t pregnant, but my body showed hcg which implied at some point there was implantation (chemical pregnancy). Tears, tears, and more tears. Even though this round was not successful, our time will come.

Stay tuned…we just started our second IVF cycle which will be a frozen embryo transfer in late March 2009.