Nine Eggs Fertilized

We went in for the egg retrieval and sperm collection yesterday and just got the fertilization report this morning: Nine fertilized out of an attempted 18. If I recall correctly, last time we had five out of about a dozen, so we're doing better.

The retrieval and collection went about like last time, except for being cold and rainy and my wife's recovery from the anesthesia taking a bit longer. They used a bit more this time because, and we just learned this Sunday, she was moving around a bit during the procedure last time. After she came out of it she was fine except for her blood pressure being a bit low. They monitored her for a while to make sure it was at least stable and finally let us go around 1PM after a call to our doctor for approval. The procedure had been around 9:30.

The sperm collection went a bit better than the first time, or at least the scrub-up before was much less messy. I left a bit of water on the floor the first time. I also don't recall being instructed to scrub to the elbows last time. Hmmm. It didn't seem to hurt things that I didn't then. The collection was in the same room as last time. (Did I ever post the pictures I took of te decor? I'll check and edit them into this post tonight if not.) They had some of the same magazines and some new ones. I went with the new ones, settling on a recent Penthouse. Black Tail also gets credit for an assist.

After they released us we drove to a nearby mall and ate at Panera. We both had some hot soup. It was good to get some food in our stomachs. I hadn't had anything but a glass of orange juice all day, and my wife hadn't had anything at all since the night before. (Though they did give her a few crackers and some ginger ale after the procedure.)

We had been planning for me to do some painting in the house, finally finishing a room where access to one end is blocked by our computer desks, and all the junk that naturally accumulates around them. With the long recovery and heavy post-Thanksgiving Sunday traffic, though, we didn't get home until after 4:30 so I didn't get much more done than mostly cleaning off my desk. I'll do some more tonight, but save the computer removal for last.

The embryo transfer will be Wednesday. We're still waiting for the time. They're supposed to call us tomorrow once they know which couples will be doing what that day. Hopefully we'll have enough develop well to leave us some to freeze. If they all do well I'm inclined to put back four to maximize our chances this time. Embryos don't always survive the freeze and thaw process, so having the other five frozen should give us enough for another try or two if we need it, or want another child later. It should be significantly less expensive and uncomfortable to do another cycle with frozen embryos.

Things can still go wrong, but so far it's better than last time and we've corrected what problems we can that we identified from the first try. I think our chances are good.