The game of ratios....

It's funny because this whole blog consists of betting anologies about my infertility. But in all honesty, it really kind of is!

"I'll place $15,000 on the egg in slot number 24"

And then your number doesn't come up. And you just lost your moula. I don't even think I want to put down in print the amount of money we've spent on this journey! Money we've put down with no guarantees whatsoever......just like gambling.

So, my past 5 IVF egg retrievals have gone something along the lines of...

15 Follicles retrieved
7 mature eggs
Day 1 Fertilization: 3 fertilized
Day 3 Fertiliaztion: 1 fertilized

That's probably about an average. I've never made it to a 5 day transfer nor have I had any "extra" to be able to freeze for future use. So when I say it's a game of ratios...this is what I mean. We start out big...and dwindle down. Hell, there was even one cyle that all the embryoes died and I had nothing to transfer. Then there was the wonderful cycle where all my eggs ovulated on thier own...and I was just out all the money, time and emotion of that cycle.

Needless to say I've had my fair share of bad news when it comes to egg retrievals and fertility reports.

April had her egg retrieval yesterday. J and I drove down to supply the sperm deposit required of course to turn eggs into embryos. So as you can tell, I've really had no participation into this whole "getting pregnant" event. Seriously, it's had nothing to do with me this whole time. April just needed a few meds to pump her up, J just needed a cup. Me...I'm just reading a book on the sidelines.

Now obviously being on the sidelines just isn't my cup of tea. So of course it's been very hard. I am supportive of April and J in their respective jobs here, but talk about sitting on the bench waiting for a turn!

Egg retrieval is hard on the body. If you're not familiar with the process it goes something like this. You are sedated, laid on a table with some very full overies, the doctor inserts a pipette through your vagina, cervix, uterus, ovaries to extract all those follicles. You wake up feeling like someone punched you in the gut. Twice. Extra hard. It's still hard to believe she signed up for this. Voluntarily. Without knowing me.

But she did. And she did it well!! Her ER went well, there were no problems and she went through without a hitch. She also gave us 19 mature eggs. ALL 19 were mature. ALL of them. And then we got the fert report today. 18 of them fertilized. 18!! ALL FREAKING 18!!! Oh my God!

Okay....batter up!!