We just had our 3rd retrieval on Thursday. Our first 2 rounds were terrible and this one has just absolutely blown us away. I just have to tell you guys about it because the difference is unbelievable.

Cycle 1:

7 eggs retrieved

4 mature

3 fertilized

1 6BB blast (frozen)

My doctor said she discovered severe endo during my retrieval so she cancelled our fresh transfer and we treated the endo prior to the next cycle

Cycle 2:

9 eggs retrieved

5 mature

4 fertilized

0 blasts - we got a day 2 report that told us all 4 were still growing then didn’t get another report until day 5 and that’s when we learned none of them made it to blast. So all we know is they arrested sometime after day 2.

We transferred our one frozen blast and it unfortunately failed.

Cycle 3:

New clinic, new doctor, new protocol

16 eggs retrieved

14 mature

12 fertilized

And our 3 day report yesterday said we have 11 with 7+ cells still growing beautifully 😭

We will get our day 5 report tomorrow and I am a nervous wreck. So hard to not let the trauma of a failed cycle bleed over into a new one, even if it is going perfectly so far.

It’s been hard for me to believe that this is the same body that went through my first 2 rounds with such poor results. And the shame and guilt I’ve carried the last year feeling like I’m broken when in fact it was really just poorly managed care. I know we aren’t out of the woods and this is the point where we’ve lost all of our embryos in the past, but I do know that no matter what happens, my body is not broken. It is beyond capable. That feeling alone is invaluable.

I’m just so grateful we didn’t give up and we didn’t settle for the care we were receiving. So many hours were spent researching and consulting with new clinics and it was worth every second of time spent.

I know wins can be few and far between in this community so I wanted to share in case someone out there was needing a little hope today. 🤍

March/April/May 2022 IVF