And Then There Were 3

Three Eggs. I nearly cried when the nurse told me. I wasn't hoping for 20 but somewhere around 10 would have been at least worth the effort. Why was I so upset with my number? These are the statistics the nurse gave me before my retrieval;

70% of the retrieved eggs will survive the first night

40% of these surviving eggs (now blastocysts) will make it to the next day and become embryos.

From there, you aren't given a % of success for the transfer process (the part where they pop the embryo into your uterus and hope for the best). As my gyno said "It's luck of the draw". Well, that's comforting!

I am no mathematician but when I awoke to the number 3 and a whole lot of pain, the likelihood of me becoming pregnant without having to go through the whole process again was not good. It also struck me that there was a strong underlying expectation that it wouldn't work the first time. The nurses all expected that I'd been in a few times, the surgical nurse even greeted me with "Hi, great to see you again". My surgery a few months ago had been at a different hospital...I'd never seen her before but being an IVF patient, she just assumed I'd been back a few times!

I didn't sleep last night despite the General Anaesthetic still in my system. I was wired worrying about my 3 little eggs, which by now were mixed with my husbands finest sperm.

Hopefully they all survived the night.

The scientist called with GOOD NEWS this morning! Can you believe it!? The three little ones all survived (in your face statistics) and done what they were supposed to do; form blastocysts.

Now, their job is to stay strong and keep on keeping on until my transfer on Friday. No pressure guys.

My job is to try and find clothing that will fit around my hugely swollen belly.