Friday, October 23, 2009

All dressed up but not quite ready to go

Thank you.  Yeah, you.  Your support and kind words meant so much.  It was probably the only thing that kept me from curling up in bed and hiding under the covers for a week.

I had braced myself for the worst at my consultation on Wednesday, but overall I think it went well.  My doctor thinks that I responded perfectly to the protocol they used.  The real problem was in the fertilization.  Apparently, it took a long time for my eggs to fertilize.  Some of them didn't fertilize at all, most likely because they had been sitting around in the petri dish too long.  The eggs that did fertilize grew slowly, and were on the small side even when they reached blastocyst stage.  My doctor does not believe that this is a sign of poor egg quality, but that I was triggered too early.  Even though the follicles looked big on the ultrasound and the hormone levels came back at the right level, my eggs are just a bunch of teenagers with fake I.D.s.  They might pretend to be mature, but they're really not.

I am frustrated that my eggs were retrieved so early.  Back in the day when I was doing unmedicated cycles, my follicles were in the 26-28mm range when I got a positive OPK.  At my first medicated cycle, I was told that I'd trigger when I had a follicle at 16- 18mm.  I questioned the doctor twice about this and reminded her that my follicles got much bigger than that.  But she insisted that 16 was mature, and I figured that I wasn't one to question the experts.  Of course I've spent the past few days wondering if my IUIs failed because the doctors have been triggering me too early the whole time.  On the other hand, I'm really hoping that the immature egg theory is the only reason why I'm not pregnant yet.  That seems easy enough to fix.  

Today, I went in for my day 3 scan and bloodwork.  Around noon I got the call that everything looks okay.  So tonight, I took a birth control pill and started IVF round 2.  Bring it on.

9 comments:

GIsen said...

18mm is where they really want them at and want you to trigger close to that size.

I hope they figure the slow responses out before the retrieval this time.

J and D said...

Trust your instincts. I was constantly questioning my RE on their "expert" decisions. In my case it was triggering and inseminating too late to the point where I'd ovulate on my own before the procedure (although they would never confirm this and treated me like I was stupid). No one would listen to me and I kept thinking that they knew what was best.. keep trying. Maybe not. I switched clinics, asserted my opinion on my care, and was pregnant on the 2nd attempt.. MY WAY.
All of that said.. I fully agree with your theory. Immature eggs could be the reason. Since it sounds like they've acknowledged this you're in good hands for IVF #2.

mama bea, bao in the oven said...

Go, go, GO #2. This is IT.

Libberal said...

Good luck with #2! we're rooting for you over here on the west coast!

Anonymous said...

my clinic never triggers before 18 so 16 sounds too small to me. Go get em gayby! you tear that IVF shit up! I am rooting hard for you.

Anonymous said...

I am very pleased to see that you all have theresources available to try IVF for another try. We are totally rooting for you and the mature eggs that will fertilize quickly this go around. (I also agree with above blogger...always trust your insticts.)
-P

justine said...

wow! great news! so glad you were able to see the doctor, get these plans and get going already.

we're here rooting away for lucky #2!

Anonymous said...

I am hoping for great things this cycle!

Tui said...

I'd be frustrated as hell with the early trigger - sounds like they should've held out a little longer. I hope that this cycle you're able to get the timing you want/need and it makes all the difference.