Lucky 7

Well last Tuesday, having returned from a wonderful weekend interstate with my family, I had my first scan and blood test of this, my fifth IVF cycle. We (my fertility nurse, my husband and I) were all shocked and excited to see my ovary packed to the brim with follicles. We could see five, possibly six follicles. There was a cyst in my ovary prior to starting the cycle so we thought the sixth follicle was more than likely that cyst. Anyway, I got my blood results back later in the day and my oestrogen level was 5300! This is huge considering my level on my previous cycle only got up to 612. So we were all expecting a good amount of eggs at the retrieval.


So Friday comes and I check into my local hospital to have the retrieval. I can’t tell you how the actual retrieval went because I was asleep but when I woke up, I was absolutely amazed to see the number seven written on my hand! My doctor was over within seconds of me waking to confirm that the number was in fact seven; she thought I might think it was a one. So my husband gets taken away to deliver his goods and then we return home to await the call on Saturday letting us know about fertilisation rates.


At 8am Saturday morning, I got the call. I could tell it was good news because my nurse was so full of excitement that she couldn’t get her “hello” out quick enough. She told me that all seven of our eggs had fertilised successfully. It’s quite rare for 100% fertilisation rate so my husband now thinks he has super sperm. He’s joking about having to wear reinforced underwear to prevent accidental impregnation of women he might get too close to in the street.


So today is day three post egg pick-up. Or 3dpo in IVF speak; meaning 3 days post ovulation. And today, four of our embryos are “exactly where they should be with minimal fragmentation” and three are “a bit iffy”. I asked what “iffy” means and apparently it means that they’re still dividing but at a slower rate than expected. I have however, been assured that they can sometimes catch up and even overtake so I shouldn’t worry. I’m also told the fragmentation on the other four is not to be worried about because fragmentation is normal and minimal is great. So at the moment, although I’ve been reassured that all is well, I can’t help but worry. I was on such a high all weekend because of the great egg-haul on Friday. Now I’m feeling hopeful but a bit scared.


Embryo transfer (put it back into the uterus) often occurs on day three but if the embryos can hold out until day five, the pregnancy success rates are higher. This gives the embryo cells a chance to divide to the blastocyst stage. I’m booked in for a day five transfer. So it’ll be this Wednesday.  Wish me luck.