Today Is Brought to You by...

...the number

41

We got up early to head to the clinic this morning by 9:00.  We weren't quite to Chatt-town when I got a text from our embryologist "We got 41 eggs." 

WHAT?! 

That's crazy talk.  So while I internalized my excitement and joked about hopefully getting to have them in lots of batches of multiples with my best friend who I woke up at 6:30 her time , I think externally I'm more shell-shocked. 

NOTHING EVER GOES EASY for us.  So I don't know if it's not being so much involved with the donor this time, keeping my armor on until the shoe drops, or just disbelief.  I imagine it's all of these things combined, but I'm feeling a little detached and then guilty for feeling that.  

I had a great day with my husband though.  Shopping at Hamilton Place is never a bad time.  I bought a dress I hope I won't be able to wear this summer, but it honestly was a consolation gift to myself already.  UGH, I'm not proud of myself...but you only let yourself get burned so many times...

I was not expecting to hear from our embryologist, Susan, again this evening, but she texted me to let me know 33 eggs were mature.  It was nearly 6:00 pm. I know they had at least 2 retrievals today, but my donor gave her enough work for 2 average retrievals, so I'm sure she's wiped out.  Can you imagine doing a procedure on a cell as big as a period at the end of these sentences 33 times?  Not to mention the other lady's eggs...

We will find out tomorrow how many fertilized.  You can't expect all 33 to fertilize.  When you have big numbers you lose big numbers due to attrition, but it's a whole helluva lot nicer place to start...I'm not gonna lie!

I started my progesterone shots today.  Only one today, and they changed the timing of it to the AM despite my evening transfer on Monday.  Dr. Donesky recently performed a study and by moving the first shot up 12 hours he had a 94% pregnancy rate in his experimental group.  Of course, I wasn't in that group...but it's nice to work with someone who is constantly tweaking and improving the protocols.  

I think that when I see a picture of my em-babies (embryos), I'll get more attached.  I'm not really worried about it just yet.  It's a whole lot easier to accept that someone else's eggs didn't fertilize, than my own didn't fertilize.  Nonetheless I'll be anxious to hear.

Peace, Love, and Fertilize Baby(ies),

Mary Katherine