Perseverance

Today I had my IVF follow up appointment. Because things have become so complicated, I am debating whether or not I should continue blogging. I am going to stick with it for now, but probably won't be as detailed as I have in the past. There is so much information overflowing my brain that it would be impossible to fit it all into anything short of an entire set of encyclopedias. I highly doubt the average person would understand it all anyway, so I'm saving myself the trouble.

So, here are the basics regarding my failed IVF cycle:

Of 16 retrieved eggs, only 25% fertilized normally with 2PN (pro-nucleate.) The other 75% were ≥ 3PN. In English, this means that more than one sperm fertilized each of those 12 remaining eggs. The many possible causes for this can be described by words that google doesn't even recognize (because I've tried) so I'll spare you. Obviously, this results in an embryo with an abnormal amount of chromosomes. These embryos can develop and result in pregnancy and they often do in a natural setting. Sadly, the pregnancy will inevitably end in miscarriage or loss of the infant shortly after birth. For this reason, they are not considered viable and are not transferred during an IVF cycle.


Of the four oocytes that did fertilize normally, who knows what went wrong there. I thought that we had two morulas, but it turns out that there was only one. One of our transferred embryos had made it to the blastocyst stage. I guess there must have been some sort of misunderstanding there. I'm sure that had I heard anything about a blastocyst, I would have remembered since that was the one word I was longing to hear the most. That being said, it was still a very poor quality blast graded a "DDD."


Apparently, I'm a sort of medical mystery. Nobody understands what the problem is... SUPER! There are the obvious problems, but the underlying causes are baffling. Considering the fact that I am so young (if I hear it one more time I'll scream) and had a great response to the stimulation medications, it doesn't make any sense. My FSH levels are fine, my ovarian reserve is fine. There is one more hormone test (AMH) they can do to check my eggs, but my doctor says he would be very shocked if it came back abnormal due to my excellent response to the injections. I said bring it on anyway, what's one more measly little blood test? I'm continuously surprising everyone with my unexpected outcomes, so why not?

AND THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION YOU'RE ALL DYING TO ASK...

...........Yes, we are going to go for IVF round #2. We will tweak a couple of things in my protocol (hCG, possibly add ICSI or 50% ICSI) in hopes of a better outcome, but with no definitive reason for this failure we can't do much. I got my full schedule today and I will be on birth control pills for a while. I doubt that I will be as open about this one as I was with the first. It's hard... very, very hard. I want to thank you all for your continued support and prayers through this time of trial in our lives. One day, one way or another I WILL be a mother.