It's a Marathon not a sprint!

In vitro sometimes feels like the never ending race!  I have run 5 marathons and with every race their typically is a point around mile 19-21 that seems to be the hardest to push through... What's another 4 or 5 miles when you have already run 20 right?  Well mind over matter you sometimes hit a wall and it seems like an eternity to the finish line.  Some how though I have always pushed through and walked/ran my way to the finish line.

It seems like we are once again on mile 19 or 20 of 26.2 ... How are we going to keep going? Will we ever make it to the finish? 

We received the results of the genetic testing and once again they were inconclusive.  So now what?  Give up?  Keep going? Matt and I feel very discouraged.  We are waiting to hear back from our reproductive endocrinologist to see where we go from here.  So just as you were hoping for positive results like we were with sad eyes and empty hearts we keep waiting...

Thankfully we are going on vacation and spending a week with my family at  "The Cottage" in Michigan.  

Lucky Number 7

  

                 

Well we ended up with 7 embryos after 6 days of growing.  Lucky number 7 or not it's the most we have had out of the 2 other cycles.  Now we have to wait another two weeks for the genetic testing to come back to determine how many embryos are normal and balanced.  Prayers for at least one ( but we're hoping for more right? )

Embryo Update

Just a quick little update for you all.  We've gone from 26 eggs to 17 growing embryos.  It seems like in the scheme of things that we lost a lot but this is the most embryos we have had out of all three rounds.  So 17 makes me feel like there is a little bit of a chance that one will be normal!!

Egg Retrieval

I think it was fate!  When I woke up this morning and looked out my bathroom window I saw the cute little bunny eating his morning breakfast in our yard.  Matt got up a few minutes later and he saw the baby bunny that lives in our yard.  We don't always see them in the morning or even on a daily basis but I think it was a good omen before our egg retrieval this morning. 

Just a quick update.  We had our egg retrieval today.  Everything went well and Dr. Morris was able to retrieve a total of 26 eggs.  Unfortunately the numbers are all downhill from here but at least we are starting with a good number!  9 more than last time and 6 more than my first round of ivf.  So now the hardest part of the whole ivf process waiting.  We have to wait a total of 14-20 days to get the final results. Definitely a test to my patience which at times I really don't have any. 

Growing like a weed

I had my 4th and final ultrasound today and my follicles are growing like weeds.  They are finally  big enough for the final " trigger shot."  I am now up to 20 follicles ranging from 8 millimeters to 23 millimeters in  size.  Most of them are on the bigger size of 16 plus which is what I want. My doctor had me go an extra 2 days this round.

 So use your imagination ladies and gents and imagine 10 holes on your left ovary and 10 holes on your right ovary measuring that large.  Think you know what it feels like??  Well I do.  Let me take you back to your good ole middle school days.  That large throbbing pimple on your nose that you are just dying to pop ... Yep that's pretty much as close to the analogy as I could get to my pulsing ovaries.  But hey it's worth it right!  When I get to hold one maybe even two baby M's in my arms.

So this is good news!  We want as many eggs as we can and the more follicles the more eggs!!!  So keep praying for us and that our retrieval goes well on Thursday.

And as always a little Inspiration...

Romans 8:18 The pain that you've been feeling can't compare to the joy that is coming.