My First IVF Retrival

Published September 27, 2014 by Jennie

Yesterday I had my first IVF retrieval. The first thing they did was start an IV and put an oxygen tube in my nose. I was sedated but I did not need a breathing tube. I do not remember anything about the procedure which took about 20 minutes. When I woke up, I was really sore in my stomach. I am glad I took the rest of the day off to recover. I also kept a heating pad on my stomach which helps with the pain. My husband made me a few water/Gatorade cocktails and ordered pizza for me. Through all of this, he has been so supportive of me. That makes such a huge difference in all of this!

Today my stomach still feels sore but it is not as bad as yesterday. I am bloated but it is not too bad. I don’t have any any other symptoms today. I have heard some horror stories and was not sure what to expect. My RE called around noon to give me my retrieval stats which are as follows.

– 12 retrieved
– 10 matured
– 7 fertilized (we did ICSI on all of them)
– out of the 7, 6 look really good

On Thursday, I will find out how many made it to blastocysts. My RE estimates about 3 to 5 will make it. So far, his predictions have been right on the mark. They will then be biopsied and frozen. Overall, I am happy with these numbers.

So what do we do next?

I will call my RE once AF arrives in a few weeks. I will then go on BCP and remain on them until my body is ready for retrieval #2. My goal is to have 8 blastocysts after 2 retrievals. They will all be frozen and biopsied for PGS. I also mentioned that it costs the same to test one or eight blastocysts (and anywhere in between). We will then do FETs with blastocysts that are not chromosomally abnormal until we are out.

If we go through all of those and it does not work, we are done. I do think though with all we are doing, we have a good shot. Every step brings me closer to the possibility that I will one day be able to hold my baby in my arms.

Not much will be going on for the next few weeks and I am kinda happy about that. I will be nice to have a little break and get back to my regular life. – Jennie

34 comments on “My First IVF Retrival”

  • So pleased it went well. This will be me in a few weeks time so it’s nice to read about someone else’s story where things went smoothly. Btw, they are great numbers from what I’ve heard. If you end up with 6 good eggs then that is a great number. So many women struggle to get one which must be heartbreaking.

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    • Yeah I think about that a lot. I still do not know how many will make it to day five but I feel confident there will be at least a few. I hope your retrieval goes well! It will be here before you know it 🙂

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