April 18-24 is National Infertility Awareness Week.
I'm posting this about 12 minutes before it's over; it's been a busy week. Last Saturday, the 17th was our egg retrieval for IVF. We woke up at 5am since we had to be there by 6:45 and the clinic is almost an hour away. We were super giddy, but also calm (it was SO early y’all 🤣). I was much looking forward to the sedation and “nap!”
The procedure itself went fine. My first memory upon waking alone is my nurse coming in and letting me know that only 2 eggs were retrieved. Not good news. I’d had 6 mature follicles (theoretically each has about an 80% chance of having a mature egg). We still maintained a sliver of hope despite the less than promising statistics with so few eggs retrieved, but we learned on April 18th, the first day of National Infertility Week, that only 1 egg was mature and sadly, it did not fertilize. We have no embryos from this retrieval.
I was mentally prepared for this all along, as my body has been through A LOT with my Crohn’s Disease the past 27 years (it may not even be related to this; most people with Crohn’s don’t have infertility). But let me tell you, you’re never emotionally prepared. Despite the rollercoaster of emotions, this first round was not a waste. Firstly, in a weird turn of events, I had ALL positive side effects from the hormones. For whatever reason, the birth control they put me on at first to try to shrink my cysts prior to IVF magically took away my decade+ of anxiety and migraines. The things that usually trigger them just aren’t anymore! This in itself is pretty life altering! I suspect I had some sort of hormonal imbalance that it and the injections helped (at least for now), but that’s a WHOLE other story for another time.
This first round of IVF surrounded us with SO MUCH SUPPORT and was a lovely reminder of how many people are there for both of us. I’ve also learned about so many of your own Infertility journeys that I had no idea about. When I shared all the excitement, I also knew the potential was there that I’d have to share our pain and disappointment. I’ve been ok with that from the beginning. It’s reality and I hope that sharing that reality will help others to not feel so isolated. Our hearts and thoughts are with all those who are going through this or have needed to in the past; it's intense y'all.
We’re planning on pursuing another round of IVF and this is really keeping our spirits up! We know that it often takes more than once and we’ll continue our Journey to Baby Neighbors! However, we’re waiting a month or two. It’s been said that trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity! So we’re embarking on what we’re calling a “Lifestyle Overhaul.” More sleep (bed by 10:30, sleep by 11 weekdays), lots of exercise (wake up at 7am every weekday, 9 am on weekends), and ALL the good nutrition! Anyone who knows me knows that I’m already deep in Internet research on things we can do to make our second cycle more successful. We’re open to suggestions!! We have our next consultation with our fertility doctor on April 29th to discuss what comes next on this crazy rollercoaster of a journey!
Stay tuned! This ain’t over y’all! ❤️🙏🏼💕🙌🏼🦄👼🏼
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