Wendi returns

UPDATE: Well .... our results are in. We have a total of 6 embryos out of 14 that fertilized. Now if you remember, I was praying for 8 to 10 so this was a little dissapointing for me. JB is not really dissapointed at all. He was very happy with the 6. As he has said from the beginning, "The Lord knows best." If we are to get twins the first time, 4 more waiting will seem like a lot. So on Friday, they will put 2 in me, and we will have 4 frozen if everything goes as planned.

Now, where our update gets intersting is that when the doctor called and told me the results, he also told me they used ICSI. ICSI stands for: "Intracytoplasmic sperm injection." Basically, not only do I not ovulate correctly, but it appears something is "wrong" with the sperm as well. We aren't sure exactly what this means, and the doctor said he would give us more information when he sees us on Friday, but to make a long story short, when they put the eggs and the sperm together after the retrieval, they didn't fertilize!!! We had agreed beforehand that if ICSI was necessary they could use ICSI. ICSI means that they take one sperm and one egg and basically FORCE them together. However, we NEVER realistically thought that that would be the case. All the tests had come back great for John since the moment we started this process. But Dr. C said that the only way we would discover this "Sperm binding" problem is to actually do IVF. It wouldn't show up on any of the tests.

I took that a little hard and cried quite a bit. JB couldn't figure out why I was crying. I explained to him that basically, all of our attempts at artificial insemination were pointless. If we DID get the right number of eggs, it didn't really matter because they weren't fertilizing anyway! Ugh! Now of course, my reasonable husband said, "What does that matter now? We are doing IVF now and with ICSI, none of that matters." This is very true. He also said he was almost glad because now, when I got upset, I couldn't tell him to "leave me and go find a fertile wife" (which I have said a few times)! Now, the problem is shared.

So that's all I know right now. The transfer of 2 of these 6 embryos will be on Friday and we will have 2 additional chances after that. Like I said, I had hoped for more, but we have to trust the Lord that 6 is a perfect number for us. Even though I am a tad dissapointed, we could have ended up with none fertilized so 6 is good. :)

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Well I am back posting on my blog. I saw JB's post. Didn't he do a great job? I truly don't remember him taking that picture of me eating toast, but I suppose, if it's there, it did happen. Other than that, there isn't much more I can tell you that he didn't already cover.

I can tell you about how yesterday went after we got home. Our lovely friend Tara drove us home, and then Kelsey stopped by around 1:30. I had a long conversation with Kelsey, and I was feeling great. Midway through talking to Kelsey, I started to fall asleep while sitting up. I went to lie down and slept from 2:00-6:00. I talked to my mom on the phone and my buddy Kristi, all the while feeling pretty good.

And then the pain took off! JB said they shoot air into me when they are doing their thing, and it was causing intense cramping -- at least a 6 or 7 on the infamous pain scale. Add to that that they actually have to cut me open, and I guess that explains my discomfort. To make matters worse, I could only lay on my left side. My right side caused cramping when I tried that and my back was not even slightly possible. Only a seat in our recliner really turned the cramping down a few knotches.

Around 8:00 JB gave me first shot of the progesterone, and I almost passed out. I still am not sure why. It didn't hurt that bad, but I was just having trouble standing and taking deep breaths due to the cramping, and I felt like I was going down. Poor JB had to help me with everything.

My night was quite long. I woke up about every two hours to go to the bathroom and take another pain pill. However, by about 3:00 this morning, the pain broke slightly, and I was even able to sleep on my right side some. Right now it is about 7:45, and I am feeling considerably better. I may try to do a few things at work, but I will just have to see how I am feeling after lunch.

I will update again in a few hours when we get an update ourselves on how our embryos are doing. Keep praying for those tiny little embryos to fertilize!!!