Hope for IVF #3

Well, we were off to Colorado again for IVF #3 at CCRM during June 2014.  I had been on the CCRM recommended supplements since October 2013 as well as eating gluten free since then (minus a weekend trip to New Orleans for my sister's bachelorette party in January - hey, there's not a lot of GF options at 2AM when you NEED food).

In addition to the supplements and going GF, I also saw an acupunturist for about 8 visits prior to heading out to Colorado and then saw one while we were there in Colorado.  Dr. M also changed our protocols this time around, putting me on minimum drugs.  We are going for quality over quality here. It just takes one. We also decided that we were going to push forward to try and get to blastocyst stage, and not stop on day 3 as we did last time.  If anything makes it to day 5, our chances double!

We ended up retrieving 5 eggs this time around.  So the same as last time.  OR IS IT?

Out of the 5 eggs retrieved, 3 of them were mature and all 3 fertilized with ICSI.  100% fertilization rate? Is that possible? Oh, and then we find out that all 3 made it to day 5 blastocyst stage! During the time from my retrieval to day 5, my grandfather passed aware.  I can't help but think that he was watching over us and helping us along the way.  I felt it.  He was there.  He was looking out for us.

This was the best situation we could ask to be in at this point.  We had 3 frozen day-5 embryos.  2 4AA's and 1 4BA.  This means they are all great quality and we could not be more ecstatic.

Thank you for watching over us, Grandaddy.  You are the reasons we are able to try and have our own biological children and I strongly believe you are the one watching over us during this time as well.

Here are a few photos from our trip to Colorado for the retrieval this time around: