The Fertilisation

Like I shared in my previous post, we were waiting for the embryologist to contact us. A day felt like a year to us.

The centre did call me the next day after OPU but it was the nurse over the phone. She was checking on me if I was having any discomfort or worse, bleeding. I told her I was feeling fine and there's nothing to worry (I was playing Dragon Age: Inquisition on PS4 when she called).

On Day 3 post-OPU, the embryologist finally contacted us!

He updated us that out of the 17 eggs collected, 15 were matured eggs. All 15 were fertilised and here comes the grading - 4 good, 5 fair and 6 poor. All of these embryos will be cultured to Day 5 to reach blastocyst which is an early stage of an embryo which is also the ideal stage for transfer to my uterus. 

Hence, the wait continued until we received another call from the embryologist in the morning on Day 6 (1 day late). 

Out of 15, 3 reached blastocyst stage. The remaining 12 went arrested. There's one most outstanding embryo which I believed to be the first to be transferred into my uterus. Since I was not suited for fresh embryo transfer, all 3 embryos were frozen. After the call, he sent me an email on the report and time-lapse embryo imaging (shown below).

There are 15 dishes and the top 3 are dish 1, 6 and 12. They are graded as 5AA, 4BA and 5AB. I did think the embryo in dish 2 could make it but it was graded as 5XB. Hence, it was not chose to be frozen. As the embryologist did not explain to be what these grading mean, I went to look up in internet. 

The number is the size of the blastocyst (Grade 1-6), first alphabet is the inner cell mass quality (Grade A-C) that will develop into a fetus and finally the outer layer quality (Grade A-C) that will form into a placenta. After I understood a little bit on the grading, I knew why 5XB was disqualified. 

What's next?

To go back to the centre again when my second menstrual period came. Hence, another waiting game..

The Collection

D-9 had arrived and we were back in the centre again!

Dr. Eeson did an ultrasound scan on my tummy and he was quite happy with the amount of eggs he could see in both my ovaries. He started to brief us on the procedure. Apparently, he will puncture into my ovaries to collect the eggs. I'm glad that I would be sedated when this is happening. Later, the nurse went through the instructions for Oocyte Pick Up (OPU) with us which is very important. Oh, they will perform ICSI in our case.

Did you think that the injections have come to an end?

Noooo..

After the nurse had briefed us, I had to take 1 injection at the centre which, as usual, I administered it myself. Later at night, I had to take 2 injections at 9.40pm sharp! We cannot miss the timing at all as these need to be injected 36 hours prior to OPU. These injections are to ensure that I ovulate during OPU. Too early or too late will disrupt the progress. Both the husband and I were so stressed and kept looking at the clock even though both of us had set our alarms at 9.35pm. 

When 9.35pm struck, both of us were at the dining room - the husband was preparing the syringe while I was freezing my tummy with the ice pack. We did the countdown together and when the time struck 9.40pm, I started to inject the medication. I pushed the syringe slowly this time as it was painful. It was more painful during the second injection. 

Was there any side effect?

Well, I did feel nauseas and sick the next day when I was at work. I had to take Sour+ gummy every hour to feel better. At night, I had to take 2 tablets of Ducolax to clear my bladder which did not happen. I'm guessing that I am too fat for 2 tablets to take effect!

Finally, D-11 had arrived! 

That morning, I had to constantly remind myself in my mind not to use body and facial wash - water only. No facial products too. It was not easy when these are part of your routine every morning. I went into the ward around 9am and was really nervous when it was my turn to be pushed into the operating theatre. When I woke up, a nurse was next to me. She told me that 17 eggs were collected which I thought not too bad. She also prompted me that I may experience bloated, cramping or even vaginal bleeding the next day. Unfortunately, I am not suited for fresh embryo transfer as there are polyps found in my uterus, next to my womb's lining, so they had informed me to go back to the centre again on the second day of my second menstrual cycle (yes, another round of waiting game).

What happen to the collected eggs?

On the third day, the embryologist will update us on the result if the eggs are fertilised successfully (embryos). Fertilised eggs will further cultured to blastocysts (also known as Day 5 embryos) and they will update us again on the final number of good quality embryos that will be frozen for transfer later.

I named that 5-day period as The Nerve-Wrecking Period which I will share more in my next post.