Harvest

An early start for a quick trip to Hamilton to lay some eggs. Although I was practicing some relaxation techniques, some dodgy driving by a truck driver and a traffic jam caused tensions to flare. With timings being so crucial, it was a bit of a rushed start. There was lots of information provided before the procedure, as afterwards there are no memories (well, for me anyways).

It was probably a little more serious than I expected (ignorance is bliss!), but after putting on the white down, getting an IV line and then oxygen, I understood that this wasn’t just a smear test. Pre-procedure I was visited by nurses, the Dr, the embryologist – pretty much all the staff that we were to be dealing with during the day and upcoming weeks.

The embryologist was really great at explaining what was going to happen with any precious eggs, the options and the possible issues.

So I was taken to theatre. Lay down with my legs in the stirrups and given the pain meds. Here ends my memories.

What I can report is that they were able to get 10 eggs. That I no longer feel full but now heavy (where they take the eggs out of fills with fluid, which takes 5 or 6 days to pass). And that even though I’m sore and messy, I have on rose tinted glasses and would do that bit all again for the euphoria of delivering 10 possibilities.

While I recovered, the hubby provided his ingredients, then packed me in the car and took me home to rest.

The only curve ball of the day came with a call from the Lab that we were dealing with an unusual shaped sperm. The quantity and mobility were good, but the shape was not conducive to self-fertilisation. This means that the sperm needs to be individually injected into the eggs in a process called ICSI (Intracytoplasmic sperm injection)

Unfortunately, online information reports that IVF and in particular ICSI has an increased rate of producing birth defects (“genetic abnormalities to offspring”). I’m not sure if ignorance is bliss when it comes to this, but we are aware of the possibilities.

The information that we have been told directly is that usually the contents (DNA) of the sperm, in a case like ours, is still good, but the little fella getting the DNA to the eggs is suffering some issues. And that these issues can be caused by lifestyle and environmental factors – like being extremely stressed at work because of an a-hole boss…

So the embryologist will perform ICSI and we will wait to hear if we have any survivors!