Egg retrieval

Not a long update but a pretty important one. Our egg retrieval went wonderfully! I had no problem with the surgery.  And I think the doctors were pretty impressed. They got a total of 13-16 eggs (depending on whether you ask Joel or the nurse) and we were told 8 of them were mature (meaning that they are ready to be fertilized) and that they would let us know today how many were fertilized.  Soooo, I got a call at work this afternoon and found out that there were actually 12 mature eggs and 11 of them fertilized!!! Of course they still have a few days to watch them and just because they are fertilized doesnt mean that they will all survive the next few days, but I'm praying for my 11 babies (I know it's a completely rediculous idea) that God would protect them and help them to grow well. Obviously i dont want to have 11 children but having 11 fertilized means there should be a good number that develop well in the next few days. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Important dates

We're down to the last few days here. It's hard for me to believe that this is it. After trying for so long and lots of dr's appointments it all boils down to the next week. I go in tomorrow for the egg retrieval. Today is the 1st day I get a break from meds. Then tomorrow it all starts up again. No more shots thank goodness, but there are still a lot of meds and 2 or 3 of them I have to continue for anywhere up to 12 weeks! With how important the shots were (and i managed to do that all like i was supposed to!) this is going to be more important because they support my early pregnancy horomones to keep the baby attatched like it should be until the placenta is developed enough to take over.

We will be able to know right away tomorrow how many eggs they were able to get, but I wont know until Thursday how many of them fertilized ok. Then on Monday they will do the implantation, we will be implanting 2 and after that we will wait about 2 weeks and I will go in for a blood pregnancy test.

We would love it if you all could be praying especially in the next week to 2 weeks for this. Pray that our embryos develop well and that there is no issues with the implantation so God will give us at least one, if not 2 healthy babies!

~Joel and Robyn

So close now!

So we had our teaching visit a week ago. I think anyway. The last week or two is kind of a blur since it's been so busy. I then started my hormone shots this last Saturday.

I have to give myself injections every night. It's not too bad seeing that I'm a nurse and I have plenty of experience, but the 1st day was still a little freaky for me. I have to take them between 6 and 8pm, which is hard when I'm at work because between 6 and 7 I'm doing my last assessments and then keeping up on charting. Then from 7 to 730 is when report to night shift happens, so I had to make every effort to have all my charting done and give a concise, but thorough report so i can give my shot before i leave to head home. I was also quite nervous about making sure the dose was right and that i didnt waste a drop because it's rediculously expensive medication!

The plan is for me to go in almost every day this week to have blood drawn and an ultrasound to see how things are going. The horomones are supposed to increase the number of places that the embryo(s) can implant, so they are wanting to see how many there are and how the eggs are maturing to know when to retrieve them.

They said somewhere between 7-10 days from when I start my shots they will be doing the egg retrieval and will fertilize them the same day. Then they will be watched for 5 days and then they will implant them. Unfortunately after that I just have to wait and eventually they'll do a pregnancy test to see if they took.

The statistics say that there's 65% live birth rate for women doing in vitro under 35 years old, but we believe wholeheartedly that this is what God wants us to do, and with God the statistics are 100% His will! We definitely thank you all who are praying and ask that you continue to pray for the doctors and nurses helping us and that I don't have problems with giving the meds.