The first part of IVF is the egg retrieval. Basically you take a ton of meds leading up to the procedure to mature your follicles. Once they are big enough you go under anesthesia and the doctor “retrieves” them. After that they are taken to the lab where the embryologist fertilizes them with the sperm. This essentially is a baby. It takes about 5-6 days for them to turn to blasts and then they are frozen for later use. This is a very simplified version of the process.
The stimulation or “stims” part of the process is the hardest because it involves lots of meds and lots of shots. It’s hard because it gets annoying taking shots daily. You also get super bloated from taking all the medication.
This is the one time that PCOS has worked in my favor because I produced many eggs.
30 to be exact. Which is ALOT. Also i have to add that I was 29 at the time. Most women that go through this process are over 35 and that is when your egg reserve is on the lower side. Out of the 30 retrieved 26 were mature and 24 were fertilized. Traditionally when conceiving the sperm swims to the egg, fertilizes it, the embryo then travels to the uterus and implants. After 9 days HCG is in your system and boom you get a positive pregnancy test. After the 24 eggs were fertilized they have 5-6 days to turn to blasts. 20 of my eggs turned to blasts. Which basically means i have 20 frozen kids. This is very good. Embryos are also graded which means some are better than others. I have a bunch of 5AA embryos. This is really good news and I was very happy with the results.
The recovery process was long because I had so many eggs removed. I was super bloated and constipated. I had to take it easy for a few days because I was in danger of having Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome or “OHSS”. Because i had so many eggs retrieved I don’t have to go through this process again.
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