After being prepped, it was my turn at around 8:30am. I was surprised to see it was Dr Mendiola- Kato's head practitioner- who was going to do my procedure that morning. Just like the last time, the OR was filled with doctors (Dr Ong-Jao and Dr Perillo were both observing) and nurses and embryologists. Kato's super professional way was such that every single action and result obtained was checked and validated. It made me feel at ease.
So after cleaning and administering local anesthesia, Dr Mendiola started the procedure by popping the more visible follicles. This process was much more painful than the first time, mostly because it involved multiple follicles. The sensation is half a sharp pain when the needle would permeate the follicle and an acute sucking pain when the fluid and egg were being suctioned out.
Anyway, to spare you the yucky details, I was able to generate 5 eggs -- 2 mature, 1 semi-mature and 2 immature. We initially thought we could harvest 8, but it turned out that one was a cyst disguising as a follicle, another one was a follicle but didn't carry an egg inside it, and the 8th one didn't show up for the party. So 5 is what we have. I was happy to know that Kato did in-vitro maturation, which essentially means lab-controlled maturation of an immature egg. This means that our semi-mature egg has about 80% chance of maturing whereas our 2 immature ones have about 25%. I'd take those odds over zero, which is the case if they didn't do IMSI.
So the plan recommended by the embryologist is to culture 1 egg to day-2 just like last time and culture the balance 2 eggs (or more if the immature ones catch up) to day-5 blastocyst. While there is a 50% chance of mortality among fertilized embryos cultured to day-5, they are believed to be stronger than day-2s and have better chances of implanting. The reserve day-2 one will be frozen and kept for future use. This method allows us to hinge on both styles and have some eggs in each basket, so to speak.
Dennis also had a good production level yesterday. So happy!
So there. We're going back on June 20 to find out how many fertilized embryos survived the culture process and freezing. Hoping for 100% rate of survival! Please pray for our little embies!!!
Oh and since embryo transfer will be done next cycle, I have a month (roughly) to decide if I want to transfer 1 or 2 embryos. This is noting that ivf embryos tend to have a higher chance of splitting after implantation, resulting to identical twins. And noting that embryos do not have any dependencies on each other in terms of ability to implant, said Dr Mendiola. What this means is if we have 2 embryos that are likely to implant, they will likely both implant whether they were put in together to share a pregnancy or put in separately to be carried in 2 separate pregnancies. And noting that I have a heart-shaped bicornuate uterus that won't stretch as much as the average oblong ones of other women. But a part of me stubbornly feels 2 is better than 1. Hehe. No logical back-up for that sentiment though, and I know carrying twins (much more triplets if an embryo splits; and I refuse to entertain the idea of quadruplets!) is extremely difficult and carries significant risks for mommy and babies.
I guess I already know the answer. The only upside of putting in 2 is it increases the chance of that particular cycle (but not the chance of each individual embryo, as I mentioned). This means that I can spare myself (and Dennis) the horrible emotional strain and pain of a failed cycle because the cycle has double the odds. Does that make sense? So it's just emotional self-preservation. Vs physical safety and health. I guess I know which one takes precedence over the other. We've just been carrying so much pain throughout this process I can't help but try to find a way to shield us somehow.
Pray for us please!
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