The basket tipped over on the way to the Center....

Where oh where did all those follies go?

So, they only retrieved 9.

Dr. Gentle told me that lots of the little ones had disappeared by the time I got on the table.

IF truly sucks.

He also was worried about piercing my ovaries too many times. My platelet levels usually hover a bit below normal and, since I bled alot during the polyp removal, he wanted to minimize blood loss.

Internal bleeding = not a good thing.

Like a true IFer, I am ready to do anything and everything to maximize my chances that this will work regardless of its impact on my health. But that doesn't surprise any of you, for sure.

Dr. Gentle said that, due to the discomfort that I have felt over the past few days, they often recommend freezing all of the embryos and skip a fresh transfer.

Luckily, he followed that up with "but, we won't do that here."

Thank goodness because, at that point, I was ready to scream

We may, however, do a 5-day transfer instead of a 3-day transfer in order to let the minor OHSS symptoms subside.

I need to call Dr. Gentle tomorrow to tell him how I am feeling, but the tentative plan is to use the two best embryos for a 5-day transfer and to freeze the remaining at 3 days. He doesn't recommend freezing embryos at 5 days because the science suggests that they start to break down faster when they are defrosted.

I know that there's data to suggest 5-day transfers have a greater chance of success - as long as the embryos continue to develop.

I am looking for your input, here. What did your RE recommend in regards to 3 or 5-day transfers?

It's probably in part the effect of the anesthesia, but I can't help feeling like the wind was taken out of my sails a bit.

But nine is still good, right?

I am really anxious to get the fertilization report. I hope that we get at least 3 excellent-quality embryos out of this....

I am feeling pretty sore right now since the drugs have worn off. But, overall, the procedure was SO much easier than the attempt to take out Holy Polyp!

It doesn't help that the drugs also bothered my stomach.

I just hope I feel better soon so that we can do a 3-day transfer if Dr. Gentle believes it maximizes our options.

I can't even believe how much I want this to work. And I am not even pregnant. I am starting to get an even better idea how those of you who have suffered a miscarriage feel.......if I can feel this strongly about embryos that don't even exist yet, I can only imagine how intense I would feel about an implnted embryo.

It helps that Mr. LIW and I agree that we will do this a couple of more times if we have to. I keep telling myelf that it will work eventually.

And a cycle is never over until it is over, right? I know lots of you that have experienced true miracles.

Hopefully, those 9 eggs are great quality. And ICSI ensures successful fertilization. And those embies grow successfully.

I love all of you!! I thought almost instantly of updating once I woke up from the procedure. Knowing that you are rooting for me helps to maintain my sanity!

XOXO