IVF Czech

April 23-27th
Egg Retrieval

  We had our third appointment Wednesday April 23, which again included blood work and an ultrasound.  My hormone levels were even better than before, my endometrial lining was excellent, and Dr. Krenek found nine eggs on my ultrasound.  I  had three on the right, two @ 19 and one 12.  The other side had six and I think were all about 16-18.  He said that it was time schedule the egg retrieval, so Eva gave me my last dose of Puregon as well as Orgulatron.  After that we went over when I was to take the Ovitrelle, which has to be timed perfectly.  The Ovitrelle helps to mature the eggs for ovulation.  I had to take it at exactly 8:40 pm and my retrieval was scheduled for Friday at 840am, which is exactly 36 hours later. I was also told to start my Crinone (luckily I have a large supply from last trip, because it is expensive.  Especially in the states!).  Crinone is a progesterone suppository cream that slowly releases and absorbs into the cervix. 

  We went to the zoo in Zlin on Thursday and had a nice long walk up and down the steep hills of this very large, spread-out zoo.  There were nice, large, natural areas for the animals.  It was a beautiful day and we had a good workout. 

  We arrived at the clinic about 8:00am Friday and finalized our paperwork with EVA.  She then took me to a room to change and John went off to do his part.  I was taken back about 8:30 and within minutes I was out from the Propofol.  They woke me up to transfer me back within 20-30 minutes or so and told me to sleep, which I couldn't at all!  Dr. Krenek came in after an hour, and said that he got nine embryos and that John's sperm sample was very good. In case you didn't follow my IVF Turkey blog, John had a vasectomy reversal which so far is the only reason known that we haven't gotten pregnant.

  We decided on Wednesday that we would do something called PICSI.  ICSI is when the sperm is injected directly into the egg.  This is important to do since John's count/morphology has not been perfect, due to the vasectomy reversal   This clinic offers a technology called PICSI, where they wash the sperm in a special solution and the healthiest light up in the dye.

We also chose to do something called embryo monitoring.  Normally the embryologist puts the embryos in and monitors every so often.  Embryo monitoring is like having a nanny cam on them at all times.  Photos are taken every few minutes or seconds(I'm not sure which), and the embryologist can see exactly how they have each developed along the way.  They can see if they divided normally, which lets them pick the highest quality embryos to transfer.  This is our last chance so we decided to do both of these even though they cost extra.

 We received a call from Petra on Saturday letting us know that we had six out of the 9 eggs fertilize, and that our transfer will be on Wednesday at 12:30pm. 

  On Friday afternoon I started to not feel well and soon figured out it was due to the pain medicine given during my retrieval.  I have Crohn's disease, which is in remission, and very much under control with diet.  The meds got me a little out of whack, and it has taken me a couple days to get back on track. 

  We have been going stir crazy in the hotel so we decided to get out on Sunday and go the mall.  On Monday it is our 7th wedding anniversary.  We only have a few days left before the retrieval so we decided to explore a few cities near Zlin that were recommended by Martin, the head chef of Penzion Uno's restaurant and son of its owners.