Catch up...

We went for our IVM orientation last Friday. It was informative and very positive - yet still seemed a little unorganized. They couldn't find our chart...this has happened once before...but luckly they were able to call down stairs to the lab and get a copy of our blood work and follicle scan (they also assured me they would locate my chart... :p)! After the orientation the clinic director instructed me that I should call in at the beginning of my May cycle to begin the IVM process...I was a little shocked sinceI was sure we were told we would be starting in April...and I know my chart (which they couldn't locate) definitely said 'to start IVM cycle day 1 in April'. The clinic director didn't even bother fighting me on that detail and just agreed that we would/could start my next cycle - whoot!

For IVM you need to have a cd3 follicle count of at least 20 follies (which most true PCO patients all have)...I had 40+ follies which is more than ideal for the procedure. So on cd 1...which will hopefully arrive around April 14th...I call and book my cd 3 blood work and ultrasound. Due to my lack of ovulation without clomid I still get worried even after a clomid cycle that I may not have ovulated, which would totally mess things up. Anyways... cd 6 another ultrasound/blood work and I will start the low dose gonadotropins to stimulate my ovaries for three days. Cd 8 - third ultrasound/blood to monitor growth of follicles and from this point on I will have daily blood/ultrasounds until I am ready for egg retrieval (usually between cd 10-14). On the day of the egg retrieval...DH will give a sample in case we have already matured eggs to be fertilized...since we are doing invitro maturation, when my eggs are retrieved most of them will not be ready for fertilization for 24h...once retrieved they will be put into a maturation liquid to continue to mature. Since I had 40+ follicles they think they will probably be able to retrieve between 20-35 eggs...maybe 20-25 will mature ( not all retrieved eggs will mature)...and since we are using ICSI...all eggs that mature will be fertilized. 4 days after the egg retrieval...I go in for the embryo transfer...and then its the 2ww. It all seems soooo crazy but exciting.

We will have remaining embryos...we plan on culturing them for 2 more days ... until they are blastocysts...and then freezing them for future attempts. There is just so much to research I still want to do...especially concerning the freezing of embryos.

Well that is everything I have to update...I'm just waiting for cd 1 and then I will have some serious news to report next cycle.