I somehow lost the pot of gold but won the IVF lottery
For context, I am an RN of 14 years, have survived septic shock six times, have lupus, been on chemo, and only have one ovary due to a 13cm mass on my left ovary in which resulted in losing that ovary. My AMH is 0.25. I had 6 AFC on Saline sono.
As a nurse I am a woman of science. I knew my chances were absolute trash. Statistics were NOT on my side but I was willing to take the chance even knowing that, especially knowing that, so I did not get my hopes up very high.
My first round was cancelled due to not responding (at all) to stims.
My second round 8 days later I responded immediately BUT only had two follicles saying hello and one was really dominant with no chance of the second being able to catch up. My egg retrieval happened.
Two eggs retrieved.
One mature.
One fertilized.
One beautiful embryo on ice.
I couldn’t believe my damn luck. The stats of that happening were less than 30%.
Round 3 began just a week after my egg retrieval (DuoStim cycle). I was SO excited as I had 4 follicles responding as the two that had been retrieved started to shrink. But as the days went on, one of the follicles stopped responding and 2 follicles were responding at a snails pace and nowhere near big enough to produce a mature egg. I had one good follicle only. Egg retrieval happened.
One egg retrieved.
One mature.
One fertilized.
ONE BEAUTIFUL EMBRYO ON ICE.
Once again I could not believe my luck. The chances of one egg retrieved becoming an embryo? Just under 20%.
The chances of 3 eggs over two retrievals becoming 2 embryos? 15%. I had a 15% chance.
But I guess my life has been a series of beating odds.
The first time I went septic I had a 20% chance of living, an 80% chance of dying. My lactic acid was double digits.
I survived being rear ended at highway speed at a dead stop in a five car pile up.
I’m a survivor. And my little embryos are some survivors too. 🤍
I’m in round 4 and so far only two follicles. But I’m holding on to the above. We just need 1-2 more embryos and the. We start transfers.
I hope if you’re in a situation similar to mine, you read this and have some hope too.
Sincerely,
Future Mamma S.