Day 11: les jeux sont faites!

Today was the first day of the roadwork's on one of the city's busiest road junction. Extremely high levels of traffic were anticipated on the alternative routes in and out of The Hague and it was advised to leave the car at home. We toyed with the idea of cycling to the hospital but quickly dismissed it: surely the follies would not have appreciated the bumpy ride!

Although it took us twenty minutes to get out of the centre, extremely high levels of additional stress were avoided and it was a good dress-rehearsal for Wednesday morning: day of the egg retrieval! This day was decided during our 4th ultrasound this morning. It looked like three, four or maybe even five egg cells will join in for the party.

The smaller egg cells did not show a lot of progress since yesterday, so the doctor thought it was not worth stimulating the other follicles more at the risk of sacrificing the big ones. At eleven tonight we are going to administer the human chorionic gonadotrophin injection, code name Pregnyl. This hormone helps induce the release of mature eggs from the ovaries by mimicking the normal surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) that occurs mid-way through a normal menstrual cycle, and causes ovulation to begin.

Egg retrieval is performed about 36 hours after the eggs are triggered to mature with the HCG. This is why it is key to arrive in time on Wednesday morning! We are both excited and looking forward to the next steps!

To remind myself of what is coming, I read Kata's story over and over and absorb all the information. Kata is a couple of months ahead of me in the process: she and her husband are expecting their first child following their first ICSI-treatment. There is a complicating factor in their situation since her husband has cystic fibrosis (CF). This disease causes reproductive problems, since the sperm can not pass from the testicles to the point of ejaculation, even though the testicles are producing sperm. Her husband's sperm had to be removed surgically.

I have been following their journey from almost the start and I know it has not been an easy one. As everybody going through the IVF process, Kata has had good days and bad days. She describes how many hurdles there are to get through and how difficult the two week wait was: would she be pregnant or not? I sometimes checked her site for updates twice a day, keen to know if it had worked. Strange thing that is, having a peek into the life of a stranger, reading intimate details. Like I said to her, it must be one of the side effects of IVF, looking everywhere for information to give some hope. I was so happy for them when the pregnancy test proved to be positive!

Her positive approach is a real inspiration and reading her story has been helpful during momentarily lapses of good spirits. She has been following the Chezcorcutt adventures too and sent me an email yesterday, telling me to keep my spirits up and that she has her fingers crossed for us. Thanks dear Kata! We do remain positive and are aware that the number of eggs are just one step to the actual goal: having a baby.

I now follow her pregnancy journal, waiting for the first belly pictures and stories on the first movements from the little one. I am so looking forward to being pregnant too! Will we be lucky this second time around? I hope so!