Assisted Hatching!

Today is Day # 4 post embryo transfer!  I can report that I finally feel more like myself after a rough week of feeling pretty bad with cramps, bloating, severe boob tenderness, back pain.....  on and on.   My ovaries must not be as enlarged as they were days ago, the area is still tender to the touch but much more tolerable.  THANK GOD!  Just so I keep all this straight it was exactly a week after egg retrieval that I started to feel relief!  Wade and I were out most of the day today and it felt great to be social and outside!!!  I even took a short little walk today and if felt great!

As I talked about on the last post Day #4 (after embryo transfer) means :
Day Four: The blastocyst continues to hatch out of its shell and begins to attach itself to the uterus

How crazy is to know that this started happening in my body yesterday and continues!   One thing that I have not mentioned yet is that all of our embryos had "assisted hatching." Assisted hatching is a relatively new technique used during IVF.  It is performed in order to help an embryo hatch out of its protective layering and implant into the uterus. Sometimes, embryos have a difficult time hatching out of their protective layer. The assisted hatching procedure involves thinning or making a small hole in the zona pellucida that surrounds the embryo (a protective layer). There some evidence that assisted hatching may improve implantation rate.   So just another extra to help lead us toward the goal!

We only have 8 days to go until Oct 4th, believe me we are both counting!  I feel like it is helping me alot to go through this same process with Melinda ( my sister in law) as she is coming up on her egg retrieval middle of this week!  Nice to take some attention off of myself for a little while, this past week has been so consuming!

My progesterone shots are going OK still, not alot of pain during or immediately post injection but alot of soreness and some dark bruises a day or two after.  I go in Monday morning to have them check my levels.  Progesterone is vital for endometrial development and continued embryo support. It is absorbed by the body most efficiently through intramuscular injections, so though they are not fun they are important!


As always thanks for reading!