IVF Cycle 1: Worth a Shot?

It was a difficult morning. At this late stage in the cycle, I only have two viable-looking follicles, which is pretty pathetic.

A trigger injection is required to make the eggs finally mature without me actually ovulating, then a pickup operation to collect the eggs. We were scheduled for the trigger tonight, and the pickup operation on Thursday, but it all looks a bit doubtful, now.

The clinic rang today at 10am and said it looked like I needed to be on a higher dose of the stimulation drugs in future. Our specialist said that he would leave it up to us to decide whether to go through with the trigger and pickup operation this week. The chances weren't good, but he was willing to try it if we were. We needed to decide by midday.

I spent most of this morning agonising. Last time I did IVF, I had nine follicles and got two eggs, so who knows if there is anything at all in just two follicles. It seemed like a lot of money and drama to go through for so little chance. If we cancelled at this point, apparently, we would also get a lot of our initial deposit back, as well as avoiding the further expense of a possibly pointless operation.

So I made the rational decision to cancel the cycle.

But with minutes to spare, I found I hesitated to put the call through. I had this small intuitive feeling that I should trust my body, having put it through so much already. I also wondered if I was putting too much emphasis on the money and trouble, and not enough on the opportunity. After all, there may well be one egg and, if it fertilises (the fertilisation rate is about 65% on average), then there is still a small chance for this cycle.

So we are going to go through with the trigger in 30 minutes time. It's worth a shot, anyway.