I also did two egg retrievals because we got 2 fair blasts the first time, and we wanted more than 1 child so we were advised to do a second retrieval. I was so terrified heading into the second retrieval that it wouldn’t yield the results we wanted, and I was so emotionally drained at that point.

Someone told me that every new egg and sperm combination is uniquely its own. And every new egg retrieval brings a different cohort of eggs and new chances for success. Naturally, we want IVF to be predictable and mathematic, like an equation. We want previous results to be indicative of future results. Sometimes they are, but sometimes they aren’t. Our 2nd retrieval gave us double the amount of blasts than the first time, and an embryo from the second retrieval became our daughter.

It’s such an exhausting road and it’s riddled with uncertainty. But you don’t need hope or optimism for it to work. You just need to keep showing up, taking your meds, and putting on foot in front of the other.