When At First You Don't Succeed

Be thankful you get to try again.

It's been exactly one week since we received the phone call letting us know that only 3 of our 13 retrieved eggs were mature enough to attempt to fertilize. We knew at that moment our chances of conception at the end of the cycle were diminishing rapidly, but we never completely lost faith.

And now, even after an early conclusion of our first IVF attempt has come to pass, we are still praising God for his faithfulness and mercy, thanking him continually for the chance to try one more time.

During our post IVF phone consult with Dr. Greene this afternoon our conclusion remains the same, as does our optimism for the next cycle in September. He still feels that I responded perfectly to the protocol and medication, so the only change taking place will be the timing of our HCG trigger shot. If administered at a more appropriate time, we should be able to produce more mature eggs and eliminate all of the drama and disappointment that yielded from our last failed cycle and replace it with plenty of healthy, viable embryos.

As my bruises heal and our hearts mend, we're excited to see what our next try in September brings; fighting fear and doubt brought on by last weeks loss with our optimism and hope for our next try. We know our chances of success are even higher next time, but there is always the possibility that something different could go wrong. Even a perfect cycle may not lead to conception.

But it could, and that's good enough for us.

"How long should you try? Until."

-Jim Rohn