Coculture procedure

I had the endometrial coculture biopsy today.

I realized last night that I was a bit nervous about it, having visions of the two unanesthetized D&Cs I went through after miscarriages 1 and 2, which were - really - rather hellish. Any procedure description that includes the words "gentle scraping" using a currette now makes me wince. From these prior experiences, I know there is not a thing gentle about it.

There was really nothing to the biopsy procedure today, though. It hurt a decent amount for the few seconds during the actual suctioning - maybe 30 seconds?- as my RE was getting his little snip of the lining. And then it was over. That was it.

The nurse held up the container to me afterward to have me check my name, but I didn't hear that part and instead marvelled at the little pink tissue bits floating in the saline. I even said, "Yup, that looks like a part of my uterine lining!" (I have to admit, I thought it was a little odd she needed me to confirm the contents.) She repeated dryly, "Your name, just look at the tag - is this your name?" Oops. Yeah.

I read some of the research on co-culture, and the process to clean and separate and then seed the cells into the dish sounds pretty cumbersome. No wonder more centers don't offer it. I'm grateful my clinic does and I am hopeful it will help.

I certainly like the idea of my own cells with their growth factors and helper cells surrounding the embryos and hopefully nourishing them as they grow and divide.

Stims start on day 2 of my cycle, probably next Tuesday or so.

IVF #4, here we come! Fingers crossed that this coculture makes the difference.

Mo