Topsy Turvy, a metaphor for IVF

Our "embies"



Over the last month or so my husband has taken on a new project. He has been wanting to grow vegetables,mainly tomatoes. After much talk and snickering on my end, he bought the As Seen on TV "Topsy Turvy."

As soon as he began we noticed correlations between the process for growing tomatoes and IVF.

1. Plant the best looking seeds in a pot. Prepare the Topsy Turvy for transfer. (In our case, hopefully the best eggs are in my "pot" and my womb is preparing for transfer soon!)
2. In the interim the plants are being given fertilizer daily, water, and sun. (In our case, I'm given Lu*pron & Stims daily in order to help fertilize me!)
3. The seeds will grow for about 2-3 weeks in the pot and will need to be retrieved.(In our case, we will be "growing eggs" for about 8-12 days during stims).
4. Retrieval Time! Only the best plants will be chosen--we chose the 3 healthiest most mature plants to be retrieved because of their higher chances of bearing fruit.
(In our case, we hope to retrieve enough eggs to increase our chances of bearing fruit)
5. Transfer Time! Mature plants are now transfered into the waiting Topsy Turvy that has been receiving sunlight in preparation for the transfer. (In our case, hopefully 2 mature embryos will transferred into my uterus which has been receiving PIO shot in preparation for transfer)
6. Now we wait a couple of weeks to see if the roots will implant and take hold of the soil. (In our case, we wait a couple of weeks to see if our embryos take hold and implant themselves in my uterus.)
7. In approx. 2 weeks we should get signs of success. (In our case, you get the point)

I will keep you posted on the growth of our tomatoes.



Our "transfered embies"

Crazy,eh? I know!!! Just go with me on this one. You gotta admit, the similarities are uncanny!

(By the way, I hope no one deems me insensitive. I know IVF is in no means as trivial as growing tomatoes. I just thought I'd add a little humor to our experience).