Whew!!! Today was by far the most nerve-racking “wait for the phone call” experience of the whole process. So I will not torture you how I was tortured. Here is my fertilization report on how our little embryos are doing (hint…I am thrilled and happy ;))….

Out of the 8 eggs they took out of me, 7 were mature enough to fertilize.  Out of those 7, 6 fertilized through ICSI with my husband’s fresh not frozen sample (He was thrilled about that).  All six are dividing and growing.  Currently there are….

  • 2 5-cell embryos
  • 2 4-cell embryos
  • 1 6-cell embryo
  • 1 2-cell embryo

The two 4 cell are what my embryologist called “the gold standard”.  Embryos get graded to to health, quality, uniformity, structure, and a lot of other stuff.  Of the two 4-cell embryos, one is a grade 4 (the highest), and the other is a grade 3+.  Here is a little visual of a similar embryo at this stage (Not mine)…..

Some of the other ones are Grade 3.  He doesn’t think the 2 cell will make it. So here is the deal…

Tomorrow they will transfer the 2 best looking embryos back into me.  That means I am doing a 3 day transfer instead of a 5.  He will then let the remaining 4 sit until 5 days.  If they make it to the blastocyst stage, they will be frozen to implant at a later date if this cycle doesn’t work (or for baby number 2).  He said we could transfer 2 or 3, but the idea of triplets causes me to get light-headed.  By tomorrow,  the embryos to be transferred most likely will have divided to 8 cells and look something like this….

I go to the clinic tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning. Both our little guys will be gently placed in the uterus to implant.   I am then taking the next week off work and am absolutely planning to stay in bed for the next 5 days! And then it is two weeks until I know if this has worked.   I can’t describe how blessed I feel to have made it this far.  I feel like I have been through a BATTLE.  This has by far been the most emotionally and physically demanding experiences of my life.  I have had around 45 shots, 10 blood draws, 4 botched IV attempts, 8 vaginal ultrasounds, a seizing bladder, an electric beach ball, and am looking forward to two more weeks worth of shots.  My body is bruised with puncture wounds from ass to wrist and collapsed veins. I am swollen, bloated, and exhausted.  I have cried more in the past 2 weeks than my whole life combined (give me a break-Im pumped full of 4 times the hormones).  And all I can say is that if this does actually works, nothing will have ever been more worth it.