Day 16-17

Talk about the longest 5 days of my life. Waiting this week has been tough. I am trying to stay busy and distracted, but it's hard. I feel like my mother instincts have already kicked in and I am constantly thinking and worrying about my little embabies growing in the lab. Wondering if they are ok, if they are growing, if they are safe and being well taken care of. The nurse told me that no news is good news. Well no news is still nerve-wracking. But my goal through this whole cycle is to focus on the positive and to be as peaceful about all if it as possible. Not worrying about the what ifs and what could go wrong, but focusing on how it could all go right. I want it to finally be our turn and I want to move forward with this next stage of our life.

My embryo transfer is scheduled for 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. I will go in for a 30 min acupuncture session prior, then will check in at 2:30. Hopefully the OR is running on time so I can have another 30 min acupuncture session post-transfer (but the lady leaves at 4:00, so if the OR is behind and I'm not done before 3:30, I will go back Sat morning for acu). There are some studies that say pre- and post-transfer acu sessions increase implantation rates. I want all the help I can get.

To get an idea of what is happening to our embryos, click on the link below and watch this video from Boston IVF (our clinic). They use a special Embryoscope Incubator that allows them to watch and evaluate the growth of the embryo while it is incubating. This cuts down on the handling of the embryos and can help preserve their quality. In conventional techniques, the embryo is removed from incubation and placed under a microscope and then put back. This takes that step out. Pretty cool, right? This particular embryo was from conventional IVF, where the sperm fertilizes the egg naturally. We did a procedure called ICSI, where they actually inject one sperm into the egg, as this increases fertilization rates. But the development to blastocyst is the same. Our embryo/blastocyst will be about 125 hours old when it is transferred, so it could be anywhere from 60-120+ cells by that time (which is why in the video it becomes impossible to distinguish the individual cells). There will be an inner cluster of cells that is the baby and the other cells will become the placenta. So there's your biology lesson for the day. :-) We will transfer the highest quality embryo/blast and then freeze any remaining that are high enough quality (sometimes they let them grow one more day before freezing).

Anyway, thanks again for all the support and well wishes. It means so much to us to have so many people rooting for us. If you can send a little extra love/prayers/positive vibes or energy to the universe or whatever it is you feel comfortable with around 3:00pm tomorrow, I would really appreciate it.

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