Grade-A blastocycst transfer

FANTASTIC NEWS! We walked into the transfer room today having absolutely no idea how our 15 embryos were doing. There was a picture of them up on the computer screen, but we had no idea if they were healthy.

When the embryologist came in, he said that they were absolutely "gorgeous" BLASTOCYSTS! They made it to blast stage!

When the doctor doing the transfer joined us (it's a full room: me, Jonathan, ultrasound tech, embryologist, endocrinologist) he said again how "gorgeous" our embryos were. I asked him how many they were going to transfer because I knew that our doctor's protocol for this cycle had said "up to three" embryos. That's when the endocrinologist and embryologist both said that there was no way they'd transfer three because the embryos were of such great quality. He showed us how thin the outer shell was on each. The shell starts out thick, and as the embryos get ready to literally hatch out of it, it thins out. This means that they didn't have to help them hatch out, they're taking care of it on their own!

During the transfer procedure, the doctor said I had a little bit of bleeding still left over from the retrieval, but nothing to worry about. Again, I got to see our two "kids" (or the air bubble they were riding on) travel right into my uterus on ultrasound. So very cool. I was instructed to start taking the heparin tonight so I get to wear a really awesome *cough cough* bracelet just in case something happens to me and I'm unconscious and can't tell medical personnel that I am on blood thinners.

I know everyone wants pictures and I aim to please, so.... tada! If they look different from last time, it's because they are. Like I mentioned in my post from a couple days ago, they change a lot in 48 hours, or at least have the potential to. It's a completely different animal (see the Eight-Celled Children post from September if you want to compare). These are more like 100-150 celled-children.

If you can see the dense cluster of cells (easier to spot on the left embryo, at about 10 o'clock), those cells will become the baby. The scalloped cells on the outer edge will be the placenta. Pretty neat to realize that each one of us starts out this way.



As for the fate of the other 13 embryos, 8 were fantastic enough to freeze today and the other five will be observed for a couple more days to ensure that they could survive freeze. I should have an update on their status early next week. I am excited that we have 12 total embryos frozen as of today, 9 of them blastocysts. I would love to see the other five make it as well, but I'm extremely happy with our "stash."

I really really really cannot thank you all enough for your support. We are so very blessed not only to have this opportunity to pursue our dream, but to have incredible friends and family to back us up. I have received so many countless phone calls, emails, comments, and text messages and we never, I mean never get tired of them. I wish we could name a kid after each one of you. :) The pregnancy test will be on November 16, so keep thinking of us!