Optimistic and excited!!

Heather's egg retrieval was yesterday, and they took 5 eggs!! We were so excited!! Heather doesn't remember anything about the procedure, and is doing really well. Brian also dropped off his piece of the puzzle :) yesterday morning. The embryologist worked his magic yesterday afternoon, and fertilized the eggs. Typically, one egg and one sperm are put in a petri dish, and they are left to do their thing. Since we didn't have a lot of eggs to start with, the embryologist did an extra step called ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). Each egg was injected with a single super sperm, which cuts out the process of the sperm making its way into the egg. This adds an increased chance for fertilization. I was happy to hear this, as we will take all the help we can get to make this a success!

This morning, I received a phone call from the embryologist. He said that we have 3 embryos!!! He said that one of the eggs wasn't mature, and one didn't fertilize. We are SO THRILLED to have 3 embryos!! He also told me that we will do the transfer on day 3 (also very exciting news!). The transfer will be Thursday morning at 11AM. Dr. Nash's office has a protocol that they use to determine how many embryos will be transferred. They go by the age of the eggs (so in this case, they use Heather's age, which is 31, not my age, which is 36). For age 30-35, they transfer 2 embryos. If they were going by my age, they would transfer 3 embryos. I asked the embryologist if we could transfer 3 embryos, and he said they are reluctant to do so because the chance of triplets is so high. So, I'm not sure what we will do. In any event, we are so happy to have embryos!! Now, we just have to hope that the embryo(s) (yes, I would be overjoyed to have twins!) implant in my uterus.

I had my first intramuscular progesterone-in-oil injection last night. Brian has to give me the shots because they go in my backside, and it's hard to twist around and give myself the shot. We were both very nervous about the shot (there is a picture below to show you how big the needle is!). Brian did a great job, and surprisingly, it didn't hurt very much (thank goodness!). :)

So, I will update again after my transfer on Thursday. Lots of positive thinking going on here!! :)

Heather getting ready to give herself the HCG trigger shot 35.5 hours before the retrieval

Heather "pulling the trigger", aka giving herself the HCG trigger shot 35.5 hours before the retrieval

Heather in the recovery room after the retrieval

Beautiful card from my parents that arrived in the mail yesterday ... inside, it says "It's that beautiful place between the way things were and the way things are yet to be."

Brian holding the progesterone-in-oil injection ... look at that 1.5-inch needle!!