... and now, we wait ...

The transfer went well yesterday. I took a valium pill at 10AM, and we arrived at the office around 10:30. At 11:00, Alex, the embryologist came and got us. He took us to a preop/recovery room, and we talked about the embryos. He said that one of the 5 eggs that they took from Heather did something very rare ... it began dividing on its own, as if there was a sperm in it, but without a sperm! He said this is called a parthenogenic egg, and it is obviously not compatible with life. Pretty wild! That is the one egg that they did not fertilize. They fertilized the other 4 eggs. By day 1 (Tuesday), one of the eggs did not divide any further, so there were 3 eggs left. I called on day 2 (Wednesday) to check on the embryos, and Alex said that one of the embryos had stopped dividing, meaning that we had most likely lost it. :( So, we went into Thursday knowing that there would be only 2 embryos.

Alex showed us pictures of the embryos. See below for the pictures. They are graded on a scale of 1-4, and 1 is the best. Ours are both grade 2. Here's a chart that describes the grading:

Grade 1	Cells are of equal size; no fragmentation seen
Grade 2	Cells are of equal size; minor fragmentation only
Grade 2.5	Cells are mostly of equal size; moderate fragmentation
Grade 3	Cells are of unequal size; no fragmentation to moderate fragmentation
Grade 4	Cells are of equal or unequal size; fragmentation is moderate to heavy

Alex told us that grade 2 is very good, and about 80-85% of the embryos they see are grade 2. In order for the embryos to be viable for transfer on day 3, they need to have 4-8 cells. One of ours had 6, and the other had 8. The cells are the large, circular shaped objects. The cytoplasmic fragments (bits of cytoplasm that break off during cell division) are the smaller, bubbly-looking objects. See below for the embryo pictures:

This embryo has 8 cells and 20% cytoplasmic fragmentation

This embryo has 6 cells and 25% cytoplasmic fragmentation

Alex told us that because we only had 2 embryos, they wanted to give us the very best chances for success. So, they did something called assisted hatching. The embryos are enclosed in a shell called the zona pellucida. The embryos have to break out of this shell before they can implant. In assisted hatching, the embryologist makes several nicks in the zona pellucida, which gives the embryos a jump start at breaking out of their shells. We will take all the help we can get!! After we talked about the embryos, he told me to change into a hospital gown and put on a cap. He told Brian to put on a one-piece white spacesuit-looking getup, along with a mask and a cap. Here we are in costume:

They took us across the hall to the procedure room. I sat in a chair with the traditional stirrups at the end. Brian sat to my left. Alex came into the room and said that the doctor (not Dr. Nash, unfortunately ... Thursday is his day in the Columbus office) would be in shortly. He would be inserting a speculum and then cleaning off and drying my cervix. Then, he would insert a catheter through my cervix to make sure there were no issues getting through. A few minutes later, Dr. Moretuzzo (the medical director of the practice) came in and introduced himself. He had Alex use an abdominal ultrasound wand to press against my abdomen, and they were able to see the catheter in my uterus on the screen. He had no trouble getting the catheter through my cervix, so he gave Alex the go-ahead to get the embryos. Alex went through a door to the lab, and soon, the flat-screen TV on the wall came on. A petri dish with my last name and date of birth appeared on the screen, and Alex came into the room to get a verbal confirmation that this was the right container. Then, he focused the camera on the embryos, and we watched on the screen as he sucked the embryos up into a small, flexible tube. Then, he brought them in and gave them to Dr. Moretuzzo. Alex used the ultrasound on me again while Dr. Moretuzzo threaded the tube with the embryos up into my uterus. When he could see that the tube was in the right place, he released the embryos into my uterus. Then, it was all over. They had me lay there for about 10 minutes, and then Alex brought a gurney in and had me scoot over to it and stay laying down. He wheeled me back into the preop/recovery room, and told me to lay there for about a half hour. After a half hour, a nurse came and told me I could get dressed. Once I was dressed, she wheeled me down to the parking lot in a wheelchair, and Brian picked me up.

It feels very surreal that it's all over. Dr. Moretuzzo told me that the embryos will continue growing and dividing rapidly, and on day 5 (tomorrow), they will be blastocysts. At that point, they will begin breaking out of their shells, and by day 6-7, the embryo(s) will hopefully start to implant into the lining of my uterus. My pregnancy test will be Monday, March 26, 10 days from today. I will have the blood draw that morning between 8-8:30, and I will receive the phone call by 3:00 that afternoon. Oh, how those hours will drag ...

So, now we just wait. I am on 3 days of modified bed rest now. I am supposed to take it easy, not exert myself or do anything strenuous, and lay down as much as possible for the next few days. I am supposed to continue to take it easy and not do anything strenuous until after the pregnancy test.

Thank you to each and every one of you reading this, for all of the love and support you have given me. It has carried me through the last couple years of this roller coaster journey, and I am hoping more than anything (I have never wanted anything so much in my whole life) to give you the most amazing blog post of my life on Monday, March 26th. Until then, please keep sending positive thoughts and sticky baby vibes. :) xoxo