We did it, we did it, we did iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!
TWELVE eggs! TWELVE! That's AWESOME. I couldn't be happier. And not just because I'm taking vicodin, heh. We have increased our chances incredibly of being able to obtain what we want, a 5 day transfer of a blastocyst.
I was nervous upon arriving, and when I get nervous I shake like a chihuahua (Hi Beanie!) They put some warm blankets over me which felt heavenly, and they connected my IV. Everyone from staff to doctor were so nice to us, alleviating any fears we had.
They told M to go wait in the waiting room and they walked me back to the procedure room. The anesthesiologist said he would give me some relaxing meds because I was still shaking so much and so nervous. BOOM, all of a sudden, calmness. It was a nice feeling. It was like "Oh this is what it feels like to not have anxiety". And then that was it. I was woken up back in the recovery room.
Wow, surreal.
They said 12 eggs and my heart fluttered. I've been setting myself up for five and twelve is a lot more than that, and I know all of them won't be mature eggs but it's so much better than starting with 5. This is great news and I will embrace it. Thank you universe!
It's hard to believe but right now, right this very second, M and I have conceived our next child.
A single sperm has been injected into each one my eggs, and the fertilized egg is now engaged in a survival dance. It's so beautiful, knowing the day of conception, the hour of conception. It's amazing. Brilliant.
So, now we wait. Tomorrow before noon, the nurse will call me and tell me how many eggs fertilized successfully and survived over night. This will let me know how many official embryos are growing.
The next day, Day 2, they will call and give me a report on how the cells are dividing. Have they divided into four cells? Or only three? Or two? Are the cells fragmented indicating certain demise? Have one or two or more crumbled and already passed on? This is the day they are supposed to tell me if we are going to have a 3 day transfer or a 5 day transfer.
What is the difference you ask? If we are able to grow our embryos in the petri dish for two more days, 48 long hours, then the cell division that takes place within the embryos give an indication of which is the healthiest, the most normal, the one most likely to survive in the womb.
This is what a 3 day embryo looks like in comparison to what you'll see below.
WARNING, OPEN YOUR MIND FOR A SECOND THIS IS COMPLICATED SHIT:
You see, on a blastocyst (which is just an older embryo), there are two sections to pay attention to, the outside rim, and the dark inner cell mass. The dark inner cell mass is the "baby", the outer wavy rim part is what will end up being the placenta (it's called the trophectoderm)
They are assigned one letter grade each. (examples, AA, AB, BA, BC) The first letter is assessing the "baby cells". The second letter of the grading is the placenta cells.
So, with Jonah, he was a AA blastocyst. Perfectly shaped baby cells, perfectly shaped placenta cells. I also had embryos that were BB, BC and so on.
As another example, a blastocyst with a grading of 'CA' or 'CB' can end up being a chemical pregnancy with no fetal heart beat (because the "baby" part of the embryo was rated a "C", get it?)
We really want an AA blastocyst to transfer back.
This was Jonah at day 5 of growth. This is considered a perfect AA blastocyst. Check out the inner cell mass and the wavy placenta cells on the edge of the embryo.
This is what we hope for again. A beautiful perfect AA blast.
So, that's it! Our part is over. It's up to the Universe and Science to take us to the next step.
I have to tell you....going from waking up one morning "normal" and full from carrying a bunch of eggs to all of a sudden being a momma to several embryos is mindblowing.
Completely mindblowing.
