Six on Day Six

And then there were six.

The lab called today to report that yesterday (day 5) they biopsied and vitrified four of our embryos and then today (day six), there were two more to biopsy and vitrify. When she said "four" my heart sank, but when she told me about the two today, I felt better. I was a little bit disappointed because I was sort of hoping for another astounding report (I imagined perhaps 7 to 10 making it to blast), but when I really thought about what we have achieved, six is wonderful.

Again I asked for the details and she told me the grades: 3AA, 4AB, 5AA, 5AA, and two "two-thirds." Has anyone heard of this "two-thirds" grade? She explained it and then I asked her to explain it again. She said they are early blastocysts and they can almost tell where the intracellular mass (cells that become the baby) will be, but not enough to give them a real grade. However, they are good enough to make it to the next round. The very nice lab lady said that anything higher than a BB is considered a good embryo.

I asked about the ones that didn't make the cut and she said there were two ones, two that looked the way they should look on day four (so they were a few days behind) (there was a name for that but I can't figure out what it was -- I googled it and still couldn't get it -- it started with an M and sounded like oreo), and 3 arrested.

I also asked if she thought this was good overall, considering we started with 17 eggs. She said it is about what they would expect. I was sooo glad she didn't end that statement with "for someone of your age." That was so nice. Does anyone else cringe inside when you sense that phrase coming?

So if this were American Idol, my entire reserve of eggs stood in line for days to audition in front of Simon, Randy and Cara; 17 eggs got the chance to actually sing for them; 14 made it to Hollywood; and now six have made it into the finals.

Too much TV, you think?

Too much time off work! I pretty happily went back today, even if it was a 10-hour day.  (And yes, I was very happy to come home and watch the first AI episode featuring Ellen D.)

So I feel good about where we are. I don't have any anxiety about waiting six weeks for genetic test results and I sincerely told two people today that if zero come back normal, I will not regret doing this. I am so happy that we went to Denver. I feel like we have done everything we could possibly do to conceive a child. If this fails, I think it will be a sign that it is time to move on to another approach to building our family.

I just realized that in the past two paragraphs, I've used the word "happy" (or some variation thereof) three times. Yes, I feel happy. I am happy that our biggest hurdle to IVF success (making eggs and thus, embryos) has been jumped. The only two embryos we made before were below average on day three. Until now, I'd never made a blast and I'm pretty happy that I made six with pretty good grades! I'm happy that the stimulation phase is over and I probably don't ever have to do that again. Our plan, since we don't have insurance for this, was always to try three times and then move on. If it doesn't happen in three attempts, maybe it's not supposed to happen this way.

In addition to happy, I also feel relieved. I have been hopefully anticipating the possibility of pregnancy and parenthood off and on for.... well... almost 17 years. That's a long time to wish for something intermittently and to have almost no indication of whether your hopes will ever come to fruition. I am happy because I know that one way or another, this not knowing about something so important will be over before too much longer. (I was married before, at age 22, for 11 years. We tried off and on with no success during that time. Never sought help for the issue because I wasn't convinced I wanted kids with him. Soooo glad that didn't happen!)

So. Final "happy" count in this post: Eleven

That's a lot of happy. (Twelve!)

Day Three

Just got the call from the lab for the Day 3 report.

For starters, the guy said everything looks excellent and that they would call me in a few more days with the final report. And that was all he was going to say!. But I said, "Okay I'm an information girl so I would like to know everything you can tell me about them at this point." He immediately said, "Okay, I'm going to read each embryo's number followed by the number of cells and then the grade. Do you have a pen and paper ready?"

Did I have pen and paper? Of course!

So here goes.

1. 8 cells, grade 4-
3. 8 cells, grade 4-
4. 8 cells, grade 4-
5. 8 cells, grade 4
6. 4 cells, grade 4-
7. 8 cells, grade 4-
9. 8 cells, grade 3+
10. 8 cells, grade 4-
11. 8 cells, grade 4-
12. 8 cells, grade 3
14. 8 cells, grade 4-
15. 10 cells, grade 4-
16. 5 cells, grade 4-
17. 6 cells, grade 4-

At first when he skipped number 2 I thought it was a mistake, but then I figured it out. 2, 8, and 13 were the eggs that didn't fertilize.

He said they rarely give full 4s because that's like perfect. So all the 4 minuses are still great, I think.

He said something about biopsying and vitrifying them on day 5 or 6 and I said something about most of them making it to that point. He said that the 4-, 5-, and 6-celled ones may not make it. If we had all but three make it to blast, that would still be 11!! We may have enough to make two babies out of this. But I won't go there yet. Six Months At  A Time, Susie.

Right now it should be more like Six Hours At A Time. That is more true than you know. At the risk of giving you waaay TMI, I'll say that my follow-up ultrasound this morning resulted in a diagnosis of not hyperstimulation but constipation. Eww. Apparently the anesthesia can do that to you. And so can eating out for 10 days! So in addition to a few over the counter meds to solve my problem, I actually bought some prune juice. It isn't as bad as I thought it was. But I haven't even had a full 5.5 oz can. So I'm waiting for that problem to be solved. The pill bottles say relief could come between 12 and 72 hours. Oh please not 72 hours! I can't wait to feel better because I feel pretty gross. I can't even eat. But I am relieved it is not OHSS -- the sonographer said there's no fluid in my abdomen. Whew!

The embryologist said they will call again in 3 days with the final report. As I wait for "my problem" to resolve itself, today is our last day in Denver. I wish I felt like going somewhere and doing something fun. We may drive to Boulder or go to the Denver Art Museum. If I feel like it.