Day Four Embryo Report

Lab called this morning (starting to seem like groundhog day to you, too?). The embryologist informed me that one of our embryos "hasn't done much" since biopsy yesterday, so it looks like we have our first casualty. The other four are still going strong and are all 12 to 16 cells (morula stage) at this point, which is good. Day four is tricky though, so he had no predictions for tomorrow. I have found that smart docs avoid predictions anyway. Plus, it doesn't matter how pretty they look tomorrow if they are genetically abnormal and will not progress, so no use in trying to figure everything out today.

The embryologist and I will have our final morning chat tomorrow to confirm that there are still viable embryos fit for transfer at that time, and hopefully there will be at least one or two blastocysts on the all-important day 5. He confirmed that we still only wanted to transfer one embryo, and I explained that I was very confident about that throughout the cycle, only now I am starting to freak out about the odds and a tiny part of me is considering transferring two. I guess it just depends on how the embryos look tomorrow. Assuming there is more than one that is genetically viable, if both look great and are aggressively dividing, I will no doubt choose to have one transferred and one frozen for a possible future frozen cycle (my door is open to accept any applicants for future surrogates, ha). But, if only one looks good and one looks marginal (and not good enough to freeze, because freezing and thawing takes a toll and they only do it with grade-A blastocysts), we may, and I mean MAY, transfer two. After spending as much time in the NICU as I have, the term high-risk pregnancy takes on a different meaning, and I have had my fill of high-risk. Not to mention I am not the one taking the risk.

Anyway, that is all useless speculation at this point. What will be tomorrow will be. Angie has to report to the clinic tomorrow at 11:15, Valium in hand. I think I will drive her while Trevor watches Michael. So, around 11 to 12 tomorrow, please say an extra prayer for us!