The Waiting Games

Still totally surreal - - -

I can kind of forget about it for a moment or so and then I'll suddenly remember and get butterflies! Didn't sleep so great last night; was awake from about 2:50 - 5:00am. That's the down side of too much rest I guess! During that time I kept talking to the little embryos. "Ok now, be good and strong and healthy!"  "Grow, and hatch!" "Get all snuggly in a good spongy, soft location in there!"

There they are! The bigger looking one up top is our best. During freeze time, the blastocysts shrivel up and so it needed to expand back out and fill up that shell surrounding it. Our embryologists said that both survived, though one better than the other. (I literally couldn't breathe until I heard her tell us!!!) You can tell that the lower one is not as far developed, and it apparently had a little more damage (though damage is "normal"). The crazy thing is that sometimes the best blastocysts never produce a baby, while a poorer-looking three cell might! You never know....

Here's a chart I snagged from the internet of our timeline:

5-Day Transfer

Days Past Transfer (DPT)	Embryo Development
One	The blastocyst begins to hatch out of its shell
Two	The blastocyst continues to hatch out of its shell and begins to attach itself to the uterus
Three	The blastocyst attaches deeper into the uterine lining, beginning implantation
Four	Implantation continues
Five	Implantation is complete, cells that will eventually become the placenta and fetus have begun to develop
Six	Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) starts to enter the blood stream
Seven	Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Eight	Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Nine	Levels of hCG are now high enough to detect a pregnancy

So, I am on Day 2. The best I could hope for is to actually start feeling some cramping and have possible spotting; which would mean that at least one of them is for sure implanting and giving it a go! I didn't have anything significant with Nathan, so it's not necessary to get preggers, but it would help out mentally for sure. ;0)

The procedure itself is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool. They have a camera in the lab, and we could see our embryos floating around. Dr. Kettle and his nurse prepped me and then communicated via intercom with the embryologist when they were ready to transfer. We saw her suck them up into a little tube, and then she appeared and we got to see them get placed from the catheter directly inside the uterus by an ultrasound. If you look at the pic, there is a little white arrow pointing at two little white specs!

When all was said and done, I stayed lying down for about 15 minutes. (Before heading out, a nurse took a Sharpie and drew black circles on the top of my arse so Stephen has a target for the progesterone shots! LOL.) While I was hanging out we took a couple goofy pics. (Ignore the no-makeup look, I wasn't exactly aiming for model status!)

We picked up Phil's on the way home - because that's what I had for lunch after the first go round and we figured it wouldn't hurt! Stephen took the WHOLE day off and we had a "The Paradise" and "Deep Space 9" marathon in bed, along with a few Zynga poker tournaments on our phones. My super cool and thoughtful pal, Karin, snuck by the house in the evening and dropped off the baby names book I'd lent her (soooooo hoping and praying we get to go through it again!!!), along with some super yummy and chocolaty goodies. (Happy hubby too!) We also enjoyed a bowl of my mom's homemade stew (soooooooo good, and I could feel the love!)

So the maddening WAIT continues! We officially have a pregnancy test at the center scheduled, but I am hoping that it will be "obvious" before then, and in a good way. After today's rest, it'll be a balance of staying busy/distracted, but not over-doing anything. So, forgive me if I go a little crazy.

Again, I saw how grateful I am for all your support. (Some well-timed texts from friends came exactly when I needed it yesterday.)
Love and Hugs!