Night of the Living Embryos

Day three report: all four are alive and well. There are two 10-cells, an 8-cell and a 7-cell. As of now, I am scheduled for an 8:00 am transfer Saturday morning. Which is no longer officially Halloween, but at least my daughter will still be away at a sleepover.

So - the next two days are all about the genetic material from the sperm. Since sperm develop over a 72-day cycle, I spent the last few months desperately trying to keep my husband as healthy as possible. He was very agreeable about the supplements and no bike riding and getting plenty of rest, etc. etc. But then he was in an accident in which he broke two ribs and tore his rotator cuff. I have to say, he tried to live with the pain, but in the end he took carisoprodol and vicodin for two weeks. I almost canceled the whole cycle, but the doctor told us that these drugs may affect morphology, but the ones that do make it should be fine - it's an all or nothing effect, and has nothing to do with the genetic material. Hopefully.

So - more waiting. My assumption is that we'll transfer all of them - or whatever is still there Saturday - but that isn't official. When we were sitting in the office talking about theoretical embryos the doctor said that at my age he would go for three or four. It doesn't make sense to freeze a lone embryo, and the chances of all of them surviving till transfer are still low. I am still feeling very realistic about this cycle, my hopes are not up at all - but the fact that they aren't all dead is really satisfying - maybe my eggs weren't as crappy as I thought they were?