Day 3 Embryo Update

What a week full of emotions! I was feeling super bloated after the egg retrieval and spent the majority of Friday lounging on the couch watching Netflix and missing Justin while he was at work. I had to go back to work on Saturday myself which I was not looking forward to because it was still difficult for me to get around without feeling uncomfortable.  I have gained 5 lbs since the start of my injections!  I could only imagine how much fluid was in my abdomen.  I have been taking the Ganirelix injections to help my body shut down all the hormones and get back to normal.  I have also been drinking those Propel waters!  

Seeing how I worked so hard to produce 40 follicles which only yielded 26 eggs, and then within hours the count went to only 17 mature eggs, and then only 9 eggs taking fertilization with ICSI on Day 1, it left me in this pessimistic state of "this isn't going to work."   Before starting all this, I did pray that God would only give us a handful of embryos as we do believe that we have created lives and would like to use what we are granted.  However, it gets stressful thinking what if we just aren't compatible?!  You start reading online how many embryos other IVF couples made and it just makes you more anxious.  This has really taught me a lesson that for once I have no control over something. It's all up to the specialists and God and if we are supposed to have a baby, then we will be granted a child!

I had to float to the Pediatric ICU on Saturday which made matters worse since I was feeling crummy and I would have to explain my situation to them and make sure I had an appropriate assignment etc.  They worked my butt off but overall it was a good day.  

I took care of a sweet precious baby girl with a chromosome abnormality who I got to love on.  She had an IV line in her head which the parents were so nervous about her pulling at it.  I made her a headband with a cute pink bow out of some random supplies I found that would cover her IV.  The parents asked if I had any children and then of course I had to explain our situation.  I left the day with them telling me how thankful they were that I helped their baby look somewhat normal despite the IV lines and monitors and how great a mom I would be.  This is why I love being a pediatric nurse.  It's so much more than just pill pushing!  Overall, I received some distraction and was actually feeling much better and like myself by the end of the day!  The bloating was practically gone.  Praise the lord!  We had prevented ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.  That was another positive thing.  

I started to get anxious again at night remembering that we would be getting a call today on how our babies were growing.  I told Justin that I felt like I needed to watch church early because I just needed God to talk to me and give me some reassurance it would all work out.  Literally right after saying that out of no where, I received a text from my cousin saying she was praying for our babies right then.  It was a great feeling!  

We took the dogs to the dog park this morning since Tucker (our big dog) was starting to act out at the house.  He ate literally half a big bag of crunchy Cheetos when Justin stepped away for a second!  They haven't been to the dog park since before Ollie's surgery last Fall.  It was great distraction as I totally forgot that we would be getting a call in a few hours!  

Family of Four!

Well Melinda called and said we had great news!!  ALL 9 BABIES WERE GROWING!  Now 5 of them are great 8-cell embryos and 4 of them are lagging and slow but they could always catch up later.  Justin joked that the 5 perfect ones had mostly my genes and were overachievers and the 4 slow ones were his.  Hey!  Justin may need reminding 5 times but he eventually gets the job done.  Maybe the babies will do the same haha.  Either way, I'd be SO happy with 5!  That's a handful! Here's a picture of a typical Day 3 embryo with 8 cells.  

An Example of a High Grade Day 3 Embryo with 8 Cells

The embryos are supposed to double each day.  On day 1 you have two cells, day 2 has four cells, day 3 eight cells, day 4 etc.  If they haven't doubled quite yet, then an embryo will be considered "fair" and may eventually die off.  So we currently have 5 great and 4 fair.  They also look at the symmetry of the cells and see if any cells have fragmented which kind of looks like it crumbles into a lot of pieces.  Melinda didn't get any information from the embryologist about fragmentation so that is a good sign!  Eventually we will see the cells start to compact on day 4 and a blastocyst forms on day 5.  They will freeze all the blastocysts that live on day 6!  We will be getting a call on day 5 (Tuesday) and day 6 (Wednesday).  Please keep praying for our little fighters and that I will continue to stay positive throughout this whole process!

"This is the life!"- Ollie

"I'm bored. Please make me a playmate mom!" - Tucker