Saturday, February 3, 2007

Picking Up The Kids

We went to the clinic to pick up the kids today, hoping there'd be one or two left.

There were. We transferred 2 rather gorgeous Grade 1 blastocysts* and one spunky Grade 1 early blast.** One Grade 2 early blast and two Grade 2 morulas*** (they're a little slow -- about a day behind, but could still turn into blastocysts) are still in the dish. If they make some progress by tomorrow morning, they'll stick 'em in the freezer just in case.


Dr. Glass Half Full was absolutely incredulous. She said that the number of healthy blasts was way better than she would have expected from someone with an FSH of 13.7.

So now we wait. And wait. And hope, and pray that these little blasts (a) have healthy chromosomes and (b) find a nice soft nest in there, and stick, and grow.

Photos of our lovely blasts to follow, as soon as I'm allowed off the couch. I'd love to hear some ideas for how to distract myself until the pregnancy test.



Some definitions, for those of you who aren't embryologists or intimately familiar with IVF:

*Blastocysts usually develop five days after fertilization. They consist of 60-100 cells, and the cells have differentiated into two types: an inner cell mass, which will (we hope) become the fetus, and a trophectoderm, which develops into the placenta.

**An early blastocyst is an embryo that has reached the blastocyst stage, but is a little bit behind in terms of size and/or cell differentiation.

**A morula, so named because of its resemblance to a mulberry, is an embryo that hasn't reached the blastocyst stage. It consists of 12-32 cells packed tightly together. Embryos usually reach this stage four days after fertilization.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wheee! What great news! Stick, grow, and thrive, little sweeties!

Anonymous said...

Binky, that is excellent news!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful news! Go, blasties, go!

Anonymous said...

:-D Glad the kids are safe at home now. Rest well.

Anonymous said...

I guess alcohol is out the question eh? It's going to have to be chocolate (or if you're more like me - olives, bread and cheese).

Thinking the best possible thoughts for your wee beasties....
-pl

Anonymous said...

Oh yay! Such great news!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! Make yourselves comfortable little guys.

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy to hear about all of those beautiful blasties! Sending you sticky thoughts.

Anonymous said...

wonderful news! For distraction; how about watching the full 5+ hour version of Pride and Predijuce (with Colin Firth). That filled a day for me. Maybe get a sudoko book. Also, there is a fun "webboggle" game that you can play on line (with other live players). You can find the address if you google webboggle. Jim and I play a lot (the 4-square game) and are called "team Jim Cat". You can play against us!

Anonymous said...

congratulations binky!

sapcat said...

Wonderful news, Binky!! Sending you good thoughts...and am quite hopeful the kids will nestle in safe and sound.