Embryos on Board!

What a day!

When we got to the doctor's office, the embryologist met with us and showed us a picture of my six "excellent" embryos - all were in the 8, 10, and 12 cell range. Some were showing compaction already, and he said that was a good thing. Anyway, he said the guidelines were that they would transfer up to five in a woman my age, but that they may go ahead and do all six. However, he was under the assumption that we'd consider selective reduction if something extraordinary should occur. Once I was aware of that, I was straight up with him and told him that wasn't an option. Then he said maybe we'd have to wait until Sunday and do a five-day transfer instead, but he wanted to talk to Dr. D. first.

So we waited. And while we waited (we being my mom and me), I had my pre-transfer acupuncture session.

I wasn't worried. I figured there had to be a way to work this out in a life-affirming way without jeopardizing my health and the health of any babies-to-be. Sure enough, when Dr. D. got there he recommended we proceed with today's transfer of four of the best embryos, and leave the other two in the lab until Sunday. If they make it to the blastocyst stage, then we can freeze them, however it would be very rare for them to do so because of my age. I'm just trusting the Lord to take care of them, and if they are supposed to continue to develop they will. I will be praying for them to do so.

So, we proceeded with the transfer, which was a bit uncomfortable (d@mn speculum...), but I got through it. Then Dr. P. came back in and we did the post-transfer acupuncture session.

The embryologist gave us two pictures of the embryos, one of which you see above, and Dr. D. gave us ultrasound pictures of where he put them in my uterus. He said my lining looked great. He also said that he was very pleased that all six embryos had continued to develop up to this point, and that they had exceeded his expectations. He also said that he thinks "this should do it" for me. This from a man who chooses his words very carefully so as to not give false hope. He seems very optimistic and I like that!

So, now we wait. The pregnancy test is scheduled for March 18th. Between now and then I plan to rest and pray a lot!