Day 5... one more day!!!!

Dear Hope,

So I am not sure where to start but I will try to break down what has happened this week. Last I wrote I had not spoken to anyone regarding my embryos and was pretty upset.  On Tuesday I received a call from my dr and it was some good news and some disappointing news. 

1^st with the good…  as of Day 3 (Monday) all 10 embryos were still growing.  Woo who!!!!  My dr explained that the embryology lab looks at many different aspects of the embryo including how many cells and how they are dividing when grading them.  Grading scale is 1-5 with 1 being best and 5 worst.  (she said that they very rarely give out a 1 so any 2s would be great).  So we had… 5 – with 8 cells / 2 – with 7 cells and 1- 6 cells, 1-5 cells, -1-4cells.  Of these-  3 were had a grade of 2 (yay!!!) and 2 had a grade of 3 (and those would have the best chance of making it).  So I was very happy to hear this and excited that hopefully if all continued to go well I would be able to test and transfer on Thursday.  Well…. I was mistaken!!!!!  Apparently, Brian and I misunderstood or were misled on the process of the PGD genetic testing and transfer.  I had been under the impression that I would be able to do a transfer if all worked out on this cycle.  Nope!  If we get at least one by day 6 (tomorrow) then it will have to be frozen and I will have to undergo a “Frozen Embryo Transfer” cycle.  Ugh!!!  I am not sure why this was not explained to us in the beginning and needless to say I have been very frustrated.  My dr said we can do it on my very next cycle but that still means more medications and more expenses!!!!  I don’t think it will be as expensive as a full ivf cycle or as demanding on my body, but again just a letdown that we once again go another month without being pregnant! 

So, my dr called today with the update of my embryos.  As of today, DAY 5 I had 4 embryos left and all 4 were at the “Morula” stage of development.  That is good but they need to be at the “Blastocyst” stage before they can do the genetic testing and transfer.  I asked my dr for a better explanation as to why I can’t do a transfer on this cycle.  She explained that it would only have been possible if the embryos were at the blastocyst stage today.  That way they could do the biopsy today and be ready for transfer tomorrow.  However, because my embryos are only at the morula stage they are not ready for biopsy.  If they were to biopsy them fresh tomorrow, then even if they were healthy they wouldn’t make it outside the body to Day 7.  Make sense???  I know very confusing!!!! But It does finally make some sense now that my dr explained it better.  Ultimately I want to do what is right for my embryos and if they have the best chance to make it by waiting to do the transfer then I am ok with that. 

With all this being said… Tonight is a BIG night!!!!  Now my 4 embryos still have to not only make it to tomorrow (Day 6) but they will have to be at the blastocyst stage in order to be frozen and for us to move on to the next cycle transfer.  Anything can happen but I am praying and HOPING for a miracle that all 4 make it!!!!!

Kate