We just got an update on our embryos: All 4 fertilized eggs have made it to Day 3 embryos now! (Small victory 🎉) #1 is 8 cells, grade B #2 is 7 cells, grade C #3 is 6 cells, grade B #4 is 4 cells, grade C From what we understand (& remember from biology - see, you DO need to pay attention in those classes), the fertilized egg will divide (more or less doubling in cell number) each day. So 2 cells become 4, 4 become 8, etc, and then by Day 5 they RAPIDLY take off becoming blastocysts (balls of cells that will continue to divide into the placenta and the fetus). This is not an exact science however, some cells may not divide evenly, creating some 5, 6 or 7 cell embryos which can still be perfectly normal. So, cell COUNT is important, it helps show the health of the overall embryo, for lack of a better word. The embryos also get a GRADE based on the LOOK of the cells, this is more subjective and theres no absolute standard. Basically, a cell perfect in appearance receives a high grade meaning it has equal appearing sized cells and no broken or fragmented cells. The grades go down from there, where theres no equal sized cells and significant amounts of fragmentation. (Theoretically, a lesser quality embryo.) HOWEVER, studies have shown that you can STILL get a pregnancy from one of these embryos and you can NOT get a pregnancy from a perfect looking embryo! Now, this is important...keep in mind that EVEN IF we had 10 PERFECT-in-every-way embryos, there is STILL only a 1 in 8 chance of the embryo actually developing into a fetus, and once a fetus, there is additional risk of that pregnancy resulting in loss, either by miscarriage or stillbirth! Talk about a crap shoot! 🎲🎲 (Its amazing that theres so many accidental pregnancies out there when you see just how much a soul goes through to be born!!! Ahhh, if only we were 15 or drunk in the back of a Pinto, wed have a houseful!) Anyway, the doctor and embryologist take into account age, medical history, overall response to treatment, and amount of actual eggs harvested and fertilized to figure out the best plan of action. Ok, class dismissed! (Dont worry, there wont be a quiz on this lesson.) So, this is what has been decided for US: (with all of these factors, our success rate for pregnancy is lower than hed hoped, which is why he was so upset with our results on Sunday as he hoped for more.) 1) They will freeze the first 3 embryos because they feel its safer to freeze at this stage of development and then transplant back the survivors after 2 full natural cycles. Allowing them to try to survive to Day 5 may actually decrease our success rate even further because although more advanced, the embryos also become more fragile by this point. In utero is better. 2) #4 embryo will be allowed to try and survive to Day 5 because they truly feel its lagging too far behind and most likely will not make it anyway. If it does, they will freeze it. 3) At the time of the frozen embryo transfer (FET), they may opt to help the thawed embryos that survive with assisted hatching (meaning they laser small holes in the eggs membrane in hopes itll help with implantation, which may or may not). 4) We will see the doctor on Wednesday, 8/20, to discuss or next step (FET, etc). I have asked the financial people to look into actual cost of this round being that we didnt complete all the way through to transfer. (We assume the MOST expensive portion is the retrieval and embryo development, but still checking.) IF feasible (which is not likely unless we get an inheritance soon), my idea is to ask if we can do another stimulation cycle (where I do all the shots & ultrasounds) since we have a significant amount of medicine still left because this cycle was faster than expected and then do another retrieval in hopes of getting more eggs to be fertilized, even if we only get a small amount again. This way maybe well have more embryos to work with and then a little bit better odds of success. Well know more about that next week. Uuuhhh, thats a LOT of information! I think thats good for now. Again, thank you every one of you, for ALL the love and support and prayers you have given us! Please keep them coming, as you can see we are no way near done yet!
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:40:15 +0000
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