This weekend was a little tough. Saturday morning was the end of 5 full days of embryo growth. Most competent / normal embryos make it to blastocyst stage by this point. Well, not my embryos. They see it fit to torture us for longer, drawing out the anxiety for at least a day or two more.
Saturday, after Michael and I spent a beautiful morning Racing for the Cure in downtown Houston, Michelle called. She told us that none of the embryos had made it to blastocyst stage yet, but that they are still progressing. They are (again, as in Round 2 and 3) classified as "stage = other"...not morula or blastocyst, but hopefully something in between the two. Michelle then offered to check with the lab again on Sunday morning and give us a call then, something she is in no way committed to do, since Sunday is usually her only day off from making these calls. Surely the embryos would figure themselves out by tomorrow...
Sunday. She calls at 9:10am...earlier than usual..."Shit, WTF does that mean?!" I say to Michael as I put her on speakerphone. She explained that she went into the office, but now she was leaving and the lab hadn't finished checking the embryos yet. She would head home, log back on, and give me a call in a couple hours when she would likely get the update. She didn't want us hanging on a thread all morning...she is really a saint. I tell her thank you (two of three ways) before hanging up and taking a deep breath.
Sunday (end of Day 6), 10:20am, she calls again. Report says embryos are STILL not there yet, but they have not yet degraded. One is looking better than the other two, which haven't changed too much since Saturday (end of Day 5). They are going to give them ONE MORE DAY, and she will call us on Monday morning. She encouraged us to hang in there, and we said thank you again and again that she would take the time to let us know what was going on.
So Sunday morning we knew that the forecast for Monday was looking more like Zero with a chance of One. Both of our blastocysts so far (round 1 - untested, and round 3 - genetically failed) made it to blast stage after 6 days. The ONLY embryo we have had go to a 7th day promptly degraded in the 7th day (embryo 2 from round 3). Taking this long is NOT a good sign. Last night, it was really hard to sleep...you might argue I would have slept better if Michelle had just NOT called and waited until Monday morning to give us the update. You might have been right, but sometimes it feels like ANY news is better than no news...
So Monday morning, I couldn't bring myself to go into work. At work, I would be sitting in an open area or glassed conference room when I got the call, and I was pretty sure I was going to burst into tears no matter which way it went. Michael stayed with me. We were strung out on this waiting game together, and both of us needed to be together for this one.
We logged on to our work computers early and worked from home, keeping as busy as possible until the time Michelle called (11:29am). Two of the embryos degraded and were discarded, but ONE MADE IT! It was the same one that was 8-cells on day 3. The lab sampled it for genetic testing and froze it for (hopefully) future use. The sample will be sent off today, and Michelle will call us when the genetic test results by mid-next week.
Relief poured over us. It wasn't zero. Thank GOD it wasn't zero. We knew without being told that it was more likely that something is genetically wrong with a blastocyst that took 7 days to form. For now, that mattered less than the fact that we cleared this hurdle and there's still hope (even if it's small) that we could clear the next one. As I expected, I cried for about 5 minutes. Much of the tension and anxiety of the last month of round 4 was loosening briefly.
As you may have deduced by now, the bonus prize for achieving this success is...drumroll...MORE WAITING! Hooray! We haven't had enough of that yet! Please, sir, may I have another? I think I look so much cuter with my hair mostly pulled out...it's the new fall look, I swear, I saw it on PINTEREST!! Ok, so I was feeling like I was extremely happy and mildly losing my mind at the same time. This is a game (like so many in life) where success at each step means more waiting and anxiety for the next success or bad news.
I'm actually really, extremely, hands-shankingly thankful to have a chance at the next step with this little one. I'm sad for the two that didn't make it, but that's just the way all this goes. So far we've retrieved 15 eggs and only 3 have made it this far. 20%. At least that's better than the batting average of most National League pitchers, right?
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