Times files when you're on drugs ;)
Fertility drugs that is.
Today we got our day 3 embryo report. When I answered the phone the nurse almost sounded remorseful. Of course my heart started racing and I assumed the worse. She then went on to give me the report and it wasn't bad at all! One of our embryos was even graded as excellent which is pretty rare. Grading systems vary from clinic to clinic and are always subjective. The embryo grading does not tell us what is going on inside the embryo genetically, so even a poor embryo could develop into a successful pregnancy and a good embryo might not. The grading system does help to determine which embryos they will want to transfer and which they will want to freeze.You'll notice that we lost one, which is normal, but we still have 9 embryos and that is awesome. They like to see around 8 cells on day three.
I organized them by grade and then by number of cells.
Day 3 embryos are called clevage stage embryos. They are called this because they are dividing (also known as cleaving, hence the name), but they are not growing at this stage. I heard it explained like a pizza. When you slice it, you get more pieces, but the pizza does not get larger. The cells divide and the genetic material duplicates, but the volume of the embryo is no different than the volume of an unfertilized egg.
Here's what an 8 cell embryo looks like:
Can you believe that a bunch of little cells grow into a living, breathing, human? I've seriously learned more through our infertility than I did in all my science/biology classes combined. There's such a difference when it directly applies to you.
I still don't have any symptoms of OHSS, thank goodness. Hopefully I'm in the clear. I'm still super bloated to the point that I actually look pregnant, but it's slowly going away. Most of my pain comes at night which is strange, but at least I eventually fall back asleep. Transfer is still set for Saturday morning...can't wait!
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