Day 5 Embryo Update

I spoke with the director of our agency in Mexico yesterday. Monday was 'Day 5' and we got the report around 5:00 p.m. Tom had two high grade embryos that were frozen yesterday. John had three high grade embryos that were frozen yesterday.

Tom has four more embryos still hanging out in their lab dish. John has one more embryo doing the same thing. We will find out their fate today. These slow pokes may simply not make it. The biologist will see if any are possibly viable. If any are, they will be frozen today but will just be graded lower.

One of our gestational surrogates should be ready for implantation on Friday. The other one should be ready about three days later; probably Monday. These dates aren't set in stone. The doctors will make that decision on the day the surrogates come in. If all goes well and the surrogates get their transfers in a timely manner, we should find out if we have positive pregnancies around September 1st.

We are hopeful, nervous, confident, and cautious.

This is a picture of us with our great-nephew, Isaac. Who knows, maybe Isaac and his little brother Dominic may be getting new first cousins once removed around May 1st!

Day 3 Embryo Update

We received our day 3 report this afternoon. We know that we did have a total of 13 embryos and now we have a total of 11 embryos. Unfortunately, we don't know how the 11 are split between Tom and John.

It could be:  Tom 8 & John 3; or Tom 7 & John 4; or Tom 6 & John 5. The first scenario, Tom with 8 and John with 3, worries us a bit. 3 is a small number on day 3. But we don't know if that is the case and overall, these are good numbers.

We will get our next report on Monday and hopefully find out about the transfers. It might be that a fresh transfer will happen right away or it might be that they are all frozen while we wait for the surrogates to be ready.

We will keep you posted! 

We Can't Help But Count Our Eggs Before They Hatch

Tom and I were e-mailing back and forth yesterday about some house stuff. We usually text but we will occasionally e-mail. I was working in another tab on my browser but saw that I had an email notification in the gmail tab. I assumed it was Tom. Instead it was our agency.

"Very Good News. Yestarday was the retrival , the doctor takes 18 eggs, 15 mature. Thomas 8 embryos on day 1. Jonh 5 embryos on day 1. Tomorrow we will see how continue."

(Note, their English is MUCH better than my Spanish.)

I was shocked. We originally thought that our egg retrieval was on Wednesday but then we were told that it had been moved to Friday. By the time we were even paying attention, the eggs had been retrieved and fertilized! We talked, we texted, we had a mini-celebration.

Something new had been created. On day one (Wednesday) the embryos consisted of one cell. This was already day two! The little sparks already have a few cells and are hanging out in a dish in a lab. Day 5 (Sunday) is a big day. Day 5 is usually when the embryos will break out of their shells. This is also the day that they will be transferred into their gestational surrogates in the hope of pregnancy. This short video will explain that:

1/3 to 1/2 of these little embryos will statistically not make it to day 5. It is possible that none of them will. This is a really precarious time. I told Tom that the saying "don't count your eggs until they have hatched" has never been more appropriate. 

That being said, we can't help but count our embryos every day and pray for good news. 

Here is a picture of Tom still smiling after being questioned by a federal agent about wiring funds to Mexico. He looks suspicious! And handsome!