Tomorrow, Tomorrow

Hey everyone! Sorry I missed posting the update yesterday. We left to go down to Springfield so Chris could get some work done in the Nixa McAlisters. He will be rolling out some new menu stuff in about 2 weeks there and needed to prepare. I went with him and met up with my dear friend, Marilyn for lunch. I also got to catch up with Laurie, she was/is a wonderful godly mentor to me, especially while I was living there. Chris' parents also drove over from Joplin to have dinner with us. So I got to do all the fun stuff, and Chris did all the work stuff, well and some fun stuff.

Anyway, 8 of our 10 eggs fertilized. That is good news, about 80%. Anything over 70% is excellent. They called again this morning to update us on where the embies are today. We had

5 - 2 cell embryos
1 - 3 cell embryo
2 - 5 cell embryos

Good, bad? I don't think it's either. Normally on day 2 you want them to be at the 4 cell stage. However, the embryologist looked at ours very early this morning and she said that the 2 cell ones may still divide into 4 cells, just that she looked at them so early that they hadn't done it yet. So nothing to worry about there.

We are doing embryo transfer tomorrow instead of day 5 this time. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I have "thick zonas". The zona is the membrane that surrounds the egg. As the egg divides and grows, the zona should thin out so that the cells can "hatch" out to implant in the uterus. So we are going to do "assisted hatching". This is where they put a teeny, tiny slit in the zona or membrane around the egg to aid the natural hatching process and facilitate implantation. Last time I had slightly thickened zonas, but they thought it shouldn't be a problem. So this time, we're gonna try and change that and help these little guys out. Assisted hatching can only be done (at the clinic we go to) on day 3. Second, the embryologist and Dr.Wilshire think that the sooner they put them back inside me the better. They think the embies will grow better in their natural environment. Which I guess is probably true. There is alot of literature out there both for and against waiting to transfer until day 5. We have to trust in the expertise of Dr.Wilshire and the embryologist on this one. Plus, for whatever the reason was, last time didn't work. So we need to look at why and what things can we change to increase the possibility of us getting pregnant. So here we are, tomorrow is the big day! Transfer Day!

I'm feeling surprisingly fine about everything. I'm not worried, I'm not nervous, just going with the flow. It's kinda freaky though. Laurie said this was me letting go and giving it to God. I hope that is the case. This is just a completely foreign feeling. At the same time, I do know that whatever the outcome, it IS in God's hands. It will be for the best, and I have to focus in and trust in the Lord!

Please pray for a smooth, uneventful transfer. Pray for our emotions as we enter the long wait to find out whether or not we are pregnant. I will be on bedrest the next several days--pray for compliance and lack of boredom. Of course, pray that we will be preggers!!!

Blessings,
The Earharts