Incubator 16...

Apparently, that's the place to be...according to my four little embryos. After tossing and turning all night dreaming they arrested, and then being on pins and needles this morning waiting for Jackie to call, (all the while thinking, "They've died. They're gone. Jackie's trying to figure out how to tell me that."), I got some encouraging words.

Of the four, TWO have divided into 4-cells, which is exactly where they should be. One has some fragmentation, but less than 10%, so that's ok. ONE is 3-celled and ONE is 2-celled. Last year, with Matthew, we didn't have any that were 4-cells on day two (I was worried about them growing slowly last year and now know that slow growth doesn't mean anything!) and because we do, and the lab thinks they look pretty good, we are a "MAYBE" for transfer tomorrow.

Which means that they like the looks of them so much that they MAY try to let them get to blastocyst stage and do a 5-day transfer on Saturday.

The pros: A day 5 transfer is more closely aligned to where one's body would naturally be if this were happening without the help of the lab. If embryos make it to day 5, they are usually blastocysts and have higher pregnancy rates.

The cons: They may not make it to day 5. And then, there's nothing to transfer.

The theory, of course, is that they wouldn't have made it anyway.

But that's just theory. And there's no way of knowing. I personally am a big fan of day 3 transfers. Beautiful babies with dimpled chins and huge feet and wavy brown hair come from day 3 transfers.

So....we'll just wait and see how things are in the morning. We are scheduled for 12:45, but if my nurse calls me in the morning, we may be pushed out to day 5.

In the meantime, sending all my love and prayers to incubator 16.

UPDATE: Dr. K just called and said it'd be tomorrow. He didn't seem to even consider a 5 day because we only have a few. I'm glad. He said that based on my age and my 'favored outcome' status, guidelines suggest the transfer of no more than the top two.
Really? I'm a favored outcome?
Apparently. It seems as if my problem is making good eggs and not insisting on c-sections.
Other than that, I'm favored.