Introducing....

...G-Hog and V-Tine.

Yes, those are some names, aren't they?! Rest assured that I've been in conference with a great mind for just the right call signs for these little guys!  We transferred today, Groundhog's Day, and will take our pregnancy test on Valentine's Day.  (Okay...in proofing this post before publishing, I realize what a Pilot's Wife I am..."just the right call signs."  Ha ha!)

Dr. K called with the report this morning and said we had two beautiful fully expanded blastocysts to transfer.  Shady Grove uses a different grading system than (from what I've gathered from the web) just about most other fertility clinics—most of which use the Gardner system.  Shady Grove is such a large practice, with such an extensive embryology lab, they've developed their own.  Anyway, according to their scale, we transferred a 1AA and a 1AB blastocyst—which are both top grade for their scale.  Their scale is basically 1-4 (one being best); A-C (A being best), so we essentially had an A+ and an A blastocyst to transfer and that rocks!  The picture above shows that both are hatched (we did employ assisted hatching, but the lab noted they were beginning to hatch on their own, as would happen naturally) and so the blastocyst is actually the bigger part of the figure 8, with the embryo/shell the smaller part.  Of course I've spent hours looking at images of blastocysts.  I can't make heads or tails, but I do know LOTS of women who've gone through SG and didn't have those to transfer, so I am going to take them at their word when they tell me the blastocysts look beautiful!

Transfer went well, though they were running behind and with a FULL bladder...well, let's just say that really, that's the most uncomfortable part of the WHOLE IVF process, if you ask me!  The doctor was not one I'd had before, but my friend Lindsey loves her and I now know why!  Bubbly, cheery, calm and skilled.  Hooray!  I also did the German protocol acupuncture treatment pre and post transfer (as I'd done with Luke) and was surprised that after the pre—treatment, which was very relaxing, my blood pressure before the transfer was 150/100!!!  That's MEGA high for me (usually about 90/60!).  Guess we can tell ourselves we are not anxious or worried, but our blood pressure doesn't lie, huh?

Luke has been at Aunt Pretty's and Grandma has been taking fabulous care of me.  Kind of weird to just rest.  Purposefully rest.  Nice, but weird!  I miss Luke, but really, I know he is just fine and I get him back.  Not to mention, but he's probably having a ball with his cousins—cousins he adores and who adore him!  So, really...it's all been super easy and smooth.

They froze one more blastocyst today (not sure of the grade) and the other 5 seem to have either arrested or are now slower-growing and expected to arrest.  Again, our instructions are to allow whatever can, so we will see tomorrow if there is anything else to freeze.  Odds are not, but it's been known to happen, so I'm not calling anything just yet.

Someone made the comment that 'they looked just like their brothers' and someone else commented about how different these blasts look from Matthew's and Luke's embryos.  I agree on both counts!
They are all beautiful, tough!!!

Matthew (Redfish) and Bluefish! (Don't know what the deal with the date on the pic is...their machine was not working right that day, so they said.  Think Matthew is the one on the left/top because it has less fragmentation.  No way of knowing.

Luke (Miney) and Moe!  Think Luke is on the right because that's the better looking embryo but who knows?

Twelve days!  Whoo hoo!