The Idea of Eleven

Longtime readers of the blog may recall that during my second IVF cycle, my Reproductive Endocrinologist described me as a "woman committed to the idea of eleven" because I had about eleven follicles developing on either ovary.

Well, my current embryologist agrees.

To review, of the 32 eggs retrieved, 28 were mature, and 26 fertilized normally.
Of those 26, 18 developed normally to Day 3.

Of the 5 embryos who journeyed to Colorado in a tank, all 5 survived the thaw.

Day 6, yesterday, the CCRM embyrologist call to say that of the 18 from the fresh cycle, 9 embryos grew to good-quality blastocysts and of the 5 frozen, two continued to develop to blastocyst.

So that makes 11 blastocysts total.

Committed.

These blastocysts are now made up of about a hundred cells apiece and have already differentiated themselves into the fetal pole and trophectoderm, or what will be the placenta. The embryologist biopsied 2 or 3 cells from the trophectoderm and sent those off for the Comprehensive Chromosome Testing. (They do this with PCR at CCRM.) The embryos themselves have been vitrified.

So now we wait.

The good news is that I have lost four pounds of water weight since I came back from Colorado, so I think am safe from the dangers of hyperstimulation.