Day 3 update

Today is day 3 and luckily I didn't have to wait very long to hear from Karen, my nurse. She called first thing this morning. I truly think she understands the torture of having to wait and does her best to call as soon as she can - God Bless her!

Today's news was really good and I am feeling really hopeful. Here is what she said:

We still have 17 fertilized eggs going (so we only lost 2 since Friday). Out of those 17, we have 14 that are 8 cell (this is the point they should be at by day 3, so these are the good ones). We have 1 at 7 cells, 1 at 5 cells, and 1 at 2 cells. These are the stragglers and more than likely won't make it longer than a day or two.

Karen said that we should plan to do transfer on day 5, which is Tuesday. Since we are at the end of the series, they don't have any retrievals that day, so they are starting transfers bright and early. She said to be prepared for the phone call from her and I reminded her that we have a 2 hour drive, and she said to go ahead and plan to be there at 9am. Our transfer might be first thing or it might be later, but that way we will be there ready. She said there is a possibility that we might get a call telling us to turn around and go home because the transfer might get moved to day 6. Let's hope for day 5 - Everyone think "DAY FIVE"!

She said to make sure I have my water in the car, because she will call me and tell me when it is time to start drinking it. Oh, I don't think I ever mentioned my water. So, basically you have to drink 32 ounces of water 1 hour before your procedure. You are not allowed to use the bathroom after drinking said water. Then when you get there, they will do an ultrasound to see how full your bladder is. This is important because your full bladder pushes your uterus into an optimal position. If your bladder is too full, they mark a little line on a plastic cup and send you to the bathroom to "unfill" your bladder a little bit. This is tricky because you are only allowed to "unfill" your bladder enough so that it reaches the line. Then you go back in, they ultrasound again, and so on and so on. Last time I got sent to the bathroom 3 times - and let me tell ya, 3 times of going and stopping mid stream is quite a talent that I am sure not everyone can do. Not exactly something you put on a resume, but a talent none-the-less.

Oh, and I also asked about the possibility of transferring 3 embryos, and Karen made a note of it and we will talk to Dr. Robins about it on the day of transfer. He might not let us if the quality of embryos is really exceptional. So, I'll keep you updated on that.

The progesterone shots are going pretty good. Bobby had the hiccups the other night and that one was actually a little uncomfortable. Note to future IVFers: find someone without the hiccups to give you a shot with a huge needle.

So, now we wait until Tuesday. We will head up to Spokane first thing in the morning. If we get moved to day 6 (Wednesday), I will let you all know. Otherwise, if we go on Tuesday, I will give a full blog report on Wednesday night when we return home.

Please continue thinking good thoughts - I think all of them have helped so far :-)