1dp5dt -- Stir CRAZY

I've been home on my back for less than 24 hours, and I'm already going a little crazy. It doesn't help that the Mr. is also at home, basically yelling at me every time I get up to pee. A girl's gotta pee. The good (?) news is that I've got a bunch of work calls today, so at least my mind will be occupied. It's a little hard to feel authoritative when you're in bed in your jammies with two cats sitting on you, but that's about the best I can do today.

In not quite as good news, we got word this morning that only one of our other little guys made it to freeze. But he (she?) is a "big, beautiful blastocyst -- even bigger than the ones [we] put in yesterday," quoth the doctor. So we're thankful for that -- I guess I just got carried away in my mind that all of our embies would miraculously make it and that we'd have a basketball team.

And this is why you should never think about serious topics while on drugs.

Day 3 Embryo Update

OK, so it was a little weird when the doctor called us at 8:30 this morning and we were lounging in bed watching a 90210 rerun on SoapNet. But he had good news, so I got over it.

All 7 of our embies are still cooking! We've got 4 8-cell Grade 1 embryos (our clinic grades on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being the best), 1 6-cell Grade 1, 1 5-cell Grade 2, and 1 4-cell Grade 2. We're headed for a Day 5 transfer on Tuesday, and hopefully (please please please!) will have a couple to freeze.

After we got the news, the Mr. and I went for a long walk around the reservoir and tried to figure out whether we want to put back 1 or 2 on Tuesday. I think it's probably going to have to be a game-time decision.

Crazy days.....but we both feel incredibly blessed.

Fertilization and Butt-Shot Report

In case anyone out there is quivering in fear (as I was yesterday) about the prospect of a progesterone in oil (PIO) shot, I am here to report that last night's butt-shot was not that bad. I think more than the actual needle, I was nervous about someone else giving me a shot -- I'd come to terms over the last few weeks with shooting myself up, and the one time I'd let the Mr. give it a try was kind of disastrous. But he really pulled (pushed?) through -- just a little pinch. I've heard that the real pain of PIO shots is the cumulative soreness, which I can't speak to yet, but at least I won't be approaching tonight's needle encounter with abject terror.

(On a side note, I am really constantly amazed at the medical things that I've previously feared and have more or less overcome. Vag.inal ultrasound? Check. IV? Check. Injections? Check. Blood draws? Check. It's not that I really love any of these activities, but I feel sort of proud of myself that they're no big deal in a physical sense anymore. IVF makes grizzled medical veterans of us all!)

On the fertilization front, we got great news this morning -- 7 of our 8 fertilized!! The doctor us very optimistic that we'll make it to day 5, but in my excitement I forgot to ask what the basis was for this determination. I think it's too early for them to be grading the embies, right?

We won't hear anything else until Sunday -- either a report and time for Tuesday, or (if things aren't looking so hot) a time for a day 3 transfer that day. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with myself until then -- I don't think I've had to wait this long for any results yet -- but am just trying to think good thoughts for our little potential babes. I don't generally think of myself as an overly emotional person (the Mr. may disagree, especially after these last few weeks), but I pretty much love them already.

And now, to bring things back to my usual sarcastic and superficial level, I'm off to pee for the 10th time this morning. Thanks, Gatorade.