5 Day Transfer Confirmed for Tomorrow...It's Really Happening!

Got the call bright and early yesterday (Day 3 following retrieval) telling us that we would NOT be doing a 3DT.  As you probably know from my previous post, this was welcome news. As long as our embryos are progressing well, it is more beneficial to wait and see which are the strongest contenders on Day 5. And while my nurse didn't lay out the exact number of cells visible in each of our 12 embryos, she did say "You just have so many beautiful embryos growing so nicely, that we see no reason to do a Day 3 transfer."  Nurse Pam also gave a cliff notes progress report:

10 embryos are growing "really well"
1 embryo is growing "well"
1 embryo is a "slow grower"

I can only assume that the questionable 13th egg we had waiting to possibly fertilize late had not, or she probably would have mentioned it. I completely forgot to ask about that one.  Still, we are very happy with the progress. We remain in the double digits as far as strong looking embryos go, and only one runt out of the bunch is not too bad as far as I can tell.

In addition, this means I can discontinue my "hatching meds" which were an additional 6 pills per day (4 steroids and 2 antibiotics). My clinic strongly recommends using assisted hatching with all 3 Day Transfers, but since I'm not doing a 3DT, assisted hatching will not be utilized. I asked if it's beneficial to go ahead and add assisted hatching to a 5DT just to make sure the embryo doesn't have a hard zona pellucida (outer shell) and won't resist hatching or something crazy and I was told, "No. Day 5 blasts will hatch on their own." Alrighty then! Just happy I can stop taking the steroids and antibiotics for that now. I will take one more antibiotic tomorrow right before the transfer and then I'm done. I just hate taking antibiotics, because I'm always scared of getting a YI. Um, that is the last thing I want right now.

We received our transfer apt. time, and I've schedule pre and post-transfer acupuncture sessions accordingly. Unfortunately, my acu cannot do my sessions onsite, but luckily her office is not too far from my fertility clinic, so we'll just drive there before and afterwards. Hubby will be driving Miss Daisy after the procedure of course. This is what our transfer day looks like:

9-10 AM--Pre-Transfer Acu
10:30 AM--Arrival for Transfer
11:30-12:15--AM ET procedure
12:30-1:30 PM--Post-Transfer Acu
2 PM--Resting at Home

My RE does not mandate complete bed rest for 3 days like some RE's, but I won't be allowed to do anything strenuous, including simple things like vacuuming or lifting anything, so we're going to devote some time today to make sure things are in order before the big day tomorrow...grocery shopping, steam cleaning our carpets, and cleaning the rest of the house. If I'm on rest orders, I need my house to be clean and to have healthy food on hand!

We are extremely hopeful that we'll be met with a fabulous embryo report upon our arrival to see Dr. Vaughn tomorrow. Now, I know from experience that having a picture perfect cycle does not guarantee a successful pregnancy. This cycle seems to be picture perfect so far, and I am very grateful for that, but I am also aware that can mean something or it can mean nothing in the end.  There are never any guarantees in this process, but I'm trying my best not to imagine worst case scenarios right now and just have complete confidence that everything is going to go exactly as planned; That we will have 2 of the most beautiful 5 Day blastocysts ever seen to transfer back into me, that my body will accept them with open arms and provide the perfect environment for the next nine months, and that we'll even have some embryos left over to freeze for use at a later date. 

If you are the praying type, we can use all the prayers we can get. Thank you in advance if you have a couple minutes to bow your head and pray for us that this will work!