Fertile Turtles & Hatching Embryos

Today's embryo transfer couldn't have gone any better. Before we left, I sat with my husband, held his hand tightly, and said a prayer. I am a cornball and wrote it ahead of time, because I didn't want to leave anyone or anything out. It's kind of personal, but I don't mind sharing:

Dear Lord,

We come before you this morning on what is a very important day for us. First and foremost, we want to thank you for ALL that you have given us. This marriage, this beautiful loving home, our health, and for your unconditional love and protection. Nothing is possible without you, and we are beyond grateful.

All week I’ve been hearing your message to ASK for what we want. It’s by asking boldly with expectancy that we open ourselves up to receiving. So that’s what we’re doing now. We’re asking that you are with us today.

We ask that you be with us as we welcome two beautifully perfect healthy embryos into this world; We ask that you are with our care providers as you work your miracle through them. Our acupuncturist, that she would know exactly the right places to help bring abundant energy, warmth, and a receptive environment for our future babies. Our embryologist, that he would be blessed with a steady hand and discerning eye to keep our fragile and precious embryos safe as they re-enter the world. Our physician, that he would have supernatural precision guided by you with the placement of our little sparks of life. For all of the nurses and anyone else who is doing works through you today.

We also ask that you be with us as a couple; To give us both peace that passes all understanding, knowing that you are the one in charge. That you will be guiding our hearts and minds as we put our faith in you for your will to be done in this process. The scripture says “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired of him. “ (1 John 5:14-15)

We ask that you give us patience during the waiting period following today’s embryo transfer. That there will be a perfect environment for life to attach itself in the exact right place and grow with boundless energy, knowing that their mother and father are waiting eagerly to welcome them into their lives. There will be no room for doubt, or questioning, or negative thinking. You have given us all the tools we need to make this happen and we are confident you will bless us with what we ask, according to your will. We know when we’ve done all we can do, you will step in and do what we can’t do.

Thank you Lord for hearing and answering our prayer. In Jesus name. Amen

My cheeks were drenched in tears by the time I said Amen...completely unexpected. There are just so many emotions being felt right now. I was literally crying out to God on our behalf, and I felt much better having prayed together.

I put on my new "fertile turtle" fertility bracelet (a recent gift from my super sweet and thoughtful hubby) and we were were on our way...

Turtles are a potent symbol of both protection and fertility.

We stopped for a pre-transfer acupuncture session on the way. My new practitioner's treatment was different than my last practitioner's, and it included a few extra bells and whistles, including extra heating lamps and acu beads on 6 different points in my ears and on my wrists, which will stay in place as long as I wish....the whole waiting period most likely.

When we arrived at the surgery center we were met by the embryologist, who brought photos of the two embryos that were thawed. He commented that these were very high quality blasts, equivalent to fresh embryos that hadn't even been frozen. They still hadn't re-expanded 100%, but that is a normal part of the process when they thaw frozen embryos...they shrink up during freezing and then re-expand to fill out the zona pellucida during thaw.

My clinic doesn't re-grade embryos after thaw, but the embryologist said if he had to grade them he would give baby-to-be #1 a grade of BB and that baby-to-be #2 would most likely reach a BB status upon fully re-expanding. Here are the pics...

If you look towards the left edge of this blast you can see a
large cluster of cells which comprises the "inner cell mass."
Blasts with mature enough development will show this
distinct cell mass....it's what becomes the baby.

Inner cell mass not quite visible but still a 150-200 cell blast
and on it's way to full expansion.

Then, the best part came at transfer time. Right as the embryologist zoomed in on our blasts before pulling them into the catheter, we watched on the flat screen monitor as baby-to-be #1 started to hatch! It was wiggling around in the medium and you could clearly see that one edge had broken free and it was starting to emerge from it's outer shell! So stinking cool! I wish I had a video of it to share.

The oh-so-fun Lovenox injections began tonight as well, and I'm proud to say I did it by myself with zero icing involved. And yes, I survived! Now we just need these little buggers to attach to a nice cushy spot inside my uterus, and we'll be golden.