For an explanation on embryo grading I like this page. This is also a good page, but I noticed that their grading is backwards from the grading that was done for our embryos. (For us, the lower the number, the better.) As these fertilized eggs, aka. embryos age, they will have a grade and a cell count and that's the report we would get each day. The grading refers to the even-ness of the cells size and lack of fragmentation (the more even-ness and less fragmentation, the better, and the lower the grade #). We also want to see the number of cells increase each day from ~2 cells in the first day to ~10 by the 3rd day. We would get these daily reports along this grading scale for the first 3 days. Day 4 there is no report because they are morulas and Day 5 the report/rating changes since they are (hopefully) blastocysts by then.
Our Daily Reports
Day 1 (Day after retrieval):
Tracking 5 embryos!
| Embryo Count | Cells Count | Grading |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | NA | NA |
We got an email and a voicemail from Dr. A telling us that 5 of our 6 mature eggs fertilized which was GREAT. At this point we got no information on quality since it was too early. Quality and grading begin on Day 2. I asked Dr. A what to expect from these little embryos. What kind of success rate does she typically see? Might we end up with 5 great embryos to send for genetic testing? She said it's typically about 50% that make it to high quality blastocyst. So we're keeping our fingers crossed for those 2-3!
I was still feelling bloated and very gassy, like that painful gas you get in your pelvic area, but can’t manage to release. I thought about taking a Gas-X, but never got around to it (so that tells you how much it was truly bothering me). Dr. A said it’s partly cuz of the anesthesia but mostly cuz my ovaries are recovering from the procedure. It didn’t keep me from cooking all day for Thanksgiving the next day, though!
Day 2 (11/28):
Tracking 5 embryos!
| Embryo Count | Cells Count | Grading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 1 |
We got the morning report that all 5 embryos were Grade 1 which is the best quality! Very excited to hear this. 6 eggs (from my retrieval) didn't seem like a big number to me, but we felt more positive when our first news about the embryos was that they were Top of Their Class (Go little embryos! Go!) Hubby and I commented on our drive to Thanksgiving how it's really crazy to think there are embryos that exist out there which are a combination of our DNA. Like these little things could become our kids! It was a very surreal, exciting and scary thought.
Physically I was feeling fine for the most part. Still a little gassy and still couldn't release any of it (but still didn't take anything for it). It wasn't as bas as the previous day though.
Day 3 (11/29):
Tracking 4 embryos!
| Embryo Count | Cells Count | Grading |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 8 | 1 |
| 2 | 8 | 2 |
| 1 | 4 | 3 |
By Day 3 (which, I couldn't help but think to myself - is a day some IVF clinics do transfers, which means the embryos start to have enough information to speculate potential success) our number had dropped again. But just by 1. I'm so thankful that we never had a significant drop in numbers or some other heartbreaking shock. 4 embryos were continuing to divide well with little fragmentation, but the 5th wasn't looking so hot and so, while it would remain in culture - it would likely not come through for us. We continued to stay positive - 4 is 4 more than a lot of people end up with. We were thankful...
Today is probably the first day I felt just about fine. The bloating was slowly starting to reduce and the gas pains were gone. These side effects are almost not worth mentioning, they were so minor. We flew to visit Hubby's relatives today which wasn't a problem for me at all.
Day 4 (11/30):
Tracking 4 embryos!
No change/no report
On Day 4, the embryos are "morulas". (Kinda sounds like a character from The Addams Family, huh?) Dr. A said that there is no new report today, so at least we got a day off from being anxious! I found myself very hopeful that maybe these 4 embryos will be all we need to get our 2-3 kids. Maybe I *won't* have to go through another round of stimulation/retrieval?! But I know the hope is faint. And to be honest, the stimulation/retrieval were really not that bad for me. I'm just starting to get impatient about trying to get pregnant!
 |
| A Happy Little Blastocyst |
So far so good!
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