After sharing a wonderful time with Sparky and Gina at a great Italian Restaurant in Old Town Alexandria last night and with much joy, optimism and anticipation, we awoke this morning and headed out to Walter Reed for our 1030 transfer appointment (our last appt for this IVF cycle.) To say there were butterflies in our stomachs would be accurate but also an understatement....never had we been this "close"...and faith is such a grounding blessing because we could truly feel God's comforting touch as he held us in his arms. The first great news came at 10:22, when one of the REs (Reproductive Endocrinologists) came in and gave us the status of our kids (to see if they had been good in "daycare"). Seven of our eight embryos had survived to Day 3 (today), and on their grading scale (1-5, with 1 being the best), we had: 1 grade 2; 4 grade 3s (the average "score"/quality); 2 grade 4s; 1 grade 5 (had arrested growth yesterday and was not viable.)
We were ecstatic and gave praise and thanks...that gave us the ability to have the grade 2 embryo (only approx 12% of all embies get this score) and the best of the 4 grade threes transfered today...and that is what we did. We will have a chance for our three remaining grade 3 embies to grow for two more days....if they continue to be viable and make it to Sat, they will be cryopreserved so that we can attempt another cycle with them. We'll find out their status when we call back to the clinic next week.
It was a short procedure being only 10 minutes start to finish. We entered the room, and on one side of the table we watched the sonogram monitor and on the other we had a view of the lab.
One of the team members entered from the lab and handed us a picture of our two little gems... there they were, side by side....only 3 days along, but so cute already! They looked oh so small in the transfer dish...and then they "vacuumed the two of them up and in came the nurse with the catheter containing them. Our focus turned back to the sonogram machine, where we saw the cath and then the embies released into their new (and hopefully 9-month-long) home. They showed up as a bright shining star on the sonogram; the embryologist called the transfer "a beautiful one" and they snapped a shot for us to have. You talk about a way cool experience... truly amazing for us to see and so blessed to have successfully finished the program.
After 20 minutes of lying down, Gena was able to move about and we went to wait on our friends Spark and Gina to see what their news was. They also ended up transfering 1 grade 2 and 1 grade 3; that was a true blessing and we thank you for your prayers for them. We all shared a picture and a hug, and then it was off to McDonald's to get our french fries!
So surreal a feeling surrounds us right now....for all intense purposes, we are officially "pregnant" though the validation will come via the blood test two weeks from now. To explain the amazement in words is too hard...but cloud 77 would be in the ballpark!
Gena will be resting the rest of the day and we'll take it very easy tomorrow (Friday) before we hit the road to return to GA on Saturday. In a different way, it is hard to leave here... we met some great people who are now dear friends and have a close tie to Walter Reed and all the doctors and nurses who work in the IVF program. This will always be a special place to us, and we hope that we can one day bring a child (or two) back here to show and explain how much of a miracle they are.
We are overjoyed and a bit ovewhelmed by it all....blessed beyond belief and humbly thankful for His grace, love, and awesome power. So we pray dearly for our two, that they implant successfully over the next few days....and for our growing three, that they make it and stay safe on their journey to Antarctica!
That's the beauty that made up our Thursday morning; God truly is great! Nash and Teebo want to go walk the Potomac, so we'll close for now.
Blessings for your day and all six of us here in DC Love you and thank you with a depth you could hardly know.
Until the next post
Chad, Gena, Nash, Teebo, Embie-1, and Embie-2
We were ecstatic and gave praise and thanks...that gave us the ability to have the grade 2 embryo (only approx 12% of all embies get this score) and the best of the 4 grade threes transfered today...and that is what we did. We will have a chance for our three remaining grade 3 embies to grow for two more days....if they continue to be viable and make it to Sat, they will be cryopreserved so that we can attempt another cycle with them. We'll find out their status when we call back to the clinic next week.
It was a short procedure being only 10 minutes start to finish. We entered the room, and on one side of the table we watched the sonogram monitor and on the other we had a view of the lab.
One of the team members entered from the lab and handed us a picture of our two little gems... there they were, side by side....only 3 days along, but so cute already! They looked oh so small in the transfer dish...and then they "vacuumed the two of them up and in came the nurse with the catheter containing them. Our focus turned back to the sonogram machine, where we saw the cath and then the embies released into their new (and hopefully 9-month-long) home. They showed up as a bright shining star on the sonogram; the embryologist called the transfer "a beautiful one" and they snapped a shot for us to have. You talk about a way cool experience... truly amazing for us to see and so blessed to have successfully finished the program.
After 20 minutes of lying down, Gena was able to move about and we went to wait on our friends Spark and Gina to see what their news was. They also ended up transfering 1 grade 2 and 1 grade 3; that was a true blessing and we thank you for your prayers for them. We all shared a picture and a hug, and then it was off to McDonald's to get our french fries!
So surreal a feeling surrounds us right now....for all intense purposes, we are officially "pregnant" though the validation will come via the blood test two weeks from now. To explain the amazement in words is too hard...but cloud 77 would be in the ballpark!
Gena will be resting the rest of the day and we'll take it very easy tomorrow (Friday) before we hit the road to return to GA on Saturday. In a different way, it is hard to leave here... we met some great people who are now dear friends and have a close tie to Walter Reed and all the doctors and nurses who work in the IVF program. This will always be a special place to us, and we hope that we can one day bring a child (or two) back here to show and explain how much of a miracle they are.
We are overjoyed and a bit ovewhelmed by it all....blessed beyond belief and humbly thankful for His grace, love, and awesome power. So we pray dearly for our two, that they implant successfully over the next few days....and for our growing three, that they make it and stay safe on their journey to Antarctica!
That's the beauty that made up our Thursday morning; God truly is great! Nash and Teebo want to go walk the Potomac, so we'll close for now.
Blessings for your day and all six of us here in DC Love you and thank you with a depth you could hardly know.
Until the next post
Chad, Gena, Nash, Teebo, Embie-1, and Embie-2
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