AND THE WINNER IS........

My shinning star!!! WE HAVE A GENETICALLY NORMAL BLASTOCYST!!!

Right in the middle of my daily stress out about the state of our blast, wondering how I'll make it through another week or two, I get a call from my doctor in Denver. I couldn't believe it was her on the phone. I instantly knew what it was about and tried to read her tone even before she told me. All I know is there were much too many words before I heard the word "NORMAL". Even then I had to hear it a few times for it to sink in. This means....we are in the running to start a family and according to their statistics, with this quality of a blast at my age, I have a 64% chance of pregnancy and a 60% chance of carrying this baby to term. You may think those aren't the best odds...but let me tell you....at my age and with IVF.....those are fantastic odds!

Recap for my non-IVF followers: This was big. Really big. This phone call could have resulted in this being over. According to some records I saw on an IVF forum, there is absolutely no guarantee, that just because an embryo lives to day 5 (now termed a blastocyst, or blast) it does not mean it is genetically normal. In a normally fertile,  non-IVF woman, a genetically abnormal embryo is lost with a period or is miscarried, or sometimes born as a child with abnormalities. In IVF, and for $7000, you can find out if it is normal or not, and up to HALF of them are not. So, it could have gone either way. They would not have given me an abnormal blast, and we would be finished. We both had a good feeling about this, but I took nothing for granted.

Recap for my IVF gals : get this...if you recall, there was one egg that matured over night, ICSIed the next day and fertilized. Last week, the embryologist told me that, that one in particular was 'poor quality' at day 5 so they didn't save it. Dr. M just told me that they genetically tested it anyway....it was normal!! she assured me it would never have attached because of how delayed it was, but it was of good quality on day 3! This tells her that should there be another cycle, she is confident we could do a fresh day 3 transfer. Also, I asked her about my procol. She admited that the high dose of Gonal-f backfired in my case. There are two procols she could have used on me and flipped a coin. Now that she knows this one did not optimize my follicles, she would use an estrogen based one next time, designed to stimulate small follicles early. Hopefully the only need to cycle again will be for a sibling!!

Whats up next: We are going to eat and relax in Italy and we will go get our little star in the summer.

I feel, now more than ever, that this shinning star will start our family. I am still reeling from my strong premonition of two kids being dislodged. I am greatful to have the opportunity to bring this one into this world.....and starting to appreciate that when it comes to having kids, IVF or not, nothing should be predicted, assumed, or taken for granted.