Day 17 - a major hurdle overcome

Today is Day 17 of our first IVF cycle and Day 3 of embryo development.

I went to work feeling really nervous. What if none of our 7 embryos had made it to Day 3, or what if they didn't look right?

Fortunately, the embryologist had great news - all 7 of our embryos are still going strong. In fact two of them are doing so well that they have started to become compacted morulas. The report was:

1 x compacted morula (approx 10-12 cells)
2 x partially compacted morulas (as above)
4 x 8 cell embryos

At Day 3, we should expect normal embryos to have 8 cells so the 4 are fine. The other two are even better.

The morula (so named because its the latin name for mulberry :-) is the first stage of development and is a 12-32 cell 'ball'. When it gets to 16 cells, they start to differentiate into two layers - the inner cell mass and the tropoblast, eventually forming the baby and the placenta.

Even though all 7 might not progress to the blastocyst stage, this is still really good news. It means that my eggs at least have enough energy to get to this stage. If the embryos have abnormal chromosome numbers, they won't make it but hopefully at least one will be ok.

Lovely husband has had a real change of feeling in the last few days. Until now, he preferred to assume that this first IVF cycle probably won't work (he's right after all - we only have about a 20% chance of succeeding). But as soon as he heard the fertilisation report on Tuesday, he hasn't been able to think about much else except our embryos and hoping and wondering if they will make it to Saturday. I think I am probably more calm than he is at the moment.

I am also slightly worried about the possibility of OHSS. My E2 levels were through the roof before egg collection and they need to be down low enough tomorrow for embryo transfer to happen on Saturday. I am drinking so much water that I feel soggy! I feel fine otherwise, apart from a bit bloated and tight around the tummy area so I'm hoping all is ok.