Day 15 - Embryo Report

They said we have 13 fertilized and developing embryo's. To increase our chances of pregnancy they want to implant the embryos that look the best. The longer they stay in the lab the easier it is to differentiate between good and bad, but it's also less likely they will continue to develop in such an artificial environment. Of course, if they could fertilize and develop in the natural environment we wouldn't be doing this in the first place.

In order to determine the embryo's with the best chance of continuing success the doctors grade the embryo's on a scale of 1-4, 1 being the best and 4 being the worst. We have 10 at grade 2 and 3 at grade 3.

The doctor suggested we implant 3 tomorrow, but we don't want to purposely run the risk of triplets. We never did. It is possible one of the eggs that is implanted can split in the womb and we would still have the risk of triplets, but that's not in our control.

Instead we are going to implant 2 on Wed. The doctor expects around 4 embryos to make it that long; could be more, could be less. The ones that are still developing at that point will be frozen for future use.

I'm happy. I think we are doing well. More than 60% of the eggs retrieved have developed into sustainable embryos. It's likely 30% or more of those will continue to develop into blastocysts; then when we do implant two we will know it's the two that will give us the greatest chance of success, and we will know how many more chances we will have in the future.

Sherri is understandably upset. We naturally want grade one embryos, and she's upset nearly half of the eggs didn't develop. And worried about how many, if any, make it to Wednesday. Plus,

I am upset that the doctor suggested we implant three. That was never an option for us and we made it very clear to them. But because he suggested it, we feel like we have decided to take the option with less chance of success, and that certainly isn't the case. If we take the three, and complications arise later because all three develop, we could never choose to "selectively reduce" any of the embryos, and I'm not willing to intentionally put Sherri's life at risk. If we have the choice to make, then we aren't going to put ourselves in that position intentionally.

This morning is both difficult and encouraging. Very strange to have both feelings at the same time. But I know that God gave us the ability to make the right decisions and the outcome of this procedure will be the right one.

I think it's important to remember that the doctor has the training, but if the decision is left to you then you have to make the one that's best for you and your family. Sometimes that means it's best to take the doctors advice, sometimes it means you trust the Lord gave you the ability to make your own decisions, and you trust in that ability. We believe we know what's best for us.