We are down to 6 embabies. But those 6 are "looking just fine" according to the embryologist. Here is the breakdown for today.
6 ISCI:
1 did not divide
5 divided
2 Conventional:
1 did not divide
1 divided
So we are left with 6 thriving embabies.
4 are 2 cells (1 conventional/3 ICSI)
2 are 3 cells (all ICSI)
They want them 2-4 cells for day 2, so they are great! Tomorrow morning will be my transfer and I'm hoping to record it if they let me! Tomorrow, the embryologist will look at the embroys, list them by cells and grade them. We will meet with the RE and decide how many to transfer and which ones to transfer.
I asked about why fertilization did not occur with the conventional fertilization. She said that usually the sperm clump and cluster on the egg until one penetrates it. Apparently, most of my eggs had few to no sperm attached. Something about a problem with my zona. So that's why I am infertile. I have a zona of steel!
Yesterday's update:
As of yesterday, our 21 eggs were decreased significantly. I knew not all of our 21 would be mature and I know some wouldn't make it - but I didn't expect that such a large number (13) would not make it.
Here is the breakdown of what happened:
21 eggs were collected
11 of those eggs were fertilized with ICSI (injecting a single sperm into the egg.)
Of those 11 - only 8 eggs were mature. Of those 8 - only 6 fertilized.
10 of those eggs were fertilized conventionally. Of those 10 - only 8 eggs were mature. Of those 8 - only 2 fertilized.
We were dropped from 21 eggs to 8 embryos overnight. The Embryologist wants them to at least divide for today. And for our transfer on Sunday they want them to be at least 5 cells and an A or B quality.
Here is a picture of what the embryos look like when they are developing. (Our transfer will be done on Day 3 with assisted hatching).
Day 1: 1 cell with 2 dots in the middle. This indicates a normally fertilized egg with each dot representing genetic materials from the mom and the dad.
Day 2: usually 2-4 cells. The cells are expected to double every 24 hours or so.
Day 3: usually 6-8 cells. Sometimes more cells. Same doubling effect. This is when fragmentation can be observed (small dots, not clean cell divisions) representing abnormal cells.
Day 4: Morula or compacting cell stage. This is when the cells have doubled to around 16 and the individual balls are starting to expand and blend with the others. You can see the bumps still.
Day 5: Blastocyst. This is when we see 3 distinct parts – the shell, one dense bunch of cells (the baby), and the lighter cells (the placenta). The blastocyst is ready for implantation but first it has to hatch from the shell. The picture on the bottom right is a hatching blastocyst (can happen naturally or with the help of your embryologist – assisted hatching). The hatched blastocyst should implant within 12-24 hours to the uterine lining.
This helpful information was found here.
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