Creating Embryos
Science is Neat!
My donor eggs and sperm were delivered safely to my fertility clinic. Five days before my scheduled transfer, it was time for the Lab to fertilize my eggs and hopefully create some viable embryos.
The science fascinates me! The Lab thaws the eggs and then a single sperm is injected directly into each mature egg. This process is called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Once the egg and sperm are combined, it takes approximately 18 hours to determine whether fertilization has occurred.
Day 1 Embryology Report
The day after my donor eggs were fertilized, I received an Embryology Report from the Lab:
Dear Barbara,
A total of 6 eggs were thawed.
A total of 5 eggs survived.
A total of 4 eggs have fertilized.
Today is Day 1 of embryo development. You will not receive an email from us tomorrow as we do not assess embryos on Day 2. You will be updated again in 2-days (on Day 3) with the total number of embryos that are dividing.
I was happy with these early results. Dr. Gurau had prepared me well, explaining that a good result would be to have 1-3 viable embryos created from 6 eggs. So I wasn’t too concerned that only 4 of the eggs had fertilized.
Day 3 Embryology Report
I eagerly waited for the Day 3 report, which came right on schedule:
Dear Barbara,
Today is Day 3 of embryo development.
You have a total of 4 embryos dividing.
You will not receive an email from us tomorrow as we do not assess embryos on day 4.
You will be updated again in 2-days (on Day 5) with the total number of embryos that are dividing.
You are planned to transfer an embryo on Day 5, the nursing team will contact you to arrange your embryo transfer.
Hurrah!
Yay!!! Go little embryos! I was feeling pretty emotional at this point. I was just so grateful that things were unfolding so smoothly this far. My next Embryology Report would happen in-person at my embryo transfer appointment!
On Day 5 the Lab will select the strongest embryo and transfer that to my uterus fresh. Any remaining embryos will be cryopreserved so I have the option to use them at a later date.
