Snow Bunnies Update

Our second/successful IVF cycle was in April. When we filled out all of the paperwork regarding frozen embryos, we choose to have them stored at the clinic for 6 months and then transfer them to a long-term storage facility. It's November now. I knew that their transfer was going to be happening soon but I didn't know when and it was making me so anxious.

So I called the clinic. And I called, and I called and I called. For two or three weeks. And left a bunch of messages. And never heard anything. Eventually, about a week ago, we got an email saying that we paid for our last month of storage at the clinic so I knew the transfer happened. I called again and I left a message with the receptionist rather than the embryologist and she offered to walk my information over to the lab herself to get me some answers.

They finally called me last night! Despite the three week wait, I was still impressed that they called me so late at night. I am easily pleased, especially when the call brings good news.

The woman I spoke to was able to read me the full report regarding our frozen snow bunnies. We've known since April that we had six embryos and we knew that some were ready on day 5 but that they were continuing to watch a few others until day 6. What we actually have is 5 day 5 embryos and 1 day 6 embryo. The grades for the day 5ers are 3AB (x2), 4AB, 4BB and 2BB. The day 6er is a 4BB. This baby was a 4BB embryo too.

Lab lady said that we are in great shape! She said that the lab gives them a rank of good, fair and poor. We have 4 goods and 2 fairs (I'm guessing that's the 2BB and 4BB day 6er). She also explained to me how they choose an embryo for a transfer and things like that (ours are all frozen individually, which I'm happy about). I'm sure it sounds crazy to be thinking about it now, but I am crazy so I'm happy to have all of this information.

We have no idea how we'll feel or what we'll do after this baby is born. We do know that we don't ever plan to try to conceive on our own again. Before we decided to go forward with IVF, we agreed that we would transfer any frozen embryos before we tried on our own and we still feel like that's the best decision for us. I think I would feel that way even if I didn't have a strong suspicion that my tubes are too fucked up to function.

Anyway, the tentative plan is to go on the mini-pill after baby boy is born in order to keep my endo under control. Depending on if and how long I am able to breastfeed, we'll consider going in for a FET consultation when this little guy is 9 months old. I probably wouldn't want to do a transfer before one year, but I imagine it could take time for my cycle to regulate and for any repeat testing to be done.

I am beyond thrilled and ridiculously grateful that we have these little snow bunnies. Even though we are painfully aware that there are never any guarantees, it is nice to know that we have a chance at having a sibling (or six) for our son.