Fertilization Report Is In!

We have 16 embryos!!! Can you believe it? Of the 19, only 3 did not fertilize. We could not be happier with these results! :)

So, this means we have 16 potential babies! I'm like a mother cat with a huge litter of kittens. :)

Okay, maybe that's not the best analogy, but it is still very surreal for me to think we have 16 embryos growing in the lab. My babies! Ella's sibling(s)! Their lives have officially begun.

I can't really put into words how I'm feeling right now. I feel so excited to think we've finally reached this point. It is so weird to think that our future children are in the lab, thriving, dividing into multiple cells, enduring the beginning stages of life. The first five days of their existence, if you will, is not spent in the natural, warm environment of my uterus, but in a temperature-controlled, strictly monitored lab.

The way God intended for man and woman to procreate is so perfect and beautiful, but our way of having our future child is in no way any less perfect or beautiful. Each appointment at RSC has proven to me just how beautiful the process really is - each day revealing to me just how clever and intelligent our God is. How every little detail of our bodies is hand crafted by Him, molded for a specific purpose.

So, where does the news of the 16 embryos leave us? Well, it means we are definitely going to have a day 5 transfer on Wednesday. Yippee! The doctor who called in the report said that generally 50% of the embryos are expected to make it until day 5, so it's a good possibility that we will have 8 embryos to choose from, leaving the remaining ones available for freezing as an insurance policy in case our first round of IVF doesn't work or to use in the future to further expand our family, should Aaron's sperm qualify remain the same.

The next few days will reveal to us the stronger embryos. All the little guys are going to continue growing and the cells will continue to divide. However, some will stop growing altogether or the cells will divide abnormally. But, some will continue to grow, and of those that make it to day 5, Dr. Weckstein and the embryologists will choose which one(s) are the chosen ones. The ones that will be transferred. The ones that will become our babies! I can't wait to see them on Wednesday!