Transfer!!!11!!eleven!!!1!

ALERT ALERT I AM NOW HARBORING ONE BLASTOCYST

Well, I hope I still am anyway. On Thanksgiving Day, our doctor called to let us know that all 7 little eggs were still alive and well, although a few were growing slower than the others - including one that was a full day behind the others despite obviously having been fertilized at exactly the same time as his siblings. ::cue suspicious side-eye at my already-falling-behind potential offspring::

But the good news was that all 7 were still growing, and the very good news was that one had developed into a Grade A blastocyst, looking excellent for transfer.

This is typically the next inflection point, when you and your doctor decide *how many* blasts to transfer. A lot of it depends on the woman's age and the quality of the blastocysts you have to work with. I have a friend whose doctor advised she put in two. She countered that she really really did not want twins. The doctor replied yes, I know: we need to put in two to get you one.  (So she put in two, and now has one healthy baby!) Apparently, women over.. I forget the exact age now, 37 maybe? 38? are also frequently advised to start with at least two.

The reason for this is you do increase your overall chance at getting pregnant (with one baby) as you add in eggs, especially as you get older. In our situation, we had a 5% greater chance of coming away with a baby if we put in two.

....and a 40% increased chance of having twins.

So we swiftly and happily agreed to put in just the one good-looking blastocyst, and freeze any others that looked viable.

The transfer is quick and painless, and SUPER COOL. The room they had me in opened on one side to the waiting room, and on one side directly into the lab. Once they had me all set up (nether bits a-flappin') they opened the door to the lab and called out "ready for [my last name]!". A screen just above the sonogram screen illuminated with a view from the technician's microscope, which first showed my name and D.O.B to (re-)confirm the proper embryo, then actually pulled up a view of the exact blastocyst they were about to transfer (!!!). Meanwhile, a tech in the room pulled up a sonogram of my abdomen with a clear picture of my uterus, and I watched (right on the screen!) as the doctor inserted a tiny catheter right into my uterus. The lab tech popped in with a syringe containing my blast, and then we all watched as a tiny flash of light squirted out the end of the catheter right into my uterus. (The blastocyst is far too small to see with the naked eye, but it's in some liquid, and that's what you could see on the sonogram.)

Oh, and for the transfer? No one in the room can wear any scents, like perfume or scented lotion. Because smells *agitate the embryos* during the brief period they're out in the open. Isn't that weird / cool / amazing / crazy!?

So now, hopefully, that little blast is digging into my lining, getting nice and cozy, and setting up shop. On Saturday they called to let me know that of the remaining 6 embryos, 4 had looked good enough to freeze. So that's really fabulous news too - it's a huge relief to know that even if this doesn't work, we have a few more tries available to us without having to go whole hog with an entire course of injectables and another retrieval.

And for now... I wait. I'm still on the estrogen and progesterone, which thankfully stopped causing nausea after the first day, and are now onto generating super crazy, novel-worthy weird dreams every night. And even better, I FINALLY have started to de-bloat and - perhaps TMI, but I think we've long passed that point - things have started.. ahem.. moving in that region as well. The worst side effect for me by far was well over 2 weeks of going poopless. That is NOT COMFORTABLE, people. But I went nuclear on the situation during the days between retrieval and transfer with some serious laxative action, and I am OVERJOYED to report that although it took a few days, Things Are Now Much Better.

So! One blastocyst, hopefully enjoying its new surroundings, and no updates for LIKE EVER, aka the dreaded two week wait.

::drums fingers::

::whistles tunelessly::

::repeats for 13 days::