MEETING THE RECIPIENTS

With the embryo growing rapidly and the tests showing Erin's body was ready to receive it, everything was a "go" for Jenny and Erin's embryo transfer. They had planned to fly to our fertility clinic two days before the transfer and to stay in the area two days after. That way, Erin could be on bed rest for 48 hours after the transfer. Some doctors feel this increases the chances for a pregnancy.

The day before the procedure, Jenny and Erin planned to visit us. Driving in a new city can be scary. Instead of trying to navigate with their rental car I sent Jenny and Erin a route via suburban commuter train. They would take an express train from the clinic area to our city, which is about 90 miles away.

My wife Sonia, based on her experiences as an adoptee and a known egg donor, was pushing for more openness with the recipients than my instincts dictated. We agreed to have lunch with Jenny and Erin. Sonia suggested we meet them at our home.

We made a date and provided instructions to our address. Within a few days we would meet our recipients.

THE EMBRYO GROWS

The embryologist had good news for Jenny and Erin every day. The embryo continued to grow strongly, dividing rapidly until, just before the transfer it reached seven cells in size.

Seven cells is huge for a three-day embryo. We were surprised Jenny and Erin's embryo had grown so large. All of our past embryos but one had only reached the four cell size. The only one which had grown larger was only five cells at day three.

Large embryos are much more likely to create a successful pregnancy. With four-celled embryos we only had a one in six chance of having a baby. Yet both of our children resulted from four-cell embryos and pregnancy occurred on our first try during both of our embryo transfer cycles.

Things were looking good for Jenny and Erin, but there was a problem...