WILL IT THAW?

A few days after starting the final fertility meds, Erin and Jenny called us, clearly excited. Their embryo had thawed and was starting to grow! As the embryologist told them, it was dividing rapidly and looked great. Everything was falling into place for their frozen embryo transfer.

Though our contract stated that Jenny and Erin could only thaw one embryo at a time it seemed that they would not need to thaw a second embryo. The first one looked good.

The next few days were somewhat tense as Jenny and Erin prepared for their flight to the clinic and waited to see if the embryo would keep growing well.

For a frozen embryo transfer, the hurdles the embryo has to over come are

* The Thaw. Whether or not the embryo will survive the thaw is pre-determined by the skill of the embryologist at the time of freezing.
* Beginning to grow. Even an embryo that thaws can turn out to be a dud which does not divide.
* Continuing to grow. Each day an embryo grows outside the womb increases the chances that it will stop growing. That is because most embryos are not destined to become children. Some stop growing because they are not healthy enough to develop into a fetus.
* The eventual grade of the embryo. An embryo can grow large quickly but if the cells have a lot of defects it will not turn into a fetus.

Jenny and Erin's embryo had overcome half of the barriers to becoming their child. We waited to see if the process would continue as brightly as it had started.

THE EMBRYO

From Jenny and Erin's perspective, the cycle was on. They had the medications they needed, plane tickets to get to the clinic for the transfer, hotel reservations and positive signs from the blood work and tests the clinic conducts before each cycle to make sure the body is ready to become pregnant.

The last piece of the puzzle was the embryo itself. I had three embryos left over from my own in vitro fertilization cycles. That gave Jenny and Erin up to three chances to become pregnant. But they might have no chance, if the embryos did not survive the thaw or grow properly.

Our contract stated that Jenny and Erin's clinic would thaw just one embryo at a time. If the first embryo thawed did not grow they could thaw another one until they got a viable embryo. The embryologist could tell right away if the fertilized egg would grow. If it didn't look good she would thaw another embryo right away. That way the cycle could continue even if the first embryo did not begin to divide.

After beginning the final medications to prepare her body for the embryo, Erin and her partner Jenny still had a tense four days ahead of them while they waited to see if the embryo that might become their child would take the first step.