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.

THE MEDICATION

After a harrowing two days the fertility medication arrived. Erin's frozen embryo transfer was on after all. Jenny and Erin made arrangements to travel to the clinic. We had suggested they fly in to a smaller airport closer to the clinic than the more well-known major airport. We had also given them our hotel recommendations near the clinic. We knew the area well from the many trips we made to the same clinic to conceive our own children.

Jenny and Erin also took us up on our invitation to meet them. They decided to fly here the weekend before the transfer so they would have a free day to visit us. We gave them detailed instructions so they could get here via car or commuter train, as they preferred.

It seemed like a good idea for Jenny and Erin to meet our children before going ahead with the embryo transfer. If they found the kids to be horrid little monsters it was best that they did so before becoming pregnant with their genetic sibling.

We would meet our embryo recipients in less than one week.