I was just driving back to my parent's place after dropping off my brother in town when the embryologist rang. I pulled over and got the news:
Of the remaining 3, 2 were 'sub-optimal' but in a good enough state to be biopsied and frozen. I asked him if 'sub-optimal' blastocysts were worth bothering with; he said they were. It's perfectly possible that Domino could fall pregnant from a sub-optimal blastocyst.
So in total, we have 1 optimal blastocyst, and 3 sub-optimal. Given that we started with 5 viable embryos - that's a pretty good result!
Interestingly enough, the one that didn't make it was the one that looked the best on day 3. The embryologist said that had we done an embryo transfer on day 3, the one they would have chosen would have been the one that, it turns out, wouldn't have made it! He said that it just goes to show that gauging the quality of embryos by what they look like under a microscope isn't a good predictor of success (and is the exact reason we're doing PGD/aCGH!!!).
The 4 biopsied cells are on their way to the geneticists, to be stored until their siblings turn up over the next few months.
He told us to book a review of the cycle with our doctor, and that our dealings with the embryology lab was over for this cycle.
Just before he hung up, I said that they could use the final embryo that wasn't any good for whatever they wanted. He was very pleased and said that it would be used in the training session that was going on right then. We lose, science wins. Better than nothing, right?
I got back to my parent's place, and had a quick chat with Domino to update her. We both agreed that it feels like we have snatched victory (4 blastocysts) from the jaws of defeat (only 6 eggs collected).
In other news, Domino's bleeding really does look like a totally normal period.
