Sensory Overload

WHERE TO BEGIN? I guess I'll start with when we first arrived. They had appetizers. I love this Doctor already. Turkey and Roast beef wraps (like pinwheels) with bell peppers and cream cheese. And an open bar. Okay not really, but I could have used a beer to take the edge off my nerves fo' sho'. With food in my tummy and a steno pad in my purse, I was more than ready to get started.

When we walked up to the desk to give our names the nurse coordinator greeted me with a huge smile and a cheerful "Oh, hi Melissa!". My first reaction was a little disconcerted, while I returned her smile I wondered why her demeanor was more like checking people in at a high school reunion and less like a symposium for a group of people who are (potentially) experiencing the biggest challenge of their lives. But as I listened from the inside of Conference Room A to her greeting other people, I had to laugh at my own jadedness. This wasn't a Rosary. We shouldn't feel sad or ashamed. And as the doctor began speaking I knew instantly that I was thinking like an asshole. This event should bring everyone attending hope and excitement. This man could FINALLY get us knocked up for Fucks sake - put a damn smile on your face!

But it was obvious that I wasn't the only one with trepidations, I quickly noticed that I was the only one laughing at the doctors attempts at jokes. Like when he said his head Embryologist was "Anal and scrupulous; not the kind of man you want to be married to, but definitely the man you want watching over your gametes".

The rest of the seminar was great. I don't mean to sound like a douche, but I was significantly well versed in most of the topics he covered. (But I'll chalk that up to the obscene amount of time I've spent reading so many of your well documented blogs.) The exception being the structure and operational elements of his lab and his philosophies on various topics.

• Day 3 vs Day 5: He almost always does Day 5 unless by Day 3 there is only a small amount of embryo's, or some other significant factor. He likes to see the embryo's as close to the hatching point as possible before transferring.


• How many embryo's to transfer: His decisions are mostly based upon age. Under 35, no more than two - barring special circumstances. Over 35, no more than four. (A post on this specific topic is in the works.)


• Vitrification: They use the vitrification process for freezing. Which freezes the embryo to -196 degree's Celsius in milliseconds, leading to zero crystallization. Which means lower attrition, and better thaw rates

Overall it was a really great experience. And I'll bet the folks who are newer to the process gained a lot from this meeting. It was very thorough, and included video's of ICSI, egg retrievals, embryo transfers. Things I had seen, but I knew Brian hadn't. We ended the evening with questions from the attendees, the only questions I had were pretty specific to our situation and I prefer to ask them during our consultation this Saturday. After our consultation, we'll get started on testing again, since it's been about two years since our last round. CD3 could be as early as Monday or Tuesday for me, and we'll be doing an updated SA for Brian - I CAN'T WAIT to see if the tic tacs worked!

I guess this means our break is over, huh?

FUCK YEAH IT IS.