Monday, January 23, 2012

{ To Hatch or Not To Hatch, That is the Question }

Today was the day....day 5, our embryo transfer day! It was both nerve wracking and exciting at the same time, kind of the same feeling as everything else. The difference was today Dr. Lin put two of you back inside mommy today and now it was all up to me and my body to make a happy home for you for 9 months.

We checked in at the front desk and were called back to speak with Dr. Lin a few minutes later to discuss the options we had for our transfer. The first decision was how many embryos we wanted to transfer. While they do not recommend more than two because of the risks of multiples, they also do not recommend only transferring one just in case. Regardless of their recommendations it was ultimately our choice. We decided to go with two. We didn’t want to risk the one not taking and be left with nothing but we also didn’t want to transfer three of them, they all take and then from there split making mommy the next Octomom! Though, now that I think about it I could have used the money from publicity to start paying off your debt. Hum...there is an idea!

The other decision we had to make was on assisted hatching. I'm sure you’re thinking; say what, you can hatch an embryo?? Yes. Actually, if the embryologist doesn’t do it for you the embryo should hatch itself in order to implant accurately. If an embryo does not hatch it will not implant in the lining of your uterus. As Dr. Lin put it, an un-hatched embryo is like an un-hatched egg...it goes bad and becomes rotten which means no baby. For those reasons, they recommend assisted hatching. However, doing assisted hatching comes with its own set of risks. For starters there is the chance of spontaneous splitting leading to identical twins. Secondly, there have been cases of babies born with disabilities such that may be caused from accidently hurting the embryo during the hatching process. Though it is not confirmed that the cause of the abnormalities is from the assisted hatching, they have to inform you and let you know that may be a risk.

Your daddy and I went back and forth on this decision. The cost to hatch you was nothing in comparison to the whole IVF procedure. It was a mere $400 and honestly at this point I didn’t care how much it was. Money was not a factor in my decision. All I could think of was not doing the assisted hatching and neither of you implanting and wondering and beating myself up because I didn’t do it. Your daddy on the other hand was concerned more about your safety and the possible effects of it. I am not saying I wasn’t but given the evidence and that there is no proof from it I was all for assisted hatching. Poor Dr. Lin sat there for probably 15-20 minutes listening to us debating on this decision. He would not tell us what to do so instead he just enjoyed the entertainment.

After it was all said and done we finally reached our decision to go with the assisted hatching. After that Dr. Lin asked us to wait in the waiting room as it would take about 30 minutes for the embryologist to hatch our embryos. Its the strangest thing to think of and wait for…knowing that your possible potential children are in a lab being hatched. I don’t know...I just can’t explain it.

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