More than a Baker’s Dozen

The procedures went very well, and both patients are resting comfortably. We are both sore and have to limit our physical exercise over the next few days. This brings up the important concern of who will do the house chores during that time.
 

However, the news I’m sure those following our story want to know is how many eggs were gathered. I’m happy to report a total of fifteen (15) eggs were taken out of the hen house. On the other side of the coop, my extraction went smoothly as well. Without giving the graphic details, let me simply say the surgeon had only to make a single incision (instead of the potential four) to draw out all the necessary Olympic swimmers.
 

I’m debating whether chickens and an international sporting event make a workable allegory for our situation, but oh well, at least I’m not talking like a pirate.
 

What happens next is there are potentially 15 little embryos, which by this time should be “knit together” in a Petri dish. The process is approximately 4 cellular pairings per hour, and our concoction arrived at the lab around 8:30 this morning. What happens next is basically the same thing as what happens naturally, the little guys (or gals) grow, divide and follow their genetic orders.
 

As with what happens naturally, some may not become viable but likely many will. Over the next five days the embryos will be graded on numerous categories: size, evenly-distributed cell division, rate of growth and several other criteria. What happens then is next Tuesday the top-two, highest graded embryos are selected and transferred into Kristina, where we hope they will attach to her uterine wall.
 

There are still several risks and concerns along the way – and even after the next five days. However, we are highly optimistic from everything we know today.