The Call Came Early

It's Monday! I figured that from the time I woke up this morning until the lab called that I'd be checking my phone obsessively and thinking, "Why haven't they called?!?!" but that isn't the case. You know why? Because the lab called last night, that's why!

On Thursday of last week a few friends from our softball team who'd be staying in town over the long weekend, including us, decided that a 4-day weekend was a great weekend to plan a cookout. Mr. Sprout and I decided that we'd host at our house on Sunday evening. At first we wanted to host on Monday, but then we thought if the lab called on Monday with bad news, we wouldn't really want to have three other couples over for dinner that night, so we decided to host the cookout on Sunday evening instead. People came over starting around 5:30 and we were mostly just talking in the kitchen and having chips and dip, then a few minutes after 6:00 Mr. Sprout went out to the grill to put the burgers and dogs on. So there we are, the rest of us, standing around the kitchen island socializing when my phone, which was on the kitchen island counter charging, rings. And it says that it's the clinic.

So here's what ran through my head...could this be bad or good? Should I let it go to voicemail since people are here and if it's bad I'll just want to be alone? OMG!

But I couldn't just let it sit there ringing so I answered it. As the embryologist told me who she was and why she was calling I made my way into the backyard where Mr. Sprout was and he looked at me like, "Why are you out here on the phone when we have guests?" But once I mouthed who it was on the phone, he just kind of froze where he was and looked at me expectantly. The embryologist said that they "were able to biopsy and freeze 5 good-looking blastocysts for you this cycle." So then I was just like and I held up 5 fingers and Mr. Sprout was like and I heard the embryologist saying that we'll have the results in 2-3 weeks and they'll call me then. I thanked her and hung up and then we hugged and laughed and smiled (maybe not necessarily in that order) and I went back inside and joined our friends again. The rest of the evening was fun and at times I just kept catching Mr. Sprout's eye and holding up five fingers or mouthing, "Five!" and smiling.

So, for the first time in this long journey we have blastocysts! Five of them! Hopefully at least one of them tests normal and later this year we'll do a frozen embryo transfer at the clinic. And now I also don't have to spend today stressing out about the phone ringing. I do have a few questions for the lab, but I'll email my nurse tomorrow about those. I'd like to know how many of the 5 made it to blastocyst on day 5 versus day 6, and also I know that they grade the embryos and I'd like to know that information, too. I was just so flustered and shocked last night on the phone that I didn't think to ask those.

Throughout this journey I've been the more hopeful one of the two of us and Mr. Sprout has been the more pessimistic. He'd say "realistic" but this is my blog so I'm sticking with my term. However, I think after last night's news even he's feeling a bit of hope.