Waiting by the phone

Today was one of the most frustrating days so far. I expected to hear from either the doctor or the embryologist this morning with an update on the other eggs and the fertilized embryos. But no call came. I tried very hard to be patient. Yesterday they called at about noon. So today I waited until 2:30 and called the office. Being a Sunday, they have only an answering service on the phones, whether someone is there or not. So I left my name and number, and a nurse was supposed to call me back in a few minutes. Half an hour later she called back.

This nurse was surprised that I was supposed to hear from someone today because they've all gone home already. And if I am actually supposed to have a transfer tomorrow, someone should have told me when and where to show up, among other things. She sounded skeptical of my story, but promised to investigate and get back to me. Another hour went by and the nurse called back to say that my transfer will be tomorrow, and my doctor would be calling me soon to discuss further. But what about the embryos, I asked. She said none of the other eggs had matured. So they didn't even get to try to fertilize them. That's all she knew. She had no update on the existing embryos, how they looked, if they were still all good, or anything. She said the doctor would call and the doctor would know more.

The doctor finally called at 8pm. She had been on call today in what she described as a very crazy day, and she apologized for not calling sooner. She confirmed everything the nurse had said initially, and didn't really have any new information beyond that. They won't have an update on the three initially fertilized embryos until tomorrow morning. At that point we'll discuss the plan. If there are one or two embryos only, they will transfer all they have. If there are three, and they all look great, then we'll have to discuss. The possibility of triplets is concerning, but freezing/thawing just one embryo is very risky as only 80% tend to survive that process. So we'll see what they say tomorrow on that.

The nurse and the doctor say I should try to get some rest. Try to relax. I'm gonna go take a hot bath right now. But I don't really know how to put my mind at ease. It feels like so much is at stake. So much is resting on this one attempt. I had really, really hoped that there would be a few backups. But I'll give it my best. After the transfer tomorrow then I'm on strict bed rest (I can get up for bathroom breaks only) for the remainder of Monday and all day Tuesday. I've already TiVo'd lots of movies and have a good book picked out. It will probably be the longest amount of rest I'll get for the next few years, at least until residency is done. If I have triplets, it will be even longer. I'll try to relish it.