DAY ONE

Today you will find out how many of your eggs have fertilised to become and embryo. See the section about questions for scientists and write them down. Today you also need to start all your medications on particular your progesterone ready for your transfer.

DAY TWO

Most labs don't give an update today unless you really want one as not a great deal happens in this first part 

DAY THREE

Today your embryos should be between 6-10 cells. Any number between this is good and any that are close to this the lab will continue to culture. 

DAY FOUR

Today your embryos should be morula stage where there are lots and lots of cells that have started to compact together. This stage is when it is difficult for the scientists to count how many cells are there and this is a good sign the embryo is doing well.

DAY FIVE AND TRANSFER DAY 🎉🎉🎉

Today your embryos might be at blastocyst stage, and if there is a suitable embryo and you are well after your collection today is the day you are pregnant until proven otherwise (PUPO).

If your embryos are not quite there yet they will culture until day 6. This is perfectly fine and many baby's have been born from day 6 blastocysts. 

I personally found this 5 day wait the most distressing and I found it difficult to accept that we often have high number of eggs (35-50) but would have huge drop offs and often have just one at day 5 to transfer. We have also had the devastating news a few times that we did not have any embryos suitable for transfer; this is soul destroying and my only advice is to ask lots of questions about what happened and what you could do for another cycle. 

OLD WIVES TALES TO HELP EMBRYO IMPLANT

- McDonald's chips following transfer 

- pineapple core

- pomegranate 

- keep your feet nice and warm

- avoid cold drinks for 2-3 days after transfer