2/26 it is.

I got a call on my cell on Sunday--it was a good call. The kinda call that makes everything seem really real. We were driving home from a nice weekend away and got "the call" from our clinic. For the past few weeks we've been speaking in "tentative," meaning that the timing of our procedure has been an approximation. The entire process is based completely on the individual timing of the donor's internal clock and how she responds to her meds. So everything has been estimated until we received the phone call today from the clinic...on a Sunday! Our donor went in today for her final ultrasound and now we know the exact timing of at least the first part of procedure.

We'll be heading down to Cincinnati for 9am appointments at the clinic in 2 days. Mike will (how do I say this tastefully) "do his thing" at 9a and I'll have an ultrasound to make sure I'm responding properly to my meds. Meanwhile, in a different part of the hospital, our donor will be having outpatient surgery to retrieve the eggs she'll be donating to what we hope will be the coolest "science project" ever!

Later on Tuesday, sperm will meet eggs (and early ultrasound indications are that there are a lot of them--like more than 20). They will then grow while being monitored in their lab for up to 6 days. That's the goal-- to have them develop into cell-dividing blastocysts. They take photos of the microscopic little guys and call us with updates.

If all things go well, the best 2 blastocysts will be transferred via IVF on Monday, March 3rd. Its possible that it may be sooner if the clinic feels the embryos need to be transferred sooner should they not take to growing in the lab. Either way, we trust their judgement and are officially on our way.