From "Little Es" to "Little Bs" at "Hotel Lab"

Between Day 3 & Day 5 of their time at the luxorious, all-inclusive, highly posh Hotel Lab these Embryos (Affectionately called "Little Es") are supposed to be pretty busy. They've jumped the first hurdle by actually taking the plunge to get fertilized. That's kinda key. Then, they decided to be agreeable to their surroundings and adapted well to life in the Hotel Lab. Some "Little Es" don't like to stay at Hotel Lab demand to be upgraded into a rather delux extended-stay called Hotel Womb....at least we hope its an extended-stay for about nine months or so. We've passed 2 hurdles so far.

Once they have settled in, they need to get very busy....meaning that they need to start dividing into many little cells. From Day 3 to Day 5, they need to split into 200+ cells. Once the "Little Es" cross the 200 cell marker, they are officially called "Little B"s...because they are blastocysts. This is a really big hurdle...and if they can't jump it, they won't be able to pass the finish line. Its one that until the last couple of years, was only attempted in Hotel Womb, not in Hotel Lab.

Medicine made great strides and they can now do this outside of the body in special labs, which is amazing. Why? Well, it kind of goes along with the age-old "Survival of the Fittest" mentality. Although Hotel Womb is great, it has no windows to watch what happens during the pivotal 6-9 days after fertilization occurs. Hotel Lab has lots of windows and frequent check-ins to monitor development. An embryo can look extremely healthy on Day 2 & 3, but then not divide at the rapid rate deemed essential to develop into a fetus. Sadly, that embryo doesn't make it. By seeing how the cells split, they can make smart decisions about which ones are showing to be the healthiest. This helps them to more accurately predict which "Little Bs" have the best chance of developing into a living being.

Now that all that's explained, we're sending positive vibes to our "Little Es" who are chillin at Hotel Lab. Now that they're settled, I hope they order lots of room service and that their cells multiply like rabbits.