The eve of transfer

First things first: an embryo update.  As of yesterday (Day 3) we were told that we had "8 high quality embryos".  Full stop.  I have no idea if the other three arrested or are just poor quality, nor do I know what cell division stage the remaining 8 are at.  That's all the information I got.  I'm starting to get used to the Czech brevity in delivering medical info, and in a way I'm kind of digging it.  They're not giving me enough to obsess over or Google, and the almost nonchalant way I get my updates makes me feel like they're pretty confident that we'll have lots of good blastocysts tomorrow.  They're already talking about freezing leftovers, so that's clearly a good sign.

In the meantime, we've been keeping ourselves so busy with sightseeing and activities that I've really hardly had time to worry.  I highly recommend this method of distraction!  Over the last couple of days we've walked over what feels like every square foot of Prague, and yet I know there's tons we've missed down all the crooked little streets.  Some of the cool stuff:

A gun concealed in a cigarette holder at the KGB Museum

Mock interrogation room at the Museum of Communism

One of the coolest things at the Museum of Communism was watching film footage of protesters and soldiers during the Velvet Revolution, the series of protests in 1989 that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of the Soviet-backed government and the institution of democracy in Czechoslovakia.  Wenceslas Square was the hub of the protests, and is now a huge tourist shopping destination lined with things like restaurants, casinos and clothing retailers.  We've walked through it several times already, but seeing it how it was in 1989 was a whole different story.  It's hard to believe I was just 13 years old back then, and didn't really know what has happening at the time.  So much change in just a few short decades.

Another day, we took a sweaty hike in the hot sun up to the top of Petrin Hill, which is a huge park complex overlooking the city.  It's gorgeous up there, and instead of being filled with tourists it also had a lot of locals just enjoying the sunshine or sitting in the shade under the trees eating ice cream.

Petrin Hill lookout tower

One of the many rose gardens on Petrin Hill

We've also paid a visit to Vysehrad, which is Prague's second smaller castle complex that is apparently often overlooked by tourists.  It's a 5-minute walk from our hotel, so today we hiked on up and took in some more amazing views of the city.  There's also another beautiful cathedral there and a very cool cemetery.

Cathedral as seen from cemetery at Vysehrad

 

Vltava River from the top of Vysehrad

Me being artsy with my camera at the cemetery

So now we just wait for tomorrow to find out how many blasts we have.  Thanks to everyone for your comments on my last post asking advice about how many to transfer.  Right now we're leaning towards one, based both on the assumption that they'll be of high quality as well as how difficult we think it would be for us to manage twins on our own without any family within screaming distance to help us out.  We'll see what the RE and embryologists have to say, though.

Yikes.  I can't believe this day is almost here.  And that I'm not looking at it with total pessimism like I have in my past cycles.  I wouldn't say I'm 100% planning on it working, but I'm definitely preparing for the possibility.  What's happening to me??  WHO AM I??