In Vitro Fertility Goddess
In Vitro Fertility Goddess is "a fantastic book", "a page-turner", "a great read!"... All Reviews Here » 
I wish I could say that I achieved success with my Grade 3 Embryo. If so, I would have two children now.
The thing was, until the morning I arrived at the IVF clinic for my frozen embryo transfer, I had no idea that I was having a Grade 3 embryo implanted. I knew there were two embryos stored, one of them being only a few cells, thus its lower grade, but I assumed the Grade 2 Embryo would be coming to the party.
How wrong I was. While both had been thawed the Grade 2 had simply failed to grow any further while the Grade 3 had picked up momentum and was on its way to being a Grade 2. This, the doctor informed me gravely while I sat with my legs in stirrups awaiting the equivalent of the world's worst pap smear.
By this stage I was so primed, having had a previous cycle cancelled due to drug failure and two months short of my 41st birthday, I would have gratefully accepted a Grade 7 embryo, a single cell amoeba, anything that may have had a microscopic chance of becoming a human being. They could have offered me a key role in a cloning experiment and I'd have said yes.
Two weeks of crossing my legs and going to the toilet carefully followed, but I wasn't feeling any of the early symptoms after IVF that I'd felt the first time, i.e., the twinges and slight cramping.
On the day of the pregnancy test I was cautiously optimistic (admittedly easy to be when you've already got a fifteen month old child toddling around) yet the result was negative. My little embryo had failed to implant. I have no idea what the success rate is with these lower grade embryos but presumably there is some, otherwise they wouldn't store them.
And it's interesting that a day can make an enormous difference as to what grade an embryo is. Just as it can go from Grade One to Grade 3 overnight, the reverse may happen too. And anything can happen once they're implanted.
So again there is no exact science with regards to the grade and quality of embryos, as with everything else under the infertility umbrella, it's akin to shifting sands.
Read more about IVF Success with Grade 3-4 Embryos in my book In Vitro Fertility Goddess »
