1) Follicles = In the IVF process, the antagonist injections were used to trigger follicle growth. As oocytes are too microscopic, follicle sizes are used as a proxy in measurements.
2) Oocytes = Immature eggs. There is a tiny oocyte in each follicle. I had 21 oocytes retrieved from me!
3) Zygote = Egg gets injected with sperm in the ICSI process, and we get zygotes.
4) Embryo = Zygotes then divide into more cells. We were told we had 11 embryos.
5) Morula = After 3 or 4 days of cell division, we get a morula, which is literally a ball of 16 cells.
6) Blastocyst = After day 5, the morula becomes a blastocyst, which is an embryo with a cavity in it.
We were told that out of 11 embryos, only 3 made it to the blastocyst stage within 5 to 6 days (which is apparently normal?) and they were frozen, to be implanted later when my body has recovered from the hormone levels. Normally in an IVF cycle, the embryo transfer would be done 5 days after the oocyte retrieval procedure.
Anyway, here's where we are up to now... I'm currently still on my hospitalization leave, which will end on 13 April. Hopefully I find out how to relax by then; I'm constantly feeling so uptight... Next doctor's appointment will be on 22 April. We are currently targeting to have the implantation done in late May.
I shall end off here with an embryo to fetal growth diagram from pocketdentistry.com/growth-and-development-2/ . Looking at this, we are only at very beginning of this long process though it has been almost a month since it started. It's really not easy for a life to be created! In some ways, I'm really thankful I made it to this world.