8 embryos!

I spoke briefly with the nurse today and learned we have 8 viable embryos. So this is really good news and we feel sure this is going to work.

Today was beautiful and we walked around Prague all day, with short stops in the Mucha Museum, Kafka Museum, and Museum of Communism. We were going to go to a chamber music concert in a church tonight, but were too tired and just came back to the hotel.

Here are a couple of pictures from today:

Doctor's Visit

We had our first doctor's appointment this morning and everything looks great. I had an ultrasound and all is well. Miran had some blood and other tests. We spent a lot of time in the waiting room and there were at least five other couples there, two were American, one from the UK, one from Ireland, and the others we didn't hear talking so don't know.

We also learned that the retrieved 12 eggs this morning and that 10 were viable. The fertilized those ten this afternoon. At 1:00 tomorrow we can call and they will tell us how many viable embryos we have. It seems highly likely we'll have 5 or 6 - which is exciting. So all plans are set for a transfer on day 5, which means next Saturday. But this is really exciting - they said they average 6-10 eggs retrieved, so we are very optimistic we'll have two really great ones. The doctor said if we transfer two eggs he estimates our odds of pregnancy at 70%.

And I got some additional medication (progesterone) that I'm supposed to take for the next 10 weeks! It is cheaper here so I bought a lot, and it comes in huge boxes, so I think we'll need to buy a new bag to get it home in!

Prague !

Here are a bunch of pictures from our walk this afternoon in Prague (and one at the end of my forehead scar so everyone can see how amazingly its healing - as everyone was commenting on it before).

First day in Brno

We had a long but uneventful travel day and arrived fine in Brno this afternoon.

The biggest excitement of the trip was deciding to upgrade a car class after seeing our rental car at the Prague airport. I had reserved the smallest, cheapest option and we were given a 10 year old Fiat that was really small and we couldn't figure out how to lock the doors and it just didn't look very reliable. So we went back in and asked for the next category up. So we ended up with a Skoda Fabia which is very comfortable. Miran did great on the drive and it took just about two hours like we thought. We had no trouble finding our hotel.

After we checked in we just washed our faces and immediately left to go over to Miran's aunt's house. We decided to walk because we'd been sitting for two days and it took about 20 minutes. So we got a quick overview of the city center and it seems really nice.

We ate dinner and talked with Miran's family for a few hours. It was really nice listening to stories about when Miran was 8 and 9 years old as well as to stories about Milada and her friends from when she was younger as well.

Here is a picture of Miran with his first cousins Suzana and Jasmin:

Here is Milada with Miran's two aunts and their father:

And here is me in the Charlotte airport at the very beginning of the trip:

Fligth and Travel Itineraries

We are just about done packing and hope to be out the door by noon to get to the airport.

Here is our flight info if anyone is interested:

2 Mar - CLT to ATL - 3:30 to 4:40 - Delta 2133
2 Mar - ATL to AMS - 5:30-8:15am - Delta 604
3 Mar - AMS - PRG - 12:00-1:30 - Delta 9533

12 Mar - PRG - AMS - 2:05-3:50 - Delta 9693
12 Mar - AMS-ATL - 4:40-9:20 - Delta 9374
12 Mar - ATL-CLT - 10:50-11:58 - Delta 1441

The trip involve a lot of driving back and forth - at least in the first few days. After we arrive tomorrow we'll pick up the rent a car and drive to Brno, where we will be the first night. We'll go to the doctor in the morning and then head back to Prague for two nights. On the 6th we'll return to Brno in the afternoon and be there the rest of the trip.

Or more simply, here is where we'll be sleeping which nights:

3 Mar - Brno
4-5 Mar - Prague
6-12 Mar - Brno