Slow Love

Par-Tay Time!

Prince POV

On the flight from Cincinnati, I received a text message that the in-vitro needs to start earlier than we had planned. The surrogate is approaching being ready in about 5-7 days. When we land, the next day they are going to fertilize Gigi's eggs with my seed so they will be ready when she is. Also, there will have ample lead time to genetically test the babies before the implantation date. 

I slip out away from my sleeping beauty to check a referenced email on my laptop with all the details and instructions for tomorrow. I messaged Van Jones to meet us at the clinic with the paperwork so there will be no delays in signing everything. He immediately sent a text back that he has a meeting but he will drop the papers off in the morning, adding everything was in order and sent his good wishes for success starting our family. 

When I sneak back in bed with her, she's still out like a light, purring her cute snore. She really doesn't snore but rather she sounds like a cat purring. Good, I don't wake her, she needs her rest and so do I. Tomorrow is the big day so I need to rest up and save up too for our 'party-time'. I have to abstain from any more lovemaking with her so the cup runneth over tomorrow. I gather her up in my arms trying to not wake her, she scoots against me like she usually does in her sleep. Holding her close I feel all her love and peace course through me as I drift off into a heavenly sleep.

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GIGI POV

He knew I was extremely jittery about today but we talked quite a bit last night with him trying to reassure me everything will be okay. Feeling his love while he held me through the night helped stave off some of my anxiety. This morning we had the fastest shower ever. No hankie pankie of any kind, he's really saving it up for later. Our appointment is at 1:00 pm so we have plenty of time for brunch and more conversation. 

"Sweetheart, any word how many of my eggs were viable after the thawing?" "No Babe. I guess we will find out when we get there. I'll call them if you need to know now?" I shook my head, "We'll find out later. Knowing now isn't going to matter." After brunch, we head over to the clinic. He wants to be there early for a change. I guess all this excitement has him doing things differently than usual.

We arrive at the clinic about a half an hour early. Most of the staff is out to lunch but the kind receptionist/assistant showed us into an office and delivered our paperwork to examine. I picked up a pen and started signing away. "Baby, don't you want to read it first?" 

"No Sweetheart, I've seen these before and Van already approved them. Nothing more for me to do but sign them." While we are busy signing the mound of papers, Marlon enters the room welcoming us. He informs us that Cheri is going to be coming in later for us to meet with. In the meantime, it's Partytime! Marlon hands us off to an embryologist, Dr. Elliott Endicott. 

He sat down and explained the procedure to us called, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI, refers to the placement of a single sperm directly into the cell material, or cytoplasm of the egg by the embryologist. This process becomes necessary when the penetration of the shell and inner membrane of the egg by the sperm is unlikely to happen or they want to ensure all eggs get fertilized as in our case. The maturity of the eggs is assessed by removing the cumulus cells. The maturity of an egg is defined as an egg that has reduced its number of chromosomes by half. The purpose of this reduction process is to allow the other half of the chromosomes to come from the sperm when it enters the egg. The way that maturity is determined by the embryologist is by looking for the presence of a little round body located on the edge of the egg. This round body is known as a polar body. It contains the half of the egg's chromosomes that it has expelled during its process of maturation. Dr. Endicott added that all my eggs were mature and the previous embryologist performed an excellent job preserving them.