The number 4

A lot of people have a lucky number.  Some people go to Vegas and place bets on their lucky number.  Others may plan a special event on the same date as their lucky number.  I have always had a number that means something to me, but I've never been able to call it lucky.

It was 5th grade or so when I started playing sports.  As far back as I can remember, my jersey number was number four.  I don't know if I initially asked for that, or if it was randomly given to me.  Probably the latter.  At some point, as I was getting more interested in softball, I began following the Oakland Athletics.  My Papa loved baseball and I can remember him watching the games of all the local California teams.  He liked them, so I did too.  The Athletics quickly became my favorite team and because I played in the infield  I had a particular fondness for Carney Lansford.  Never heard of him?  I'm not surprised.  I might have been alone in my obsession   He played third base for the A's.  Bear in mind everyone, he is not some kind of pro athlete hunk (see below), I simply admired his skills and found some deeper meaning in the fact that we both wore number four.  Ever since, for every sport I played, I asked for jersey #4.


(My totally innocent sports crush circa the late 80s)

(sweet stance Carney!  see the #4?!)

While I might have had some good sports luck on the court or in the field, number four never really did anything else for me. I tried it on a lottery ticket once (I drive a 10 yr old car and have a 30 yr mortgage, so clearly I'm not wealthy from lottery winnings).  I've always wondered if something miraculous would happen to me on April 4th (so far, it's just been another ordinary, non memorable day).  But, finally- four has given me something I never would have imagined, and this four is far more important to me than all that other meaningless stuff.  As of this morning, H and I still have four maturing embryos.  They're in their 3-4 cell stage and so far have no fragmentation (I don't know what causes that, but am told it is good that we don't have any).  Today our little miracles probably look something like this:


(I think it looks like a stemless clover, which fits because our last name is Irish and because I'm writing about luck.)

Now we are more certain that we'll have a Day 5 transfer (meaning the embryos will grow in the lab for five days instead of three).  At five days, doctors believe that have a better sense of which embryo has the best chance at pregnancy.  They'll grade each one and transfer the prettiest or handsomest (no clue about gender yet).   Send all your positive thoughts to Sunday and wish our lucky little clover(s) the best.



One last (very important) message... thank you for following our story and for all of your supportive comments, calls, and emails- knowing you're there brings much comfort to an almost entirely uncomfortable situation.  xo