[By the way.. YouTube is a fantastic IVF resource.. Giving oneself injections for the first time requires overcoming some innate fear mechanisms, and watching the calm way that other women did theirs and how they explained the procedures was reassuring. It was almost like immersing oneself in an underground sisterhood of IVF practioners (sufferers?) ]

I think that the other nerve-wracking part of the IVF technology is the improbability of implantation. There is only about 10-20% probability for one to implant. In the two weeks after embryo transfer that I was waiting, I must have read 20 biochemistry papers trying to understand exactly what biochemical processes must occur. I had the impression that this aspect of IVF is the most unknown and is one of the most active areas of research in the fertility field. Strange that so little is known about implantation isn’t it? The improbably low rate of implantation is why US doctors transfer so embryos (> 3), and then ’sort it out’ afterwards. My Estonian doctor told me that they and many European fertility clinics don’t transfer more than two usually (and I know that more than 3 is illegal by Estonian law).

But the technology _works_, and that is the most important aspect to keep in mind. The joy of success has no words to describe it (and I still have the second half of my pregnancy to go.. It will be eleventh heaven for me, that’s sure).

So then a hearty congratulations, John.. you and Robin went through a tremendous experience and succeeded!

As for the date:

(b.) 1864 – Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1941)
(b.) 1907 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.

Two very distinguished scientists and perhaps the most important company in the world, whatever you think of it.

e.