A day in the life of an embryologist

4:40 AM: Wake up. I am not a morning person.

5:12 AM: Roll out with coffee, keys, lunch, phone.

6:20 AM: Arrive at work, pee, check schedule, calculate what time my last procedure will be.

6:30 AM: Fert checks. How ‘bout them 2PNs?

7:15 AM: Check emails, enter data, review charts, get updated on whatever’s going on with my coworkers within a 5 foot radius of me. (They know I’m not a morning person but I try my best to feign engagement at this hour and they mercifully understand).

8:00 AM: Head to the cryo area, begin prep for thaws and cryo for the day. 

8:15 AM - 11:30 AM: Embryo thaws and embryo cryo. Endless endless cryo. On busy days, alternating between thaws and cryos, trying to time thaws at 5 hours prior to patient’s transfer time. Thaws take around 10 minutes per patient, cryo around 15-30 minutes  per patient depending on the volume. Continuously prep for next patients.

11:35-12:15 PM: pray for a break to go pee and/or eat something. Check in incoming specimens or check out outgoing. Enter this data into the EMR while trying to eat something.

12:15-3:00PMish: Embryo transfers! Rotate with colleagues as patients are seen in ten minute intervals. If a patient has a difficult transfer, it can take upwards of 30-40 minutes per patient, pushing others back. 

3:00 - 4:00 PMish: ICSI scheduled in 20-30 minute intervals. The process itself can take 10-20 minutes with ideal sperm. If it’s a difficult sperm case - pray. Drink coffee. Stare at the wall and dissociate a bit. 

4:00 - 5:00 PM: Oocyte vitrification! Data entry! Fixing random broken stuff in the lab. Have I peed or had water in the past ten hours? Let’s try to do that.

5:00 PM and beyond: data entry and more ICSI. Close down the lab, check that every task has been completed, all equipment is functional, everything in redundancy. Take uneaten lunch on a car ride home. 

6:00 PM: Arrive home, fall asleep on the floor greeting pets, remember you need to shower at some point, eat something, scroll social media and get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. 

10:30 PM: Attempt to sleep while a mild gnawing in the back of your head makes you wonder if anything was forgotten today.

for your bros.