Hellobee

After months of anticipation it was finally embryo transfer day! I was scheduled for an 11am transfer on January 18th. Mr. P and I woke up around 9 that morning and had breakfast at our hotel. I started my least favorite task, filling my bladder, and took the required medications at 10. I was prescribed albuterol and valium for that day to relax my muscles and the rest of me.

We arrived at the clinic at 10:30 and were called back 15 minutes later. Mr. P and I were led into a large prep and recovery room. There were three beds total separated by curtains. There were two other couples there, but we didn’t really notice them other than when we walked by. I still felt like we had privacy even though we were sharing a room.

We were greeted by a very sweet nurse who gave me a gown and a blanket and pointed me to a restroom where I could change. She told me to just ignore the toilet the best I could. It was difficult because my bladder was already feeling too full, despite drinking much less that I did for the consultation appointment. I changed and then the nurse helped me get settled in a bed. She gave me a mesh hat to put over my hair. Mr. P had to put it on me. The valium had kicked in and I was having a hard time getting all my hair underneath it.

loopy but excited

A couple of minutes later the doctor and embryologist came by. The doctor had us sign some consent forms. Then he felt my bladder and declared that it was too full and told me to go to the restroom for 12 seconds. With some difficulty I got back out of bed and hobbled over to the restroom with Mr. P’s help. After those few seconds I was a lot more comfortable and able to easily get back into bed and speak with the embryologist. She told us that she had thawed 4 of our 5 embryos that morning, and that two did not survive. There were two embryos ready to be transferred and she had graded them 3AA. The highest rating is 5AA so they were both great quality. I was sad to hear that we had lost two, which meant we only had one left frozen. I started to worry about what that meant for future transfers, but willed myself back into the moment. I needed to focus on the embryos we were transferring that day and keep myself stress free.

Finally it was go time! The nurse wheeled me back into the transfer room. Unfortunately Mr. P wasn’t allowed in the room during the transfer. I wished he could have been there holding my hand and I know he wished the same. Once I was in the room the nurse strapped my legs into stirrups and positioned an ultrasound wand on my stomach to get a good view of my uterus. Then the doctor started prepping me for transfer. First he poured a little warm water on me and swabbed my cervix with it. Then he followed it up with an alcohol solution, which really stung! He explained everything he was going to do before he did it and my response was always “ok.” The nurse joked that I was going to be a laid back mom because I was so relaxed with it all. I think that was the valium. Plus, what else was I going to say?

The doctor did a practice transfer with the catheter and then asked for the real thing. The embryologist passed him a catheter with the embryos inside through a window from the lab. They had a tv set up so that I could see the catheter going into my uterus and a little burst of white when the embryos were released. It was amazing to see. The doctor passed the catheter back to the embryologist and she checked under a microscope to make sure both embryos were out. I was shocked to hear her say that one was still there! So was the doctor because it rarely happens. The embryologist passed the catheter back through the window and the doctor did another transfer. This time it worked!

embryos on board

The nurse wheeled me back to the prep and recovery room and to Mr. P. The nurse told me that I would lay in bed for about 20 minutes and then I would be able to get dressed and head back to the hotel. The time passed quickly and pretty soon Mr. P and I were on our way with instructions to go for a blood test in 9 days’ time. I was starving so we picked up lunch on the way back to the hotel. After I ate I took a long nap. Mr. P and I took the week of the transfer off work, so the next day we headed to the mountains to visit his family and take it easy while the embryos hopefully nestled in for the next 9 months.