Embryo Transfer Day!

Friday morning I got the call while at my office.… this was the call that I was both dreading and hoping for. This was the call that last time the doctor, instead of the nurse, called and told us that the embryos didn’t survive. As soon as I heard Nurse Roberta and not Dr. B I knew it was ok. She told me I had to come in that morning at 11:00 for the embryo transfer - that we were going to be transferring 2 embryos on day 3!!

THAT DAY! It was really happening!!

I was so excited! I emailed the hubs- I can’t call him because he’s a high school teacher. I told him he didn’t need to take the day off because we weren’t 100% sure if it was going to be a 3 day transfer or a 5 day transfer. In hindsight I wish he was there but I wouldn’t tell him that now, I know he feels bad that he wasn’t.

They said that I needed to have a full bladder for the transfer, that they will be able to see the uterus and be able to place the embryos a lot easier that way. Anyone who knows me knows that I constantly have to pee. I drink a lot of water, tea, decaf coffee… there are always at least 2 different beverages on my desk at work (non-alcoholic obvi, lol)

I got to the center and they had me go into the same area where I had the retrieval. I was led into the same changing room where I put on the two hospital gowns (one as a robe) and the super fashionable slipper socks. I went to the small waiting area to wait for the doctor to come and talk to me about how the embryos were doing and the progress of the other ones.

But… there was an emergency with another patient and the doctor had to go and do a scan on another floor. So I had to wait, which is normally no big deal but when you have a full bladder…

It was torture.

One of the nurses asked me if I wanted to relieve my bladder a little bit but I was afraid if I went a little bit I wouldn’t be able to stop and I’d just empty the whole thing. So I said I’d wait.

Thirty minutes later the doctor came. He sat with me and explained that we were going to be transferring 2 embryos. That they were Grade B and a 9 cell and 10 cell. I learned later from my Google search that the optimum cell count for a day 3 transfer are 7-10 calls. Grade B, although not an A, was still very good. They had fertilized all the embryos with ICIS and they had done “assisted hatching” on the two they were going to implant. I was told to be “cautiously optimistic.” (ICIS is when they inject the sperm into the egg instead of just putting the sperm and egg into a petri dish and letting nature take it’s course. Assisted hatching is when they make small cuts in the egg to, well, assist in it implanting into the uterus.)

Here they are… how freakin’ cool is this?

World, meet Magic Bean #1 and Magic Bean #2!!
　

I can’t believe I got this picture. I haven’t stopped staring at them.

Then came the bad news.

None of the other embryos survived. Out of the 13 that were fertilized we only had 2 left- the other 11 started to die the day before. This was when I really wished the hubs was there to hold my hand. The two we had left looked really good but they wanted to do the day 3 transfer versus the day 5 because they didn’t want to take the chance of one, or both, of them dying before the 5^th day. I was so stunned.

This is it. This is our one chance. No extra embryos to freeze to try again.

Of course… I started crying. Ugh me and the water works- I‘d like to blame it on the hormones but let‘s be honest, it‘s not. I just have to be positive that this is going to work. I just have to be positive that these two little magic beans inside me are going to stick - one or both of them. We’re ok with twins… triplets… well we’d have to figure that out if that’s what happened. But for right now we’re focusing on the magic beans inside me at this moment.

So let me back up as to how these little magic beans got into my uterus.

After I talked with the doctor they led me into the same procedure room where I had the retrieval. I was still crying (of course) and the nurses and the doctor were just so sweet. I think it takes a special group of people to work with someone going through IF and I am so happy we are at this center. Anyway, they had me lay on the weird table with the leg holders so I was once again laying there spread eagle with my lady parts on display for the world to see. Except this time I didn’t get some magic stuff to make me sleep. Instead the bed shifted so that my legs were higher than my head- my business was now, literally, in the doctors face. Like I said before, a special group of people.

There is a bumper sticker on the ceiling that says BREATHE and I focused on that. I know that the doctor and nurses were talking to me about how it only takes one embryo and how the two we have look pretty good. But at that point I just needed to focus on breathing, on calming down and praying that we are granted a miracle.

They used the ultrasound on my abdomen as they put the speculum in to open my cervix to allow the catheter to go all the way into my uterus (kind of like an IUI except with an ultrasound and longer and thicker catheter- I believe). The nurse and doctor both said, “wow look at that bladder! You win the prize for having the fullest bladder today!“ I wanted to say, “yeah no kidding I‘m about to pee on this table in a minute.”

Before I knew it, they were done. The doctor showed me an ultrasound photo of the two little magic beans…

　

…see that white line there? That is the fluid that the embryos are in- right there in my uterus. Magic beans growwww!!!

They wheeled me to the recovery area where my head was lower than my feet and I had to lay there for 35 minutes. They said, “how are you feeling?” I said, “incredibly uncomfortable because my bladder is so full.” Then they said the most beautiful words…

“would you like a bedpan?”

Oh my goodness I cannot even tell you the gloriousness of relieving my bladder. It was the best pee of my entire life. Have you ever been on a long car trip when you have to pee really bad and you finally get to your destination and run to the bathroom and it’s like… “ohmygeeee ahhhhhhh”…? Well multiple that by 5 because I went in there with a full bladder, had to wait an extra 40 minutes, then had an ultrasound wand pushing on it. If they do not offer you a bedpan after your transfer and you have to really pee - believe me ladies, do yourself a favor and ask for a bedpan. Do not be shy - they are all medical professionals and I am sure that people are peeing in bedpans around them all the time. Remember you have to lay there for 35 minutes and the time will crawl if you are about to pee your pants.

After the 35 minutes, they let me go to the bathroom (yeah had to pee again after I filled the bedpan) and get dressed. When I was getting ready to leave Nurse Roberta said, “now remember be cautiously optimistic. Those are good looking embryos. I’ll be praying for you.” I whispered, “thank you” because I was tearing up again, and made my way home.

I have been laying in bed ever since. I emailed the hubs from my phone while I was in recovery and told him about the other embryos. He left work early and got home shortly after I did. I’ve read that you don’t have to stay on bed rest, as long as you stay off your feet the day of the transfer then it should be fine. But we’re in a long Memorial Day weekend here and I will lay in this bed 4 days if it will help. I will lay in this bed until my June 4^th test date if I thought it helped - but of course I will be going to work on Tuesday J