Transfer Day -All Aboard!

13 April 2011

Yesterday was the embryo transfer day. I was so exhausted by the time I got home, last night, so I didn't have the energy to blog.

DH and I got up early for the 2 hour drive to the clinic for our 9 am appointment. Because he's not a morning person and I am, our usual routine is for me to drive there while he snoozes in the passenger seat. He drives on the way home while I rest/cry/or otherwise try to process the latest news that each appointment brings. It's an arrangement that seems to work well, and we are practiced at it (yesterday was trip #29 in the past year).

My instructions were to drink 32 oz of water one hour before the appointment. I know from previous pelvic ultrasounds that I tend to fill up really quickly and be overfull, so I purposely only had a few sips of water with my breakfast and drank about 3/4 of the recommended amount 45 minutes before. Still before I even got to the bottom of the water bottle I could feel myself holding my bladder. There's nothing like steering the car though a mountain pass while gulping back water while already having to pee. Once we hit Victoria we crept along for the next 40 minutes in the stop and start traffic that rush hour brings. When we finally arrived at the clinic, I was so uncomfortable I couldn't even sit down.

The embryologist came out to give us the update about our embryos. I had a momentary panic that she was going to inform us that they both had arrested overnight, but she was smiling and told us that the little pair were still growing strong and now had 8 cells each, which is exactly what they should have on day 3.

I wanted to ask her more, but it was all I could do to concentrate on avoiding peeing my pants. My nurse could tell I was uncomfortably full, so she tried to page my RE to see if he could check my bladder, but he was tied up with another patient, so she did the u/s herself. Almost as soon as the paddle touched my tummy, she pulled it away and said "good God woman, your bladder is so full, I can't even see your uterus!" She gave me a large cup to fill in the washroom. Phew, a little relief. Then my RE came in to check me again, and thanked me for coming with a full bladder, and told me he sometimes has people empty out a measured amount because they are too full. My nurse and I exchanged winks as he handed me another large cup to fill to the brim!

At last, they could see my uterus on the u/s, and I was no longer feeling like I was going to pee all over the table. I heard the embryologist announce "here comes your babies". My husband poked me and excitedly said "look at the screen!". I have been so conditioned to look at the u/s monitor that I stared at it looking for what could possibly be so exciting. Then he pointed to another TV screen on the wall and said "look there!". There were two cute little balls of cells. "Oh wow!" I told everyone that the top one looked just like DH and the bottom one just like me. They giggled and then got down to business.

I was scared I was going to twitch and throw everything off, but the transfer itself went really smoothly. They explained everything as they went along, and nothing was even remotely uncomfortable. That was it? Wow, these IVF procedures are a breeze compared to some of the other things I've endured. It felt like I was being rewarded at last with some good news and easy procedures. They went over all the rules for the next little while as I rested and had some acupuncture.

I think my RE was grinning the whole time (so were we). As happy as he was about the egg quality and the embryos, he was almost more pleased with how my lining has responded post D&C. Perfect thickness and triple stripe pattern. Several of the staff commented on how hard we've worked to get to this stage. They aren't kidding about that.

Now for rest and relaxation until my April 23rd beta. I'm off work because of the physical demands of my job, so I'll be staying busy with other things at home and incubating this little pair as best I can.

I'm still in a state of disbelief that things have gone so well and we've made it this far. We've been so incredibly lucky to have defied the odds. My starting antral follicle count was only 4, 3 of those follicles responded to meds, 3 eggs were retrieved, 2 were mature and fertilized, and we ended up with 2 healthy embryos to transfer. Of course I'm hoping for the ultimate success of a healthy baby(ies) to take home, but if this cycle ends in a BFN, at least we know we can try IVF again.

For now, I'm so grateful to be PUPO.