IVF CD18: Babies Onboard!- The Embryo Transfer story

DISCLAIMER:  This post was written on the day of transfer, 16 Oct 2016.  I fell asleep before posting.  So I am posting today on 17 Oct 2016.  Thanks!

-K
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Hello everyone!

Today was our embryo transfer day! Oh my, what a day it has been lol.  I have to tell you that I may have the new record for funniest patient in our clinic’s roster.  I’ll get to that shortly.

This morning, I woke up and lay beside S. just enjoying the quiet time with him.  He was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to join me because someone would need to be with our children and make sure the family made it to church on time.  (For those new to the blog, we have a 10 yo from a previous relationship (mine-ours) and a beautiful 2 yo through adoption).  None of our family are aware we are undergoing fertility treatment, so we couldn’t ask any of them to watch the kids without a lengthy Q&A because it is extremely rare for us to miss church.  Since lying is out of the question, it just made more sense for him to stay with the kids.  We discussed and how many embryos we would like to transfer (we weren’t even sure how many were in place at this point), and before you knew it was time to go.

I started drinking my 24-26 ounces in the car as directed and was more than ready by the time I pulled into the clinic parking lot.  Unfortunately, they were not lol.  I suddenly became aware that my sitting down was adding more pressure to my bladder and my walking around the lobby to prevent myself from going to the potty was not helping.  I finally went to the lobby and BEGGED if I could void just a bit because I didn’t think I could sit for the estimated 30 minutes it would take from then to exit of the clinic.  The receptionist was kind enough to direct me to the bathroom with the instructions to count to five and then stop.  (I’d been through something similar in my past so I knew I could stop mid-stream).

Gotta go!!!

I did that and it didn’t help at all lol.  But I managed to go into the back room when called and strip waist down and cover my nether regions with a sheet–for about five minutes.  Suddenly, I had to go SO bad that I was literally in pain.I got up and walked around the tiny treatment room talking aloud to myself that I didn’t have to go and it was all in my brain.  (If someone were watching on a camera, they’d have thought I’d suddenly lost it.)  After five more minutes I couldn’t take it anymore and I opened the door, peaked in the hall, and announced to the nurse that I needed to drain something or we would have a cleanup on aisle 4.  They laughed and told me not to empty completely, just take a little off the top.  This repeated itself twice.

Finally, the doctor came in the treatment room with the sonographer and went over the day’s plan.  In our previous post, I mentioned that we had 12 eggs retrieved, 9 were were mature, and 4 fertilized. We knew that they were still dividing on day two but had no update since then.  Well, our RE now informed me that one didn’t want to play and completely stopped.  One had reached blastocyst stage and was beautiful.  The last two were dividing albeit at a bit slower pace.  So, there were three in the game.

After much thought and discussion, I stuck to the discussion S. and I had this morning.  We decided to transfer two.  It just made sense when we remembered the low sperm count, the IUI failure, the success of only 33% of the eggs retrieved, and  so much more.  So, our RE gave us the risks and pros and cons, and then I signed the paperwork for two embryos (embabies) to be transferred!

Dr. G. (our RE) prepped me for transfer and confirmed that my bladder was the perfect amount of full for them to have a clear picture of my uterus.  While she was doing this our embryologist left to assist the second embryo in hatching and to collect both embryos in a transfer catheter.  The cool part about all of this is I’m watching the selection and capture on the screen above my sonographer’s head.  I saw my name come up along with my patient ID number and then my beautiful embabies!

My beautiful babies

The catheter was then inserted in me and my babies deposited snug in my uterus with a gentle puff of air.  Snug as a bug!  The catheter was then removed and checked to make sure it was empty. Dr. G wished me good luck and congratulations, asked me lie down for five minutes, await discharge instructions from the nurse, and wished me a great day.  The embryologist came in with the above photo of our babies!!!  Yay!!! Two babies on board!  Stick, babies, stick!

The nurse came relatively quickly and gave me a bunch on post instructions.  No heavy lifting (>25 pounds), no high impact aerobics, low impact aerobics may only include walking.  No intercourse or orgasms for five days.  Nothing too stringent.  After she left, I practically ran to the bathroom to relieve my bladder (which hated me by the way), came back and collected my things and departed with two embryos comfortably riding.

When in the parking lot to go home, it hit me that for all intents and purposes, I am pregnant and carrying two little babies inside me.  I had myself a good cry and a good prayer time in the car.  No matter what happens, I thank and praise God for His provision.  We’ve come a long way in this journey.  We never would have made it this far without Him.

So, that’s my transfer story.  I’ll be waiting for a call to see if our remaining baby has made it to freezable.  And I’ll be checking in during our TWW to keep you updated!  Have a great day!

-K

IVF CD18 Medications

• Estradol  –   2 pills taken orally (1 AM/1 PM)
• Endometrin- 1 vaginal insert 3 times a day

IVF CD18 Symptoms