The Transfer

So the "transfer" occurred last week, on Thursday May 24th.  We arrived at Shady Grove Fertility in Rockville at 1:47 p.m. for a 2:15 p.m. appointment.  As we were sitting in the waiting room, I was sitting there thinking about how this was all too familiar.  We had been in the same waiting room several times before.....and had left that waiting room feeling hopeful every single time.  Yet, we were back here once again.  I tried not to think about it too much because I didn't want to get all worked up right before the transfer.  I was able to calm myself down, and somehow, I think my husband knew I was getting nervous.  Right when I was on the verge of tears from reflecting on the past, he put his arm around me, and held me a little tighter then he normally does.  That arm was magical!  I felt relaxed again, and wasn't as stressed.

Right about 2:00, the nurse called us back into another area.  This area was behind closed doors.....another place we had been twice before.  In this area, we show our photo I.D.'s and put blue booties on our feet.  I took my shoes off and put the booties on, Troy put them on over his shoes.  Then about 3 minutes later, they called us back into the "transfer" room.  They took my blood pressure, and asked a few questions.  The nurse then left the room and said the doctor would be in shortly.  The doctor came in about 5 minutes after the nurse left.  She went over a few things with us.  She explained to us that they thawed two embryos.  Both embryos survived the thaw so no additional embryos needed to be thawed.  One of the embryos had 100% of its cells survive, the other had 90% of its cells survive.  You can't get any better than 100%!  The doctor then told us that she had one more transfer ahead of us, and that she would be back in about 5 minutes to do our transfer.

About 7 minutes later, the doctor returned.  I "assumed the position", and using ultrasound guidance the doctor inserted the speculum and catheter.  She then called in the embryologist as we were now ready for the transfer.  The embryologist entered the room with a tube which contained our possible babies.  He made the transfer through the catheter that had been inserted through my cervix.  The embryologist then left the room to check the tube under the microscope to make sure the embryos both made it into my uterus.  It was a no go.  We had one that decided to hang back....so we did the entire procedure again....inserted the speculum and catheter again (fun). The embryologist redid his thing....and this time all was clear.  After the transfer, I had to lay there for about 5 minutes before I could go home.  Five minutes went by and I got dressed, put my shoes back on, used the restroom (I had to pee like nobodies business because I had to drink about 32 ounces of water before the procedure), then we went to the elevator, took it to the first floor, and headed to the car to go home.

Once we got home, I had to be on bed rest for 24 hours with light activity for the next 2-3 days.  The 24 hour period wasn't too bad.  I did get a little ancy though as I wanted to get out of the bed!  I managed to stay in bed though for the 24 hour duration (except to use the bathroom).  During these 24 hours, my hubby took really good care of me.  He checked on me to make sure I was ok.  He brought me stuff to drink without me even having to ask.  He even went to 7-11 at 11 at night to get me my favorite ice cream...Breyers Oreo Overload!!  I couldn't ask for a better husband!

Five days have gone by since the transfer.  I think I have taken it pretty easy for the most part.  I did some swimming on Saturday and Sunday with my step-kids (yes, swimming was allowed).  We also took them to Rehoboth Beach on Monday (Memorial Day).  Overall, it was a pretty relaxing weekend.  And other than being extremely sensitive both emotionally and physically from the del estrogen and progesterone injections, being bloated enough to look like I'm about 4 months pregnant, and having some serious cramping, sometimes sharp stabbing cramping......I'm doing just great!  I'm not even really craving diet coke!!  :)