On Sunday, the day after retrieval, we were told we would get a call from the lab telling us how well the little eggs and swimmers were doing. I could barely sleep on Saturday night because I was scared to receive bad news. What if none of them matured?? I was going to be devasted. We got good news. The call came at about 8 am, and the embryologist said of the 7 eggs:
- 5 matured
- Only 2 progressed and were viable.
ONLY 2!! I know that is really great news, but also means that there wouldn't be any eggs to freeze for another try if we could ever afford to do this again down the road. I know I sound kind of negative, but this was a free IVF cycle for us. It is an incredible and best prize we could ever have, and we had mentally prepared ourselves before we won the prize that we wouldn't be able to afford to have biological children. Since IVF is not supported by health insurance in Minnesota, and it is incredibly costly. Friends of ours spent $80,000 on IVF cycles. Crazy!! and leaves me speechless. So please if I have any negativity coming through on this blog it's because it was and is a very scary process for me, but I'm always very thankful to be going through it.
So now we waited until Tuesday, May 26th for the transfer. A comforting feeling during the wait was that we had 2 fertilized emryos (our babies) hanging out in a petri dish waiting for me. So emotional!! Can you believe technology??
In the meantime, I had to start taking Progesterone shots on Sunday night. Progesterone is within oil and injected in the butt :) Time for the butt shots!! Bring on the big needles. Now these needles are at about 2 inches long, or somewhat (you get the picture - they are long). My sister gets faint when she looks at them :) Plus I've already filled up a needle disposal so now we've moved onto the Tide bottle. Lots of needles.
Now this first night with shots was kind of crazy. Chris was prepping the needle, but this was more difficult than the other shots. The oil is harder to pull back into the needle. So if it's hard to get into the needle, just think about how hard it is to inject into the butt muscle....just to prepare you. For these shots, they are injected in my butt about 4 inches from the top of my butt crack. So the upper butt area. Here it goes...we were as ready as we would ever be. Kinda laughing to calm ourselves down. So in the needle went - awesome step 1 done - and now Chris had to pull back and check for blood before injecting - awesome step 2 done - and now time to inject. This was painful because it was so hard to inject and Chris has to push so hard. But he did very well. Step 3 done :) Time to remove the needle. Step 4 done!! But not done yet :)....All of a sudden I started spurting blood and Chris was catching it and trying to give it back to me. It was kind of humorous, but I was getting weezy. I looked back and all I saw was blood. Oh boy...they didn't warn us about this during injection training :)
Chris right away called the emergency line. The doctor on call said he probably went through a vein on entry and when he removed the needle let the blood pour out. So we were good...
I'll chat more about these shots...more posts to come :)
Okay, now on to the good stuff = Transfer.
This was a crazy day! I was kind of ridiculous and decided to work at home on Monday night, and went to work Tuesday morning for a breif hour to try and get some stuff done before I was to be on bed rest. What a mistake!!! I had no idea how stressful that was going to be! I left there shaking and mad at myself for even trying to do a favor that backfired in my face. Now my nerves were extremely high and I was terrified for the transfer. I wanted everything to work perfectly. Well I got out of the office late and was rushing home. Chris calmed me down and I was better. I made it home just in time to take my valium and head to the hospital . This was my first time taking valium :) It definitely helped me relax. I got to the hospital and I was feeling very relaxed, but it wore off way too quickly. It was completely gone before the Transfer actually took place, but the doctor was running behind by about 20 minutes. At least I was calmer than I was earlier.
1:00 pm
Chris and I met the embryologists and our embryos!! This was so awesome. The lab was small but such a great experience. Chris and I were able to look at our embryos under the microscope. Just amazing amazing amazing!! I can't say that enough.
Next, we got ready for the transfer. The lab is connected to the room the transfer takes place. So I got ready in the "chair". Remember the chair?? :) The nurses and doctors entered the room and went through the procedure. Please keep in mind that I have a full bladder during this!!
- First, the doctor inserts the speculum. (Never comfortable - especially with a full bladder)
- Next, the nurse has an ultrasound right over my bladder and uterus applying a lot of pressure so the doctor can insert the catheter.
- The doctor has to try various catheters to see which works best with my uterus and length of my uterus. (I still have a full bladder and the nurse is now pushing harder)
- Chris looked at my face and could tell I was uncomfortable, but I said I was fine fine fine. (I really wanted to tell him to focus on the screen!!)
- When the doctor was ready, he notified the lab and the sliding door opened. Now my legs are wide open to the lab just saying hello :) Kinda funny moment...
- The embryologist gave the doctor the petri dish (our babies :) ) and inserted them through the catheter and into my uterus. Chris was able to see them go into my uterus on the ultrasound. That was really cool!
- Next the embryologist had to examine the catheter to make sure the embryos didn't stick to it. We were good to go he said and the sliding door closed.
The transfer was accomplished and I didn't pee! I thought I might have because there was some liquid dripping...I'll stop there. Everyone left the room, and we had to chill out in the room for about 15 minutes thinking sticky thoughts. Then, we were ready to go home. Now, it was time for bed rest for a couple days. Voila!! Isn't that a crazy process :)
Time to wait!! Thinking sticky thoughts :)
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