Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Fertilization Report, Day 5 and Transfer!

It was a long night, I can tell you that. I must have woken up about ten times waiting for that sun to rise. E came into my room at about 6:15am, but at that point I was glad for the distraction. We took a shower together and ate some breakfast while I waited on pins and needles for the lab to call. At 7:01am, the embryologist called. My hands were shaking so much I could barely hold the phone. The report: FOUR embryos made it to day 5! Our transfer was booked! I was a little disconcerted by the low number, but she said that all 12 were still growing, but since four had gotten to blast stage, they were going to transfer two and culture the others until day 6 to see how many could be frozen. So, I spent the next ten minutes making all my phone calls: called R with an update, called work to fake sick and the Nanny to bring E to school. I quickly made E’s lunch, packed him up for school and drove him over to the Nanny’s house so she could bring him to school. Then I headed to the RE’s office to get pregnant.

I didn’t have to sit in the waiting room long before the IVF nurse came to fetch me. I changed into my waist-sheet and sat in the recovery area, joking with the nurses and waiting for the RE to finish another transfer before me. Finally, when it was my turn, the nurse came out to get me and we walked into the transfer room. The RE was already there, in scrubs and all. I hopped up onto the table and the nurse checked my bladder to see that it was nice and full. Then the RE and I went over the embryo report. Out of the 19 retrieved, 12 had made it to fertilization and four had made it to blast stage. He showed me pictures of the two that they had chosen for transfer and I couldn’t help but ooh-and-ahh just a little bit. There were my babies-to-be, after all! I have to say, they were two good-looking embryos. The other 10 embryos were still hanging on, with two additional ones getting to the blast stage and the other eight growing, but slowly. The RE said that they were going to culture them one day longer to see how many would be viable for freezing.

So, for one last time the RE tried to talk me out of transferring two back, but I told him that because we were still in that ‘unexplained infertility’ trap, I couldn’t give up on transferring two and he said that was fine. Normally if he agrees with you, he’ll say “I couldn’t agree more”, but this time he just said “alright then” and reminded me that I will have a 25% chance of having multiples. I told him I completely understood and we were willing to accept that chance. With that, the transfer began.

Now, it sounds a whole hell of a lot harder than it is, but an embryo transfer is just like an IUI and since we know I’m a pro at those, this was a breeze. The nurse put that damn freezing-cold ultrasound wand on my belly while the RE inserted the catheter to make sure it was getting into my cervix without a problem. Once he saw it was where it needed to be on the ultrasound, he told the embryologist to get the embryos. She left the room and went to the lab to fetch my babies-to-be. She came back with a small Petri dish lid and a catheter with the two embryos inside and then verified that my name and date of birth were correct. The RE attached that catheter to the one already in my cervix and then told me to watch the ultrasound screen. He told me to watch the two little white dots, and amazingly enough, I saw those two dots going right into my uterus. Those dots were my future babies and I actually got to see them go back where they belong. It was pretty wild.

So, that’s it. I’m officially semi-pregnant. Now we just have to wait another week or so until I can take a home test to see if these babies stick around. And I honestly believe they will. Think about it: if these two little embryos can survive in less than ideal conditions, like the incubation room at the lab, then I believe with all my heart that they’ll be strong enough to hang on and implant where they need to be. These kids are fighters, just like E was. I just have to keep my hopes alive. These babies will make it.

2 comments:

Jeannie said...

WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad everything went so well, H! That's so awesome, wonderful, great!!

I can't help but oh-and-ah: you have two little babies in your belly! Ohh! Ahhh!

I'm totally with you -- these babies are already fighters and survivors! They are going to do GREAT! Woohoo!!

BTW: I kept checking to see if you had updated yesterday, but for some reason I couldn't see your post from Tuesday until this morning. (Thus my messages/comments on your post from Monday.) I was on pins and needles for you yesterday. I'm so glad that it went so well!!

Awesome job, Mommy! :)

hms said...

Sorry about the time delay… I had started the post yesterday but didn’t get a chance to finish it until this morning, hence the reason it has yesterday’s date but was posted today. Sorry to keep you in such suspense!

Thanks for all the cheers and good wishes! The babies-to-be and I need ALL of them!