Welcome home!

Today was our embryo transfer. We were told to arrive at 10:30am and the transfer didn't happen until 2pm, so that was pretty annoying! The day would definitely have been more pleasant if we arrived later, had lunch first, brought some entertainment with us, and if I didn't start chugging water until right before the transfer! In the end, the transfer went super smoothly, though, and that's what is most important!

Of our 8 embryos, 1 was blatantly abnormal (the outer shell was missing entirely) so it will be discarded, and the other 7 were continuing to grow and do their thing. We transferred 2 embryos, an 8-cell grade AB and a 10-cell grade B. The remaining 5 which will be frozen were grade B with respect to degree of fragmentation (it is possible that 1 of them was actually grade C or BC). We weren't sure if we were going to transfer 1 or 2, but my gut was to go with 2 and Y felt it was ultimately up to me, so that's what we ended up doing.

It was really one of the most amazing experiences of my life to see those 2 embryos on the screen and watch them get sucked up by the glass straw and then to watch by ultrasound the little flicker as they went inside my uterus...pretty incredible. I really hope and pray to be blessed enough to meet one or both of those little guys again this coming winter. Y made a video on my iPhone of the embryos on the screen, but I don't think that the quality is so good.

The real kicker is this: my former boss performed the transfer! Before grad school, I worked in a stem cell research lab for a couple of years as a research technician. The head of the lab was a MD/PhD whose training was as a RE. Anyhow, he does 1 day a week in IVF and today was his day! He was really friendly and professional about it and he offered to get someone else if I was uncomfortable. We were already in the OR, though, and by acknowledging the situation, it actually made me feel okay with him doing it. In truth, I really only run into him once a year or so, and I trust him very much, so I figured I'd just go with it. Obviously, if he was someone I was still working with currently, it would be totally different. Still, crazy, right?

They brought me on a gurney to the ob/gyn ward afterwards to lie totally still for an hour, which seemed like total overkill to me. Once that hour was over, I was just so ridiculously happy to get up and PEE. Finally, we got out of there a little before 3:30. I am still feeling pretty crummy but I am beginning to walk like a normal person now, thank goodness, so I think I am on the mend. Now I am just thinking happy thoughts for my 2 embryos and hoping and praying for the best.

I am excited to have gotten this far - when my E2 wasn't rising and with the stress of not responding as well as they had hoped transfer seemed so far-off and built upon so many what-ifs. Now I just feel relieved and filled with gratitude to have just made it to this point. Seeing those 2 beautiful embryos inspired me and now I am doing my best to put my faith in them and in my body (though true to my usual form, I am still planning ahead for The Worst Case Scenario).