Transfer Day 1/21/14 (Delayed Post)

I apologize if you have been patiently waiting for a more detailed post about our transfer.  I have just been relaxing and not doing much since we got home from Knoxville.

The night before the transfer Babe and I went to the Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner.  We splurged a little and I had a yummy steak and a glass of red wine.  An embryo adoption mama had suggested the red wine as it is supposed to help with the transfer.  After dinner, I was able to meet up with another embryo adoption mama for dessert at a cute little cupcake store.  Both and her and I had the same transfer day.  It was so much fun finally meeting up with another EA mama, catching up, sharing stories and for our husbands to meet another EA dad (to-be).  We wished we had more time to keep chatting and hoped that we would see each other at NEDC for our transfers.

This transfer was a lot like the one in November except we were and hour later this time.  Our transfer was at 12:45 pm, so I started drinking water a little earlier than last time where my bladder was not full enough and a catheter was used to fill my bladder.  Not fun.  At 11:45 am I took my medication for my transfer: a Va.lium, 2 Albu.terol tablets, and 3 ibuprofens.

We arrived at NEDC at 12:15 pm and were excited to see that the EA mama that we met up with last night was in recovery.  Her bed was right next to mine!  Of course we started chatting again which was nice as it make the time go by fast and I was more relaxed.  I undressed below the waist and put on a gown and a cap.  I had worn my snowflake earrings which I made a while back, the snowflake chain and pendant and a pair of Christmas snowflake socks.  Babe looked and me and said, hey.... two earrings and a pendant... maybe we will have three this time!  I said, don't say that, I'm not sure if I can handle triplets!  Plus look at my feet.....I have a whole bunch of snowflakes on my socks.  How many does that make??  We had a laugh about it.  

Snowflake earrings that I made

Snowflake pendant and necklace that Babe gave me for Christmas

My Christmas snowflake socks

Carol the embryologist came over and told us that they thawed 3 embryos from our donor family.  All three survived.  

• The first (A) was of "great" quality, graded at 3AA.  
• The second (B) was "good", graded at 2AB.
• The third (C) did not thaw so well, graded at 2BC.  She did not think this little guy was going to make it.  She did mention that some part of it (I can't remember what) was already starting to disintegrate.

From my prior research, here is what the grading means at a high level.  Embryos are assigned 3 separate quality scores - a number and two letters.

1. The blastocyst development stage - expansion and hatching status; with a rating from 1 - 6.  Excellent embryos can be anywhere from 2 - 6, with a fully expanded embryo being a 5, and a hatched embryo being a 6.
2. The inner cell mass (ICM) score or quality; with a rating of A-C.  This is what becomes the baby.
3. The Trophectoderm (TE) score or quality; with a rating of A-C.  This is what becomes the placenta.

To read more about what exactly this means, you can read more about it at this website.

Embryo A graded at 3AA, Embryo B graded at B2AB, and Embryo C graded at 2BC

So we transferred three embryos - one "great" (A), one "good" (B) and one that will probably not make it (C).  To be honest, I was a little disappointed at the quality of the embryos.  At our last transfer, we transferred two "excellent" embryos - 4AA and 6AA.  It's hard not to get disappointed when I had such excellent embryos last time but it didn't work.  I can't help but wonder, since these are not as good, will THIS work?

It was then time for me to head over to the procedure room.  When I was being prepped, Katie the nurse noticed my snowflake earrings and complimented me on them.  Of course I had to show off my pendant and my socks too.  It was funny because the the other nurse and Dr. Keenan wanted to see them as well!

Dr. Keenan asked if I thought my bladder was full enough and I responded, I hope so.  I had been drinking water for a while but it was not uncomfortably full.  When Katie put the ultrasound wand on my belly, Dr. Keenan said well done!  It was full!  There were cheers going around which I thought was pretty funny.  It was a relief for me because it was not a fun experience having your bladder pumped full with fluid.  I was able to see the ultrasound image on a large screen TV.  The dark blob on the top of the screen was my bladder.  The middle part below the bladder where the "+" sign was my uterus, and to the left of it was the cervix.

He inserted a catheter in through my cervix and into my uterus.  He told me to watch for the white line (the catheter) snaking in from the left and pointed out that was the catheter.  It was only a test transfer with no embryos in it.  When we were all ready, Carol passed the embryos in a catheter to Dr. Keenan through a window in the wall.  I was asked my name, birthdate and how many embryos were to be transferred.  Dr. Keenan inserted the catheter with the embryos into my uterus and told me to watch for the white flash of light as that's when the embryos would be transferred.

There was the flash of white light!  There babies were in!  I'm PUPO!  The catheter was removed and Carol checked to make sure no embryos were left behind in the catheter.  We were done!  You can see three little white spots under the "+" sign where the embryos were place.  They look like little grains of rice!  I hope these little guys had a chance snuggle in nicely.

3 embryos (white spots) transferred into my uterus, right below the "+" sign on the screen.

I rested in the room for a bit before being wheeled back to the recovery room where Babe was waiting for me.  I was a little bummed because the other EA mama had already left.  There was a new couple on the other side of my bed now.  The foot of my bed was raised, and I had to rest for 30 minutes before I could go pee.  Fortunately my was not extremely full, or else I would have had to go in a bed pan!  After the required wait time, I was able to get up and use the bathroom and change back to my regular clothes.  A different nurse, Sandy gave us our instructions for after EA transfer and spent a few minutes going over how to do PIO shots.  I think that was very nice and helpful, though when she was demonstrating how to do it, she kept hitting me in my sore spot!

When we left the clinic, it had started snowing.  Beautiful snowflakes were falling from the sky.  Coming from MN, it's not a big deal, but snowing in TN, that's something special.  I hope that is a good sign for us!

We went out for a quick lunch on our way back to the hotel.   When we got back, I tried really hard to respond to some texts and email, but the Va.lium was kicking my butt.  I actually nodded off in the middle of texting.  I gave up and took at FIVE hour nap.  I was that tired.  We had Italian food for dinner and stayed up watching movies.  The next morning, we headed to the airport for home.

My first beta test is next Thursday, 1/30.  It's less than a week a way, but I'm hoping that I will be able to keep myself busy and not obsess over every symptom, or lack of.

Prayers appreciated!