Transfer

I can't believe this cycle is almost over. It's gone so smoothly and has been so much easier than I remember it being the first time. During Sawyer's cycle I remember thinking that if it didn't work, I wasn't sure I could do it again. This time I feel like I could - although obviously we hope we don't need to.

Wednesday was transfer day, 1:15 pm. We didn't get put on the schedule until Tuesday afternoon, so this caused some scrambling as Eric dealt with his work schedule and I tried to find someone to get Sawyer off of the bus (again.) After not having any luck and considering me just going by myself, it dawned on us that since I could drive (no anesthesia this time) we could drive there separately and Eric could leave early if he needed to. Wednesday we spent a nice quiet morning all at home together, then put Sawyer on the bus and headed to Rockville for hopefully the last time in a long time. I stopped to grab some lunch on the way and to get something to drink since I forgot the bottle of Gatorade I had planned to bring. For embryo transfer they use an abdominal ultrasound, so you need to have a moderately full bladder when you arrive. Chick-fil-A and a big lemonade to the rescue!

We arrived at the Rockville center right on time (which I'm pretty sure is a first) and checked in. After just a few minutes in the waiting room a nurse called us back and showed up to the transfer room where we waited for the doctor. And waited. And waited. I don't know why the take you out of the waiting room if you still have a lot of waiting to do, but it was OK. After about half an hour we finally met Dr. Widra. After shaking our hands he told me "You've caused quite a stir around here!" because of my awesome ovaries. Not the number one thing I'd choose to be famous for, but I'll take it. Next we went over our consents for transfer. I had already spoken to Dr. K on the phone that morning and let him know that we had decided to transfer two embryos, even though he was recommending an e-SET.  Dr. W didn't give us too much pushback (and actually neither did Dr. K) which I appreciated. We signed the forms and checked the box for cryopreservation of any embryos we have left over, which hopefully will be several. An embryologist also came in and had us sign some stuff and checked once again that my ID bracelet matched the embryos. After everything was signed and checked they left us alone once again so I could undress and get set up on the procedure bed.

After another wait, Dr W came back with a nurse and we got started. The procedure is pretty simple and not painful at all, although I would say it's somewhat uncomfortable because of the needing-to-pee factor. First the doctor put in a speculum, just like for a pap smear. He cleaned the cervical area, and then the nurse used the ultrasound to visualize the uterus while he inserted a small catheter through the cervix (the nurse commented on how great my ovaries looked - they are already back to almost normal size, which is crazy considering how many eggs I had retrieved just a few days before. Yay, my ovaries! And yay Lupron trigger!) Dr. W told the embryologist we were ready for the embryos, which were in a lab right next door to the procedure room. While she went to get them a live picture of them appeared on a flat-screen TV on the wall, so that we could verify that the name and social security number on their petri dish were correct. Here's the picture. I think they're cute.

A few minutes later she came back in with our embryos loaded into another soft catheter. She said "two for Watts" and the Dr. repeated "two for Watts" - to confirm once again that they were the correct embryos and that we knew how many were going in. The Dr. threaded the catheter holding the embryos through the one that was already in me, and when it was at the top of the uterus he told the embryologist to empty the catheter. After she did, they waited a minute before removing the soft catheter (the nurse timed it exactly) and kept everything else in while she went back to the lab to look at the catheter under a microscope to make sure that both embryos had been transferred. Which is a step I fully support, because it turned out that one of them hadn't been! It was still inside the catheter. So we got to do the transfer all over again, this time with the instructions "one for Watts." Dr. W answered "one for Watts, which is almost certainly female." He assured us that this happens a lot, and that it doesn't hurt our chances of success at all. A minute later, the embryologist took the catheter back and confirmed that this time nothing was left inside. Transfer was done!

At this point Eric had to leave in order to get home in time for Sawyer, so it worked out perfectly. They had me stay lying down on the bed for 5 minutes, but that turned into 15 because the discharge nurse was running behind. It was fine because unlike with our FET, I didn't have to go to the bathroom that badly. When the nurse came in she went over my instructions for the next few days: 24 hours of bed rest, getting up only to go to the bathroom or get a snack, followed by 3 days of "light activity" which they define as no strenuous exercise, no lifting heavy things, no sex, and just generally taking it easy as much as possible. She asked me how many eggs I had retrieved and when I said "65" she stared at me blankly and I could tell she was thinking "This girl has no idea what she's talking about." I said "I know, it's a lot" and she said "Wait a minute, I heard about you! I can't believe you're not in severe pain!" I told her I felt better this time than I did when we retrieved 20 eggs, which is totally crazy but true (I chalk it up to the HCG trigger I had the first time.) She warned me that if I do get pregnant it's likely that the OHSS will return, which I hope doesn't happen (it didn't with Sawyer.) We went over my medications and realized I wasn't supposed to be taking both endometrin and PIO (one of the other nurses post=ER had told me I was) so she put in a call to Dr. K to make sure, and sure enough I'm only supposed to be on PIO.

Finally I was able to get dressed, go use the bathroom and check out. I crashed on the couch as soon as I got home because I hadn't slept much the night before out of nervousness. It feels so good to be done! And I have to admit I enjoyed the bed rest - although 24 hours was plenty, I was getting kind of bored at the end. We should hear back soon about our remaining embryos and how many get vitrified. My beta test is October 4. And now all we can do is wait!