I arrived 15 minutes before my scheduled appointment at 12:45. At 1:10, my bladder felt like it was about to burst so I checked with the desk attendant and asked how much longer. She said they would be calling me back in a few minutes.
FINALLY Dr. Winslow called us back. He took both of us to his office and told us that he thawed 1 embryo which survived and even grew from a 4ab to a 5ab which means it started to hatch!!!! I'm so proud of our little trooper frosty :) He referred to it as perfect several times before also reminding us of the 1 remaining embryo on ice. He then walked us both back out to the waiting room where we parted ways. Barry stayed put, and I was greeted by my favorite nurse to the other side of the 9th floor where the procedure rooms and embryology labs are located. Once there, I was instructed to undress and put on the gown with the opening to the back, the purple hospital, grippy socks, and the pretty blue hair net. It was a lot like the retrieval protocol.
When I finished, she guided me into the transfer room, which was much bigger and not as scary as the retrieval room. I laid back on the bed and she performed an ultrasound which showed my uncomfortably full bladder. She said it was too full though and had me partially empty it for 9 seconds. Then I laid back on the table, she reexamined it and said it looked great. We talked babies and IVF for another 10 minutes before Dr. Winslow finally made his appearance. Once he arrived, she briskly put the ultrasound monitor to my belly to show him my bladder.
Dr.: "Oh honey!! Go partially empty that thing again!! That looks painful! To my surprise, it was giant again! So I hopped down off the table and ran back to the bathroom again. I was so scared of emptying too much that I barely let any out and made my way back to the bed. Luckily, after the third peak at my bladder, they said it would work however, you can tell in my picture it's still huge! haha!!
I've included two photos of the transfer. One clean, and one with some explanation.
The transfer, although a little uncomfortable, wasn't all that painful. It was more awkward than anything else since I was laying there totally bare ass and opened for the world to see with all kinds of shit going in and coming out from between my legs. After putting the catheter in, they turned the screen to me so that I could see what they were seeing. After Dr Winslow situated the catheter's depth by hand via ultrasound guidance, and my sweet nurse situating it even further by pressing down on my belly, they had it exactly where they wanted it and called the embryologist in. A few moments later, I saw the fluid containing my embryo enter my uterus. On the screen it looked like a white shooting star against a night sky. It was the most amazing thing to witness, emotion to feel, and event to experience. The whole thing was just surreal. And alas, I was am pregnant until proven otherwise.
Afterwards the Doctor hugged me and told me he hopes this works for us and the nurse went over the instructions for the next few days for me to follow before sending me out to the waiting room to meet back up with Barry.
I was so excited to show him the photos of our little baby!
I will never forget those few seconds together, standing there outside of the office, in front of the elevators, both of us gleaming down at the freshly printed pictures. That moment we shared together will always be dear to my heart. As will the catching of a very rare glimpse of Barry wiping his eyes when we boarded the elevator.
After the transfer, we went home, watched Game of Thrones and then went and walked around the mall a bit. Dr. Winslow said that new studies show its actually better to be a little active after the transfer because it promotes blood flow to the uterus and good circulation within it. On the way home we stopped at Chipotle for dinner which I was promised by Barry we would do weeks ago when we ate there.
And I couldn't tell you why, but that night, I slept deeper and more peacefully than I have in a long time.
Oh and this is a progress picture of our embryo.
note: this is not a picture of our embryo but this photo does accurately describe what ours looks like based on it's grade and age.)
4ab
5ab
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