My Rum Luck: It's Transfer Day!!!

Friday, November 21, 2014

Transfer Day!!! We can't believe it's finally here. All the waiting, the ups and downs, the excitement, the disappointment, the hoping, our big day is finally HERE. Our biggest fear right now was that our embryos would not survive the thaw and we would be left with nothing. I am constantly preparing myself for the worst. Luckily we've had all of our amazing families and friends thinking about us and praying for us, especially today.

Our appointment got pushed back to 11:45, so we made the drive to Orlando this morning and showed up with a full bladder at 11:20. They called us back a few minutes before noon and had me immediately change into my hospital gown, footies, and hair thing again. Then there was more waiting. Then Dr. Patel poked her head in, talk about a sight for sore eyes! We haven't seen her in months. We were so happy she was the doctor doing the embryo transfers today.

Then, Dr. Patel gave us a picture of our little blasties! They were so cute! All this time we've spent thinking about them and talking about them, and there they were. Just hanging out together, waiting for the next stage in their tiny little 5-day-old lives. And not only did they both survive, but they had both begun to hatch! It is necessary for them to "hatch" out of their little membranes so that they are able to attach to the uterine wall. Of course we immediately took a picture of the picture and sent it to our families. We couldn't stop staring at them (and joking about which one was Mark Eddie) as we waited to get going.

After talking about some of the details of today's procedure with the nurses, I was instructed to take my Valium (to relax the uterus) right before we were about to go in. I'll tell you what, some people must really be lightweights, because I could probably take about 4 Valium before feeling anything. I never feel any different after one. But the nurses were very concerned that I didn't get up too quickly because apparently it hits some of their patients "right away." I was like, ok and politely followed their requests like the good little patient I am. Jake and I parted ways (he got to go back into his little private viewing room to watch the procedure on TV) and then I walked into the OR and I got myself up on the table and got ready. Then, just to make sure my one Valium hadn't made me too foggy or unable to properly make decisions for myself, they had somebody come in and ask me my name and date of birth and if I was aware we were transferring two embryos today. Lol, yes.

So, for this procedure, we had big-girl stirrups. Not the kind you put your feet in, but the whole-leg kind. The nurses got me all ready and then Dr. Patel came in, ready to do her thing. The whole procedure itself is pretty much identical to an IUI (insemination), with threading the catheter through the cervix and up into the uterus, except for what they're squirting in there. Instead of just dispensing sperm and hoping for the best, we are inserting two fully fertilized and developing embryos. Two little lives that WE created. So amazing. If the IUI comparison doesn't quite paint the picture, it's actually also very similar to a pap smear. Speculum goes in, does its thing, cervix gets cleaned, then in goes the catheter. The whole time this is happening, one of the nurses was doing an external ultrasound of my uterus to help guide Dr. Patel on proper embryo placement. I got to watch this on my own screen too, as it was happening, and Jake was also watching it in the other room. I was complimented once again, by everybody in the room, about my beautiful uterus. Then a lady in scrubs came in, handed something off to Dr. Patel, and said, "Two day 5 blastocysts for transfer for Kristen Marchetti." Woo! Whatever they were in, some kind of needle I guess, went up through the catheter as we watched on the screen. Then all of a sudden, some tiny white splotches appeared on the screen as they were pushed out of the needle and safely into my nice cushiony uterus. The nurse made a little mini fist pump motion, indicating success! Then the needle and catheter were removed, the speculum taken out, and we were done! The whole process took less than 5 minutes from the time I walked into the OR.

The nurses wheeled my recovery bed up next to me and I had to transfer myself from one bed to the other. I tried my best to do this relying on arm strength alone, as I did not want to exert force from any muscles anywhere south of there. I tried keeping things very "clamped together" so nothing would fall out or get pushed out. Then they wheeled me back out into recovery, where Jake met me a minute later. He had tried to take a picture of the screen during the procedure, but the whole thing happened so quickly and he wasn't quite sure what he was taking a picture of. But then one of the nurses came out and gave us an ultrasound picture that she had snapped at the moment of transfer. There they were, a little white blob! This also immediately got sent out to our family.

They had me lay down and rest for about 15 minutes before letting me get up to go pee and change back in to my normal clothes. I asked the nurse if there was any danger of them falling out when I peed. I didn't want to have gone through all of this just to pee my babies out 15 minutes after the transfer. She explained that the walls of the uterus are like a sponge, and the liquid that the embyros were floating in would soak in. That's why they had me rest for 10-15 minutes. Then, she said the uterine wall and the embryos would act like velcro - they are chemically attracted to one another grab on and stick together. That made me feel much better. (Plus, I did some Googling later, and to add to my reassurance, I read a description of the uterine walls as touching, like if you press your hands together. There is no actual cavity or open space in there, just the potential to be if a growing baby necessitates it. So if you took a little sesame seed, and pressed it between the palms of your hands, nothing is going to make it fall out. Even if you thrash your hands around, they are still touching, and that little seed is still safely inside.)

After I peed (super slowly and carefully, ha) and changed, we were free to go. Since we were in Orlando and since it was lunch time, there was only one thing to do. I told Jake that the babies were hungry for Yellow Dog. :)

After lunch we headed home for some good quality quasi-bedrest. Our sofa bed is going to come in very handy for the next week. Everywhere I walk I do it very slowly so that I can - a) not unnecessarily use any abdominal muscles, and b) concentrate on clamping while I walk. Just for today. ;)

And now we wait.