The embryo transfer

Today, December 15, 2015, We had the most incredible experience as we went in for a single embryo transfer (sorry twin wishers)!

Going into today, we had NO idea what was going to happen. I have been a google maniac and I must not have been using the proper search terms! HAHA Much to our surprise, we both had to gear up and head into the surgical room! With a full bladder, it was SO uncomfortable but then Susie put our little embryo up on the screen and my mind just went blank for a moment. I felt like I was in a dream! The doctor and nurses said look it’s your baby! How cool was this? Both Jay and I couldn’t look away, it was just amazing! How many people get to see their baby in its earliest form? No matter how long the road has been, this was such a rewarding and special moment for us! The nurse said “you have a text book perfect little guy ready to implant!” Of course Jay honed in on the BOY part lol!!! The doctor and Sue continued to emphasize that this is a picture perfect embryo, strong, healthy and favorable! Well here he/she is!!!!

The process was a lot! My legs spread eagle for all to see! A lot of cleaning of the area and preparing it for insertion! My uterine lining is great!!! Over 10mm! It is ready for implantation! We got to watch on the ultrasound as Dr. Murray inserted the embryo through a catheter into my uterus and released it there. See the little white mike and ike shaped thing on the ultrasound below? That is where it is!!!! Our babies first official ultrasound!

Laid in recovery for a half hour after and resumed my day as normal. Day 10 after transfer would be Christmas… they gave us the option to do blood pregnancy the day before but we opted not to and will find out on the 26th (day after Christmas) instead!

12/15/15 Preparing for our first embryo transfer...

Side note: I had written the next couple posts on the days they actually occurred.

We have known for about a week now that we were going in for our first embryo transfer! We fibbed a little and told those closest to us following our journey that nothing was happening until January! Our hope is to have a new year’s surprise to share with them! Here is a glimpse of our excitement!

HolidAZE

Well our total frozen embryo count is 6! We are hoping for embryo transfer towards the end of January! Thank goodness its the holiday season as I feel like time will zoom on by! Thanks for hanging in there!

FREEZE!

As winter is upon us, normally I hate the word FREEZE but this morning it was welcomed and we are beyond thrilled! From NRM: "Good morning, the lab is freezing 5 beautiful embryos for you today. One embryo degenerated overnight, so they have 3 more in culture for potential freeze tomorrow."

Funny fact...

Did you know that at the instant of fertilization, a baby's genes and sex are set?

Retrieval, Recovery and RESULTS!

What a whirlwind these past two weeks have been! Saturday I was a nervous wreck! Not to mention I had lower abdominal pain (to be expected) from my swollen ovaries and I just was not pleasant to be around. Thankfully my sister and husband are patient with me! Sunday morning was even worse! I felt like an elephant was sitting on my uterus! We head to NRM and as usual we are greeted with the finest people in reproductive medicine (in our opinion)! I go back to pre-op, change into my sexy gown; the socks they give you are awesome by the way!!! Jay has extreme ADD and was driving me nuts fidgeting lol! Anyhow, Susie Obrien works there as an embryologist… I have known her all my life as I was best friends with her niece. To say it was such a relief knowing the fate of our future child was in her loving hands is an understatement. I was holding it together emotionally until she came out to wish us good luck and said she had been emotional all morning. YUP then I lost it. I was just a hot mess! So we walk to the operating room and that’s about all I remember… I was OUT! Came out after what felt like 5 minutes and Jay said I was a hot mess again lol! Then the words “you had 17 eggs” were music to our ears. We were ecstatic!!!! Especially since I was having horror thoughts the night before! OMG this was the best news we have had in a while!!! They send us home after I eat a little something, drink and pee! First stop… DUNKS of course!!! Hubby brought me home and tucked me in and there I layed the rest of the day! Now we were waiting for the call to see how many were fertilized (his sperm injected and received by an egg). Ready for it??!!!................. Of the 17 eggs, 12 were mature and injected and of those 9 were FERTILIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No words to describe how happy this news made us!! If I could have jumped I would have but instead I just shared my news and cried and cried and cried tears of happiness!!! We are day 2 after retrieval and the fertilized eggs will continue to grow for 5 days total before they are froze. Fingers crossed most continue to split until day 5! Thank you all for the texts, calls, messages, etc. You don’t know how much your support means to us!!

IVF Date & Time Confirmed!!! Here we go.....

We got word this morning that the retrieval procedure will be Sunday morning at 8:30 - we have to be there at 7:30am. The procedure is up to an hour but not usually that long. Not sure about recovery time yet. Once they retrieve, Jay will do his "thing" and then they will start fertilization. For the embryos that make it 5 days they will freeze them and store them until my ovaries are ready for insemination. Stay tuned... Thanks for all the well wishes, positive thoughts and prayers. We love you all!