Transfer Day!

Today was transfer day!  I spent the morning working around the house and getting things cleaned up.    Then I went to lunch at Steak 'n' Shake with a bunch of the young women from my church as an end of summer party.

We arrived at the clinic 30 minutes before transfer.  I had to come with a full bladder, which is not fun.  But I did pretty well not going overboard!

Thankfully they don't put you out for this procedure, but I did take my first valium!  I actually don't know exactly what it did for me...but I guess that's a good thing!

Nate was able to come into the OR for the transfer so he got to wear this cute bunny/ Baymax suit.

Potential last picture as a family of two??

It's a pretty special experience to see your embryos on this giant screen and then watch on ultrasound while it's inserted.  It's the miracle of life right in front of your face!  I mean, how many people can see their kids when they are literally five days old.  They are just a cluster of cells with the potential of turning into a living, breathing human being.  It's crazy and overwhelming when you really think about it.  The procedure takes maybe 20 minutes.  I can't say it was the most comfortable, but it wasn't painful.

After the procedure...do I have a glow to me yet??

Here is embryo #1!  I really thought I'd have this feeling when I saw the picture and know if it was a boy or girl...but I got nothing.  The blurrier looking cells in the center are what will develop into the baby and the less blurry ones will be the placenta.  The doctor said that big cell on the lower right is some extra cell thing (I don't really know) that isn't anything bad but isn't a part of the baby.

First family picture??

After the transfer we went to our friends, the Bolin's house.  I was super tired so I took a nice 2 hour nap on their couch while Teresa worked and Nate and Matthew ran to our house to grab me my medicine.  We decided to go out to Olive Garden for dinner since we hadn't been there in probably a year and a half or more.  I just always get the soup because it's unlimited refills and super delicious!

The Trial Transfer

The clinic called me on Wednesday saying they needed to reschedule the trial transfer.  It worked best for me to just do it this morning (Thursday) and for me to go into work late.  I actually am covering at another office today so I felt kind of bad, but I only got there 2 hours late and they had only had a few patients, so it worked out well!

The trial transfer was actually more uncomfortable than I was expecting!  I was not prepared for it.  It was just uncomfortable because I had to have a full bladder and they've got an ultrasound pressing right over the bladder, plus a speculum going up the other way, with a probe. 

The reason they do the trial transfer is to check for polyps or anything else that may compromise the integrity of the transfer.  Polyps can develop during stims because of all the extra hormones and you can usually not sustain a pregnancy with a polyp.  

Everything went great and they cleared me to continue on with the process!  Glad I don't need any additional surgery or time to wait for this transfer!

***As a side note, after the fact...the clinic did bill insurance for the trial transfer and it was covered 100%!  Not sure if this is the same for all insurances, but Cigna at least did not have any problems.  The clinic said doing this was pretty standard so most insurances with fertility benefits should cover it.

Egg Retrieval Day

Whew!  What a day it's been!

Since the retrieval wasn't until 10:15 I actually got to sleep in this morning.  Usually I leave for work at 5:45 and we didn't have to leave for the clinic until 8:00.  Nate working from home definitely has benefits so he was able to take a call in the car on the way there and work while I was in surgery so he didn't have to take a day off.

My clinic has their own surgical center in their office which is so convenient.  It's so stressful when you go somewhere new and have to figure out parking and checking in etc.

After checking in, Nate went upstairs to give his contribution and I was brought back to my "room" to change and get comfortable.  One of the nurses came in to talk me through the procedure again and go over all my post-op instructions.  I also met with the nurse anesthetist who administered my IV (it was way easier than I was expecting or else she was really good!).

My doctor wasn't able to be there the day of the retrieval so one of the other docs from the clinic did the procedure.  He came in and again went over the procedure and what I could expect post-op.  Nate made a joke about not being able to go to Carowinds this afternoon and he didn't quite know what to make of it until I started laughing and he realized we were joking.  However, he did tell me I was not allowed to just lay around all day.  My estrogen was really high and I was at an increased risk for developing blood clots.  He encouraged me to get up and do something in the afternoon.


All ready to go!

As they were putting me to sleep I noticed the clock on the wall...10:15 exactly.  Man, they are good!

Super attractive post-op picture ;)

I was really worried about coming out of anesthesia but think I did great!  It's just like I was sleeping and then I woke up and felt just fine!  I don't know if I said anything goofy earlier because Nate had to wait in the lobby until I woke up.  By the time he came back I was pretty much back to normal.  Pretty much.  I did take a post-op video of myself where you can tell I'm still a little loopy haha

I was definitely sore after the procedure but they had a heating pad on me which felt so good.  Anyone that knows me knows I looooove a good heating pad.  I should really buy one.  I just have rice pillows I heat up in the microwave that I use all the time for cramps or just for a sore back and neck.  They are my favorite thing ever.

Before leaving, the doctor came in to let us know we had 26 eggs retrieved!  That's way more than I was expecting so I am super happy about that!

In total, we were at the clinic only 2 hours!  It was super quick!

Since I wasn't able to eat or drink anything that morning, we went to find some food before going home.  We settled on Panera since we hadn't had that in forever.  As a side note, I really love Starbucks new Kitchen Sink cookie but Panera's put theirs to shame...it was so delicious!

When we got home I slept for 2-3 hours and it felt so good.  Nate reminded me I was supposed to walk around some so we went to Sam's Club to do some grocery shopping.  Then we called up our friends, the Bolin's, and went to dinner at Bad Daddy's then to see Uncle Drew in the theater.

I really wasn't in a lot of pain, but I was taking pain medication so it was doing it's job!

I'm debating on whether or not to go to work tomorrow.  I had heard it was fine to go but then another nurse told me she wouldn't plan on it.  I thought about going in for a few hours but since I'm still taking the pain medication regularly, Nate wants me to stay home.  I think that's probably the best decision, even though I feel really bad not going because I missed today and I'm taking Thursday off to go to TN with Nate's family.

The HSG

At some point, while undergoing infertility treatment (I had mine back in August 2017), you'll probably have an HSG (hysterosalpingogram).  This is a test they do to see if your fallopian tubes are open.  If your fallopian tubes are blocked, there's no way for an egg to travel to the uterus, meaning no way for you to get pregnant.  Obviously that would be a roadblock!

Essentially they inject your uterus with a dye and then look at it live under x-ray to see if it travels through the fallopian tubes.  It's a very quick procedure and you're able to do all your normal activities that same day.  I think I took some ibuprofen right after as a preventative measure because some people experience cramping.

For the procedure itself, it was very easy for me!  I felt a pinch when the catheter went in (through the uterus) but that was really it.  Some women experience severe cramping and state the procedure is very uncomfortable, but I really hardly felt anything at all!  Not sure if I'm just lucky or had a really good PA doing the procedure.  I'm grateful regardless!

So this picture is showing the speculum at the bottom, the little dark triangle area is the uterus and then there are dark little lines coming off the sides of the uterus that are the fallopian tubes.  The dark cloudy areas on the sides are the dye coming out of the fallopian tubes.

As I had this done prior to Starbucks even being in the picture, I'm not sure how it's covered by insurance but I assume it's covered the same as every other infertility procedure!