The week of the transfer, Tim had to go out of town to tune for the WV Symphony. It was a really crazy week, schedule-wise! If the transfer had happened earlier in the week (as originally forecasted), it would have made things a lot easier, but que cera cera…
On Tuesday night, 1/30, Tim left for Charleston. He came back late Wednesday evening. Wednesday evening, my mom also came to help. That was the night of my first progesterone in oil shot. My mom reluctantly did it- the needle is thicker and twice the length of the needle I used earlier in the cycle! I also had specific bathroom instructions to follow that night. At 9pm, I had to empty my bladder completely. Then, between 9-9:30, I had to drink 8-10 oz of any liquid, and between 9:30-10 I had to do the same. THEN, I had to HOLD IT until after the transfer! I already had a “full” feeling when I went to bed.
Thursday morning, the big day, my bladder woke me up. My appointment wasn’t until 10 am, so I was extremely uncomfortable for the entire morning. To make matters worse, I got very thirsty. That was a strange feeling. I ended up having to drink a little bit on my way to the appointment because I was so thirsty.
My mom drove me to the appointment and Tim met us there. Because the Symphony happened to have a concert in Fairmont that day, he was able to be there for the transfer. I was glad that worked out.
The worst part of the transfer was the fact that they used an ultrasound wand to push down on my full belly. The fact that I was so tense “down there” made the whole process really painful. There was 1 doctor there to run the ultrasound, 1 doctor to perform the procedure, 1 med student there to watch, 1 nurse, 1 embryologist, and 1 student embryologist. Plus Tim. And me with my legs in the stirrups, bearing it all.
The transfer itself was neat, because we got to “see” it on the ultrasound. They put a catheter through my cervix and positioned it just right using the ultrasound. Then the embryologist came in with another catheter containing the fluid with the embryos. She put that catheter through the catheter already installed in my cervix. There must have been a little “pump” at the end that she used to push the fluid into my uterus. You could see it go in on the ultrasound screen! There were tears in Tim’s eyes, which made me tear up. And, we got an ultrasound picture of the exact moment!
Next, the embryologist examined her catheter under a microscope to be sure none had gotten stuck. While we were waiting for that, I said, “so they’re in there now?” The doctor running the ultrasound said, “yep. Can’t you see them?” It made me laugh, which was really painful because all the “equipment” was still installed!
The next part was interesting… I had to lay in bed for an hour with my hips elevated, but I also had to empty my bladder! So I got to go in a bedpan. It was really really hard, because even though I had to “go” badly, I couldn’t relax enough to make it happen! I got the job done though.
After the transfer, Tim requested that my mom be let back to see me, which was fine. Then, the embryologist came in with a slide show of our actual embryos, and talked us through every stage in the process. It was extremely cool, and I was happy that my mom got to see it.
I tried to relax for the rest of the day, but that proved difficult. My mom got her car stuck in our driveway when we got home. Luckily, our neighbor, Tom, came and dug her out.
When we got home, Tim’s mom, Ann, was there. She stayed the weekend to help me out. Tim didn’t get home until Sunday evening. The only other moment of note was early Saturday morning, when my toe got caught in the cuff of my pajamas at the top of the stairs. I toppled over and fell head-first down the stairs. I was fine, just bruised, but worried for the rest of the day that I had ruined my chances of getting pregnant. Luckily, it was too early for the embryos to be implanted, so they couldn’t have been affected. Becky said it may have been the first example of the baby dropping the momma on the head instead of the other way around!
