Transfer Details

We arrived at the NEDC at 9am on Wednesday, July 21.  We were promptly taken back to the waiting/recovery area.  It reminded me somewhat of an emergency room...beds in little areas surrounded by curtains.  I think there were four of these areas lined up along one wall.  Dr Keenen's wife was the nurse getting us settled and taking care of us after the transfer.  She was the nicest lady and had the perfect personality for the job.  She only works at the clinic during transfer weeks which happen every other month.  She told us her name about 5 times, but I can't remember it for sure.  I want to say it was Sheila???  I had to take two advil, one albuteral and 1-2 valium's before the appointment.  I opted for 2  so I was a little out of it.  That's probably why I can't remember her name.  She said things were moving quickly so it would be no time before I was back there.

Before I knew it Dr. Keenen and Carol (the embryologist) were in our curtain telling us a little about the procedure and how the embryos looked.  They gave us a picture of them. 

The top left embryo was our highest grade.  It was a 5AB.  The one on the right was the lowest grade.  The chances of it making it are very slim.  The bottom embryo was only graded at a 3BB.  Carol was sure the reason why it wasn't as expanded as the first one was because it hadn't been thawed as long so it hadn't had time to expand.  She assured me that it would expand more once it was inside.  You have to trust what they are saying but I will admit I was somewhat disappointed in the grading of the embryos.  I had really hoped that they would be higher, but I know it doesn't matter.  If it is God's plan for them to survive and grow it won't matter what they were graded. 

After that I was led to the transfer room and Jay went to pay the storage/transfer costs and wait in the waiting room.  Yes, he had the easiest part of the day!  As far as I know the transfer was pretty textbook.  There didn't seem to be any anxious moments or anything.  As far as pain goes it wasn't bad.  There was one moment that was a little rough but I survived it.  During the acutal transfer part though they had to hold the ultrasound thing down on my stomach so hard I thought my bladder was going to burst.  I think that may have taken some of my focus of of any pain I might have been feeling.  Once The embryos were injected and Carol checked the syringe to make sure none of the embryos were left behind, I was wheeled back to the curtained area.  I stayed there practically upside down for the next hour.

I got another picture of the embryos being injected.  It's the flash with the red circle around it.  The big black blob is my overly full bladder.

One hour later we were on the road to grab some lunch and head back to the hotel.  I slept hard the rest of the afternoon.

That pretty much sums up the whole experience. Now we just wait until Friday to find out if any of them have decided to hang around.  One thing that I do find neat about this is that we had to use three different donors.  That's just the way it worked out when we were picking the embryos.  It wasn't an issue to us because none of them were genetically related to us so why would it matter if the babies were genetically related?  So there is a chance that we could have twins that aren't genetically related.  Kind of a weird concept.  But the neat part is we know which embryo came from which donor.  If a baby is born we will have to do a DNA test to know which couple it came from so we'll know which medical history is theirs.  Someday we will be able to point to a specific embryo and say "that was you".  I've thought that a lot over the last few days but actually typing it brought tears to my eyes.  I just think that is so amazing and I just pray that someday we will get that opportunity....this was you and God matched us together perfectly.