CD 15: Embryo Transfer day! 0dp3dt

Our Day 3 embryo transfer went perfectly. I am now - dare I even type it? - PUPO!

Since our appointment was at 11.10am, we didn't rush getting up. I woke at about 7.30am and made us both tea and toast (I am on caffeine free tea, but not being terribly strict about it).

We packed up the motel room and drove down to the lake for a walk. Since it's spring here in NZ, there are just loads of cute baby animals all around. Awww! I saw 3 baby pukekoes and a bunch of ducklings. In case you have never heard of a pukeko, here is a pic:

Source. These rather prehistoric looking creatures have enormous feet and live in fields and wetlands.

And that is not counting all the baby lambs and calves, and kid-goats and piglets I saw out the window on the car on the drive up!

Focus. Ok, so it went really well. When we got to the clinic I was busting, since they needed me to drink lots of water for the external ultrasound. We were shown to a room where I could get changed into the beautiful hospital gown moo-moo. Once again I clipped my insulin pump to the neckline, and we then found I'd cleverly left the Dexcom receiver down in the car! Poor Hubby had to race back down to get it. The embryologist and Dr G both came to see us, and nurse M gave us a gently-toned lecture about keeping my core body temperature after the procedure, and using the progesterone pessaries until told to stop.

We were led through to the OR with the spaceship door, and I had to walk right around the bed and climb on. The lovely nurse D was helping setup the bed with stirrups and towels and stuff, and Hubby took a seat to the left of my head. The ultrasound screen was, as before, to the right of my legs and then - I looked more to the right, past the hatch to the lab - I saw our one little embryo on screen!!!! The photo had been take yesterday when it was just a 6-cell, although the embryologist, M, had said it was now a great looking 8-cell. We only get to transfer 1 embryo since this is a publicly funded cycle, and even then I don't think anyone would be in a hurry to risk multiples in a Type 1 Diabetic woman.

Hubby and I were both shocked at this tiny little thing. Granted, it was magnified to be about 10cm wide on screen (only 125 microns in real life, we later learned) but it was amazing. I am hoping to receive a copy of the pic soon, will share when I get it!

Nurse D squeezed gel on my tummy and used the ultrasound thing to show us my (full) badder and uterus-squashed-flattish-under-said-bladder. She showed us where to look. Then Dr G came in and both of them laughed about how no one had told the lab that we were in here, and how there was some mild role-reversal going on with doc making the call to the lab and nurse working the ultrasound!

The doctor inserted the speculum and did something else, advising me I would feel some "mild tugging" on my cervix. Now, how am I supposed to know what that should feel like, eh? Anyway, to me it felt like a catheter being inserted - I could feel it go the length of the, um, journey into my cervix and there was some mild stingy/cold (very mild), mainly tickley sensations. Not unpleasant at all. Just weird as it was novel. This was not the real deal yet, so I'm now entirely sure what Dr G was doing, a test run maybe?

Next thing they were checking my name and date of birth again, Dr G checked the name matched the petri dish on the shelf at the lab-hatch. The lab tech then loaded up the catheter from the petri dish. I could see her peering under the microscope and taking her time/having a devil of a job scooping up the embryo into the catheter. She passed it carefully through the hatch to the doctor, I made sure to watch the screen and take a deep breath.

Of course, I was looking in the wrong place. I caught the "bright spot" out the corner of my eye right in the centre of the screen, but Hubby saw it no worries. It stayed bright for the time the ultrasound was trained on it, and Dr G told us that it was the bubble of liquid around the embryo that we could see.

And then it was over. I wasn't asked to lie down for an hour. I could get up right away and make my way back to the first room. Cue a stream of nurses all telling me to avoid raising my core body temperature, again. Nurse H, Nurse D, and Dr G all wished us best of luck and that they hoped it would work for us.

So that is that. We drove home this afternoon. I had a horrendous high blood sugar caused by a not so brilliant lunch choice, and that damn progesterone. Seriously, that stuff is an absolute nightmare for a diabetic, let alone one who is now supposed to be watching her blood sugars like a hawk! I am having to set a 20% basal increase for 2hrs every time I have the progesterone, although unlike an injection I never know when it's going to "kick in"! Arrgh!

Apart from that it's all good. Surreal, but good. I don't feel any different and it will be nice just to be calm for a while with no trips back to Hamilton planned for the near future.

p.s. So, you are wondering about the other embryos eh? Well, yesterday the second-best one was a 5-cell and had grown to a 6-cell today. They will culture it on and if it gets to blastocyst stage, then it will go into the freezer. The other one stopped growing at 3-cells. I kinda wished we had at least one more to freeze, knowing that we have had a pretty consistent 40% attrition rate all along this journey. Maybe my stim meds were not strong enough? Oh well. For now, I will wait and see what happens at the end of the 2ww.

p.p.s. Dr G said I have a small polyp on my cervix. Looks benign, but that sux.