Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Embabies on Board!

Our transfer could not have gone better today!

Here are our two precious embabies:


They are 2 "good" blastocysts.  The left one is starting to hatch (out of the ICSI injection area).  

It looks like most likely that only 2 of the other blasts will make it to freeze.  But three others still have some potential.  We'll know for sure tomorrow.

I'm really excited and really happy, but I feeling the crazy coming on.

I'm also feeling like I really don't want to work (pretty much at all) but I feel like I have to be there for my students (before the AP test).  I'm not worried about being active, I'm just worried about stress and mental-health, etc.

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Ready for the long version?

Although I took the day off and my transfer was not until 12:30, I couldn't get anything done this morning.  I just googled various IVF info and stats.  

Luckily I called the office to check whether I needed a full bladder and confirmed that I did not.  That was nice.

I expected a sterile environment and warned DH that he might have to put on surgical clothes.  But nope.  We were in a normal room and I got to keep most of my clothes on (except bottoms of course).

The embryologist had the incubator in an adjacent room and communicated with the nurse over intercom. Weird.  

First, the embryologist showed us pictures of all 8 embryos and we confirmed that we'd like to transfer the best 2.  She thought that two of the 3 remaining blasts would make it to freeze, but was unsure about the third and the 2 embryos that hadn't made it to blast yet.  The last 1 hasn't grown in days, so it probably won't make it.

Then the doc came in.  He inserted an empty catheter.  (I barely felt a thing! He is amazing!)  He showed us the fluid in my abdomen and in my ovaries and then my uterus. (He said it looked perfect.)  When he was all set, the nurse told the embryologist, then they turned the lights off (because embies don't like UV light).  So she carried our precious cargo (covered) from next door to our room.  The doc attached the syringe (I think) to the catheter already in place and inserted it.

He said to watch for a "white flash" when the embryos (in fluid) exited the catheter and I totally saw it!  That was it.  I sat there and stared at the two blobs that are our babies for about 20 minutes.  


(That's them...the two fish-looking bright white areas above the arrow).

Then I walked across the hall and had acupuncture.

And then I went home.

I have no idea when I should test.  I don't know what I can handle or not.  I just don't know.  

If anyone has any testing advice like when my trigger might be out, when you got a positive, etc, I would appreciate the advice.

25 comments:

  1. those two blasts are BEAUTIFUL!! Hoping they stick around for the long haul. many thoughts with you!!!

    Mo

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  2. Oh I am so glad it went so well, I was waiting anxiously for your post. Good luck over this 2 week wait, I will continue to hope and think of you!

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  3. Yay! You made it :) I'm so happy everything went well.

    Testing is so personal. You can always "test out" the ovidrel to be sure. (Test it daily and watch the test fade to white.) You might want to buy some cheap tests to do that though. Otherwise, I think I've read that testing should wait 12 days after trigger, but I'm not sure and others are welcome to correct me!

    Also, I thought this was interesting. Maybe it will help you too. http://www.nyufertilitycenter.org/ivf/embryo_transfer

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    1. Thank you so much for that site! I think I'll be checking it every day.

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  4. Congrats on a smooth transfer. Fingers crossed for you! I tested out my trigger which took two days.

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  5. Lovely little blasts! I'm a pee-stick-a-holic so I would totally be testing out the trigger. However, this might not be the best for ones sanity. You should do whatever you feel most comfortable with and know we are all here to back you up while you wait.

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  6. They're beautiful! Congrats! I think the one on the right looks like you. :)

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  7. That's awesome! They're pretty awesome looking embies! My trigger took 7 days to test out, so five days after transfer. (this is from one of my IUI's where we used a trigger: http://meiermadness.blogspot.com/2011/08/7dpo-im-bored.html)

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  8. I just triggered myself, so I've been googling things. Most anecdotal sources report one day for every 1,000 units. My trigger was 10,000 units, so I should test negative in 10 days.

    Best of luck!!

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    1. I did Ovidrel and it looks like it was 6500 iu...which means it should already be out! I'll check in the morning.

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  9. So very exciting!! Congrats, hon.

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  10. Yay!! This is so exciting! Hope the embies are snuggling in as we speak! I agree with ReturnToGoBaby. I've heard its about 1 day per 1000 units but I'd wait a full 7 days just to be sure. Or test it out. FX for you!!

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  11. Hooray! Snuggle in and GROW little embies!!!

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  12. Yay for babies! Crossing my fingers for you extra hard!

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  13. Oooh ... they're lovely! How cool to see the white flash.

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  14. Congratulations on a smooth transfer! Your embryos look great! I think the earliest that a BFP usually will show up is about 6 - 8 days past transfer. You may run the risk of catching the trigger if you test on the earlier side, but if you test on consecutive days and the tests start getting darker than you know something really good is happening! Or, you can wait and test just before your beta so you have an idea what the results will be. It's a very personal decision. Good luck!!!

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  15. Yeah!! stick little embies! here's hoping for you :)

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  16. Congrats!! pretty cool little fishies :) burrow in strong!!

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  17. Wow..they are so beautiful!! Fingers crossed for you! :)

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  18. WOW this is amazing, witnessing this beautiful miracle!!! I hope this two week wait FLIES by for you. Praying and crossing fingers for your BFP. :)

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  19. Wow. It's so cool that you were able to see the white flash! Thinking good thoughts for you and hoping that the rest of your TWW goes by super quickly!!

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  20. Sounds like a lovely experience! Best of luck to you, I'll be stalking!

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  21. Ooooh, how exciting. I have everything double crossed.

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  22. Congratulations for being pregnant until proven otherwise!! This is wonderful news! I hope that your little embabies snuggle in tight!!!

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