On Thursday 11th December we found out that only one of our three fertilized embryos was progressing. The good news was it had 9 cells when they usually look for 8 at day 3 – our little super embryo. The other two only had 1 and 3 cells so whilst the nurse told me they’d keep an eye on them I already knew they were out of the game.
Another blood test on Friday showed that my oestrogen levels were actually dropping well so it would all come down to a blood test on Saturday morning to find out whether they’d go ahead with the transfer later that day. I was finally starting to feel normal again physically and for the first time felt as though I could handle a transfer and didn’t want to wait til the new year for a frozen transfer – but I felt as though my levels would still be too high on Saturday to go ahead, or worse that the embryo wouldn’t make it to the stage where we could even transfer it. You want to hold on to hope but you also want to prepare for the worst and after only having one embryo out of 12 eggs, we felt as though things weren't really going our way with this cycle.
When Saturday arrived I just wanted to fast forward so that we knew what we were dealing with. Typing that, I realize how often I’ve said that line over the last year. Waiting for test results, waiting to talk about starting fertility treatment, waiting to start treatment and find out what it’s like, waiting for pregnancy results…
After the blood test at 7.30am we headed back to the clinic at 10am and waited… the waiting room was empty being later in the morning on a weekend and there wasn’t anyone at reception. It felt like we waited for hours but it was probably about 20 minutes before our nurse came out. Our super embryo had survived – and was good enough to freeze – but my levels had also dropped low enough to probably go ahead with the transfer if we wanted to, which of course we did. She said we would still need to check with the Doctor so took us through to the waiting area from the day surgery section of the clinic. Eventually the Doctor and Embryologist came out and we all agreed we’d go ahead with the transfer, but that I’d go on some medication for the next 5 days to eliminate the risk of getting OHSS again if I was lucky enough to fall pregnant. The embryologist also explained to us that if we needed another cycle we would do ICSI – where they inject a sperm into each egg, because whilst the sperm had had good movement and all flocked to the eggs, for some reason they weren’t able to penetrate and fertilise many of the eggs.
When we were left alone we just looked at each other in shock and with huge grins on our faces, I think a few swear words were whispered (sorry mum!) because we just couldn’t believe this was happening! We’d gone from high at egg collection, to low as we heard about the progress of the embryos back to high again – such a roller coaster!
Another blood test on Friday showed that my oestrogen levels were actually dropping well so it would all come down to a blood test on Saturday morning to find out whether they’d go ahead with the transfer later that day. I was finally starting to feel normal again physically and for the first time felt as though I could handle a transfer and didn’t want to wait til the new year for a frozen transfer – but I felt as though my levels would still be too high on Saturday to go ahead, or worse that the embryo wouldn’t make it to the stage where we could even transfer it. You want to hold on to hope but you also want to prepare for the worst and after only having one embryo out of 12 eggs, we felt as though things weren't really going our way with this cycle.
When Saturday arrived I just wanted to fast forward so that we knew what we were dealing with. Typing that, I realize how often I’ve said that line over the last year. Waiting for test results, waiting to talk about starting fertility treatment, waiting to start treatment and find out what it’s like, waiting for pregnancy results…
After the blood test at 7.30am we headed back to the clinic at 10am and waited… the waiting room was empty being later in the morning on a weekend and there wasn’t anyone at reception. It felt like we waited for hours but it was probably about 20 minutes before our nurse came out. Our super embryo had survived – and was good enough to freeze – but my levels had also dropped low enough to probably go ahead with the transfer if we wanted to, which of course we did. She said we would still need to check with the Doctor so took us through to the waiting area from the day surgery section of the clinic. Eventually the Doctor and Embryologist came out and we all agreed we’d go ahead with the transfer, but that I’d go on some medication for the next 5 days to eliminate the risk of getting OHSS again if I was lucky enough to fall pregnant. The embryologist also explained to us that if we needed another cycle we would do ICSI – where they inject a sperm into each egg, because whilst the sperm had had good movement and all flocked to the eggs, for some reason they weren’t able to penetrate and fertilise many of the eggs.
When we were left alone we just looked at each other in shock and with huge grins on our faces, I think a few swear words were whispered (sorry mum!) because we just couldn’t believe this was happening! We’d gone from high at egg collection, to low as we heard about the progress of the embryos back to high again – such a roller coaster!
We then got changed - J was allowed to come in with us, so he got to get dressed up in the sexy gown, hair cap and slippers as well - he was just lucky enough to be able to wear his pants underneath, unlike me! We headed back into the theatre room where I'd had my egg pick up. The most amazing thing was when the embryologist looked at the embryo which was sitting in an incubator and transmitted the picture to a TV up on the wall. I had to fight back tears as she pointed out the cluster of cells that could grow to be a baby, and the others that could grow to be a placenta. It was such an incredible thing, seeing this beautiful clear 'blob' that could be our little baby!
As they prepared for the transfer they started up an external ultrasound (nice to have one of those for a change!) and the Doctor pointed out where they’d place the embryo. It was weird - we were both expecting to be able to see the little tube come up on the ultrasound but we couldn’t – then all of a sudden there was a tiny white spec on the screen and that was our embryo, sitting in my womb… I can’t explain how crazy it was, how emotional it was seeing it all, being there and knowing that a little embryo had just been placed inside of me. One of the IVF acronyms is PUPO – Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise. We were finally PUPO!
That night we were babysitting friends' little 10 month old boy. As I held him and rocked him to sleep after he awoke crying with teething pain and his eyes just stared up at me once he'd calmed down, I marveled at the fact that maybe one day soon, that little embryo that was sitting inside of me would be our own little baby in my arms.
As they prepared for the transfer they started up an external ultrasound (nice to have one of those for a change!) and the Doctor pointed out where they’d place the embryo. It was weird - we were both expecting to be able to see the little tube come up on the ultrasound but we couldn’t – then all of a sudden there was a tiny white spec on the screen and that was our embryo, sitting in my womb… I can’t explain how crazy it was, how emotional it was seeing it all, being there and knowing that a little embryo had just been placed inside of me. One of the IVF acronyms is PUPO – Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise. We were finally PUPO!
That night we were babysitting friends' little 10 month old boy. As I held him and rocked him to sleep after he awoke crying with teething pain and his eyes just stared up at me once he'd calmed down, I marveled at the fact that maybe one day soon, that little embryo that was sitting inside of me would be our own little baby in my arms.