Phase 3, Embryo Transfer

The Big Day!!!!!!!

Welcome Cathey Embryos!!!!!!!!!

Today was the big day! This is a lovely picture of me in my hospital gown and Brad in his scrubs (and of course we are both sporty very attractive hair nets). It is a self portrait in the changing room, in case you were wondering. We were both super excited! Unfortunately we couldn't take the camera into the room where they did the transfer (which, BTW, was the same room I was in for the retrieval) but Brad got to play DJ on the iPod speaker system. So I got serenaded with some Ben Folds and other soft rock during the transfer (I'm sure Brad was disappointed that they weren't Tool fans).

Is it too early to share pics?

I know I'm a little biased bc I am the proud mama, but aren't they adorable little blobs? :) I only hope they stick around for nine months. If not, it's back to the human pin cushion gig (which I could live without). And yes, this is a pic of our actual embryos...don't you see the resemblance? So, Dr. A showed us the above pic and then told us he would be transferring those two particular embryos into my uterus. He also told us that the lab would continue to monitor the remaining embryos until they reach the 5-day blastocyst stage. At that stage, if they are of adequate quality, those remainders will be frozen for future frozen embryo transfer(s).

After the pleasantries above, it was legs in the stirrups, table raised and tilted, and external u/s on the belly (woo-hoo for external vs vaginal). Dr. A showed us the catheter loaded with our embies, pointed out the catheter on the u/s screen as it was inside my uterus, and finally the air bubbles surrounding the embies that were visible after they were transferred. Quick and painless. Easiest thing about the whole process.

Another memento......

After completing the transfer, Dr. A gave us this little memento. This is the petri dish that our embryos were incubated in. I almost cried when they gave it to us...I know, what a sap?!

Ok. Prayers have been said. Transfer completed. Meds will continue. Dr. A advised us, "Just don't think about it for the next couple of weeks.". I won't, if you won't. LOL! So it's the waiting game now. I am surprisingly calm and relaxed....today......

Who travels for love finds a thousand miles not longer than one.
-- Japanese proverb.