I Guess the Lab Really Does Make a Difference

My embryo transfer was Saturday at 2:00 PM in Man.hattan. I had tried to work Friday but felt overwhelmingly nauseous. I made it through one therapy session and sat in the driveway at the next house as I tried to determine if I could work more. In the end, I cancelled the session and headed home. 

We left for NYC around 6:00 Friday evening and didn't realize there was a bit of a storm moving through. We live in an area that gets lots of lake effect snow and just figured there was snow locally. It's really no big deal because we are used to it. When I pulled up the radar and it showed something over almost the entire northeast, we knew it was going to be a long drive. No more driving off the road for us. We stopped for some food on the way and arrived in Queens around midnight. 

We slept in and took our time in the morning. I woke up and felt nauseous and not all that great again. We headed into Man.hattan around 12, thinking we would stop for lunch first. 

The traffic was so bad getting into the city it didn't look good to go to the restaurant recommended by my friend. We instead headed towards our cheap parking garage a few blocks from the office. When we got there we found no attendant on duty. At that point, it was around 1:00 and we were supposed to be there by 1:30. W ended up dropping me off a block or two from the office and told me to get something to eat and that we would meet there. I found a place to get some soup and chowed down as fast as I could. My appetite still wasn't 100% but I knew I needed to get some food into me. 

I got to the office at 1:30, took my Valium, and drank water as I waited. It was pretty busy in the waiting room and my phone died almost immediately, so I was pretty bored. W showed up at about 1:45 still chewing something that reeked like onions. He was finishing a falafel sandwich and ended up moving across the room due to the onion smell. I felt bad but just couldn't handle the smell. Not the best choice, but oh well. 

They called me back to get changed around 1:30. The three bed recovery room had someone in the middle bed and there was someone in the procedure room. The RE came in and told me I looked nervous. I told him that I was just bored. W wasn't allowed back at that point so I sat and waited alone. 

After a little while a woman came escorted out from the procedure room. She had obviously just had a retrieval and looked super out of it. As she got into the far bed I heard her start to cry. I'm learning that a lot of people cry after retrieval. 

 A staff member came out and talked to me and asked me who was next. I told him I had no idea and so he decided to take me in. 

When I entered the procedure room there were three big screens up on the wall in front of me. They told me the furthest screen to the left was the live feed from the lab. On that screen they were separating eggs out from follicle cells around it from the woman who had just had her eggs retrieved. It was absolutely amazing to watch. I was so mesmerized that I didn't even see W come into the room. 

At that point they told me what I would see on the other screens. The left screen continued to be the live feed from the lab, the middle screen was the ultrasound, and the screen to the right would have a picture of our embryos, magnified something like 600x's. They clicked through some files on the right screen and scrolled through a bunch of embryo pictures. The screen stopped on two amazing looking blasts, but I wanted to wait before I got too excited that they were ours. 

Then the embryologist Carlos came in and talked to us. He had pictures of all of our embryos and explained what stage each one was at and how it looked. He showed us the picture of the ones that were also up on the screen and said those were the best two that we would transfer. They were grade A and both hatching from their shells. As he put it, "They are ready for college." Then he told us there were a few others that were also hatching and would be frozen that day. There were 2 others that would likely be frozen the next day and one that was late to fertilize also looked really great and would likely be frozen 2 days later. It sounded like we would have around 5 to freeze but I haven't yet gotten the exact number. At this point, it's really not that important.  

I continued to stare in amazement at our hatching blasts and waited for them to get ready. They had me scoot down the bed and the live feed from the lab showed all of our tiny little embryos in a dish. I watched them get the two we were going to transfer into the catheter and then Carlos came out of the lab with the catheter. I watched the middle ultrasound screen as two little dots appeared in my uterus. Carlos remarked that the placement was "perfect" and then the live feed showed them as they checked the catheter to be sure it was clear. 

They wheeled in another bed and helped me transfer to that one. They then wheeled me out to the recovery room. When I got into the recovery room with W I once again heard that woman in the far bed as she cried and complained she was in a lot of pain. W and I tried to block it all out and laugh and be as positive as possible. The woman in the middle bed went into the procedure room for her transfer as W and I enjoyed my Valium. We both think I'm pretty funny on it. We laughed and probably annoyed everyone else in the room. We just felt so positive and great about everything.  

The staff members came out and had us sign some consents and gave us a picture of our little blasts. Eventually they said I could go to the bathroom. I waited for a bit in the waiting room for W to get the car. I walked out onto the streets on Manhattan and immediately felt super out of it. Nothing like bustling Manhattan to make you feel the Valium. 

W picked me up right in front of the building and we headed towards the recommended restaurant for take-out. We got some of the most delicious spring rolls and pork dumplings, and then got on the road. I slept some on the way home and tried to stay as relaxed as possible. 

We got home Saturday night around 9 and slept in on Sunday. Yesterday we went to a movie and otherwise just relaxed. Today I worked my first full day in a long time and was super exhausted when I came home. I am on 2 cc's of Progesterone in oil daily and have felt really tired as a result. Today I had to get blood work done to check my estradiol and progesterone levels, but didn't hear anything from Dr. B's office about it, so I'm going to guess they are fine. 

The transfer experience really was amazing. The blasts we transferred are the best looking we have ever gotten. To be honest, now I am just terrified it won't work. I am trying to stay as positive as possible, but it's hard when all you've experienced is disappointment. Beta is one week from today but I don't think I will hold off on testing this time. I do better when I am more prepared for the results. Either way, I have learned that the lab really does make a difference and that you get what you pay for. I'm so incredibly grateful to have been able to transfer such amazing blasts.