Sticky thoughts!

This morning we had our second embryo transfer, but first frozen embryo transfer. We left the house at about 5:20 so we could be in Pasadena by 7 and although traffic was horrible, we were only about 5 minutes late. By the time we got to the clinic I had to pee.... Bad. For embryo transfers they like you to have a full bladder and since my bladder is the size of a walnut and gets full after a sip of water, I was ready to burst. 

They didn't call us back until a little after 7:30 and the nurse checked my bladder via ultrasound to make sure it was full, despite me telling her I was ready to pee my pants. When she checked, she thought my bladder may have been too full and asked me if I would be able to release a little bit and then stop. I told her that was a negative, but if needed I would do whatever the doctor wanted. She decided to let Dr. Norian make the final decision. 

When Dr. Norian came in, he told us both embryos survived the thaw. They are both graded 4AB. I'm not exactly sure what that means other than the quality of the inner cells is A and the outer layer is B... I think. Anyway, they're good quality embryos and that's all I care about. We still have 3 frozen embryos that we can use at a later date and although they're not as good of quality, I'm still happy we have 3. 

Our two beautiful embryos ☺️ 

Despite my bladder being pushed on by the ultrasound and trying not to pee everywhere, the transfer was easy. Dr. Norian decided my bladder wasn't too full and said it would make it a bit easier. It was just like our fresh transfer back in July, except I decided to hold my bladder for the full 30 minutes afterwards so I could stay laying down. I think I asked Chris what time it was every few minutes cause I could not wait to go to the bathroom! 

Our babies are right where the arrow is. The black area above is my bursting bladder. It's so amazing to watch the transfer on the ultrasound. We could see the embryos, surrounded in the fluid they were kept in, shoot out of the catheter. Dr. Norian told me to think "sticky thoughts" and be on bed rest for the next 48 hours. After that, I can do light activity but nothing strenuous. I'm off work the rest of the week and won't go back until Monday. I have plenty of time to rest so our babies can get nice and comfy! I've spent the majority of the day in bed or in the recliner and not doing too much. 

We're praying these little babies decide to stick around and we get to see their beautiful faces in 9 months. Thank you all for your continued support, well wishes and prayers!!

Alissha 

In two weeks...

I'll be pregnant until proven otherwise (PUPO) with twins or possibly triplets! Not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post, but we are planning on thawing 3 of our embryos for this cycle and Dr. Norian is on board with our plans. If all three survive the thaw, we'll be transferring all three. So exciting!  Unfortunately, we won't find out how many survived the thaw until the day of the transfer because they start thawing them the day before. Dr. Norian told us last week that the embryologists have been having great success rates with the number of embryos surving the thaw, so fingers crossed! Even if only one makes it through the thaw we will be totally ecstatic. We are staying positive this cycle and know that we will have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! 

And we won't need to have assisted hatching done! Assisted hatching is where the embryologist does the slightest cut in the outer shell of the embryo to assist it from breaking out of the shell and implanting into the uterus. All of our embryos were frozen on day 5 or 6 after being fertilized and were already starting to hatch. So that's great news and less money out of our pocket because yes, assisted hatching is indeed an additional cost in the thousands. 

At today's appointment Dr. Norian said I'm right on track for the transfer to be done on 2 weeks. My uterine lining is thickening, it's at 8mm now, and my ovaries are nice and "quiet". I'm up to three estrogen pills a day and still changing one estrogen patch every three days. So, I'm responding well to the estrogen and unfortunately becoming a little moodier/irritable as the days go by. All just a small price to pay for such an amazing blessing : ) 

Alissha