Sunday, December 9, 2012

transfer day.

What a crazy exciting day it was. Our appointment was at 1:30pm, so Ali and I spent the morning laying in bed, watching tv, and catching up on facebook. We finally decided we had better eat some lunch, so we headed over to Applebee's. Lunch was a little tense. We were both so excited, so nervous, so....I don't even know. Words can't explain how we were feeling. When we finished up, we headed to the clinic, even though we were early.
Just a little nervous
We were scheduled to check in at 1pm, but we were there by 12:40. Before we could even sit down, they whisked us right back to the room. I was shocked and suddenly got very nervous and shaky. I took a potty break and changed into my fashionable hospital gown, booties and hair cover. Ali was lucky enough to get to wear a "bunny" suit. Basically, a white paper jumpsuit...over her skirt and all! It was great. Then, Ali had to sign a million papers, again! Lisa, one of the clinic nurses who is absolutely hilarious, explained the procedure and gave us a remote so we could watch some "trash tv" while we were waiting. Nothing like some good crappy reality tv to make the time pass.


After a little tv time, Dr. Nemiro came in and explained the procedure, again. Then, we went into the surgical suite, and the miracle started! The room is dark (to protect the embryos) and there is a tv screen in there. There is also a small window in one of the walls that connects to the lab where the embryos are kept. As Dr. Nemiro, Lisa and Jubilee discussed changes they wanted to make to the website, and the arrangement of items in the room, they prepped me for the procedure. We got to watch as the lab tech (I think the embryologist, but I could totally be making that up) opened up the petrie dish with my name on, to verify that there were two "beautiful" embryos that were already hatching. We then watched as he used the pipette to collect both embryos and put them into the catheter. Then, Lisa left the room to go to the lab. A moment later, she returned with the embryologist. He then assisted Dr. Nemiro in placing the embryos. Dr. Nemiro has already placed a guide catheter through my uterus, so he just inserted his catheter into that catheter and injected the embryos. Once they are in place, they leave everything in place for 40 seconds to insure that the embryos don't get sucked out with the removal of the catheters. At this point, Ali was allowed to take flash photos, and the embryologist and Dr. Nemiro joked about having seizures from the flashing lights! It was hilarious and took away some of the tension from our end of the room.
Me and Lisa
Once the catheters were removed, we were done! I was transferred to a gurney and brought back to the first room we were in. I had to lay flat for 1 hour. The most important thing was to not lift my head. Lisa covered me up with a nice soft blankey, just like one at my mom's house, and I layed there and watched tv. Ali and I hardly talked. I think we were both to scared. We may or may not have cried a little bit too.
Dr. Nemiro getting things ready.
See those TINY dots at the top, in the middle, those are the embryos!
Once the hour was up, we were free to go. I had instructions to "take it easy" for the next week, no heavy lifting, pelvic rest, and insturctions on what was normal and what symptoms meant I needed to call in. They also told us to go out and enjoy a nice dinner...we laughed! There was NO way we were going to go out to dinner. We were headed straight back to the hotel and I was NOT going to move! I was afraid to do anything...stand up, walk to the car, sit in the car, pee (which Lisa made sure to tease me about relentlessly), walk into the hotel, sit up in bed. Basically, I didn't want to move at all. We ordered some pizza, watched some movies, and tried to sleep!
 If this video works, it's a short video of the embryologist bring the embryos in!

That was it. All the hard work we had done, the fundraising, the tests, etc was all for that! Now, it was time (still is time) to pray! Lots and lots of sticky prayers and prayers for peace in mine and Ali's hearts as we wait for the blood test to be done on the 13th!

2 comments:

  1. Ahh! I love this. It's just SO exciting. I'm so happy for you, Ali and Brian and SO SO proud of you. Love you!

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