So I had assumed I would update this straight after the transfer but given a less than ideal scenario I didn’t really want to think about it for a bit.
I got a call the morning of the transfer to let me know that of the 4 eggs we had on pick up day, 3 of them fertilized but then only 2 made it to day 3. Unfortunately one of the embryos had ‘too much DNA’ and was not deemed viable. Of the two remaining one was an 8 cell embryo – looking great for day 3 and the other was a 4 cell embryo, a little slower but still ok. The 4 cell embryo was exhibiting ‘divots’ which means it was likely to split to 8 cells soon.
The decision was made to transfer both of our little embryos and keep our other one from our last cycle frozen at this stage. I went to an acupuncture session in the morning to make my uterus as receptive as possible and crossed my fingers as I headed in to the clinic. My husband met me there and given how the transfer panned out I was so grateful to have him holding my hand. Unfortunately my usual fertility specialist was in surgery that day so the head of the clinic offered to step in and do the transfer for us. He was very kind throughout the whole procedure but it was still incredibly painful and awful.
So turns out when they tried to do the transfer my cervix decided it didn’t want to dilate. Normally it is no problem to insert the small tube containing the embryo and ‘squirt’ them into the uterus. Once again my body fell into the 1% of difficult cases and they basically had to shove the tube up my cervix to get the embryos in the place. It was incredibly uncomfortable and while I tried so hard to stay calm I really just wanted it to be over. My husband ended up with rather crushed fingers but I’m so glad he was there for support. Thankfully they embryos finally made it into my uterus and I could head off for my second acupuncture session for the day.
As soon as I got back into the privacy of my car the tears started flowing. It was just such a horrible experience even though I know the doctor was doing everything he could to be as gentle as possible. I couldn’t even be excited about the possibility of being pregnant when all I felt was pain and sadness that this had to be so bad. I cried again when I got to the acupuncturist’s clinic and she asked me how it went. I’m just generally sick of things being harder than they have to. Not only having to do IVF in the first place but that my body never seems to respond the way we expect.
At least I was able to have a couple of very quiet days with a long weekend away after that and I’m feeling much better about things. Still not super positive in regards to the results but there is nothing else I can do at this point other than wait. I have done two 1500 Pregnyl shots since the transfer and I am continuing with progesterone in oil injections every 3rd day, plus 8mg of progynova each day and 2x 8% Crinone gel suppositories too. I did my first home pregnancy test for this cycle this morning and it was positive however this will still be the Pregnyl at this stage. I figure if I test every day I can see how long it take for the Pregnyl to leave my body so by mid to late next week I should know if the tests are accurate or not.
7 more days until blood test day and will know for sure if our lives are due to change for the better or if this roller coaster of IVF treatments continues. Keeping everything crossed but not feeling confident at this stage.
The Science of Love 