Transfer Day (post by Jessi)

Today, November 7^th, is exactly 300 days from my first appointment with the docs at the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility clinic.  I met with Dr Merhi for a consult and we talked at a high level about the process for gestational surrogacy, success rates, risks, costs and our ideal timeline.  When I think back to that day, it feels like a lifetime ago.  And yet, the last three weeks have passed in a total blur.  

Transfer day is the day we have all been waiting for.  It is the end result from the prerequisite appointments, screenings, procedures and drug therapy.  It’s the day the embryo leaves its simulated environment for a natural one, aka Maggie’s ute (ute = fun short hand for uterus).

On the morning of Transfer Day (11/4) Ben kissed me goodbye before he left for work and said “Happy Transfer Day!”  And a happy transfer day it was!  Maggie picked me up at exactly 1:20, just as she promised.  Those of you who know Maggie know that there are very few events she’s perfectly on time for.  This was one of them; she was just as excited as me.  I hopped in her car after she refused to let me drive and we left for the hospital.  

Somewhere in between jokes about getting “knocked up” and patient registration Maggie remembers that she was supposed to arrive with a full bladder.  Minor detail, NBD.  (Hey Ma – NBD means No Big Deal).  Maggie heads into Registration and I got her a bottled water to which she immediately starts chugging.  We arrive at the clinic halfway through the bottle and Mo was already out front in the waiting area.  Maggie explains that she’s been downing water because she forgot about the full bladder thing to which Mo replies “Whoa, just sip it.  We don’t want you to have to pee that badly.” [or something to that effect, honestly I was too excited to pay attention and couldn’t help but notice that everyone in the waiting area was fully enthralled in our pee discussion]

Mo takes us to the way back where the magic happens.  We’re both given fancy clothing to put on – a johnny for Maggie and the hospital version of a Breaking Bad meth lab suit for me.  Then we wait, she on the stretcher and me in the chair next to her.  Across from us is a window to another room with computers and other equipment.  This is where the IVF docs and nurses are getting on the “same page” for the procedure.  This is the very moment our Facebook fan page goes live.  You allow a couple of multitasking masters like us to have some idle time and we’ll make full use of it.  POW!  Created a Facebook page in the IVF recovery room.  [Also, we have to give a special shout-out to Maggie’s colleagues.  You were our first fans and gave us quite the laugh when you liked our page literally seconds after it went live.]

About twenty-five minutes into the wait, Maggie really has to pee.  No duh!  She and Dr Davenport talk about the possibility of her relieving some but not all of her bladder contents but she ultimately decides to just hang in there until after the procedure.  LIKE A BOSS, MAGGIE, LIKE A BOSS!

Five or ten minutes later we’re headed into the procedure room.  It’s modern, clean and much more welcoming than the room I had my egg retrieval procedure in.  The monitors are LED and the equipment looks brand new.  Mo shows me over to the stool where the accompanying partner is supposed to sit and I take a seat.  That’s when I notice the god-awful stirrups.  [I realize now that I should’ve taken a picture because there’s no good way to describe them.  Also, it’s NEVER a good idea to GIS (Google Image Search) stirrups at work.]  They were unlike anything I’ve seen but I’m willing to bet that if you gave birth to a Generation Xer, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.  They were wide, brown leather stirrups without the foot pegs and they looked like they had been salvaged from an underground abortion clinic.  

Maggie gets settled into the archaic contraption and Dr Davenport starts the process of cleaning her cervix and ute.  This is the most time-consuming part because, as you know from Maggie’s previous post, the hormone tablets have NOT been taken by mouth!  Mo is happily giving us a tour of Maggie’s innards via the ultrasound – “I guess you do have to pee, Maggie.  Here’s your bladder.”  A little more poking and prodding and then Dr Murray steps in to prepare for the transfer.  Mo explains that the embryos are floating in a tiny capsule of solution which is surrounded on both ends by air pockets.  Dr Murray positions the straw-like device exactly where it needs to be and flushes it, releasing the air pockets and embryos right into position.  Yes, I said embryos!  We decided to transfer two and doubled our chances.

Below is the ultrasound picture.   Not much to see here other than Maggie’s full bladder (red arrow) and the air pockets surrounding the microscopic embryo party of 2 (yellow arrow).   

And now we wait.