So after months and months and months of blood draws, appointments, ultrasounds, the frozen embryo transfer happened on Monday, December 14th!
My husband and I were elated to finally have something concrete. This was the closest we have been to this, or having the option of kids in the 8-ish years we've been married. Needless to say as we got closer I couldn't help but be nervous, not necessarily for the procedure or idea of being pregnant, I was nervous because the right before we were going to try to expand our family a few years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I could not help but think in the back of my mind, "what's going to happen now." But I worked very hard to keep it in the back of my mind and focus on the positives.
*Prepping*
A lot of women going through this sort of process usually has a slew of medications they use. My doctor and I decided to do a "natural" cycle, which there were barely any medications, just thyroid medication, Prenatal Vitamins and Vitamin D. Then started the ultra sound process. As I mentioned in this post, I had an initial ultra sound to gauge how my uterus was, which was "gorgeous" according to my doctor. *woo-woo* Then followed several other ultra sounds, along with monitoring when I would ovulate.
On a side note, the months previous, I was practicing with the Clearblue Advanced Ovulation Kit, and thought I had it down to a science. I followed the directions, did everything right, and apparently I was peaking for several days then high for a while too. While going through the ultra sound portion I was also monitoring that, and was nothing on the first day they told me to start testing, peaked on the second and was high on the third. They did a blood draw to confirm, because frankly they were not believing that and they were right. I wasn't even close to ovulating. From there on out my ultra sounds were every two days until wham bam I was ready to rock.
*The Day Of*
My appointment was scheduled for 3:00PM, 2:45 arrival time. Since I had a completely natural cycle, I did not have to take any medications. The only thing I needed to do was drink some water and have a relatively full bladder. *be sure to pace yourself, it's not a race to the fullest bladder first*
The closer I got the more I drank, probably about one bottle of water. Drinking about that much worked for me, the doctor was pleased with how fully my bladder was, I wasn't crossing my legs afraid I was going to pee, and I actually was able to wait till I got home to use the bathroom.
The procedure itself was not bad at all. They showed us a picture of the two embryos they were transferring. For those of you just chiming in, we had six embryos frozen, did PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Disorder testing) and found three of them carried the same genetic disorder that I do (Li Fraumeni).
A speculum was then inserted, a catheter followed into my cervix as a trial run to make sure there are no problems. Then the embryologist came out with the embryos, in a flexible catheter and they are inserted. This is all watched through an ultrasound of my uterus and then magically we saw two small white dots with some air bubbles show up on the screen. It was definitely an amazing moment in our lives.
As fast as they were in, I was sitting there, being given my instructions for what I can and can't do, then was on my way home.
I am anxious, nervous, but this is all very surreal. Prayers, positive thoughts and juju are so greatly appreciated!
Sending prayers and praying for you guys!!
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