The Friday Report

Okay, what a long day. We got up at 0430 so I could be at acupuncture at 0545. Mike slept in the car while I got my Zen on on Hannah's table. Then we went down to Cinci for our transfer.

I had to have a full bladder, so I began drinking water when we left Worthington. Well, we made it to OH-73 and I was about to wet myself so Mike stopped at a gas station so I could go. I still had another 32 ounces of water with me so I wasn't worried. I downed that in the last 30 minutes of the trip. When we arrived a little early, I felt like I had to pee, so we were good to go. Then we had to sit. And wait. And wait. Apparently they had an emergency case come in so we were all postponed a little bit. After 20 minutes of sitting, I thought my bladder was going to explode. I had the brilliant idea that it might be better to walk it off rather than sit, but I quickly discovered that my bladder was so full I couldn't stand up straight. Finally one of the sweetest nurses arrived to take us to our transfer.

We went to the same prep room as we were in for the retrieval and I had to strip from the waist down (go figure) and wear a hospital gown. Mike had to put scrubs on over his clothes. We both had to wear those lovely blue poufy hats and shoe covers. Sweetie Nurse told me if I thought I could stop my flow, I could pee a little bit. Boy, I was sure going to try! Whew, success! Then it was off to the operating room for us. Sweetest nurse couldn't really tell us about our embryos, but she did tell us everything that was going to happen so we weren't completely in the blind. Then she wanted to check to see if my bladder was full enough. When she pulled my gown up, she said, "Oh my... I can SEE how full it was. She checked with the ultrasound (external this time) and let me go pee a little more (God love her!!!). When I returned, they were waiting on me. She checked my bladder again and called for the doc. When he arrived, he had a picture for us of our remaining 3 embryos. One was a 5-cell, dividing like it's supposed to; one was a 4-cell, with a lot of fragmentation; and one was a 3-cell, not dividing like it was supposed to and with a lot of fragmentation. Here's a picture:

Yeah, we know... they don't really look a whole lot different to us, either. But, that's what the specialists say, so that's what we go with.

The doc then did a "mock transfer" so he could clean my cervix and measure it before putting the embryos in so he could be sure of EXACTLY where he put them. Then they loaded our little guys, "Hewey, Dewey, and Louie," as Lisa put it, in a catheter and put them into my uterus. I tried to upload the picture, but for whatever reason it won't take. So I'll try it again later. Then I lay there for a few minutes before being allowed to go empty my bladder (oh my, what a sensation!) and get dressed. Then I got to relax in a recliner for a bit before being released.

Then all the way back to Worthington for another acu treatment. Mike took me to the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru on the way home for comfort food. We came home, ate, and collapsed into bed. I think we both slept for about 4 hours. It was well-needed and well-deserved.

I know I'm not really a religious person, but I'm asking you all to please pray for us in our endeavor to have a child. Whatever it takes to make this work, we will do. Our blood test is Thanksgiving week, so let's all hope we have one more little joy to be thankful for. We'll keep you updated with how we're feeling and doing over the next couple of weeks until then. Thanks again for all your support.

Love, Mike & Gwen