Now to Wait

It's a done deed.  Quite an exhausting and amazing experience, really.

We've been in Atlanta for the past week for daily Dr. visits, and specifically for the Egg Retrieval and Embryo Transfer.  Most people think of spending a week in an Atlanta hotel as a vacation. haha!  If only. :)  No, at this point I've been so riddled with hormones and anxiety that I feel my body and mind might explode at any moment.  Not to mention the physical torture I've been through.  No, not quite a vacation.  But indeed an exhausting, yet amazing experience.  Perhaps I will focus on the amazing part. :)

Last Sunday morning, before we headed to the local church, I got the phone call report that my follicles had been stimulated enough and that I was ready to receive the trigger (hcg) shot and do the egg retrieval.  I gave myself the trigger shot at 10:00 pm that Sunday night as directed, and reported Monday morning for bloodwork and pre-op information.  Tuesday morning, (Sept. 18) we went in for the Egg Retrieval.  They put me to sleep and went up in there to collect!  Everything went well, and they were able to retrieve 11 eggs.  I spent the rest of the day recovering in the hotel room.  Spencer gave his sample, and the creation process began! :)  We found out the next day that of our 11 eggs, only 6 were mature, and 4 of those fertilized normally.  Not as many as we were hoping for, but success nonetheless.  We went home Wednesday with directions to return Friday, Sept. 21 for the Embryo Transfer.  

Friday ended up being, oddly enough, a very funny and happy day together!  For some reason Spencer and I were so giggly and goofy acting that morning!  I guess we were feeling so giddy and excited about it all.  I remember laughing in the bathroom that morning as Spencer came out of the shower with his orange beard he had recently acquired still attached to his face.  I thought for sure he would have shaved for such an occasion, and of course had to comment.  And he replied, "Well you can just call me Chris." ...As in Kris Kringle...aka Santa Claus. haha!!  And I said, "Well, I would if your beard wasn't so red.  No, I think I will call you PATRICK!" haha!  And Spencer actually laughed!  He NEVER laughs at my jokes!...or anyone else's for that matter. ;)  I know that's silly to share, but that was just the beginning of a day full of laughter between the two of us.

On the way up to ATL, we had to stop at 9:15 so I could empty my bladder, take my instructed Ibuprofen and Xanax, and start drinking the 64 oz. of water (OUCH!) necessary to give me a massively full bladder for the sake of the ultrasound view during the Embryo Transfer process (a full bladder makes it easier to see where the uterus is and what's going on in there).  We stopped at a ghetto McDonalds that we almost turned around and ran out of...that's a story by itself.  But once we hit the road again, I started drinking all of that water. Out of all the hard things I've done in this process, THAT was seriously one of the hardest... try drinking 64 oz of water all at once without puking! *shudder* Never again.  My belly was so bloated and jiggling (in addition to the sensitivity I already have within my abdomen from other torture).  But somehow I managed to get it all down without up-chucking.  

That bottle was only a portion of what I had to drink.

While Spencer and I waited in my patient room for my bladder to be ready, we were both in hospital garb: gown and scrubs and hair nets and booties, I noticed he still had his sunglasses on his head under his hair net...true Spencer fashion.  

 And it kept making me laugh every time I would look at him!  By this time the Xanax must have been kicking in.  I've never taken one before this, but it must have made me extra giggly.  Spence kept taking funny pictures of me as I finished the last of my HUGE water bottle.  And then it HIT me... not the full bladder... but the OTHER end. :/  Thanks to the removal of my gallbladder, whenever I have to go #2 it hits me quick and hard.  So I had to tip toe out into the quiet hall in my hospital gown and try to find a nurse to ask her if it was okay for me to try and poop without peeing. hahaha!!  She gave me an incredulous look, but told me to go ahead and try if I thought I could.  Amazingly, I had success, and we were all laughing about it!  It was all just such a funny experience!  We were feeling so giddy (and obviously giggly) while we waited there for one of the biggest moments of our lives.

Soon enough, my full bladder also hit me hard, and it was time to go back to the procedure room.  I went first so they could make sure my bladder was ready, and then Spencer and the Doctor and Embryologist came in and talked to us about our embryos and showed us this picture...

...of our healthy and perfect two embryos that they were transferring to my uterus.

The other two they would wait out to see if they would continue to grow and be able to be frozen.  I became emotional as I studied the picture of our embryos.  I was in awe and I know Spencer and I were feeling the stirring of the Spirit in that moment.  Everything was then prepared for the transfer.  We could see everything that was happening inside of me on the ultrasound screen.   

Black mass at the top is the full bladder. Catheter (from the left) coming into the uterus on the right.  And that tiny spark of light within is right where they dropped off the embryos.  I cracked a joke about "dropping the kids off at the park." :)

 It was so amazing to have that visual through it all.  Especially for Spencer, who had never seen any of this stuff before.  He's not usually with me during other routine appointments.  I will never forget the feelings I had as all of this was taking place.  It was quiet and peaceful.  It felt sacred.  It felt like God was in the very room with us guarding and guiding each hand and process.  I've only ever felt like that in the temple before.  It was amazing.  We both felt on such a high after that.  I had to lay there for 10 or so minutes after the procedure.  And then I was able to go relieve my bladder and get dressed and go leave.

Before we left the building I told Spencer to give me 5 minutes in the bathroom to put on my makeup that I wasn't allowed to wear for the procedure that morning.  I went in and was almost done applying my makeup when I guess the "5 minutes" were up...and I got a text from him teasing me about taking longer than 5 minutes (because he loves to harass). So I texted him back and said, "You'd better be nice to me...I'm carrying your embryos." :)

It was such a sweet day that I'll never forget.  We shopped for a little bit.  But I crashed out like a light in the car (I guess the Xanax was in full swing by this point along with everything else)... and it seems like I've been sleeping ever since.  My mind and body are just so exhausted from everything I've been through.

Thanks, Spencer, for making this sad and slightly funny evidence possible. ;)

Tomorrow I'll go back to ATL for a Progesterone test and will hopefully hear back on the progress of the other two embryos for freezing.  Last night, we started the Progesterone shot that Spencer has to give me in the rear end for the next two weeks while we wait.  Absolute MURDER.  This one is the BiG needle right into the muscle tissue.  I'm NOT looking forward to doing this every night.  

Hopefully it will be worth all of the pain.