Monday, June 20, 2016

Our trip to Georgia & Embryo Transfer!



Well, we did it!  We transferred our first donor egg embryo on Thursday & it is absolutely perfect!  I should back up and start with Wednesday the day we left because it was a doozy.  The entire trip was actually pretty rough for me, but we accomplished what we went down to do and that is all that matters!

Wednesday morning our flight left from Chicago at 6am so we wanted to be on the road by 2.  We got up around 1:30 and made the 1.5 hour drive to Midway.  It poured rain and stormed the entire way there, but luckily at that hour there isn't much traffic to worry about.  We got to the airport, parked, got on the shuttle, and got quickly in line to check our bags.  Joe and I were talking about how our licenses had very outdated addresses on them and that we probably needed to update them.  I noticed shortly after that conversation that mine was actually expired!  As of my 30th birthday just a week prior, and I had no idea.  Luckily we made it through airport security without anyone noticing.  

We got on the plane and the flight was really quick, about 1.5 hours.  I had a second cup of bold Starbucks coffee on the plane which I knew was probably a bad idea but I needed some energy if I was going to make it through the day.  We picked up our rental car and drove the 2.5 hours to Augusta from Atlanta.  The whole car ride I felt terrible.  My stomach was really distended and I was just feeling horrible.  I was in tears by the end of it & we really were hoping we would be able to check into our hotel early.  We arrived by noon and check in wasn't until 3, but the lady at the desk could visibly see that I was a wreck.  She worked on getting us a room and Joe and I went to Target so that I could get some meds.  I wanted activated charcoal but they didn't have it so I tried Gas-X hoping that would relieve my bloat.  We sat in the car for around 30 minutes and there was no relief.

We headed to Urgent Care where I continued to get progressively worse.  I had never had such bad pain in my stomach before, I could hardly walk, and my left side was just in excruciating pain.  The doc at the Urgent Care wasn't able to do much but prescribe me an antacid for a possible ulcer (being on 81mg aspirin for this IVF cycle he thought that was the culprit) which I started taking right away. We got back to the hotel around 2 and they had a room ready & we went to lay down and nap.  I woke up feeling worse and was doubled over in pain so we went to the ER.  I was so afraid that my transfer was going to be cancelled and we just really wanted to make sure that it wasn't something serious like a burst appendix.  

We waited in the ER waiting room for 3 hours before they took me back.  Joe was so upset because of the wait and how much pain I was in.  Luckily once we got back to a room they started working on me right away.  They had already done blood work which all came back fine except for low white blood cell count.  They took me back instantly for a CT scan which ended up showing that I had severe inflammation and constipation.  I had gone to the bathroom earlier in the day so I wasn't really sure why it was so bad, but it was terrible.  They wanted to give me magnesium to relieve it but they also wanted to do a vaginal ultrasound to make sure my ovaries were ok seeing as how we were supposed to have our transfer the next day, they were very sympathetic to that part of our situation which I really appreciated.

They ended up putting me on IV fluids & gave me morphine for the pain.  I had the ultrasound which came back fine & then within literally seconds of taking just sips of the 10oz of magnesium, I felt better.  We were in the ER a total of 8 hours and had been up for 24 hours by the time we were released.  I felt so much better though and I was cleared for transfer!


Thursday morning was our transfer at 10am.  We checked in and were greeted by the embryologist who told us that we had 5 "perfect" embryos.  We decided to transfer our best quality embryo and freeze the other 4.  The transfer went fine, and by the end we were told we might even have 5 frozen!  We were both very happy with the results of this cycle & I don't think I've ever had an embryo transferred as perfect as the one pictured above.  This is a 4AA top graded 5-day blastocyst and I think our chances of this little guy implanting are pretty darn good!


After the transfer we went back to the room and watched movies and took long naps, that evening we met up with Amy and her husband and their son Max for dinner at House of Beer.  Obviously I couldn't partake in any beer drinking, but we had a yummy dinner and it was great to see them again.  We were supposed to get together Wednesday but since we spent our entire night in the ER we had to cancel.  Friday we spent the day resting and then a kid-free dinner with Amy and her husband.  We ended up going to Rae's Costal Café and then headed downtown to the Boll Weevil for after dinner drinks and amazing desserts.  They had tons of cakes and pies to choose from.  I ended up with a huge piece of lemon cake with a raspberry sauce, it was soo good! 


We had to be up at 4am to make it to Atlanta for our flight home so we called it a night & said our goodbyes to Amy and Allen.  Our trip home went smooth and we were back by 1:30 on Saturday so we were able to rest and relax the rest of the afternoon.  I was so happy that we didn't have any hiccups on the way back.  Although I was sick most of the trip (fought a terrible headache on Friday too) the day that was supposed to go well, went perfect and now we wait for our test to hopefully come back positive!  Thank you all for your continued love and support, fingers & toes crossed for some good news soon!

16 comments:

  1. Congrats Elena, you're almost there!!! I am so sorry to hear how terrible you felt but glad to hear you got to feeling better.

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  2. I am so sorry to hear about the pain you were in prior to your transfer, but glad they were able to make you feel better.

    That is one absolutely beautiful baby! I know you're not an early tester, so I can't wait to hear how your beta goes. Definitely thinking this one is sticking around for a good 8 + months :)

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  3. sorry to hear about the pain you were in before your transfer, happy to hear you are doing better and glad to hear everything went good for the transfer. you are in my thoughts and prayers that everything goes good and that little embryo sticks around!!

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  4. Girl! What a trip. I was so sad to see you in so much pain on IG. I hated that for you, but SO glad you were able to do your transfer. So so so so glad about that.
    What is this activated Charcoal stuff? You are the 2nd person I have heard mention it.. you have me curious ;)

    So pumped for you. I hope you get lots of time to relaxing after those early flights and long days. Glad you got to see Amy and her family too - so sweet

    PS the fact that you got through security is a miracle in of itself! That is nuts

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  5. Not without some drama! Goodness girlfriend! Thankfully the issues were on the front end and all went well after. I want this so bad for you. Saying my prayers & sending support!

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  6. So glad the transfer happened and went smoothly! Gosh, we just can't seem to catch an easy break huh! Life always keeps us guessing! Well, hopefully it was a good omen, like rain the day of the wedding, and this is IT for you love!! Can't wait to hear what happens!

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  7. What a story! I have to say, as soon as I saw the picture of your embryo I thought it is one of the most beautiful I have seen! Absolutely gorgeous. I so hope that it is burrowing in and developing, and that this is the beginning of a beautiful, long and healthy pregnancy for you! Very best wishes
    Karen

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  8. I can not even stand how excited I am for you!!! This is the best news ever! Girl, youre going to be the cutest preggo ever!!

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  9. Can't wait for an update! Hoping for good news)

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  10. Your visit to the seat sounds awful! But yay for PUPO and so many frosties! Can't wait for more good news!

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  11. Good grief! What an ordeal! So glad your transfer was able to still happen!

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  12. You're probably sick of me telling you how excited I am, but I am so excited!! I have been praying for you and thinking of you incessantly.

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  13. Oh goodness girl! So sorry to hear you weren't feeling well and wound up in the ER! I'm glad everything worked out so well in therms though! Praying for that positive result soon!!

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  14. i am so sorry you weren't feeling great, the ER thing was so scary! i am glad it all went well and of course i saw the news on instagram, i am SO happy for you!

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  15. What an adventure you had! Wednesday was definitely a scary and eventful day. I am glad that is was nothing serious and that you were feeling better by Thursday. It sounds like Thursday could not have gone any smoother and I am hoping for a good result for the both of you! Good luck to you!

    Corine Traina @ U.S. HEALTHWORKS SAN JOSE

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