Our Third Frozen Embryo Transfer

Our third Embryo Transfer was Monday, November 27th. I had counted down the days to this date ever since they told me when it was going to be, and while I was excited, I was also having bouts of anxiety. I was so nervous about getting another negative and I didn’t want to fall in a hole again, especially during Christmas Time. 

I had an ultrasound the week before to make sure my lining was on point. I asked the doctor what number he was looking for with the lining and he told me 7 and mine was a 13, so everything looked perfect. I also asked him what he recommended regarding bed rest, because I was really struggling with making a decision on what to do. You see, with Fox’s transfer (different doctor) they recommended two days of strict bedrest and I literally stayed horizontal for four full days. I heard from a lot of other people that their doctors didn’t recommend any bedrest though, because it prevents blood to flow to the uterus, so I was very confused and didn’t know what would be better. When I asked my doctor about it, he told me that there is no evidence that bedrest helps, so they just tell the patient to stay in bed until the next morning and then resume normal activity. 

What he did recommend though, was acupuncture, right before and right after the transfer. I had never done acupuncture before and I was wondering why he is just now mentioning this, when I already had two previous transfers with him. So I thought what the heck, handed over another $400 and scheduled my acupuncture appointments. 

My embryo transfer was scheduled for 3pm, so I was supposed to be there at 2pm for my first acupuncture session. I read that it relaxes you, but I really didn’t have any feelings, positive or negative, about it. 

When we got into the transfer room, the embryologist showed us our perfect AB embryo and said that this was the best looking embryo of all of the ones we had transferred this year, because it was already splitting into two cells. 

At this point, everything felt like routine to me, I wasn’t as excited as the previous times, because I was guarding my heart. I didn’t even ask Katie to record the ultrasound screen when the embryo was going in, like I had done the first two times, because at this point it felt silly to me. Ten minutes later, I was wheeled back into the recovery room and the acupuncturist did the second session on me. I usually lay there for an hour wiggling and hurting because my bladder is so full and they won’t let me get up, but either I didn’t drink as much water this round or the acupuncture really relaxed me, because next thing I knew, I was dead asleep (the valium I had to take might have helped with that too). 

When we said goodbye to our nurse that day, I told her I would see her in six weeks for the next transfer. 

We went to pick up Fox from Katie’s mom’s house and drove home, where I took a two hour nap. I stayed in bed for the rest of the night, watching “Elf” and working on Etsy orders until 11pm, when I went to sleep. 

The next morning I got up like any other day and I kind of felt jipped of my bedrest day, but I had to decided to stay home that day to relax, which is what I did after I dropped off Fox at school. It was a great day, I worked on my computer, I watched Home Alone, I prepared for my upcoming Cookie and Ornament Exchange, wrapped presents and just lounged around the house, while making sure to get up regularly to get moving. 

The next few days were business as usual, work, spending time with Fox, playdates, etc. I mostly forgot about the little embryo that was inside me, but when I remembered, I always wondered if he was still alive and hanging on.

My emotions went from hope and excitement the first few days to sadness and dread the next few days, because I was getting closer to testing day. 

Four days after the transfer, I experienced intense cramping, it happened in two waves while I was driving to school and it literally took my breath away and I thought I was going to pass out. I remembered having the same experience with Fox before I found out that I was pregnant with him, but didn’t want to get my hopes up. I also had all kinds of other symptoms that I had after every transfer and was part of the side effects from the progesterone and estrogen I was taking: Exhaustion, Dizziness and sore breasts. These side effects made me think I was pregnant back in February when we first tried, but this time around, I knew it had no indication on whether this transfer had worked or not. 

To be continued…!