The embryo transfer

It has taken two months to get there but we have gotten there!  The embryo transfer was yesterday and we are now in the two week wait.

Our donor has been amazing.  We have met up socially on a few occasions now and we all get along so well.  She is one generous and loving woman and I feel so blessed and grateful to have met her.
She was so worried about doing well by us and producing enough eggs for us to use, that when she told me she had gotten 24 eggs, she burst into tears with relief!  And said she did the thing in recovery when the nurses told her.  24 eggs!  Its staggering.

As she was only donating and not continuing to transfer herself, they were able to overstimulate more than is normal for a regular IVF round.  But not too much so that it damages the eggs.  To produce 24 though, is incredible.  They weren't expecting that many!

Of those 24, they chose 20 to fertilise - 10 using IVF and 10 using ICSI.  We got 9 ICSI embryos and 7 IVF embryos.  Amazing!  From them, we got 11 great quality embryos.  They chose an IVF one to transfer to me and the rest will be frozen.

We have never seen an embryo like the one I am carrying inside me now.  It had reached blastocyst stage by Day 4 and the embryologist told us that we couldn't have a better result!  Our embryos from my eggs never reached that stage before transfer.  Ours were always still at the early cell stage.  To see one looking like that, was fantastic.

Yesterday after the transfer I was feeling crampy and very fragile.  I rested, listened to my meditation CD's and thought positive, open, loving and receptive thoughts.  Today, I have that stretchy uterine sensation.  But as usual, it is a symptom that I can associate both with pregnancy and sometimes with being pre-menstrual.  So, no guarantees there.

Apart from a few little things I still have to do, I have taken two weeks off work for the Christmas break and will focus on staying relaxed and positive.  Oh, and get ready for everyone coming over for Christmas lunch!

The meditation CD's I have been listening to are awesome.  If anyone is reading this who is going through any kind of fertility, they are the ones to use.  It is a website called Circle and Bloom and they have CD's for any situation - both natural and medically assisted - before and after and during - as well as for general women's health.

There is so much to say - about our donor and what she has done/and wants to do for us - about the process - and about our hopes and dreams.  Right now, though, I am staying focused on the now.  On encouraging the little life inside me to implant and grow strong and healthy.  On staying relaxed for the next two weeks.

I will be back in two weeks to let you know the results.  If it isn't successful this time, there are 11 more little embryos waiting for us.  And while that thought helps us to remain positive, it certainly doesn't take away our deep desire for this one to be the one.