Embryo Transfer

On Day 3 post Embryo Retrieval, we received an update from OFC. This was either going to be good news or bad news - a lot can happen to the fertilized eggs in just a few days, so we were anxious to know how they were doing.

We were told that they were doing well, and that we could plan to do an embryo transfer on Day 5 which was Thursday September 28th. This is the ideal scenario because it gives the embryos a chance to turn into blastocysts (typically by day 5) and be better assessed by the embryologist.

Jake and I both took the Thursday off work. We were scheduled to have a consult with the IVF doctor-on-call at 9:30 and our transfer was tentatively scheduled for 10:30. Because we still weren't sure if there was fluid remaining in my uterus, the transfer was only tentative.

OFC was running behind schedule that day. There had been a big storm in Ottawa the day before, so many patients were late or running behind because of road and traffic issues due to the storm. So that meant everything was pushed back that day. We got called in around 10:15. Jake changed into scrubs and I changed into that awesome hospital gown again.

We finally met with the IVF doctor and we were given all the info about how our embryos were doing. We had a total of 4 viable embryos plus an additional 2 non-viable embryos. Each embryo was evaluated by an embryologist and graded.

Of the 4 viable embryos, we had 2 excellent quality (the highest quality), 1 good quality, and 1 fair quality. The other 2 non-viable embryos would be destroyed.

Based on our discussion with the doctor, we agreed that if we still had fluid in my uterus, we would transfer the 1 fair embryo. Embryos rated as "fair" can't be frozen, so rather than let it go to waste, we could try and transfer the fair embryo and see how we would do - but likely it wouldn't work due to the fluid.

On the other hand, if there was no fluid in my uterus, the doctor advised us that we should transfer our highest quality embryo!

Shortly after that discussion, we were pulled into the operating room where an ultrasound tech did an ultrasound to confirm if there was any fluid left in my uterus. Fortunately, there was none, which meant that we could transfer the highest quality embryo!

It was a very cool process! Before transferring the embryo, the embryologist showed us a picture of the embryo (now known as a "blastocyst"). We were able to watch it be transferred into my uterus via a catheter and thanks to ultrasound technology.

They pulled everything out of me and the embryologist confirmed that there was no embryo left in the catheter (meaning it was now in my uterus left to do its thing)!

So now we cross our fingers and toes, and wait and see what happens to our little em-baby!

We also decided to freeze the other remaining embryos that were of high-enough quality to freeze. The 1 remaining fair-rated embryo had to be destroyed since it would not survive the freezing and de-thawing process, but the 2 other embryos (1 excellent quality and 1 good quality) would be frozen. There were still no guarantees that they will be successfully frozen, but OFC will call us tomorrow (Friday) to let us know if the freezing process for those 2 remaining embryos was a success. We really hope that they can be successfully frozen, because those would be our future options for Frozen Embryo Transfers if this embryo transfer doesn't work, if we miscarry, or if we want to try for more kids in the future.

So wish us luck!

Regardless of the result, we most likely will not be posting any further updates or news on here, but hopefully these blog posts helped you understand the process and everything we were doing to try and have a baby. AND if we're ever lucky enough to have a child from this IVF cycle, we will likely use these records if they are ever being a little-shit-teenager to remind them how much they were wanted and why they should be good lol!

Thanks for your support everyone! Now we wait and let science and possibly a little bit of magic do their things!