We met there in the waiting room a half hour before our actual appointment so Emily's Valium had time to work. She and I joked that I too should be allowed a Valium to calm me down.
As we sat and waited, poor Emily could hardly sit or stand or move. Her butt and back and legs were painfully sore from the Progesterone shots that she had a weird reaction to.
When they finally called us back we all gathered in the very same room I had been in twice now for my own embryo transfer. It was surreal. Emily, Mike, Logan and I waited very impatiently for the doc. We talked and talked but as I sit and write I can't even remember what we talked about. We joked a little and I was hoping it would calm me down. I was positive and feeling good but there is also an element of the unexpected that made me nervous, even after doing this three times myself. This time though would be different because we had a competent cervix!
(Above) Emily and her husband Mike
Dr. Foulk finally showed his face and things got real. He sat down next to us with a picture of our very last two embryos (below).
He explained that one of the embryos was a grade 2 (a grade one blastocyst is the best) and if I remember correctly the other, a grade 3 (?) Dr. Foulk indicated he hadn't seen a grade 2 in months. That sure made me perk up!
Finally, after he had confirmed that all of us were still willing to transfer both embryos, it was time.
Emily laid back and Dr. Foulk went to work. I swear, in that room you could've heard a pin drop. I personally, was literally holding my breath--especially when he inserted the catheter that held our two precious little bundles of joy.
Before he "made the drop," Emily was told to hold really still and not to cough, laugh or jerk in any way for a few seconds. After the embryos were placed at the top of the uterus Dr. Foulk showed us on the ultrasound where he put them. Additionally, the embryologist is handed back the catheter to make sure the embryos were out. Twice Dr. Foulk would have to reinsert because one little embryo would just not let go of the wall of the catheter. Finally the third time, the catheter was "clear" and Emily was to lay still for 20 minutes.
And she did.
We all sat there. Excited for what was to come and hopeful for a happy ending.
Even our work family sent us a good luck picture that afternoon from the office. After all, they were the only ones who knew what was happening that very afternoon. Made me smile...
