Transfer Time!

 
Yesterday, Tuesday, June 26th was my egg transfer!  The girls and I awoke early to report to the Barbados Fertility Centre by 7:15am.  Once there, I left the girls in the waiting room while I met an acupuncturist in an exam room for a 30-40 minute session before my procedure.  

The acupuncturist was from a local healing clinic just down the street from BFC.  From the little research I've done, it appears to be one of two clinics on the entire island.  The Integrated Natural Health Clinic contracts with BFC to promote a well-rounded approach to IVF treatment, treating the mind, spirit and body. 

I hadn't planned on scheduling acupuncture, but I was very glad I did.  I've been undergoing acupuncture treatment at home for the last year and a half and my mind and body has had a great response.  Today proved to do the same.  In one of the exam room's at the clinic, Suzette, a very tall, slender Chinese woman with a British accent, pricked my skin with several needles on my head, wrists, ankles, calves and belly.  While the needles were in she played soothing, meditative music while doing some reiki and shakra balancing.

At first it was a little difficult to settle down, but when she gently, yet firmly pressed several points on the bottom of my feet, I eased into a more relaxing state.  It was nice to feel the warmth of her hands in the air conditioned exam room as they traveled over my body, reading its energy.  She stayed with me the entire session, only interrupting me once to remind me to continue drinking water, as I needed to have a very full bladder for the procedure.

When the session was over, I felt rejuvenated, relaxed and a lot more energetic.  I was excited to get on with the procedure.  Or, was that the full bladder getting me moving and making me do the potty dance?  When the front desk clerk saw me pacing back and forth in the waiting room, she came up to me and asked me if I would like to "take a pee," as they call it here for "1,2,3 and then stop?"  Yes, please!  She made me promise only to three and then stop - I was off down the hallway!  Ok, maybe it was 1,2,3...stop then 4,5,6...and 7.  I couldn't resist it felt so good!  It was all good though, because even after the rebellious 7 second pee, my bladder still felt full.

Next was my quick consultation with Dr. Skinner in her office.  Using a useful, laminated chart detailing the different stages of egg development, she showed me what my little eggies looked like when they were removed, what they looked like when they fertilized and as they are currently.  When first retrieved, the eggs simply look like a clear, circular cell.  When fertilized, two smaller circles, or cells appear in the center, then over a few days, those cells multiply - four, six, eight.  Cells that have divided to 6 and 8 are optimal.  The good news, Dr. Skinner, noted was that of my three fertilized eggs, one had divided to 6 and the other 8 - yay!  The third was still at 4, and because of this, she recommended transferring all three eggs into my uterus.  There was still a chance that the "4" could catch up, but seeing as how it was a bit behind the others, she felt comfortable transferring all three. 

After having me sign a document agreeing to the transfer of all three eggs, Dr. Skinner went on to then explain the steps of the procedure.  Using a wooden placard of a uterus resting on her desk, she explained that a catheter would be placed just beyond the entrance of the cervix and the eggs would be released directly into my womb.  It sounded very similar to the insemination process at home, only the catheter did not enter the womb and it was carrying the sperm, not the eggs.  It sounded simple enough and I was relieved to know that I would be awake for the entire procedure and it was not necessary to be put under anesthesia. 

After our brief consult, I was lead into the recovery room, where nurse, Tracie, took me behind a curtain and asked me to change into a similar blue gown, hat and booties I wore on Saturday for the retrieval.  Once changed, I entered the "theatre," the operating room, and Tracie assisted me in getting into the proper position on the blue, cushioned chair.  My legs were elevated, with stirrups propping up my calves, just below the back of my knees.  My bum had to slide all the way down to the end of the chair, practically falling off.  After lying back, Tracie reclined the chair so that I was practically inverted - legs in the air, head aimed toward to ground and of course, legs spread eagle - very attractive.  In this way, I was left for what felt like an embarrassing eternity until the doctor arrived.

The doctor disappeared behind the blue sheet covering my legs, I could barely see the top of her blonde, highlighted head.  Instead, my focus was on the sonogram screen, which was used to look into my womb throughout the procedure.  Tracie glided the lubricated sono device over my belly and discovered a very full bladder, which both doc and nurse were pleased to see, as it allows them to identify the uterus easier and makes the placement of the eggs more precise.  Surprisingly, the pressure of the sono wand was by far the most painful experience of the procedure as it was pressed firmly into my belly, right upon my extremely full bladder!  That coupled with the fact that I was in an inverted yoga-like position made it difficult for me to breathe easily and focus on much more than how much I wanted to go to the bathroom...until I saw them...

My breathing leveled and I forgot about the discomfort once I saw the slim, whitish line of the catheter on the screen, followed by three whitish blobs.  At first I thought they were just flickers of light from the screen, until the doc confirmed that the three little blobs were the eggs entering the womb.  And then there they were, a little cluster of eggies resting together in the center of my womb.  They were actually in there!  So fascinating!  I got a little black and white picture printed from the sono machine.  I feel like a proud mama already - except they're eggies, not quite a baby yet.  Hehe.  Still, if felt good to see them in there, knowing that they had successfully made it this far.  Who knows if the egg/sperm of my previous inseminations ever made the journey to my uterus?  I'll never know.   
   
Excited to see the little guys in there and to have had a successful procedure, I was helped out of the awkward position and directed out of the theatre and back to the curtain where I changed back into my street clothes.  As I heard a snoring patient on the other side of the curtain, quite possibly, someone who was resting after their retrieval, I was thankful to not have to walk out like a zombie this time.  Instead, I walked out comfortably, no pain or wooziness whatsoever, to the exam room where Suzette was waiting to complete the acupuncture session.

For another 1/2 hour, Suzette performed acupuncture, reiki and shakra balancing once more, this time to music of moving water (Which would have been downright evil during the first session, with a full bladder!)  She placed needles in the same areas as the first session, but when she started to place several in my chest, between my breasts and in between my ribs, I asked how she determined where to place needles.  Were there certain areas typical for patients like me undergoing IVF or were they individualized?  Both, she responded.  

The head, wrists, ankles, legs and belly were all procedural.  The others, making a trail from my chest down the middle of my torso, those were just for me.  She explained that while performing reiki on me, she sensed a lot of tightness, constriction and stagnation in the area.  This area is associated with emotions, leading her to believe I've been holding in my emotions, not expressing myself and dealing with a lot of conflict.  Well, she certainly called me out!  

This is a problem that my own acupuncturist has been working on with me at home.  It's certainly a pattern that troubles me - not expressing my feelings and shutting down.  Not trying to name excuses (ok, maybe a few)...this definitely has been an emotional experience and I do close down.  Sometimes I open up if people ask how I'm doing, but I usually won't offer on my own.  Maybe it's an only child thing - I never had a sibling around to share, yell or express myself with?  I was brought up to be very reserved and sharing fuzzy warm feelings just wasn't the norm in my family.  Also, I never like to have the spotlight on me.  I don't want conversation or the moment to be all about me.  And that's been true even more so while on vacation here in Barbados.  My girls are here to of course support me, but I don't want every waking moment to be about me, my drama, my eggies and God forbid my wailing woes.  No, this should be a vacation for them as well, and I don't want to be a party pooper.  

So, yeah there's a few excuses for my shut down behavior. I know my girls are shaking their head, tisk tisking me as they read this.  Hey, what can I say, I'm a work in progress.  Anyhow, the acupuncturist stressed that releasing this area of tension was something, "I need to work on."  And she said this with the utmost seriousness, stern faced expression.  She recommended a few things I could do and foods to eat.  I was grateful for her advice and honesty and very thankful I decided to undergo acupuncture while here.  

After my acupuncture session, there was one final meeting with the nurse Tracie, in which the girls also shuffled into her office to attend.  Like Tetris, the three of us wiggled and rearranged ourselves to fit into the small office with only two visitor chairs.  Squeezed onto the chairs like a bench, we listened as Tracie explained next steps and I asked a few final questions.  Basically from here, I take it easy, continue my meds and take a pregnancy test in two weeks.  

After our morning at the clinic, we went back to our apartment to eat, decompress and rest up.  We made it to the beach (what a surprise) and out to dinner.  The girls are being sure that I'm eating and drinking properly, as I'm rather stubborn and don't want to eat the warm meaty foods that have been recommended (I'm not much of a meat eater).  I'm feeling good, physically and feel a lot lifted, emotionally.  The last few days were quite overwhelming as I awaited the results of the harvesting. Now that that's over, I have different lot of questions swirling in my head - which I'm trying to not stress and future trip over.  Just going to have to do my best to relax, enjoy the island's beauty and do a whole lot of nothing for the next week until I return home!  

I'll be in touch...hopefully with good news.