Transfer Day

Preparing for the transfer meant starting the much bigger, scarier, progesterone medication. The Progesterone gives support for the lining of the uterus and is needed to maintain an early pregnancy. The Progesterone is taken until reaching 10 weeks pregnant, at that time the placenta produces enough of its own progesterone so that the supplementation can stop. And even though I considered myself a "pro" at giving myself the Lurpon injections in my stomach, I was definitely not confident enough to give myself the Progesterone injections in my backside. (Insert my loving husband here, who offered to help me with the injections.) This hormone is in oil, so it's thicker and needs a bigger needle, and needs to be inserted intramuscularly. The nurse had explained how to give the Progesterone injections to me in person, but no one actually SHOWS you how to do it. So, you are left to turn to the wonderful "YouTube" for help! I found dozens of videos of women preparing their bodies for an IVF transfer and giving themselves a shot of Progesterone. It was very helpful, love YouTube!


I started the daily Progesterone injections one week before the transfer. Some other medications that I was required to take to prepare for the transfer were an antibiotic called Doxycycline (Doryx) and a steroid called Methylprednisolone (Medrol). The Doryx minimizes the risk of injection from the transfer. And Medrol is a steroid that helps prevent the body from rejecting the transferred embryos. Both of these were oral pills that I took for 5 days before the transfer.


On the day of the transfer, my husband and I drove out to LA for the 10am appointment. I was nervously excited for the big day. I was given one Valium pill to take 45 minutes before the procedure, to help relax my muscles and me! We got settled into the room, and the Intended Mother (IM) met us in there. The Intended Father (IF) was also there, but just said hello briefly and remained in the waiting room during the procedure. They wheeled a big incubator with the embryos into the room, and plugged it in. Then we all got a chance to get a peek at the three embryos that would be transferred through the microscope. It was so neat! I don't have an actual picture of them, but they looked something like this: 

 {image source}

After implantation into the womb, the sphere you see is what later would become the placenta, and the clump of cells on the bottom would become the fetus. All that work leading up to the transfer, and the actual procedure took no more than 15 minutes. It was simple, and painless. I was asked to remain lying down for another 30 minutes with my legs elevated slightly. Then I was wheeled out of the clinic, and told to remain on bed rest for the next 24 hours only getting up to eat and use the restroom. The couple had graciously reserved us a room at a hotel nearby for the night. The next morning, we woke up and met the couple for breakfast. It was good to chat with them and learn more about each other before we headed home.


Up next... wait, wait, wait... for the pregnancy test results!


~The Baby Fairy