I kept waking up throughout the night, opening my eyes fervently asking God: What should we do? God, please give us a nudge one way or another!
Anyone who knows Chris and me knows that we are pro/con people, chart makers, spreadsheet specialist... nerds who make most major decisions logically (Chris) and decisively (Rachel). For the three hour ride to the doctor's office, we talked in circles, paused to pray, talked some more... We weren't frantic, but we just didn't feel peace about which decision to make.
Added to the decision tango was the fact that I had to arrive at the clinic with a moderately full bladder--not so full that I would be doing the potty dance in the parking lot of the clinic, but full enough to feel it. Attempting to find this urinary balance was a feat. I've never really paid attention to my water intake and subsequent bathroom usage before so I didn't know how to reach the right balance. Two bathroom breaks later (I think I was too overzealous with the water drinking in the first part of the trip), I started fresh with a new bottle of water around Allentown. I sipped it periodically and we arrived in the parking lot of the clinic, full bladder and all.
Before heading in, Chris grabbed my hand and we prayed a final time. We prayed that God would give us peace and clarity. A hug and a kiss and we were on our way.
We were called back quickly and asked to change-- me into a gown, and Chris into this "awesome" outfit!
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| Yep, he is one cool guy. |
We sat down with the embryologist, Maria and Dr. Munabi. The embryologist updated us on how our embryos were doing: two were "absolutely perfect" and three were still underdeveloped. The three underdeveloped embryos were still in the game, but were not ready for a transfer today. The two "absolutely perfect" embryos were ready, if we wanted to choose two.
We talked to Dr. Munabi about the risks, benefits etc.---- all information we had already known coming in to the conversation. We asked medical professional their opinions. Each said they would lean toward two embryos because of their superior grades. It is not often that two embryos are ready and have the same grade at the same time.
Well, we asked for a sign. And we got one. Two medical professionals, encouraging the transfer of two embryos.
Dr. Sasson, our primary doctor at Shady Grove, was away today. I wondered, what would he think? He had been encouraging us to only do one... (see note at the end of the post).
Chris and I talked for a minute more and then both firmly decided that we wanted two.
We headed back to the operating room and things went smoothly from there. Dr. Munabi made me feel so relaxed and told me what he was doing before he did it. What was super cool was that we got to watch the transfer (the embryos coming out of the catheter into my uterus) on a screen. We were able to see everything. It was the best show I've ever seen!
After the transfer was over, I rested for a while, and Chris and I chatted with the embryologist. She was so sweet; she brought us a photo of the two embryos that she had taken with the microscope, right before the transfer:
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| Unbelievable! Embryo 1 and 2.
We drove home, pretty much on cloud nine, thankful that we felt at peace about our decision and hopeful for what is to come!
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Note: Dr. Sasson called this afternoon to check on us. He said had he been at the office this morning to see the two best embryos, he would have encouraged the transfer of two also.
You might be wondering about the three remaining embryos: We will get a call tomorrow from Maria letting us know if any of them made it to the final stage, the stage where it is safe to freeze them for future use. We could have three remaining, two, one or none. I will post tomorrow with that update.
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