eeny, meeny, miney, moe, plus one for good measure

ET today. Dr. Aggressive was on , so I did not have to justify our decision to any of the nay-sayers. This was the first time in my IF life that a male doc was involved, which was a little strange- especially since I'd never seen the guy before and had only spoken to him the one time, Friday, to discuss the fertilization report. Add to that the male who assisted (led me into the OR, arranged me in the stirrups, and slathered u/s gel on my lower ab), and it was almost awkward. But, as I'm sure everyone living the IF life knows, modesty has pretty much disappeared, so I got over it almost as soon as I realized these were the first two men to "know" me in an IF way.

Here's the real news of the day- we transferred FIVE embryos. At first, the quantity had me a bit alarmed. I was afraid it meant they were all crappy and had little to no chance of implanting, so they were just throwing the maximum in there to see what would happen. Not so. We had two 8-cell grade 1 (aka PERFECT) embryos, one 7-cell grade 1, one 8-cell grade 2, and a 4-cell grade 2 to round out the full house. Even to our untrained eyes, C and I thought today's embies looked better than the three we transferred in April. The rest of the 15 that fertilized apparently did not fare well, but I don't know the details. I believe there's nothing to freeze.

The transfer itself was nothing spectacular, aside from the fact that this time I got to watch the u/s monitor while the embies were released. Mr. Nurse pointed on the screen to where I should focus my attention while Dr. Aggressive manned the u/s doohickey, pressing it almost painfully into my abdomen while a resident did the actual transfer. She was great- I'd met her in April, when she was observing procedures. I swear she didn't open the speculum as wide as the transferring doc did last time, and I didn't feel a thing when she fed the catheter through, so it would have been painless if not for Dr. A and the u/s.

I asked about OHSS- specifically, how much is "a lot" (i.e. "drink a lot") and of that amount, how much should be Gatorade-type beverages. Dr. A pressed on my bloated belly and said I have nothing to worry about because I'm soft and squishy around the middle and I haven't gained any weight since the retrieval. But he said I should continue to drink 2-liters or so daily (his definition of "a lot") just to stay hydrated, and at this point none of it needs to contain electrolytes. I'm not sure I buy his "don't worry" diagnosis, since OHSS often doesn't flare up until HCG levels rise with pregnancy. I'll keep weighing myself daily and paying attention to how much goes in and how much goes out. I'll be vigilant, but I won't worry.

I have enough to worry about... FIVE embryos and the TWW.

ten, seven, and five

We transferred all three embryos (10-, 7-, and 5-cells) today. I'm taking it easy ... watched a little TV, and will take a nap now (to make up for staying up almost all night worrying we'd have nothing to transfer). I'm planning to go to work tomorrow, but will avoid the stairs as much as I can and will basically just sit at my desk all day. No different than if I stayed home, really. I still feel pretty bloated from the ER, and I suspect that some of the medications are responsible for last night's insomnia. Generally, I feel good. We'll have our beta on 4/21, so now I just need to keep on hoping.