Monday, June 21, 2010

Embryo Transfer

We went in for embryo transfer today.  Sarah's routine looked like this:

1.  Leave home at 6:20.
2.  Arrive at the clinic at 7:50.  Have blood drawn for progesterone test.
3.  Check in with surgery center at 8:00.  Begin drinking water (they need her bladder full for some reason).
4.  Move to pre-op room at 8:30, change into surgical gown, socks and hairnet.
5.  Meet with doctor at 9:20, get picture of embryos to be transferred.
6.  Move to transfer room at 9:35.
7.  Transfer.  Done by 9:45.
8.  Lay in tilted (head-down) operating bed until 10:15. 
9.  Change and head home. On the road by 10:30.
10.  Arrive at home at 12:00.  Settle in on couch.

The transfer doesn't take long.  They put Sarah on a bed that tilts so her head is down below her hips.  Then they pass a catheter through her cervix into her uterus. They use an ultrasound to position the catheter right where they want in the uterus. The embryologist wheels an incubator into the room and loads the embryos into a tub with a growth-medium liquid.  Then the doctor flushes the embryos down through the catheter into her uterus.  Then they withdraw the catheter, and the embryologist examines it to make sure the embryos aren't still inside it.  Then that's it.

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