No Shots…WHAT?!

I need to remember to start taking pictures at my appointments, but this one, THIS one was a unique appointment.
I had a HYDRO vaginal ultrasound (it might have had a longer name than that, but that's what I remember). Why do I remember…well you don't forget something like that! No pain…but very interesting for sure.

Science moment: WHY did they shoot fluid up? WELL, your uterus is usually foldy (a super-sciencey term) when there is nothing in it (like a baby). I imagine a balloon before it is inflated, just all foldy-innie on itself (I can tell you are blown away by my scientific jargon) They wanted to make sure that I didn't have any cysts or growths (because those could potentially impact my ability to get pregnant or carry a healthy pregnancy), but you can't see that super well unless you blow the balloon up. They put a catheter up through my cervix, put in some fluid, and did the vaginal ultra sound. It sounds way worse than it was. It wasn't even as bad as a pap-smear. Easy.

I thought I was just having another look-see at my uterus and ovaries (after more bloodwork…everyone wants to suck my blood). The nurse let me know what was REALLY going to be happening. Then, the infamous words I may never forget, "It gets a bit messy, after all what goes in must come out"
Huh.

I mean, I'm not sure what to do with that. I told her I never got the chance to feel my water break (I was in the tub and pretty far along into "labor land" at that point), so I might just pretend. I also told her that I didn't think that the mom and dad knew this was the testing I would be getting today either and asked her to explain it to them before sending them back so they could decide who should or shouldn't come.  The dad stayed in the waiting room, so I thought, "All right, she obviously told them"
20 minutes later, there's the mom, 2 year old on her lap, gestational carrier 1 sheet away from being half naked, playing it SO cool even though they didn't tell her what was going to be happening EITHER! She was "being cooler than the situation", and goodness knows I don't mind. All the little one saw was the screen, which pretty much looked like a weather map, so I don't think anyone was scarred for life.

We went back to the office to get the timeline (YEEEEES- we had been waiting for this for SO long), sign more contracts saying we understood the process, and then went on a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

Let's start with highs.

The nurse told us there was a NON shot option for one of my daily hormones! This had been the main fear for me. "I don't do shots" is an understatement. The BAD news, it costs more. Like way more. By the time I found that out, I had already jumped up and down, squealed, and hugged everyone in the room (including the nurse). The other bad news is that it is a suppository. Again, messy. (Sorry, this is apparently a very gross blog post, but it's honest!)

The low, at least for me, was hearing the statistics. I was pretty naive about thinking we would do the embryo transfer and then I would be pregnant. I knew that it wouldn't be 100%, but I thought it would at least be MORE likely rather than LESS likely (statistically). I was wrong. I also didn't realize that there was a chance the first egg might not "survive the thaw" (which seems like the subtitle to an Ice Age sequel). I had this image that the mom would get to use the embryo she didn't use when she had her first (they literally showed them to her side by side and made her choose. How do you choose?! She said she'd been thinking about that embryo ever since) I never imagined that there would be chance that they couldn't use that embryo.

The mom's reaction was, "But it WILL work." and before we left, "We need prayer, like, now"
She ACTUALLY reacted the way we all THINK we'll react.  She blows me away. Lucky baby this little one.