Our IVF journey - Embryo transfer

Before we left the clinic after the eggs collection, there were more medicines to take. Specifically, they were Ventolin tablets to control uterine contraction, progesterone pessaries and progesterone oily injection to prime the body with lots of progesterone that is essential to support successful implantation and pregnancy.

My embryo transfer was scheduled 2 days from the eggs collection day, and in the meantime I had to start taking these medication to prep my uterus. As explained by the clinic, they will perform a routine Day-3 embryo transfer and if let's say there are a few fertilised eggs to select from, the clinic may do a Day-5 transfer where the embryos are more mature. Unless the clinic call me over the next few days to inform of a change, they will proceed with the routine transfer.

I had a Day-3 transfer. On the day of transfer, no prior fasting was required and since Hubs can't extend his stay, I had my parents came up to KL and to help me out during this period. Just before it was my turn to go into the procedure room, the embryologist explained to me that the clinic will transfer two Day-3 embryos.

We only had these two viable embryos because out of the 6 eggs initially collected, two of them were not mature enough and only 4 made it to ICSI fertilisation. After fertilisation, two of them did not get fertilised while the remaining two did and have already developed into 4-cells embryos of grades 8/10 and 9/10. I can't help to feel disappointed that we only had two but the embryologist explained that they were good grades embryos, so hopefully they will stick to the uterus.

About 45 minutes before the procedure, I had to drink 500ml of water. Apparently the reason for this is to ensure that the bladder is full enough (but not too full) so that when I lie down, the full bladder will help "straighten" out the uterus for ease of transfer. No anesthesia was required for the transfer and I was able to observe the whole procedure through the ultrasound. First the nurses showed me my embryos. And they were beautiful! Like in medical textbook. I was hopeful.

Then Dr Wong arrived for the procedure. When he saw the ultrasound scan, he had a "oh man" look on his face. He then explained to me what the procedure involves and that my uterus was a bit S-shaped and would be a bit tricky to maneuver. And then the procedure started. One of the nurses pointed out to me a blinking light on the ultrasound which is the transfer catheter containing my two embryos. And I watched them slowly making their way through the cervix and finally into the uterus where two small 'x' appear on the ultrasound, marking where Dr Wong finally deposited the embryos. I was overjoyed! We made it!