Mocked Up

I had the Mock Embryo Transfer this morning. I wasn't worried about it at all. That is, until I got to the doctor's office and had to sign some consent thing about all the risks. Oh - and the form said something about it being similar to the HSG (which is the test I had back in March to make sure my tubes weren't blocked - and was seriously painful).

Luckily, this experience was nothing like the HSG. Phew! Before the doctor started, I expressed some concern about the catheter and he assured me that it was nothing like the one used for the HSG. He told me to let him know if anything hurt and he'd stop right away. He also gave me the blow-by-blow of everything that he was doing which was also nice. It was mildy uncomfortable, but no big deal. (Oh, and it only took about 15 minutes.)

He inserted a catheter into my uterus and squirted some water in there so that it would show up on the ultrasound. Then, we looked at the catheter and the little bit of water in the uterus so that we could see where the embryos would be placed during the actual transfer. Everything looked good! He also checked out my ovaries while he was in there and they look nice and quiet as they should. No cysts or anything at all to be concerned about.

I did ask him again about my FSH level (follicle stimulating hormone). Mine was 10.8 when they did my initial tests and anything over 10 is considered "diminished ovarian reserve" - meaning - not too many eggs left in the basket. He said he would be concerned if my other levels (estrogen, leutinizing hormone (LH) etc.) were out of whack and if I hadn't been responding well to the stimulation medication used for the prior IUI's. Since those all look fine and I'm "still young", he's not worried. He said he will likely be a little more aggressive in the dosage of the stimulation medication for me for the IVF because of my FSH level, but that it's no cause for concern. So - that made me feel better. Some of the very scientific Internet research I did mentioned early menopause. Sometimes the Internet is not your friend.

So, based on the practice run, all should go well for the Embryo Transfer. Only a week and a day until I start the first injections. Fun, fun!