So we’ve arrived in New York, not without some hiccups along the way though. I thought I was overdue an update on our cycle, so here it goes. Bunker down… it’s long winded.
Less than a week ago (on Dec 7) I went in for blood work and an ultrasound to check my uterine lining for it’s thickness. I had the number 10mm in my head as my goal, but did have some concerns about whether we’d reach that goal. Given the fact I had the Lupron Depot injection in September (which basically reset my lining) my body had to build it back from scratch, and that, I knew, takes time. But I was hopeful the medications had done their jobs and I was on track for our December 13th transfer.
Turns out, I was not. My lining was a mere 7.32mm. Now the good news was that it was beautifully triple striped… that is, that you can clearly see the three layers of the uterine lining on the ultrasound showing it is in a healthy state. I’d never had that before, so it was exciting! Some doctors will transfer with anything about 7mm, others 8mm. So I was kind of in a maybe zone. My doc took a look at my blood work and decided it would be best given my previous failed transfers to give my body a few extra days to thicken it up. My transfer was pushed to December 16th and starting of progesterone in oil (PIO) to Sunday. Side note for those that don’t know, but PIO essentially locks in your lining at whatever thickness it is at when you start taking it, so by delaying PIO we are hoping that we lock in my lining above 8mm.
So the delay isn’t a huge deal really, but we obviously planned our trip to NY for the transfer around projected dates so now we’re here a great deal earlier than we really needed to be. We thought about changing flights and delaying our arrival but we had plans this weekend with friends, and specifically the friends we were staying with out in Connecticut were going to pass off keys before leaving out of town themselves… so we opted to keep it simple and just stick with the original plan.
Standing in line at security at the airport however, I receive a text about their daughter… “unnamed has the stomach flu.” Obviously they felt so horrible, and knowing why we’re coming and about to do, they wanted us to have the full picture and option to make other arrangements which we appreciated. They felt terrible but ultimately, that’s life with kids, and I wasn’t about to make them feel bad about something so completely out of their control. That being said, CRAP! Staying with them was going to save us a ton of money, and IVF ain’t cheap so it was really helping us out. But we were not about to risk it. So sat down at a Ruby’s cafe popped open the laptop and grabbed some dinner (or in my case, lettuce with lemon juice and some of Eric’s french fries because I can’t eat anything anywhere these days with this diet). It was a bit too overwhelming to decide the full week’s plan in that exact moment. What if unnamed got better and the parents didn’t get sick? Should we go? What about leaving a few days between them and us for any bacteria to dissipate? Ugh… too many scenarios. So we decided to book a hotel we are familiar with, just for one night, to at least be able to drop our things and sort out a game plan.
One of our favourite places to stay in NY is the Kimpton Hotel Eventi. It’s near Herald Square, so easy enough access anywhere, and reasonably priced but still stylishly appointed and clean! Their website had a “Stay the night” deal so we book it, breath a sigh of relief, and happily board our flight feeling a little more relaxed about it all.
It’s a packed flight that takes forever to board and we end up sitting on the runway for a good half hour delayed because of winds in NY. Cool. So they even turn off the seatbelt sign and we’re all just hanging out on the plane making no progress. Eventually we get on our way and arrive safely at La Guardia after a bumpy, fishtailing landing. Eric cancelled our car rental since we didn’t think we’d change our minds about going out to Connecticut, and we got an Uber to the Kimpton. When we go to check-in the woman cannot find our reservation. We check our email confirmation. We booked the wrong weekend. And they’re fully booked for tonight. FFFFF-UUUUUUUUUU…… Eric and I just look at each other and laugh because at this point our lives have turned into a comedy of errors and missteps and there’s nothing left to do but cry or laugh. So we laugh.
We sit down in their lobby and find a hotel around the corner… the oh so stylish and sexy amazingness that is the Hampton Inn 😉 But it’ll do for the night, and it was affordable and we don’t have to go far. We get there, check in, and all but collapse on the bed before ordering seamless and drifting off into restful sleep filled with dreams of a simpler journey. When we wake up in the morning I hear from our friends whose daughter is feeling better and they themselves aren’t sick. Hmm. Do we risk it? We need to wake up before making any decisions, so we go grab some Starbucks from across the street (at least that was a win). Ultimately we chat about it and decide that we would just be filled with so much regret if something DID happen and then we were unsuccessful, so for piece of mind we wanted to get an Air Bnb and just stay in the city.
Eric ends up finding a great apartment in Soho. A bit more expensive than we were hoping to pay but in a fantastic location and a stylish looking clean apartment that offers instant book. Perfect. So we book it and I instantly send her both a text and email to confirm since it’s such short notice. Nothing. Finish our Starbucks. Nothing. Follow up. Nothing. Hmm. Nothing we can do at this point. It is early, she could be busy, we have to wait to hear back. So we pack up our things and leave them at the front desk at check-out and head out to wander the city.
We grab “breakfast” (it’s now noon) at Fresh & Co (which is delicious and nutritious if you don’t know it). Simple things like hanging out in our old spots made me feel happy. We heard back from our host… well the hosts friend or husband or something, and they confirmed we were set and that we could check in at 6pm. Unfortunately they had had other people in the place and had previously agreed to give them a late check out since there was no one booked. Totally understandable. We were relieved regardless, and a huge stress was lifted.
We decided to kill time by going to go walk the Brooklyn Bridge into Dumbo. One of my favourite things to do, and Dumbo in Brooklyn is one of my favourite areas. What we’ve always wanted to do was leave a lock on the bridge. When we lived here we kept saying we’d do it one day and just never got around to it. Today I was determined to leave our lock. We went to a Duane Reid and ended up finding a big lock and a bunch of tiny locks. We decided it would be such a special idea to leave a lock for each of our embryos for this upcoming transfer, and it ended up being the most touching amazing moment. We captured it on our vlog if you wanna watch.
Once in Dumbo though I started to feel pretty unwell. Almost like an IBS flare up. So we decided to just sit at a cafe for a bit until I felt well enough to go on. I later determined it was the vitamin E I had recently introduced into my diet, so I’ve eliminated it hoping I feel better. Eventually we made our way back to Manhattan and swung by a Local Foods to get some groceries for the weekend. We swung by the hotel, grabbed our bags and took an Uber to our apartment for the week. Our host was there to greet us and was so friendly and welcoming. The place looked just like the pictures and we breathed a sigh of relief once again. We are only on the second floor however, and began to get a little worried about noise. The 10th was New York’s Santa Con so drunk scantily clad Santas were roaming the streets noisily. Little did we know too that we were right about a brasserie restaurant whose speakers were on the roof of the restaurant right below our bedroom. Can anything go right!? I had earplugs but they did nothing to help with the vibrating base we could hear through them. We basically were awake until the restaurant closed at 4am.
So now what? Do we stay in an apartment that we can’t sleep in!? The restaurant, turns out, is open until 4am daily. DAILY!!! Who in their right minds wants to be out that late on a weeknight? We hoped that maybe it wouldn’t be AS loud future nights, but it was only minutely better last night. I managed to get some sleep, more so than the night before for sure, but am also lucky I can just laze around all day and be unproductive. Eric on the other hand is at work in the NY office today probably beyond tired. Poor guy.
Today is half over already and before I know it Eric will be off work and we’ll be going out for dinner. Tomorrow I might go out and about to putts around depending on how I’m feeling and then tomorrow night we’re going skating at Rockefeller Center under the tree. We’ve never done it before, and Eric sucks at skating so it’ll be good fun and great memories. Since originally our transfer was planned for Wed, I have no idea what I’ll be doing now Wed/Thur but I’m sure I’ll find things to occupy my time. I’m happy just to take it easy and be as rested as possible going into our transfer on Friday.
We’re thawing 3 embryos and whatever survives the thaw will be transferred. Hoping all 3 survive the thaw to give us the best shot possible. We need all the luck and prayers we can get. If you’re reading this, we appreciate any and all positive vibes on our behalf. Let’s get us a baby once and for all. Christmas Miracle anyone!? xo
Liv 4 Today 