Day 17: Embaby Transfer

3rd March 2016

My head aches, and I feel overwhelmed with the series of events that have led to this moment – the moment that our little four-celled Hartley embaby has been transferred from its incubator in the Embryologist’s care, into mine. I don’t want to leave this clinic. I just wish to remain here, safe among the kindly nurses fussing over me as I lay prone on this hospital bed.

You see today has been one big ballache for me. With Erroll in Hong Kong I rely on the kindness of those around me to get me to where I need to be: Julie taking Kingsley for the day; our apartment block’s security guard lending me 100 dirham to get me some phone credit and a ride to the clinic (super strength Kingsley actually ripped my debit card last night so I couldn’t withdraw money today, would you believe); catching the metro to Sharjah which takes soooo long that I am LATE for the critical embryo transfer (shocking and embarrassing to say the least); misplacing my all important pre-transfer antibiotic so that transfer is delayed at any rate; having no means to get home so the owner of the clinic drives me directly to the door of my acupuncturist and recommends I consult her before going home; Dr. Liang forsaking her other patients and urgently taking me in for that crucial post-transfer acupuncture session, then dimming the lights and with the wave of her magic needles, putting me into a meditative slumber. On and on. Too much for anyone to deal with.

Its now 9:44pm and I am in bed with Kingsley after forcing nourishing foodstuffs down my throat, injecting anti-clotting agent into my abdomen, taking low dose aspirin, and a corticosteroid too. I swear, tomorrow, I am taking it easy.

Laying low and still after our embaby transfer this morning at precisely 11:31am

Laying low and still after our embaby transfer this morning at precisely 11:31am