Ouch. I hope I can get through this post okay, because this hurts. I thought putting a pillow under my laptop would help, but the pressure isn't so comfortable...
It's the 4th of July today and yesterday was the egg retrieval! I really have to say I can't believe that we're actually at this point in the middle of IVF. I feel like I'm living a dream, literally! The experiences I'm having are so completely foreign to me. Being in a clinic filled with nothing but infertile patients like us is bizarre. There are absolutely no parenting magazines or baby magazines in the waiting room, and no kid's play area either. And no one dares bring children with them. On top of that, having a fertility doctor tell me continuously that everything is going fantastically for me is another unbelievable occurrence. Since when do things go "great" for me in the infertile world?? I'm absolutely beside myself.
I've been incredibly sore the last few days before the retrieval. My abdomen has swollen with eggs making walking, bending and sitting up an absolute chore. I can't seem to describe the feeling to people either when they see my struggle. It's not like menstral cramps. It's like two gigantic bruises on either side of my lower abdomen, right over my ovaries. So, having the retrieval day finally arrive--and so soon, too--I was thrilled.
Michael's mom drove us to the clinic yesterday morning since it was Saturday and conveniently fell on her day off. Then his sister and her (15 year old) son met us there for moral support. We were fairly early but they didn't mind. Just checked me in and whisked me back to the patient waiting room to fill out some anesthesia paperwork with Mikey before I even had a chance to say goodbye to my moral supporters. There was another husband waiting there alone for his wife who was currently getting her egg retrieval done. Then they took me back to get prepped while Mike waited. The nurse took my vitals, and discovered that my heart rate was a bit high (you think?). I then had to get changed into the cool little paper gown and bungee hat and booty socks. When I came back out, Mike was waiting for me beside my bed. Here's a silly snapshot of me at that point in time... LOL
After I laid down a nurse came and plugged in a huge vacuum looking hose to a hole in my fancy paper gown and turned it on. It blew warm air all over my body and warmed me up all cozy! Then she started my IV. I was prepped and ready before 10am when I was scheduled to arrive. So then I just laid there and listened while several other patients were wheeled in and out of the operating room and got a clear preview of what was to come for me, as all the beds were in one single big room with only curtains dividing them. You could hear everything, even the conversations with the doctor about how many eggs he'd retrieved, etc. I was getting so nerve-wracked my monitor kept beeping because I was unstable. LOL.
But, soon enough it was my turn. Several professionals came to talk to me before we went in, asking the same questions over and over. "Are you allergic to anything?", etc. My anesthesioligist asking me questions about any previous surgeries or complications, my doctor himself telling us what to expect, and then finally my surgery nurse who helped my prep nurse get me ready. At that point, Mike was escorted away to give his fresh semen sample, before which they actually had to ask him if he wanted to kiss me goodbye first. HAHA! He did, and I was wheeled into the operating room. I got up and walked to the operating table when we got there, which was just like an ob/gyn exam table. As I laid down, the anesthesiologist and the nurses all chatted with me about where I lived and my occupation, etc while we waited for the doctor. I was given oxygen and some loopy medicine through my IV to make me relax. I felt like I was sinking into the table and it felt so amazing like someone had just whisked every worry off my shoulders. I was clearly drugged without my knowledge and I cut myself short mid-conversation to say, "Oh, she just gave me something, didn't she?" Everyone laughed. When the doctor arrived, he got into position, you know, between my legs where I always see him. (See folks, when you go through fertility treatments, get used to seeing more than your husband between your legs--you're gonna get to know your doctors really, really intimately, fast!) He smiled and said "You ready to take a nice nap?" Then I remember the anesthesiologist saying "take a couple deep breaths." Everything went blurry and I have absolutely no memory of the exact moment when I passed out. I'm guessing that was probably it...
When I woke up, I was completely disoriented for a moment. Someone was saying my name, "Heather?" and I opened my heavy eyes. I was super tired and didn't want to wake up yet. But my nurse wanted to get things moving right along. She instantly starting asking me questions about how I was feeling even before I even knew myself how I was feeling. Then it hit me. I was in incredible pain! Now this was more like intense menstral cramps mixed with the already bruised ovary feeling I'd had prior to the retrieval. My nurse instantly injected pain meds in my IV and in a moment I was relieved. I don't know if I passed out again or what, but next thing I knew, Mike was there beside me kissing my forehead. I was so happy to see his face. The nurse continued to ask me if I needed things, and the one thing I couldn't seem to get enough of was WATER! I was on fluid restriction since Thursday and couldn't have any food or drink after midnight the day before, so I was completely parched. My throat hurt and my month was sticking together. My nurse gave me a small amount of water and then a couple sips of apple juice and then would only let me have Gatoraide because I kept asking for water. It was then that I learned I would be on another 10 days of fluid restriction. !!!
When I had to go pee, Mike was asked to escort me there as I was not to be left alone for the rest of the day. When I was in there, they gave me my clothes and he helped me get dressed into my 4th of July jammies I brought. :) Then it was back to bed to start my 2nd intralipid infusion (another $700 IV bag of soy milk). I was dizzy now and nausea waved over me a few times before I decided to tell my nurse. Immediately she put some anti-nausea drug in my IV. It worked just in time for my doctor to come talk to us about the retrieval. I could hear them talking about where my chart was outside the curtain when finally my nurse gave him a verbal update on me before he came to talk to us. "How are you feeling?" he asked me first. When I said I was still a little sore, he smiled and said "Well, I'll tell you the reason you're feeling so sore. We originally thought you had 9 on one side and 8 on the other, right? Well we actually retrieved 21 eggs!" Mike and I looked at each other and our jaws dropped. "Wow!" I think was all we could say while trying not to laugh. "So that's really good," the doctor said. "We have plenty of eggs, so we're going to go ahead and develop the embryos to blastocysts and do the transfer in 5-6 days. That way we can be sure to pick the best ones, okay?" he smiled before shaking our hands as usual.
We were shocked. Twenty-one eggs?!?! All this time we'd been worried about how many eggs I'd actually make. People made me weary because of all my problems and lack of ability to ovulate on my own. I'm a vegan, so how on earth was I ever going to produce the high protein eggs required for pregnancy?! Everyone wondered. So I am proud of my ability to produce 21 eggs. Seventeen follicles was a shocking milestone for us on it's own. We are once again beside ourselves.
Mike's mom, sister and nephew came to see me during the couple hours I recovered. I was given crackers to munch on andAfter the infusion, I was released and sent home with bedrest for the remainder of the day. Resume all meds and Heparin injections, start antibiotics again and stay on fluid restriction. Hot pack and Tylenol for discomfort. It was a long drive home. We hit traffic in San Francisco that slowed us down at least an hour. All the meds the clinic gave me were wearing off and "discomfort" was settling in. Mike's mom stopped by the drug store on the way home where she and Mike bought me some Tylenol and disposable hot packs. At home, I ate part of the black bean burrito Mike's sister bought for us while I was in recovery and then slept the rest of the day.
Today I am still sore, mostly on my right side, but I'm surviving. It's better than yesterday, and thankfully my sore throat is gone. A few minutes ago I got a call from my clinic with the "embryo report". This is the phone call that informs us of how many embryos we have. Out of the 21 eggs retrieved from yesterday's procedure, they injected each one with a single sperm and discovered that 18 of them fertilized. Out of the 18 fertilized eggs, they told me that 13 of them have survived and have now developed into embryos. So, in other words, we have 13 embryos (potential babies, complete with both our genetics)! In 4 more days we will have the all important consultation with our doctor about the quality of the embryos and how many to transfer, and then we will transfer them and I will potentially be... pregnant! But as I always say, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. As much as I want it to be true, it's still impossible for me to imagine that right now.
HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!
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