Retrieval Day!

Friday was retrieval day; it’s finally here! I was miserable Thursday night because I was so bloated and my ovaries were twinging a little. I was not allowed to have any water or food after midnight, so I was super thirsty when I woke up.  I also had stress dreams all night where I ate something when I shouldn’t have and my procedure was ruined. I dressed in loose clothing and Spencer drove me to the doctor’s office. We checked in and waited to be called back.  A few minutes later, I was called back and shown back to the pre-op area to get ready.  I changed into a gown and waited while the nurses and doctors got everything prepared. The IV was uncomfortable; the nurse tried it and it didn’t work right.  She had to remove it and asked the anesthesiologist to try.  He got it in, but bruised something or didn’t get it in quite right. All I know is it hurt.  And for some reason, I had some reaction where I went all faint, sweaty, and nauseous.  I threw off the blankets and the nurse gave me a cold washcloth to put on my forehead.  She also had me sniff an alcohol pad to help prevent me from vomiting.  It lasted a few minutes and then I started to feel better.  So weird!  Spencer got to come in and say hello before they walked me back to the OR.

They had me sit on the table and hooked everything up around me.  I lay down and they covered me up. I don’t remember much, just that the meds to put me into deep sedation burned like hell when it hit my arm.  The doctor said it was normal, but I don’t know.  Luckily I was out pretty quick.  I woke up in recovery and was told it all went well.  Spencer got to come back and sit with me, until the nurse seemed to think I was awake enough to get up and change.  After changing, we were sent to consult, where the embryologist came out to speak with us.  They retrieved 17 eggs. I was kind of surprised that it was so low. It seemed like I had way more follicles on the scans, but I guess they weren’t large enough to pull and egg out of.  I dunno.  Still average is about 10-12 eggs, so we are ahead on that point.  One egg was not morphologically normal, and was thrown out.  So 16 eggs to fertilize with Spencer’s donation (which the doctor said had excellent morphology).  We will get a phone call Saturday morning with an update on how many eggs fertilize. This is getting real! 

Transfer is planned for Wednesday; I’m calling this knocked up day.  Like I said, once it gets going, this process goes fast!  We start the progesterone shots tomorrow evening, which Spencer gets to give me. I’m super anxious about these, but trust him.  It will all be worth it in the end.  For now, I’m drinking lots of PowerAde and eating salty foods to keep from getting bloated and keep the water out of my ovaries. I’m crampy and uncomfortable, but it isn’t terrible.  What hurts the most is my hand, which is bruised from the IV and hurts; I’ve spent most of the day with an ice pack on my hand to help keep the pain away.