Retrieval and Results

I was a lot less nervous about the procedure and a lot more nervous if there would be any eggs in those fifteen follicles for the retrieval.

It was scheduled for 9am on Tuesday so we triggered at 11pm on Sunday. It was just one injection but everything felt so much more important for that one.

I couldn’t eat after midnight Monday night, but I also could drink anything (even water) for 5 hours before the procedure. I thought about getting up at 4, but we decided if I could sleep that was the most important thing. I think I woke up at 5am. David was convinced he wasn’t going to eat breakfast in solidarity, but I encouraged him to get something in his stomach not knowing how long it would take me to wake up.

We get there, and we are both trying to stay calm as they take us back and I get into my gown. We have to sign the final papers and consent to the anesthesiologist.

I’m not sure why I had it in my head that we would be in one of the exam rooms but we were not. This was like full on surgery room. David didn’t get to go back with me and may have cried a little. I was just ready to be where I could get comfortable again. I was looking forward to waking up without the pressure. And I did. I could tell immediately when I opened my eyes things were better. I was loopy but there wasn’t any immediate pain. David helped me get dressed and we were off. We got there at 8:15 and were out by 10. And they informed me before we left that they got 7 eggs!!!! I was elated that there were eggs in there and apparently told the nurse all of our plans for our kids. I don’t remember any of that part.

My post op treat was a milkshake from Chick-Fil-a and then it was back to the sofa for me. I napped for a couple of hours, but I felt like I could take on the world. I could walk and wasn’t cramping anymore. It wasn’t until that night around bedtime that I started feeling having had surgery. I took Tylenol but should have taken the hydrocodone they prescribed me. It wasn’t super painful, but I could not lay there without discomfort. Good or bad, I went to work the next day, still just taking regular Tylenol. I did feel better without the swelling of my follicles, but after a couple of hours, I was trying to decide if I could get off the floor if I laid down. I didn’t want to chance it and stuck it out until noon.

Laying down has never been such a relief as we waited for results from the fertilization.

When they finally came in I’m not sure if I was recovered enough to read them without David there. We had 7 eggs. 5 were mature enough. Only 2 fertilized. Since they were using icsi I was really surprised that more hadn’t been fertilized. I was thinking maybe losing one but three was a blow to the gut.

Still we tried staying positive and started praying. We went from thinking we might get extras the first round to wondering if either would get to day five. Thursday the progesterone in oil kicked in to my recovery, and I had the worst constipation of my life (maybe tmi). If I have one recommendation, it is to start colace tablets. I was really afraid that we would have to cancel the transfer because of stupid constipation. It hurt so badly and pushing just tore me up. Everything hurt. If I had started the tablets sooner, I don’t think it would have been a problem, but I waited. I will never wait again! I really doubt I would have had pain if I had been smart about that part. I tried not to overdo but I was exhausted from my bathroom trips so I basically did nothing except go to work and then come home to the sofa.