Egg Retrieval

This morning was our egg retrieval.

We had to be there by 8:00am so that they could get me hooked up to an IV, and to give me some tylenol, gravol (kids cherry flavoured!), and a calming pill (it dissolved under my tongue). They also only give you a tiny bit of water because they want your bladder empty for the procedure. Luckily I don't have any problems taking pills. They had trouble making the vein in my left hand big enough to insert the IV, but they finally got it. We sat there for about 45 minutes to an hour (not quite sure). Jon and I had both brought Sudoko books to keep us busy!

The actual egg retrieval process was really quick; it only took 15-20 minutes. They did inject a fast acting pain relief medication into my IV and I could definitely feel it. I kinda felt like I was walking on air...it was actually quite annoying.

Jon and I got to watch them insert the probe into my ovaries and then you could see them drain each of the follicles. For the most part, the draining process was not very painful, but there were a few where she had to really jab into me to get it.

The doctor told us that they got 13 eggs (keep in mind that not all follicles have eggs). I asked how that was compared to the average and they say for all patients (old, young, medical issues, etc) the average is 5 to 15 eggs. 13 is good then.

Once they had drained all of the follicles we were sent back to our waiting room and I was told to rest. I got to sit in a leather recliner with a heating pad and super comfy blanker, and Jon got a classic waiting room chair. Needless to say, he was jealous of me. I dozed off and on and had my blood pressure and resting heart rate measured a few times. When those numbers were good I was allowed to leave.

Tomorrow they we will get a phone call from them to let us know how many of the eggs fertilized (hopefully most of them!). After that, they'll call us when they are going to transfer the embryos. The transfer should be on Sunday (day 3 embryos) or Tuesday (day 5 embryos). I think it depends on how well they are growing.

Since we got home, I have been in a moderate amount of pain. It feels like there are knives poking in and out of my ovaries, and so I am trying to do as little walking as possible. When I do walk, I hunch over so that I'm not stretching out my abdomen. Luckily I'm able to work from home so I've put in a few hours already (in between naps!) and then Big Brother is on tv tonight. I also have a bunch of Super Nanny episodes PVRd that I could watch.

Jon's been good (so far!) at catering to my every needs.
"Jon, can you get me a glass of water please?"
"Jon, can you get a bucket of water to soak my feet in please?"
"Can you pass me the remote control"
etc etc
It's been nice.

I'm hoping to go to work for a little bit tomorrow, but if I'm not feeling up to it then I'll do some work from home again. The nurse told me I would not feel like going...but she doesn't know how determined I am! I just have to be careful that I don't get a severe case of OHSS. Mild symptoms include abdominal bloating, nausea, diarrhea, weight gain. I think I'm doing pretty good so far at resting. It's hard, especially when it's sunny outside and I want to tan!

Every morning and evening I now have to insert 1 tablet of Endometrin into me (vaginally). The Endometrin is a progresterone supplement that will encourage the growth of the lining of my uterus which will aid in implantation. I have to do this until we have the results of the pregnancy test (which I believe is in 17 days from today).

Thank you God for a relatively painless day! Here's to hoping that the "little eggies" hook up with Jon's "little spermies" tonight!