October 11, 2012

IVF #1, Day 13: "Day Zero" (egg retrieval day)

It all started with waking up from only five hours of [broken up, restless] sleep.  I kept tossing and turning, dreaming about our little embryos...

KJ was having a 'meltdown'-morning.  :(  Traffic was insane!!!  Travel time was exactly the one hour I had prepared for.  We signed in and it all begin.  *I'll skip the nitty-gritty of, well, my hunny's portion of this appointment. ;)  Once it was my turn, I went to the back and was instructed to leave nothing on and to put the gown, hair cover, and booties on.  Oh, I was allowed to keep my "fun socks" on! (yay!).  I got in Bed 1 and all the routine questions were asked by the nurse and the anesthesiologist.  I signed and initialed the routine forms.  I got hooked up (EKG) and had my vitals checked (blood pressure, temp, blood sugar) and then the dreadful IV was next.  The nurse said that she's really good at IVs and that my veins look "great"... and then she missed the first try!!!!!  She said, "...yeah, sometimes people's veins roll".  I have NEVER had that happen!! (and I've had way too many IV's to count)  She moved over to the next arm and tried it again.... I was so nervous —but she got it!  Praise God!  (but it was in my inner wrist; I'd never had that before.)  Chris and Kryssa were brought back.  We took a family photo, gave some kisses, and the nurse went over the discharge info (monitor temp, weight, take Doxycycline, Medrol, and progesterone injection, daily).  The anesthesiologist gave me my happy medicine and I was wheeled away...

I only remember looking around and getting really drowsy.  I remember being asked to scoot down, and thought to myself, "are you serious?!  I can barely control my eyelids right now and you want me to scoot my entire body down??" haha and then they even asked me to raise my legs into the stirrups... yeah, I don't remember past raising one leg and not knowing where to put it.  lol

I heard the nurse telling me "we're all done!  You're out now..."  I heard KJ saying "hi mommy!" and then Chris said "they got nine eggs hun!" —that definitely woke me up! (for about a minute haha) I was in and out of sleep for a few mins and then the pain started... Oh!  It was HORRBIBLE!!!  ( I was told the recovery would be painful because they were going to be pushing on the outside of my belly to try to move the ovary, that is attached to my uterus, into a workable position.  And they were able to retrieve something from my left ovary; praise God!!  (I don't know how many —but they did their best and got what they could.))  I was given tylenol and then minutes later I was being escorted to change and leave (it always seems like you get kicked out so quickly. haha)

I've been able to eat just fine and I got a nice long nap when I got home.  KJ and Chris having been doing a great job helping me around the house (Chris cooked a yummy yummy dinner!) and I have been resting up.  Im in a lot more pain than I expected.  The endo is really flaring up and my insides feel like they were stirred up and left to settle over time.  I hope I feel better by tomorrow —because Chris will back to work and it's just going to be me and KJ...

Oh, and the coolest experience of today was when the embryologist came to speak with me.  When she was telling me what they would be doing, I asked her "So, are you the one that will physically be putting the sperm in the egg?'  and she said, with a nice big smile, "Yup!  I'll be the one making your babies for you!"  I just cried... and through my happy tears, I told her how amazing that is!  I know that God is the creator of life —but to be the one to actually be working with such delicate parts of 'life'...AMAZING!   She also told me that our transfer should happen on Tuesday.  *I did ask about one or two embryos being transferred —she said that if they are all strong and "superstars" then they will transfer one.  If they are slowing down in their progress around day 3 then they will transfer 2.  But won't really have the final answer until day 5, Tuesday.  (today is considered day zero)

So, we shall see! :)


our family photo before I was taken back  (I'm so glad KJ has been a part of this experience!)
"Fun Socks" of the day



Delicious 'orange chicken' with white rice and rangoons that my love made!

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