today they did the egg retrieval, which is the most intensive procedure of the IVF process. we got to the hospital at 6:30, pretty tired but excited. i don't think either of us got a ton of sleep last night due both to the late football game and the anxiety of the situation. i drank about a quart of water right before 11pm since i wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after that, and of course i had to do the douche... which i do not recommend. so weird! and slightly stinging, which i didn't expect. anyway, this morning they took me upstairs while the hubby went to "gather his specimen" and then sit around and wait for me to be done. i think the whole thing took just over an hour. no sweat!
the procedure was certainly more serious than i ever imagined baby-making would be, but it wasn't as surgical of an experience as my real surgery in the spring, that's for sure. the room was a more hospital-like kind of room than my regular exam rooms, but not an official operating room. there were two nurses and a ton of equipment, i was wearing the robes with a hairnet on my head and the booties on my feet, and they strapped me into the stirrups, which was lovely. the anesthesia wasn't full-on general anesthesia, but a general sedative. basically, i slept through the procedure. the anesthesiologist hooked me up to an IV in my hand and once the doctor (the executive director of the fertility institute, Dr. K) came in and said hello, they started pumping me with the sedative. they told me i would start to feel sleepy and as things got blurry i closed my eyes, said a mental loving goodbye to my eggs, and that was it.
when i woke up the nurse told me that everything went well and that they were able to get 9 eggs! i guess that's about the best we could have hoped for. i know i had 10-12 follicles on friday, but not all of the follicles develop eggs. they took me downstairs in a wheelchair and i got to recover in one of the regular rooms with the hubby. i felt (and still feel) crampy and a bit uncomfortable, and definitely groggy and fatigued from the sedative. i'm spotting a little bit, but that's normal, and otherwise i feel pretty okay.
after i had a few minutes to wake up, the nurse came in to tell me about the next steps. this entailed a lot more than i anticipated at that moment. thankfully the hubby was there and signed all the paperwork as the "responsible adult" who was hearing all the instructions and would be escorting me home and taking care of me. today i just had to rest and recover. fine. tomorrow morning, the doctor will call me to tell me how the fertilization is going and when the transfer will be. and tomorrow all the drugs start, in spurts.
tomorrow i have to start taking an antibiotic and a progesterone oil injection to prepare for implantation. she said the oil is very thick and will be hard to extract from the vial and hard to inject. gee, i'm really looking forward to that. i'm still supposed to take my vitamins and the blood sugar pill that i've been on for the past year.
on wednesday, i also start the progesterone suppositories again. whee, what fun. then there are two other things that i'll start depending on when the transfer is. there's another injection - a blood thinner - that goes in my stomach (that's new!) called Lovenox, that i will start the day before the transfer. and then there's a steroid pill called medrol (methylprednisone) that i will start after the transfer, apparently to keep my body from rejecting the embryo during implantation. i am also getting valium(!) that i'm supposed to bring with me the day of the transfer. and then there's something else i might have to take after the transfer, but they're not sure yet. holy medications. but -- all for a good cause, i know.
right now i just can't wait to talk to the doc in the morning. i'm planning to go into work a little late tomorrow and have an easy day but try to get some stuff done... since i don't know if i'll be back in for the rest of the week. i'm a little anxious already about this whole bedrest after the transfer situation. i have had trouble doing nothing today when i didn't even feel 100%. but i guess when i have greater motivation to do nothing it will be easier. the hubby has been so busy with work that he'll do his best to take care of me and the pets, but he's certainly not going to be home for three days straight so i'll need to negotiate that as it happens, i guess. anyway, nothing to do now but rest and relax and imagine our little eggs and sperms doing their thing back in the lab. science. amazing.
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