My RE's office called me in the afternoon on Monday, July 23rd with the plan for my egg retrieval. The nurse had to wait to call me until after my blood draw results were available from my regular morning u/s and estradiol check. Which, btw, I had about 15+ mature follicles, some measuring up to 27 mm! Talk about being sore and running out of room in my tummy! The nurse said she wished all IVF patients responded this well to the meds, that the follicles would grow even larger by Wednesday, and that I would have a greater number of mature follicles by then too. I had about 40 (!) follicles in all but about half were mature enough for retrieval and fertilization.
The phone call about my plan for my egg retrieval was not one I could afford to miss. All of you in the IF world know how important it is to answer your phone the first time your RE's office calls. If you should happen to miss a call and then have to call them back, it always, ALWAYS goes straight to voice mail (at least for me). Then you're stuck waiting for them to call you back again, and they don't always call back the same day (very frustrating). So I had to tell my boss that DH and I were starting IVF so she would know why I was having so many doctor appointments and so I could get the all clear to bring my cell phone to work meetings. Fortunately, my phone didn't ring during any meetings and even more fortunately, my boss was incredibly understanding about our fertility treatments. When I first told her what we were doing, she said 'I had to go through some of that,' with a big smile full of understanding on her face. : )
Anyway, back to my egg retrieval. When I answered the call, my nurse informed me that my hCG trigger shot would be tonight (Monday) at exactly 9:30 pm and exactly 36 hours before my egg retrieval. She stressed how important it was that I have the shot at precisely the right time so I wouldn't ovulate too early or too late, which would basically mess up the entire egg retrieval. She also said that my dose of hCG would be different from the original plan of 10,000 units; my RE wanted it reduced to 5,000 units. She then gave me instructions for how to mix the liquid solution with the powdered solution, which I frantically scribbled on a Post-It because my memory is not the greatest since my first round of IF medication eight years ago (it's like I have pregnancy brain without the pregnancy). She said tomorrow (Tuesday, July 24th) would be a day of no meds (hooray!), that I was to have nothing to eat or drink after midnight before the retrieval, and that DH and I were to arrive one hour before my scheduled egg retrieval time to prep for the procedure since I would be anesthetized (my RE would be guiding a needle through my lady parts to suck out the fluid filled follicle sacks that contain my eggs - I definitely didn't want to be awake for that).
Monday evening slowly ticked away for my 9:30 shot time, which I already talked about in my previous blog post here. Basically what happened was, at the last minute, DH said he couldn't give me my shot, causing a brief moment of panic on my part. But then he said he was joking (which I did not think was funny at all), and gave me the shot in my tushie before I even knew what was happening. It was such a giant needle and I barely felt a thing that I had to ask him if the needle was all the way in (it was). And thankfully, he didn't hit any blood vessels because then he would have had to pull the needle out and stick me again.
I prayed and tried to think positive thoughts all day on Tuesday while doing my best to ignore my sore, bloated belly. The day creeped by.
Finally, Wednesday was here! We arrived at the fertility clinic around 8:15 am. Right on schedule, a nurse called us back to one of the rooms, gave us a rundown of what to expect, and took notes on my life's history (am I allergic to any medications? any previous surgeries? etc). I told her how I had been so itchy after my laparoscopy and she made note of it in my file. Then the nurse anesthetist came in and asked me the same questions. She must have reviewed my file after the other nurse left the room because she asked me about the itching from my last surgery before I had a chance to bring it up myself. She then explained that it was most likely not an allergic reaction to the anesthesia and rather a reaction to the morphine or the other, stronger drug I was given (whew!). She said it should not be an issue today because the only pain medication I would receive was Tylenol. I also let her know that I had read about other people waking up during this procedure, how my body is resistant to local anesthesia, and that I did NOT want to wake up during my egg retrieval. She was very understanding; I felt like she really listened to me.
So I emptied my bladder one more time and walked back to the procedure room with the nurse anesthetist (meanwhile, DH was instructed to go down the hall to do his part). I laid down on the table and she asked me if I wanted her to numb my arm before she put the needle in for the anesthesia or if she should just stick it and get it over with. I said just get it over with. (Yikes, that hurt! Maybe I should have had her numb it!) I remember feeling the anesthesia begin to take effect about 5 seconds later - I was definitely not expecting that! I remember asking one question (I was concerned about the difficulty of getting past my cervix for the procedure, especially considering my history of difficult HSG and SIS tests). And I remember how difficult it was for me to form my words to try to ask that question. I don't remember if anyone answered me or not, but the nurse anesthetist did ask me if I was feeling the anesthesia (probably because I was slurring my words like a drunk, LOL). Then I was out before I knew it. I didn't even last long enough to put my legs in the stirrups myself.
The next thing I remember, someone was gently shaking me to wake me up. The whole egg retrieval took about 10 minutes and I didn't wake up during it (yay!). I couldn't believe it. It felt like I had been asleep for a very long time; like a really great nap. DH was there, nurses and doctors were walking in and out of my recovery room and they were all talking to me and asking me questions. Someone, maybe my RE, told me the embryologist counted 18 eggs! 18! I was so happy! Hooray! 18 is a really great number! (Although, secretly, I was hoping for 20+. I know, I know. It only takes ONE!) : )
Then I felt the pain. Not terrible, but not great. So one of the nurses gave me two extra strength Tylenol. I'm not sure if it was the pain or my grogginess or what, but I also started crying (very briefly, mind you). And I remember saying to DH between sobs, 'I don't even know why I'm crying!' Ha ha! I can laugh at myself now, and I'm pretty sure DH (and maybe a nurse or two) was laughing at me at the time, but I'm still not sure why I was crying.
I also remember the nurse asking me after I took the Tylenol if my pain was still at a six. I remember thinking in my head, because I was not with it enough to form coherent sentences out loud, 'how did she know my pain was at a six? I guess that sounds about right, but still, how did she know and why does she keep asking me about my pain being a six? Maybe that's the normal pain level for everyone after an egg retrieval?' I just went with it. The Tylenol helped so I said I was no longer at a six. DH later said I told the nurse myself that my pain was at a six. I have no memory of that.
Also (DH finds this part especially funny), I was apparently repeating myself. Not only did I repeat myself when I said I didn't know why I was crying, he said I asked the question about my cervix about four different times (the question was moot anyway because my RE finally answered me and said egg retrievals don't require passing the cervix). In my defense, I could only see two people in the room at a time and one was DH. He later informed me that multiple people were in the room the whole time and that they all heard my question the first time. LOL, I only remember asking it twice while in recovery and only because I thought my nurse and RE were not in the room together at the same time. I thought I was asking the nurse first and my RE second; I didn't want to take my nurse's answer as the final answer.
DH also told me I kept saying 'I don't even remember falling asleep! I remember falling asleep for my last surgery!' I do remember saying this twice. But he claimed, with great amounts of laughter, that it was more than just the two times. This made me start to wonder what I might have said in the procedure room to all the staff assisting on my egg retrieval when I thought I was asleep. Hmmm.... I comforted myself by thinking 'oh well, they have probably heard it all in there. I'm sure I wouldn't have been the first to say something crazy.'
After what seemed like no time at all, I was fully awake (and slightly embarrassed by my carrying on while under the effects of the anesthesia ; ) ), my nurse gave me 'after care' instructions (including next steps in my medication regiment), and DH wheeled me to our car in a wheel chair. We went home, DH made lunch for me (I was starving by that time), and he signed onto his computer to work from home for the afternoon while I rested. We occasionally revisited my crazy antics from the recovery room throughout the evening, both laughing our faces off. I laughed so hard, I had tears coming out the corners of my eyes. Oh, and at some point in the evening, around 8 pm I think it was, my nurse anesthetist called and left me a voice message to check on me. I like her; she really did listen to me. :D
And that was that. I went back to work on Thursday and felt like I was back to my normal, IVF self again. Complete with swollen, achy belly. So swollen, in fact, that my fat pants I wore that day and are one full size too big, actually fit me.
The phone call about my plan for my egg retrieval was not one I could afford to miss. All of you in the IF world know how important it is to answer your phone the first time your RE's office calls. If you should happen to miss a call and then have to call them back, it always, ALWAYS goes straight to voice mail (at least for me). Then you're stuck waiting for them to call you back again, and they don't always call back the same day (very frustrating). So I had to tell my boss that DH and I were starting IVF so she would know why I was having so many doctor appointments and so I could get the all clear to bring my cell phone to work meetings. Fortunately, my phone didn't ring during any meetings and even more fortunately, my boss was incredibly understanding about our fertility treatments. When I first told her what we were doing, she said 'I had to go through some of that,' with a big smile full of understanding on her face. : )
Anyway, back to my egg retrieval. When I answered the call, my nurse informed me that my hCG trigger shot would be tonight (Monday) at exactly 9:30 pm and exactly 36 hours before my egg retrieval. She stressed how important it was that I have the shot at precisely the right time so I wouldn't ovulate too early or too late, which would basically mess up the entire egg retrieval. She also said that my dose of hCG would be different from the original plan of 10,000 units; my RE wanted it reduced to 5,000 units. She then gave me instructions for how to mix the liquid solution with the powdered solution, which I frantically scribbled on a Post-It because my memory is not the greatest since my first round of IF medication eight years ago (it's like I have pregnancy brain without the pregnancy). She said tomorrow (Tuesday, July 24th) would be a day of no meds (hooray!), that I was to have nothing to eat or drink after midnight before the retrieval, and that DH and I were to arrive one hour before my scheduled egg retrieval time to prep for the procedure since I would be anesthetized (my RE would be guiding a needle through my lady parts to suck out the fluid filled follicle sacks that contain my eggs - I definitely didn't want to be awake for that).
Monday evening slowly ticked away for my 9:30 shot time, which I already talked about in my previous blog post here. Basically what happened was, at the last minute, DH said he couldn't give me my shot, causing a brief moment of panic on my part. But then he said he was joking (which I did not think was funny at all), and gave me the shot in my tushie before I even knew what was happening. It was such a giant needle and I barely felt a thing that I had to ask him if the needle was all the way in (it was). And thankfully, he didn't hit any blood vessels because then he would have had to pull the needle out and stick me again.
I prayed and tried to think positive thoughts all day on Tuesday while doing my best to ignore my sore, bloated belly. The day creeped by.
Finally, Wednesday was here! We arrived at the fertility clinic around 8:15 am. Right on schedule, a nurse called us back to one of the rooms, gave us a rundown of what to expect, and took notes on my life's history (am I allergic to any medications? any previous surgeries? etc). I told her how I had been so itchy after my laparoscopy and she made note of it in my file. Then the nurse anesthetist came in and asked me the same questions. She must have reviewed my file after the other nurse left the room because she asked me about the itching from my last surgery before I had a chance to bring it up myself. She then explained that it was most likely not an allergic reaction to the anesthesia and rather a reaction to the morphine or the other, stronger drug I was given (whew!). She said it should not be an issue today because the only pain medication I would receive was Tylenol. I also let her know that I had read about other people waking up during this procedure, how my body is resistant to local anesthesia, and that I did NOT want to wake up during my egg retrieval. She was very understanding; I felt like she really listened to me.
So I emptied my bladder one more time and walked back to the procedure room with the nurse anesthetist (meanwhile, DH was instructed to go down the hall to do his part). I laid down on the table and she asked me if I wanted her to numb my arm before she put the needle in for the anesthesia or if she should just stick it and get it over with. I said just get it over with. (Yikes, that hurt! Maybe I should have had her numb it!) I remember feeling the anesthesia begin to take effect about 5 seconds later - I was definitely not expecting that! I remember asking one question (I was concerned about the difficulty of getting past my cervix for the procedure, especially considering my history of difficult HSG and SIS tests). And I remember how difficult it was for me to form my words to try to ask that question. I don't remember if anyone answered me or not, but the nurse anesthetist did ask me if I was feeling the anesthesia (probably because I was slurring my words like a drunk, LOL). Then I was out before I knew it. I didn't even last long enough to put my legs in the stirrups myself.
The next thing I remember, someone was gently shaking me to wake me up. The whole egg retrieval took about 10 minutes and I didn't wake up during it (yay!). I couldn't believe it. It felt like I had been asleep for a very long time; like a really great nap. DH was there, nurses and doctors were walking in and out of my recovery room and they were all talking to me and asking me questions. Someone, maybe my RE, told me the embryologist counted 18 eggs! 18! I was so happy! Hooray! 18 is a really great number! (Although, secretly, I was hoping for 20+. I know, I know. It only takes ONE!) : )
Then I felt the pain. Not terrible, but not great. So one of the nurses gave me two extra strength Tylenol. I'm not sure if it was the pain or my grogginess or what, but I also started crying (very briefly, mind you). And I remember saying to DH between sobs, 'I don't even know why I'm crying!' Ha ha! I can laugh at myself now, and I'm pretty sure DH (and maybe a nurse or two) was laughing at me at the time, but I'm still not sure why I was crying.
I also remember the nurse asking me after I took the Tylenol if my pain was still at a six. I remember thinking in my head, because I was not with it enough to form coherent sentences out loud, 'how did she know my pain was at a six? I guess that sounds about right, but still, how did she know and why does she keep asking me about my pain being a six? Maybe that's the normal pain level for everyone after an egg retrieval?' I just went with it. The Tylenol helped so I said I was no longer at a six. DH later said I told the nurse myself that my pain was at a six. I have no memory of that.
Also (DH finds this part especially funny), I was apparently repeating myself. Not only did I repeat myself when I said I didn't know why I was crying, he said I asked the question about my cervix about four different times (the question was moot anyway because my RE finally answered me and said egg retrievals don't require passing the cervix). In my defense, I could only see two people in the room at a time and one was DH. He later informed me that multiple people were in the room the whole time and that they all heard my question the first time. LOL, I only remember asking it twice while in recovery and only because I thought my nurse and RE were not in the room together at the same time. I thought I was asking the nurse first and my RE second; I didn't want to take my nurse's answer as the final answer.
DH also told me I kept saying 'I don't even remember falling asleep! I remember falling asleep for my last surgery!' I do remember saying this twice. But he claimed, with great amounts of laughter, that it was more than just the two times. This made me start to wonder what I might have said in the procedure room to all the staff assisting on my egg retrieval when I thought I was asleep. Hmmm.... I comforted myself by thinking 'oh well, they have probably heard it all in there. I'm sure I wouldn't have been the first to say something crazy.'
After what seemed like no time at all, I was fully awake (and slightly embarrassed by my carrying on while under the effects of the anesthesia ; ) ), my nurse gave me 'after care' instructions (including next steps in my medication regiment), and DH wheeled me to our car in a wheel chair. We went home, DH made lunch for me (I was starving by that time), and he signed onto his computer to work from home for the afternoon while I rested. We occasionally revisited my crazy antics from the recovery room throughout the evening, both laughing our faces off. I laughed so hard, I had tears coming out the corners of my eyes. Oh, and at some point in the evening, around 8 pm I think it was, my nurse anesthetist called and left me a voice message to check on me. I like her; she really did listen to me. :D
And that was that. I went back to work on Thursday and felt like I was back to my normal, IVF self again. Complete with swollen, achy belly. So swollen, in fact, that my fat pants I wore that day and are one full size too big, actually fit me.
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