Retrieval Update

First, thank you ladies for all your prayers and well wishes for today. I know that it made a difference because I was so calm and at peace all morning long.

Wednesday was such a long day because I was so anxious to just get to the retrieval. I felt bloated and from time to time would feel sharp pangs in my abdomen. I would have these fears that my follicles would ovulate early and I'd loose them. But then I realized that even if they did what could I do about it? Nothing. So I stopped worrying and just trusted God that it would be ok. Then all I had to focus on was the fact that my pants felt really tight and that I would catch some of my coworkers sneaking peeks at my stomach. Oh well.

Last night we went to my parents house as we would be staying over night to ensure that we would make it to the clinic on time. Because of construction going on it's nearly impossible to get across town in less than 45 minutes anymore. What a blessing that my parents live one exit away from our RE's clinic. It was so great to hang out with them and let them be a part of this process. My little brother even stayed the night because he wanted to do 'something' to support us. And on a side note: I slept great! Seriously. No nerves, nothing. Just slept like a baby and woke up refreshed.

At 8:45 am I downed the Xanax they had prescribed as an anti-anxiety med. I didn't think I needed it but because I didn't really know what lay ahead I took it anyway.

We arrived at the clinic at 9:30 am (right on time) to drop off Hammer's sample at the lab and then headed next door to the RE's office. According to the RN our room wasn't ready yet so she took us back in her office and administered the dilau.ded. Now I've noticed from reading several other IVF blogs that many women go under general anthesia or take an amnesiac drug so that they do not remember the retrieval. Our clinic does not do that but I have to say that it's really not that bad. I was awake for the whole procedure but was in a sort of pain free buzzing state. I spoke slower and a bit garbled only because dilau.ded makes your mouth so darn dry. I didn't even realize that Dr. S had administered two shots of anesthetic around my cervix. I got to watch the whole procedure on the u/s machine. I noticed that when he drained the larger follicles it felt less uncomfortable than when he drained the smaller ones. The most I felt was pressure and cramping but Hammer was there holding my hand the whole time. I'd never worked with Dr. S before but he seemed very nice and considerate. Afterward they had me lay there for about 30 minutes and then got me dressed and that was it. The RN came back in one more time to tell me that in total they had retrieved 7 eggs. I was a bit surprised by that number but apparently they got all four large follicles, the fifth smaller one had caught up to mature size by the time of the retrieval and there were two smaller ones. They drain all visible follicles just to be sure there isn't a good egg left behind but typically those do not contain mature eggs. There was a little bit of bleeding which I was warned will happen but that it was normal and should subside by the evening. I left still feeling dizzy and buzzing on my xanax/dilau.ded concoction when Hammer walked me out to the car at around 11:30 am.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in a recliner sipping on water and sprite. Now that the pain meds have worn off I just feel a bit crampy but nothing more. I'm relieved to have this part of the process over. They will call me tomorrow with the report of how many of the seven were mature and if any fertilized. This is the point where I expect to have issues. Like I've mentioned before I never thought we'd have trouble getting to retrieval so I was more prepared for fertilization issues. It still remains to be seen what God's plan is for this cycle.

I had my first progesterone shot tonight as well. They've prescribed 1/2mL IM. The recommendation to heat the injection site for 20 minutes pre shot and post shot worked wonders! Thank you cady and osuraj! Oh and Hammer did do an excellent job injecting it. I think I built that shot up so much in my head that I have to say it wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be. Of course, if this works I'm not so sure I'll be saying the same thing after 8 weeks of it. Then again it would also mean we were pregnant...

For now I'm just going to enjoy reaching this point. Hammer has picked up dinner from my favorite Mexican place, time to go eat!