Things that are Our IVF Cycle: Egg retrieval

After we triggered ovulation on Sunday night right at at 10 p.m. The clinic gave me a list of things I had to do before my egg retrieval appointment that took place on Tuesday.

First time ever seeing a positive pregnancy test – too bad it was only the hCG trigger shot.

Here’s what they wanted me to do:

• Call the office with results for the urine pregnancy test (they want to make sure that the hCG trigger shot worked) on Monday.
• Chase was to take Ciprofloxacin (antibiotic) Monday.
• Vinegar and water douche before bed Monday night.
• Vinegar and water douche before going to my appointment.
• We had to be there 30 minutes early.

Here’s what to expect from Egg retrieval:

No eating or drinking after 2 a.m. No contacts, no makeup, no perfume and no lotion. The eggs are sensitive to all the smelly stuff.

When I got to the appointment my stomach was growling, and I was SO thirsty.

The whole week I was on fertility drugs, I was drinking almost 120 ounces of water a day. Seriously, who needs THAT much water? and I still felt partially dehydrated with that much too!

I was a little worried that I wouldn’t do well with the anesthesia because I had an empty stomach.

The anesthesiologist brought me back, I used the restroom for the last time, and I changed into a gown.

Once dressed, he numbed the area before putting the IV in and he did it so easily. Since I hadn’t had any water since 10pm the previous night I was he got a vain. Once I had the IV in I felt a cold sensation go up my arm, it wasn’t painful, thankfully, but I did start feeling loopy.

Chase was escorted out of the room, and my RE and his assistant came in. We talked about my socks (I had bought Iron Man socks – and Chase wore his that he has), and then the anesthesiologist put an oxygen mask on my face, and that’s the last thing I remember…

I woke up about 40 minutes later to the anesthesiologist taking off my mask. He escorted me to another room (with my things), placed a heating pad on my stomach, put a blanket on me and went and grabbed Chase. Maybe I was just a little out of it, but he was an awesome anesthesiologist.

Our RE came in and said he retrieved 8 eggs. He also said he’s 90% sure I have endometriosis. He based that on where my uterus was, and it being all twisted and turned. The cyst, that was on my ovary, they were able to drain and it was about 2cm big.

We went home, I ate breakfast, and went to take a nap, which only lasted a short time due to a very full bladder. After I stayed awake, relaxed, and made sure I had plenty of Tylenol. A friend offered to bring us dinner, which was nice to not have to cook.

The next day (Wednesday) I decided to go to work. Overall, I was sluggish, didn’t feel 100% and just felt crappy and ended up only working a half day. To stave off Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), I was drinking about 120 ounces a day including electrolytes, and protein.

OHSS causes your ovaries to swell, it can cause rapid weight gain abdominal pain and can potentially put a women in the hospital if left untreated.

I finally felt better by Sunday, almost 6 days after Egg Retrieval.

We got the fertilization report from the embryologist the following day. Out of the 8, 6 were mature, and 4 fertilized. Chase and I made an effort to pray hard for those 4 that they make it to day 5.

We would expect another call from embryologist 2 days after fertilization (day 3), and it felt like eternity waiting Wednesday to Friday.

My boss told me to go on a “walk” around the building to help rid me of some of my anxiety, and surprisingly it helped a lot. We finally got the call that all 4 were still growing, I had 2 at 6 cells, 1 at 8 cell, and 1 at 9 cell. I was so relieved that we still had 4 embabies. Our IVF coordinator said embryo transfer would be, Sunday at 2:30pm.

Beautiful sunrise Friday morning

The wait from Friday to Sunday, I had this weird feeling that I had babies, but I couldn’t take the babies home with me. I was a mom to these embabies, and I teared up because I couldn’t be with them.

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P.S. Be sure to check out our Embryo Transfer, and all about Injections.
P.P.S. Check out my Etsy Shop for all things infertility related.