they’ve been fertilized

The doctor called me this morning with the results…Of the 24 eggs retrieved, 16 were mature, and 13 fertilized!!  She said to be there at 8:30 Monday morning for the transfer, but that I may be sent home for a Wednesday transfer if they think they’ll make it to blastocyst.  I’m so incredibly excited,  I can’t wait until Monday!  Pretty soon, I may have a baby growing inside me

egg retrieval

Let’s see, where do I start?  The whole experience actually went very well, and I have nothing to complain about.  Everyone was so nice!  When we first got to the hospital, I had to check in with pre-admissions for my surgery.  They gave me clothes to put on (which were very comfortable), and we waited around for about an hour.  A nurse called me back to take my vitals, then explained to me what the plan was for the day.  Around 7:30, another nurse took a group of us down to IVF clinic.  They put us all in separate rooms, where the doctors came by to explain the process again, tell me and Mike about the medications that I’ll be on, and to discuss when I’ll come back for transfer.  After that, the anesthesiologist came in to give me some medications and hook me up to an IV.  That was the first time I’d ever had an IV, and while it didn’t hurt anymore than any other needle, it was strange to have a tube running out of my arm.

Soon after I was hooked to the IV, I was taken back to the room for surgery where they started the anesthesia.  Within about 2 minutes, I was out.  The next thing I remember is them telling me that they had retrieved 24 eggs.  I woke up once they rolled me down the NICU, and a really nice nurse sat with me for the next half hour.  We had a really good conversation (I’m very talkative while under the influence of drugs ), and the time passed by really fast.  I didn’t have much pain at that point, just a little twinge in my lower abdomen.  He told me that I wouldn’t remember anything from our conversation because of the drugs, but surprisingly I still do.  I remember telling him at one point that I should become a  nurse   That would be an interesting profession change.

Once they felt like I was awake enough, they took me to phase II, which was back to pre-admissions where I started off.  By that time, the pain had slightly increased, but nothing terrible.  Before they’d let me leave, I had to pee, but it took me over an hour to do that!  It was crazy.  I would have thought I’d have no problem since I’d had an IV in me for 2 hours.  I ended up drinking about 7 cups of water and an apple juice and finally was able to go enough for them to say we were released.  I meant to ask them the reason, but I never got around to it.

It wasn’t until the drive home that I started feeling very nauseous, and I was feeling grateful that I had no food on my stomach.  I’m sure Mike would not have appreciated me throwing up in his car.  He’s been so wonderful today.  He made me a sandwich for lunch, which was good because it was a light lunch.  I’m not sure I could have held down anything heavier.  And tonight he picked us up thai food and some of my favorite dessert, dark chocolate soy frozen yogurt

They gave me several medications, including antibiotics, steroids, and percocet for pain.  I haven’t taken the percocet yet, but I’ll probably take it before bed so I don’t have any problems sleeping tonight.  Maybe I’ll even take it before my progesterone in oil injection tonight.

Anyway, so they are supposed to call me tomorrow with the fertilization results and to let me know what time I should go in Monday morning for transfer.  If the embryos make it to blastocyst, they’ll push it to Wednesday, but I won’t know until Monday when I go in.  I’m really hoping that they make it to blastocyst, since they have a much better chance of implantation at that point.  I’m anxious for the phone call tomorrow to hear how many eggs fertilize!