Egg Retrieval

The instructions prior to the egg retrieval were to avoid eating or drinking after midnight the night before the retrieval, and wear comfortable clothes with warm socks.

Mark did his part at 7:00 am, and then my appointment was at 8:00.  After a short wait, they took me into a room and had me change into one of those nice little hospital gowns.  Then they brought me a warm blanket to keep me cozy until the procedure.  When it was time, they had me move to a different room where the procedure would take place.

There was a bed all set up for me and after I settled in, they gave me a shot in my hand to numb it up before the IV. The initial medication in the IV made me feel a little weird, but then after everyone had entered the room they started the full-on anesthesia. The anesthesia felt like pressure going down my arm. I noticed that all of a sudden all of the medical staff were standing over me, watching me, and I realized that they were watching to see me pass out. It's kind of strange to have four people standing over you waiting for you to be unconscious.

After I woke up, they told me that they had retrieved 11 eggs.  That was a lot better than I thought they were going to do because I thought we only had 7 mature follicles.  Four more must have caught up between Sunday and Tuesday.

I recovered extremely quickly from the anesthesia.  I didn't feel sick, and I was completely alert.  My friend who had come to give me a ride home went out to lunch with me and then I took a nap for the afternoon.

On Thursday I started progesterone injections.  Okay, up until this point, everything had gone extremely smoothly and the shots were no big deal.  The progesterone injections are completely different for me.  I'm not sure why they're so bad for me, but they result in a spot about the size of a fist in my muscle being sore for the day of and the day after the shot.  I tried numbing the area with ice, but that seemed to make it worse.  Then I tried using Emla cream (applied an hour before the shot) and heating the area for 30 minutes before and ten minutes after.  That worked pretty well the first two days, but we did that today and I think the Emla cream didn't work this time because I felt everything.  The gauge on the needle is pretty large, it's a long needle, and it goes into the muscle.  I don't like feeling all of that!  I think these shots keep going until at least the pregnancy test, potentially longer.  Ugh.

Next up - Transfer!