War

I spent last week on my couch.  When the doctors said I'd just feel a little cramping after my IVF egg retrieval, they lied.  Let's start from the beginning.  Last Saturday, I had my final doctor appointment before trigger shots and then retrieval scheduled for Monday.  Around 10 am, they called to tell me my estrogen was high and I might be at risk for over stimulation, so they called in a prescription for me to help and told me not to worry.  About an hour later I was vomiting.  I called the doctor to tell them and I was told I had two choices.  I could go ahead with the retrieval as planned but I'd have to freeze the embryos and do the transfer in a month or two.  This was not something I wanted to do, especially since the office is closed for "quality control" in July and I have a vacation planned for August which would put me at September for the transfer.  Not cool.  My other option was to hold off a night on the trigger, see the doctor in the morning (on a Sunday) and see if my estrogen came down at all to do a retrieval on Tuesday and hopefully transfer a few days later.  I chose this option and hung up with the doctor.  She called me back 5 minutes later to tell me she called me in a prescription for the nausea and that she did not recommend option 2 (why give it to me then?!) for fear that my eggs will start to die off from coasting (no more hormones to keep them growing) and I'll lose the whole cycle.  I was pretty bummed, but I'd rather at least have something to freeze than nothing at all.  And I was still hopeful that it could all work out and I'd still be able to transfer.  Technically, there'd be almost a week between retrieval and transfer for me to get better, right?

Monday, I went in for the retrieval.  Got there and they set me up with an IV in my wrist (first time for that spot!) for the anesthesia.  Maybe 15 minutes later I was in the procedure room and was being told to let them know when I was feeling the good stuff, next thing I know I was being told it was over and to move over to a gurney.  I was rolled into recovery and eventually met by my husband.  I must have been falling in and out of sleep though because it felt like I was only in there 15 minutes before they said it was okay for me to leave but my husband says I was in there for over an hour.  I got up from the bed and immediately felt nauseous and started sweating.  Luckily, it didn't last long though and I didn't puke on the floor.  We went home and I dozed in and out on the way.

My wrist IV

Once home, I settled in on the couch and fell back to sleep.  I was in a lot of pain, but I was sure it would pass soon.  I was wrong.  I could not stand up without help, I could barely walk to the bathroom.  It was awful.  I barely slept at night.  There was just no way to get comfortable and the Tylenol I was allowed to take for pain was not cutting it.

I planned to work from home Tuesday and get back to work Wednesday.  That didn't happen.  I couldn't work from home on Tuesday, balancing a laptop on my lap or bending forward to use it on a table was just not an option.  I did work from home Wednesday and Thursday and started to finally feel a little better Thursday night.  I'm not kidding when I say it felt like someone sliced every one of my stomach muscles and broke my ribs.  And I've been through 2 kidney stones, 2 ruptured cysts, various leg and foot surgeries, this pain was serious!

Throughout the week, I got calls each day from the embryologist updating me on my 10 eggs.  I started with 26 follicles, ended up with 10 eggs (some of the follicles were empty and some were actually cysts), 9 eggs fertilized.  All 9 split twice and then 2 took the lead and the other 7 started to lag behind.  I got the call Thursday saying my transfer would be the next day (yay, no waiting!).  I drank my 18 oz. of water prior and went in ready to go.  Only, I apparently didn't drink enough so they made me drink more water and said they 'd be back in 20 minutes.  About an hour later they returned and I felt like I was going to burst!  The transfer is not painful just uncomfortable because your bladder is so full and they are all up in there with a clamp and a syringe and the they're using the ultrasound thing on your full stomach.  It was pretty cool watching them release the embryos (we transferred 2) on the monitor.

All my boys keeping me company on the couch (and the laundry)

Wiley peeking at me from behind my pillow

So, now we wait.  We transferred 2 embryos and ended up with 4 good enough to freeze.  We are very hopeful that we'll have some good news very soon!  I feel like these last 2 years have been a war and I'm ready for some good things!

My friend's five year old daughter started talking to me about the baby in my belly on Monday, I was totally caught off guard.  And then a few more times that evening she would say something about me being pregnant.  They say kids know these things, so we'll see!  The funny part was, when I asked her if I was having a boy or girl she responded with, "I don't know!"  Like it was the craziest thing I ever asked her.  Ha.  I guess she doesn't know everything!  But let's hope she's right about one thing!