IVF - Trigger and Retrieval

Eggs, Eggs and Tadpoles!!
photo credit: kirklandj via photopin cc

I had planned to do a post about the trigger yesterday but wasn't feeling good so I'm going to combine posts today.

I had my appointment on Saturday, I was right on target so they told me I'd be doing my trigger that day. What a headache. They called me that afternoon to give me instructions and to make sure I had the trigger medicine. I did but I had a hard time reading the information on the box and vial so at first I wasn't sure I had enough. They wanted me to come back to the office and purchase the right meds because they didn't think I had it. That's about an hour's drive ladies and gentlemen and I had already gone down that morning. Mr. Blue then helped me to decipher (read that as science experiment) the true amount in the vial (it's not really labeled clearly for the layman) and I tried to call them back. Their phones go to an answering service on the weekends even when they are in the office and it took them a bit to get back to me (not their fault, they're very busy). I was freaking out though, wondering what the heck?


By the time they did call me back I told them that it looked like we had the right stuff at the right amount but she was still concerned. Emotionally I couldn't think clearly any more so my love stepped in to talk to the nurse and try to figure it out. Lets just say that it went back and forth for a bit. The main confusion was that the meds we were given by their northern clinic is not the same that their southern clinic uses. The Nurse finally called our prescribing Nurse and it was finally all cleared away. We DID have the right stuff. Whew!
Thank you Mr. Blue!!!

The instructions then were to give myself the tigger shot in the belly around 12:30am that night (Sunday morning) then again at 12:30pm Sunday afternoon. Oh by the way, I have to go in again Sunday morning to make sure the trigger is taking.  ...grumble...  I had thought I would have a break that day.

Done and done. Got the call that things were looking good but that I'd have to take 3 more days of Cetrotide to help bring my hormone levels down as I am at risk for hyperstimulation. And here I thought I'd be done with the pokeys after retrieval.  ...grumble...

RETRIEVAL DAY!!

The appointment for retrieval was set for this morning, we had to be there at 9:30am. We took the toll road because I-25 traffic during rush hour is a pain in the ass.

We loved the Nurse that was helping me with prep. She reminded us of Chelsea Handler. Unfortunately once I was prepped we still had to wait in the room for a bit with only the Heart Rate/Pulse monitor machine for music. A person could go insane listening to the beeps on that thing. So Mr. Blue and I decided to make a game of it, where could he touch me that would cause the Heart/Pulse rate to jump and increase the beeps?  ;-)  We shared the fact that we were playing the game with the Nurse but for some reason she really didn't want to know...

Finally the time came to wheel me back. A couple of quick kisses from my love and it was down the hall.  They had started putting the anesthesia in my drip (did I mention I had an IV?) just before we left the room and I was slowly feeling it just outside of the room. I remember being wheeled into the surgery room and they were having me scoot down on the gurney and then...oblivion...

The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room. I was sleepy, and warm and comfortable and saw no reason why I should have to wake up soon so I went back to sleep. It probably wasn't for very long though. When I woke up again I struggled to clear my head. They finally let Mr. Blue come back and sit with me.   

As I woke up more they moved me to a chair and eventually I was allowed to get dressed. That's when the Embryologist came in to tell us how many eggs they had pulled.

30 ladies and gentlebeans, I had 30 eggs removed. I only had 15 removed in Australia, no wonder my ovaries felt like bowling balls. Over the course of the next few days they will call us to keep us informed as to the attrition rate and successes. Meaning, how many actually get fertilized, how many actually divide and make it to blastospheres. I plan to keep some sort of running numbers tally on my blog so you can what's happening.

On the way home we picked up my prescription and some lunch. I do feel lighter. My insides are still recovering so I'm still a little bloated but feeling better all of the time. I can have caffeine again so I'm looking forward to a soda and pizza for dinner.  :)

Of course once we got home I promptly crashed for a couple of hours, but I'm doing good, emotionally and physically.  

So now it's more or less a waiting game. They have a lot of tests to run and my body needs to recover a bit and clear the meds out of my system.  The embryo transfer won't happen until September.  Here's hoping we only need to do it once though.  :)

**Egg Retrieval - Basically the procedure consisted of the Doctor using a vaginal ultrasound to guide her to the egg follicles in my ovaries and then using a needle with a tube to collect them. The needle actually goes though the vaginal wall and into each follicle to suck the fluids and the eggs out. In my case this had to be done 30 different times, both ovaries.