Egg Retrieval

My biggest fear with today’s procedure was not the actual procedure itself, but the IV. When you get knocked out, you can’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight. Since dehydration is the #1 culprit of painful sticks and long lasting bruises, that’s a problem for me EVERY TIME. (I’ve been knocked out a considerable amount of times: wisdom teeth, kidney stone blasting, bladder test, colonoscopy, and my D&C, plus IV’s for both times I’ve been in the ER for kidney stone diagnosis) My preferred stick point is my arm crook, but those spots are shot (no pun intended) from all the monitoring. My second preferred spot is the wrist. My least preferred spot is the forearm, but hand is a close 2^nd on the hatred list. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a say today and it was the back of my right hand. But the lady who did it was great, and I did drink a ton around 11pm last night so it hadn’t been a ton of hours for dehydration to set in.

After they prepped me, they let me play with my ipad and the wifi while I waited, so I played Draw Something with my left hand. Apologies to my opponents. J I was also able to have them write “NO CAFFEINE, NO DIET” on my chart because they said they were going to give me soda afterwards and I’m always loopy at that point so there’s a chance I’d say a happy OK if they offered me a Coke!

This was the first time in any of my knock-outs that I’ve walked myself into the OR. Honestly, that OR table looked like what you see in executions on TV, with the arms out to the side. The anesthesiologist promised it was only like that so he could do his thing with the IV without all the doctors getting in his way, but it was creepy. And COLD.

I was only out for about 20 minutes, because they came to get me just before 9:10 and I could see a clock by 9:40. I asked how many times I woke up, because I often wake up 5 or 6 times coming out of the meds, and they said the first time I talked, I was up for good! I drank my soda and ate my snacks, and they let my husband come back right away. Stupidly, I forgot to ask to go to the bathroom, so I was there longer than I needed to be. I was fully awake and walking normally by the time I was released. (They still wheeled me to the car, though.) If you ever get knocked out, ask to pee when you wake up and they will let you go! I actually noticed the cold discomfort from the fully open IV before I remembered to ask this time. (They open up the IV full flow to fill your bladder quicker.) Of course with my D&C I asked to pee so quickly that I got released before I probably should have, because I was OUT of it. I’m sure there is a happy medium.

The doctor came to tell me that they got 8 eggs, and that a nurse will call tomorrow with news. Since I’ve been home, I’ve been laying as still as possible on the couch with a heating pad. I’m crampy and uncomfortable, but it isn’t as bad as I feared.

We are really hoping that 6 fertilize tonight, because then we can be in the trial they’re doing with the new incubator. If you get into the new incubator, it’s sealed the whole time and they can watch the whole process with a computer instead of taking it out every day and checking it under a regular microscope. (Seems like this new incubator has zero downsides, but it’s still considered a trial. If you get 6 fertilized, they will split them 3 into the conventional style and 3 into the new one, and if you are successful, you get a flash drive with all the pictures!) They told us they tend to see approximately a 70% fertilization rate, so it’s iffy whether we’ll get to 6. I really hope we do!!