Recap of our retrieval

So as you saw from my previous post, 5 eggs - hell yeah!!!

I took a nice long nap this afternoon, courtesy of the after-effects of anesthesia. DH just made dinner (what a love) and I'm resting and writing. I'm feeling good overall - a little groggy and just slightly crampy, but nothing major. Here's how the day went...

After arriving at the fertility center, we were taken to an admission room where I changed into my gown. Dr. S came in to say hi and let us know he'd be doing the e/r. A few minutes after he left the anesthesiologist came in to review my history and start my IV. I appreciated that she numbed the IV spot (on the wrist) with a local anesthetic before putting the IV in. From past experience, I know the wrist can be a painful spot for an IV but this one was great. Then we were ready to go. DH & I did our hugs and kisses and wishes of good luck to each other and she walked me to the procedure room. DH stayed behind waiting to be called to go take care of his business.

In the procedure room, I got up on the table and chilled while we waited for the doctor. They put something in my IV to relax me while we waited (and oh, that was nice stuff) and chatted for a bit. The embryologist came in to introduce herself. What they collected would be immediately handed off to her. Then the doctor walked in, they put more stuff in my IV, and told me to take a deep breath. Took one deep breath, felt no different. Took my second deep breath and I was out like a light. When I woke up, they helped me move from the procedure table to a rolling bed and wheeled me to recovery.

In the meantime DH had been whisked to the room of wonders to produce his swimmer supply. There was no DVD in the player this time so he was forced to do his business with the mags provided. Again, he reached for some international thing when he saw an article listed on the front, then reminded himself he wasn't there to read articles. So despite the noise outside the room with nurses and folks walking by and no DVD to watch, he was able to produce a wonderful bunch of sperm for our eggs.

So I'm in the recovery area and Dr. S comes in to tell me that we got 5 eggs. Oh, I was so relieved! I mean I know normally 5 isn't much to cheer about, but for my one ovary, I was so freaking proud. DH came in to the recovery area shortly after, surprised to see me done already and was happy to hear the news of our 5 eggs. I had some water, juice, and crackers (since I hadn't had anything since the night before) and eventually got to the point where I wasn't so completely loopy. The embryologist came in to repeat that we did get 5 eggs and that DH's specimen came back great so we would be able to fertilize normally and not need ICSI (where they have to insert a single sperm into each egg - normally used if there are very few eggs or when there are issues with the sperm like low count, low morphology, etc.)

This afternoon the embryologist would take DH's sperm and place it on the eggs and by tomorrow we'll know how many fertilized. We should get the call with our fertilization report around 10 or 11 am tomorrow. I'm already nervous about answering that call. It's scary to think that generally not all will fertilize, but I'm hoping we get a few that do.

Tomorrow I also start taking my Endometrin vaginal suppositories 3x a day. Normally in the non-IVF world, after ovulation the corpus luteum (left over cyst from the follicle) produces progesterone to thicken the lining of the uterus, providing a good healthy place for implantation of the embryo. With IVF, because they're aspirating the follicles including the fluid within, you need to take progesterone so you have enough to sustain a pregnancy until the placenta takes over (around 12 weeks of pregnancy.) So the hoo-ha inserts start tomorrow - bring 'em on!!

After tomorrow we will get daily calls to let us know how the embryos are doing. Our transfer date will depend on how they're growing but will be Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. We'll find out the day before it happens. So I'll be blogging daily for the next few days; tomorrow to give you the fertilization report, then daily as we get the updates on our embabies, and then finally on how the transfer goes.

Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers, they're definitely working! Until tomorrow then...