My egg retrieval was on Monday. I was actually pretty relaxed and ready to go. We arrived bright and early at 6:30 in the morning, excited to just have the procedure done. My nurses and doctor are so nice and they made us feel so comfortable. The actual procedure only took about 30 minutes. The doctor was able to retrieve 32 eggs! Out of the 32, so far 19 were mature and fertilized. So pumped! Those numbers are fantastic. They rolled me back to the room and of course since I was given anesthesia, I was a bit loopy. Josh said I asked him the same question about 6 times! Poor guy. I was (still am) very sore and bloated (sorry tmi) due to my ovaries being so stimulated. Like so swollen that they were touching each other. Yes, ouch.
So Josh drove me home and I began drinking all the fluids and eating salty soups that they recommend after the surgery. I slept for about 2-3 hours and when I got up I had a horrible pain. Of course after drinking so much fluid, my poor bladder was swollen. The problem was I couldn't go!! Oh the awfulness of not being able to go. I hope no one experiences that in their life. I stuck it out for another hour or two and then I couldn't stand the pain any longer. I felt like I was going to explode! I called my nurse and she said to come to the emergency room. By this point it was 4:00, and I hadn't gone since 5:30 that morning! We hurried to the ER (which is always a delightful place to visit) and an hour later they gave me some relief. Hallelujah. We stayed for about 4 hours and I finally was able to go myself so we got to go home.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning...woke up and still couldn't go by myself. I started to cry. My poor husband felt so bad for me. Back to the doctor's office we went where I came home with a lovely foley catheter. YUCK. They think that everything was so swollen inside of me that I got a "kink" in my tube or maybe the anesthesia made my bladder fall asleep. Whatever. It stunk. Thankfully I only had to have that for a day. Finally feeling pretty good today. I only wish someone had told me how hard recovery would be for this. Nurses and doctors just tell you your going to be sore for a few days, blah blah. I guess I'm the anomaly in all situations. I guess I didn't consider it in my mind to be "real" surgery, even though that was exactly what it was. My sweet doctor said he's never had a patient have this happen before, go figure!
So anyhow...I wanted to capture this part of the journey. Sorry if it's been too much information for some of you, but I want to document it all. I have been praying like no tomorrow and have totally felt God with me, even when I was most frustrated. He's walking with us on this path and it is so comforting. Thank you to everyone that has checked in on me and prayed for us. We truly appreciate it!
I'll leave you with this adorable video my sister in law sent us. The best get well message ever!
Hi Michelle - I know we barely know each other in real life, but I have always followed your blog over the years. I am
ReplyDeletenow 32 years old and my only dream in life has always to be a Mom. Unfortunately, I stopped getting a period last summer... I waited (by doctor’s orders) 8/9 months and finally went to a fertility specialist. After some testing, I found out at the beginning of this month that my AMH is super low for my age. The hormone should be around 4.0 and mine is already down to a 1.4. Because I’m not married yet, the specialist recommended I go through two rounds egg retrieval to freeze eggs... since my AMH is so low... and my egg quantity/quality has been declining... one retrieval won’t yield enough eggs for the future. So after taking out a big loan ($30,000) to pay for this... I started my injections. I just had my retrieval yesterday... and oh my goodness! The pain and bloating is so awful that it is shooting up into my shoulders. It’s hard to breathe. Its hard to move. It’s hard to go to the bathroom. The doctors and nurses do not prepare you AT ALL for this recovery! I hope in a few days I start to feel better... I will start my second round of shots at the end of October for retrieval in November. I’m so anxious and nervous to go through this a SECOND time knowing how awful it is. But I am thankful God opened the doors for this option before it was too late. In the end, if all this fails when I’m ready to fertilize and implant... I am very open to adoption. In other news, my boyfriend Jon (whom I’ve been with over a year now) has been so supportive during this journey. I’m moving in with him in 2 weeks and I just pray hard this all works out. Thank you for sharing your IVF journey with the world... you have no idea how much your few posts have helped me... you give me inspiration, hope, and the ability to find my faith/trust through all of this.
Oh... they got thought only 6 eggs could come out. But they got 9 yesterday! I find out today how many were mature enough to freeze... having patience is so hard through all of this. Ugh. Thank you for understanding it all.
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