Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Retrieval day drama and fertilization report

Where to begin? I guess the easiest way is just a timeline.

6:45 am: check in for retrieval

7:25: look at the clock in the procedure room as I start fading away under the anesthesia

7:55: look at the clock in the recovery room. Wait impatiently for my husband to return.

8:10: ask for half a Vicodin. Nurse says if I'm having pain so early, I should take a whole. Nurse calls me an "egg machine" but can't remember how many we got.

9:25: A returns and tells me we got SEVENTEEN EGGS!! SEVENTEEN! I cry and text everyone I know to tell them the good news.

9:45 get in the car

10:00 hit with a wave of nausea and start feeling very uncomfortable

10:15 make A pull over so I can puke (but it won't come up)

10:30 get to my parents' house where our dogs are. Vomit in their driveway. Lie down and rest until 11, wake up to use the restroom. Pass out three times walking 15 feet from bedroom to rest room -- legitimate passing out, coming to on the floor and not knowing where I am.

11:30 talk to doctor in panic. He tells me to rest and call in a few hours if I don't feel better.

12:00pm the pain is bad. My abdomen doesn't hurt that much, but I have severe pain under my ribcage and shoulders every time I take a deep breath.

2:30 still can't stand up without feeling like I'll pass out. Call the doctor, he is unsure about what to do. Debate on going to ER in my parents' town but just really, really, want to be home.

3:00 take more Vicodin

4:30 finally leave my parents' house

6:00 arrive home and get in bed. In so much pain I can barely move. Every inhale is excruciating unless I breathe very shallowly. A goes downstairs to make himself some dinner and I get a spasm of pain that causes me to gasp, which hurts more because breathing hurts. I'm hyperventilating because I can't breathe deeply enough to catch my breath. Scream for my husband (he never gets to eat dinner).

6:30 arrive at ER.

7:30 finally get some pain meds (does nothing). Call for more and the nurse needs a doctor to order it. Have two more pain spasms/hyperventilating spells. All I want is to get comfortable enough to sleep.

9:00 nurse arrives to give me some serious painkiller. It brings me so much relief that I start crying. I say "I just want to have a baby" over and over again.

11:00 after 90 minutes of sleep and that hardcore painkiller, I feel like a new woman. I go home and go to bed. I wake up every four hours to eat and take more Vicodin.

8:15 this morning - embryologist calls to say of the 17 eggs, 14 were mature, and 10 fertilized with ICSI. TEN! TEN! That is 10x the fertilization we had last time. I am over the moon.

---

So today I feel much better. I am tender around my abdomen and I look four months pregnant due to my swollen ovaries. But this pain is manageable with Vicodin and a heating pad. I'm not sure why I reacted so poorly to the anesthesia this time when I had no problem in July. I'm not sure why I had such weird pain all through my torso. But the worst has passed.

Day 5 transfer on Sunday 9/18. Pregnancy test on 9/28.

14 comments:

Mandy said...

Oh my goodness I hate you had to go through all of that, BUT...OMG so many eggs and transfer soon! So so thrilled for you. FX!!!

Michelle said...

Oh, geez, sorry for the drama/pain, but I'm so happy about your numbers! They sound fabulous! Good luck and I hope you continue to feel way better and improve as the day wears on.

Emily said...

I'm so sorry you had to deal with such a bad recovery and pain, but ten?? That's awesome!!! Wahoo!!

Drevas said...

OMG! So sorry for everything you went through but SO HAPPY that you had SUCH a good result! 10 embryos! It made me a little teary eyed when I got to that part! I'm so excited for you!! :)

Denver Laura said...

That's horrible! But 10 fertilized is fantastic! I'll be thinking about you this weekend...

Alex said...

Wow! I can't believe you were in so much pain - that sucks! And a trip to the ER and everything. Ugh!

But a WONDERFUL fertilization report. I'm so happy for you! Grow, embies, grow!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy you go that many! I don't think I've ever heard of that many! Nice work!

I'm worried about you, though. Did they ever do an ultrasound of your ovaries while you were in the ER? Have you ever heard of OHSS (Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome)? I read about it on another woman's blog and this sounded similar to that (only thankfully, not as extreme as her case). I don't want to worry you further, but I want to make sure you're okay! I'm also not entirely educated of all the processes of IVF and IUI, so I might be completely wrong... I just wanted to say something just in case.

Marissa said...

TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Lulu, I am so incredibly happy for you!!!!!

Really sorry about the pain--that must have been so awful. :(

But TEN!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!

Chickenpig said...

I passed out, vomited, and was in incredible pain for the first IVF I had. From what I understand, sometimes they can be too heavy handed with the anesthesia. And sometimes the doctor doing the retrieval can be a little rough with you, because 'what the heck...she's sleeping'. Did you have the same doc doing your retrieval?

I had a mild case of OHSS with my first two transfers. It made me a little short of breath and my abdomen was very tender. Drink lots of Gatorade and/or V8, but not regular water or caffeine. Watch your urine output and your breathing. If you are drinking a lot of Gatorade but you stop peeing, and you have trouble taking a full breath, get yourself to a doctor/emergency room quickly.

That is a great number of eggs. And an even greater number of embryos. Amazing!!!! You outdid yourself BIG time :)

Frankie Bee said...

Congratulations on your fert report! So much better than last time and you are lucky you get to do a fresh transfer! I threw up out of the car on my trip home from the clinic after ER. Take it easy.

Jem said...

That IS a lot of drama! Hopefully those little fertilized eggs are doing their thing and you'll have great embies to transfer and freeze.

Stacy said...

You poor thing : ( Hope you get to feeling better. That is amazing that you had so many fertilized eggs!!!

Kerrik said...

Agh! You poor thing...but YAY for all that fert report!
I don't know, it sounds to me like a OHSS mixed in with the heavy-handed anesthesia. I had pretty mild OHSS, but that was miserable enough. I hope you start feeling better soon.
K

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's quite a bit of drama for one day.
But congrats on the great fert report! Amazing! and I'm glad you're feeling better...