Just got home from the egg retrieval...it went very well. They were able to get 17 eggs which is exactly within the range we were hoping for. The doctor said that even though it took longer he's much happier with the results of this cycle so far. So now we wait for our daily embryo reports.
In the meantime, within arms reach - I have several bottles of water, a small breakfast from Panera (egg souffle!), my Nook, my laptop, my cell phone, and the TV remote. Oh, and my pain meds and Tylenol. I'm going to try and avoid taking any more of the pain meds because they make me feel sick but we'll see how it goes. They did give me some Zofran this time for the nausea that I typically get after anaesthesia so that was nice.
And it wouldn't be a blog entry from me if there wasn't some vein-related issue. Today, it took a nurse and two anaesthesiologists to get my IV in. They seemed a little dumb-founded but I assured them it was me, not them. :)
Nurse Nick is telling me I need to sleep, so off I go! XOXO
Showing posts with label egg retrieval. Show all posts
Showing posts with label egg retrieval. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
A Tale of Two Cycles
Egg Retrieval #2...complete! We arrived at the clinic (which, by the way is 40 miles from our house...I will not miss that drive!) at 7:15 am and by 8:00 am, my IV was in and I was walking into the procedure room. No waiting around for hours like the first cycle. By 8:35 am, I was waking up groggily in the recovery room
And now...the stats. At my last monitoring appointment, they saw about a dozen follicles on each ovary. However, today they managed to retrieve 34 MATURE follicles. The embryo tech seemed very surprised that I had so many that were mature...apparently, that's sort of unusual (read: rockstar ovaries. I've refrained from talking about my rockstar ovaries this time around as that sort of backfired during IVF#1, but apparently...my ovaries...they cannot be stopped! Behold the power of my ovaries!)
As you'll recall in our first cycle, I had a lot of follicles (18 on one ovary and 17 on the other before the retrieval), but they were only able to retrieve 16 and many of those were poor quality. So for us to get that many mature follicles...well, we're pretty happy. All 34 were fertilized and now we wait to find out which ones progress. Cross your fingers and toes for lots of good quality embryos! At this point, we'd be delighted to get pregnant this cycle but we'll be even more delighted to have plenty of good embryos.
If we don't get pregnant during this 'fresh' IVF cycle, we'll do a frozen transfer subsequently, which is much less invasive and less expensive. This time around, we bought a package of IVF treatments and there was no cost difference between one fresh cycle vs. one fresh and one frozen cycle, so it's nice to know that if we didn't get pregnant, we have a frozen cycle as a back-up.
The downside of all those eggs being retrieved is that I'm a lot more uncomfortable this time around. The pain meds aren't cutting it...I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow since I'll be back at work. Lots of budget work to do. :(
Nick, as usual, was an excellent nurse, despite the fact he wouldn't heed my demand for a bell. What good is being waited on hand and foot IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BELL? Harumph. Luckily, Ernie the newest feline addition to our house, acquiesced to some cuddling.
More to come tomorrow!
And now...the stats. At my last monitoring appointment, they saw about a dozen follicles on each ovary. However, today they managed to retrieve 34 MATURE follicles. The embryo tech seemed very surprised that I had so many that were mature...apparently, that's sort of unusual (read: rockstar ovaries. I've refrained from talking about my rockstar ovaries this time around as that sort of backfired during IVF#1, but apparently...my ovaries...they cannot be stopped! Behold the power of my ovaries!)
As you'll recall in our first cycle, I had a lot of follicles (18 on one ovary and 17 on the other before the retrieval), but they were only able to retrieve 16 and many of those were poor quality. So for us to get that many mature follicles...well, we're pretty happy. All 34 were fertilized and now we wait to find out which ones progress. Cross your fingers and toes for lots of good quality embryos! At this point, we'd be delighted to get pregnant this cycle but we'll be even more delighted to have plenty of good embryos.
If we don't get pregnant during this 'fresh' IVF cycle, we'll do a frozen transfer subsequently, which is much less invasive and less expensive. This time around, we bought a package of IVF treatments and there was no cost difference between one fresh cycle vs. one fresh and one frozen cycle, so it's nice to know that if we didn't get pregnant, we have a frozen cycle as a back-up.
The downside of all those eggs being retrieved is that I'm a lot more uncomfortable this time around. The pain meds aren't cutting it...I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow since I'll be back at work. Lots of budget work to do. :(
Nick, as usual, was an excellent nurse, despite the fact he wouldn't heed my demand for a bell. What good is being waited on hand and foot IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BELL? Harumph. Luckily, Ernie the newest feline addition to our house, acquiesced to some cuddling.
More to come tomorrow!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Question: How do you know you're in St. Louis?
Answer: When even the pre-op nurse at the hospital asks you what high school you went to.
Back at home and after a three hour nap, I'm finally feeling ready to update. Everything went really well this morning. We checked in at the appointed time of 7:30am and did a lot of waiting until my procedure at 10am. I wasn't allowed to have any food or drink after midnight last night so I was getting a bit...'hangry' this morning. Luckily, Nick forgot to eat breakfast, too so I had company.
We had the nicest nurses all morning...this is one of the reasons I like living in the Midwest...people are just genuinely nice. And of course, as is the tradition in St. Louis, they all asked Nick what high school he went to. Dr. Silber and the assisting physician Dr. Derosa came to meet with us briefly before the procedure and then they wheeled me away. I must find out how they warm their blankets because they kept me under a steady stream of toasty blankets all morning. I'm spoiled now...a regular blanket won't do.
One minute I was in the operating room and the next I was waking up being wheeled back to recovery with Nick. The surgeons came in and told us they got 20 eggs which is really super duper good. They told us to expect about six embryos and we'll get reports each day starting tomorrow on how our 'embies' are growing before the transfer on Sunday.
I was VERY unprepared for how uncomfortable I would be after the procedure. Actually, uncomfortable is a misnomer. I was in pain. It was like menstrual cramps on steroids. They said I was in more pain than some people because of the number of follicles I had. I must have looked grumpy because the nurse asked me if I wanted a percoset and I'm no fool...I said yes.
After I woke up and it was getting close to time to leave, I asked Nick if I said anything funny when I first came out of recovery. Once, when Nick was in surgery, he had me in stitches with some of the stuff he said during recovery. He said no, though....boo.
They wheeled me out in a wheelchair (the nurse wouldn't pop a wheelie, though...I asked) and then we were on our way home! Well, after a trip to Steak and Shake for a chocolate shake. I was ravenous. We both took naps this afternoon and I still feel a little groggy/uncomfortable so it's probably time for another nap. :)
I feel like I close every post this way, but let me say a sincere thank you AGAIN for all the calls, emails, texts, Facebook messages, and general good thoughts/prayers you've sent our way. Love to you all! XO
Back at home and after a three hour nap, I'm finally feeling ready to update. Everything went really well this morning. We checked in at the appointed time of 7:30am and did a lot of waiting until my procedure at 10am. I wasn't allowed to have any food or drink after midnight last night so I was getting a bit...'hangry' this morning. Luckily, Nick forgot to eat breakfast, too so I had company.
We had the nicest nurses all morning...this is one of the reasons I like living in the Midwest...people are just genuinely nice. And of course, as is the tradition in St. Louis, they all asked Nick what high school he went to. Dr. Silber and the assisting physician Dr. Derosa came to meet with us briefly before the procedure and then they wheeled me away. I must find out how they warm their blankets because they kept me under a steady stream of toasty blankets all morning. I'm spoiled now...a regular blanket won't do.
One minute I was in the operating room and the next I was waking up being wheeled back to recovery with Nick. The surgeons came in and told us they got 20 eggs which is really super duper good. They told us to expect about six embryos and we'll get reports each day starting tomorrow on how our 'embies' are growing before the transfer on Sunday.
I was VERY unprepared for how uncomfortable I would be after the procedure. Actually, uncomfortable is a misnomer. I was in pain. It was like menstrual cramps on steroids. They said I was in more pain than some people because of the number of follicles I had. I must have looked grumpy because the nurse asked me if I wanted a percoset and I'm no fool...I said yes.
After I woke up and it was getting close to time to leave, I asked Nick if I said anything funny when I first came out of recovery. Once, when Nick was in surgery, he had me in stitches with some of the stuff he said during recovery. He said no, though....boo.
They wheeled me out in a wheelchair (the nurse wouldn't pop a wheelie, though...I asked) and then we were on our way home! Well, after a trip to Steak and Shake for a chocolate shake. I was ravenous. We both took naps this afternoon and I still feel a little groggy/uncomfortable so it's probably time for another nap. :)
I feel like I close every post this way, but let me say a sincere thank you AGAIN for all the calls, emails, texts, Facebook messages, and general good thoughts/prayers you've sent our way. Love to you all! XO
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