Egg retrieval went pretty smoothly today. We arrived at the clinic early (summer Friday traffic was much better than anticipated), and sat for about 15 minutes before we were called in. I remember walking in through the "IVF Suite" door with a special password protected door. Then a nurse asked me the usual questions: health, drugs, when was the last I ate or drank, etc. Then I changed into my gown, cap and booties.
Steve, the nurse anesthetist, came and talked to me. He asked me if I have had any problems in the past and I said no. I did mention though that the last time I had my egg retrieval, I threw up when I got home. He said he would give me some Zo.fran, the kind of drug pregnant women use for nausea. He did say though, it may or may not help. He was also going to give me something for my allergy congestion, and said I would feel pretty thirsty when I woke up.
Then Dr. Hopeful came in and chatted with us for a bit. I was glad that she was the one doing the egg retrieval this time. She was feeling pretty optimistic about this. The right ovary was still in a difficult location, but she said she wouldn't know if she could get to it until I was asleep. I was concerned that we didn't have too many mature eggs, especially only 3 on the left ovary. She thought my numbers looked very similar to my last cycle and she wasn't too worried. She said all we need is ONE good embryo. Plus we would be doing ICSI, so that would help too.
Babe and I hugged, said our good byes, and he was off to the Andrology lab, and I was off to procedure room 1. Steve had me hop up on the table and he covered me up with a warmed blanket, fresh out of the warming oven. Steve then put an IV in a vein in my arm. This is new since in all my past surgeries, I've always had them in a vein in my hand. Steve said "looks like someone's been poking you a lot lately, huh? You've got a nice juicy vein." He was kind of a funny guy. I preferred it that he put the IV in my arm anyway. I think it hurt less. At the last IVF, the IV wasn't put in quite right, and it hurt for a bit. After the IV was put in, it was time for my "nice little nap" and the triple cocktail of meds (not sure what was in it) was injected into the IV.
The next thing I know, I woke up in the recovery room, and in walked Babe and Dr. Hopeful. Dr. Hopeful was able to retrieve from both ovaries. Yup, both ovaries.
7 eggs were retrieved.
I guess Dr. Hopeful had to press down on my abdomen (when I was asleep), and I guess the right ovary moved to a location that was accessible. I don't know how many eggs were retrieved from each ovary. Dr. Hopeful seemed pretty happy with how things turned out. We'll see what happens next.
I was given some water and liquid Tyle.nol. Yuck, I can't stand liquid meds of any kind! Next thing I know, it was time to dress, a wheelchair was pushed in, and it was time to go home. We were out of the clinic by 9:30 and were home by 10 am. On the way home, I could feel all the turns and bumps on the road. I kept telling Babe to take it easy. It was a little better this time though. The last time I thought I was going to throw up in the car. Just in case, we brought along a barf bag. Luckily we didn't need it.
The first thing I did when I got home was walk into the bathroom and threw up my liquid Tyle.nol. It still amazes me how fast something comes out the other way when you don't want it to! My first thought was, God, I hope I don't have to throw up like this when I am pregnant. But if I do, bring it on!
I felt much better after that. I brushed my teeth, took my first dose of tetracy.cline, ate something and went to bed. I spent most of the day sleeping, getting up a couple of times only to eat, drink, take my tetracy.cline and tyle.nol, and use the bathroom. Recovery is going fine. I'm still a little sore, but not too bad. It hurts if I sneeze or cough hard.
So now we wait. I was hoping we would be able to get more eggs, but I think I am fortunate to have 7, and from both ovaries. Last time we had 8 from one ovary. Now, we pray that the eggs are mature and especially that they are of GOOD quality.
I will be getting a call on Sunday with a report of how many eggs were mature and how many fertilized. We are doing ICSI this time, so I am praying that we will have many fertilized, and hopefully we will have some to freeze.
Again, I have to remind myself that God is in control. Please pray with me that there will be the perfect number of mature eggs, the perfect number of eggs that will fertilize, the perfect number of embryos that will make it to day 5, and the perfect of number of embryos to be frozen.
Thank you all for your support, best wishes and especially for keeping me in your prayers. I will update as I find out more.
Showing posts with label retrieval. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retrieval. Show all posts
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Headache, Job and IVF
I have a headache. I've had it since yesterday. Not sure if it's the BCPs, or the stress from the whole applying for a job thing. I'm leaning more towards the job thing.
I worked on my resume all day yesterday. It shouldn't have taken that long, but it did. It's difficult to think that hard when you haven't used your brain like that in a while. It's probably a good thing, in case I forget totally how to use it. I managed to send my resume in to the recruiter last night.
I spent all day today working on a document with prescreen questions on it. Yeah, they won't even look at your resume until you have your prescreen questions answered. Only then will they look at your resume. Again, it shouldn't have taken such a long time to answer 15 questions. Questions like what is your long term career goals, why do you want to work for this company, tell me your experience working in....., etc. But it did. I wanted to make sure that I think carefully about the answers I put down. With it being a Word document, it's going to exist forever, and it may come back to bite me in the ass sometime in the future. But it's done. I just sent the final copy of my resume and the prescreen questions to the recruiter just now so she can submit it to the company tomorrow. I'm just relieved that it's done. Maybe the headache will go away now.
Last night, I tried to have the "What if this IVF doesn't work" discussion with Babe. I wanted him to start thinking about what our next steps would be. But it didn't go so well. He didn't want to talk about or think about it. His rationale is, he wants to go into this next IVF assuming it's going to work. He wants to go in feeling positive about it. If it doesn't work, then he can be disappointed. He doesn't want to approach it thinking it's not going to work, and being disappointed with the whole thing for the next couple of months even before the procedure.
I can understand how he feels. Actually I'm glad he feels that way, it totally makes sense. We could use all the positivity we can get!
Being me, of course I'm trying to lay out our plans for the next few months, especially with a potential job coming up for me. Also I wanted to start having the conversation about adoption, specifically embryo adoption. Not that we are making any decisions yet, of course, but I just wanted to put it out there. Maybe have him start thinking about it. But he's not ready to give up yet (Yay!).
One thing that still bothers Babe is the fact that the RE could not get to the eggs in my right ovary at the last retrieval. He wants to know why. I've explained it to him before, that because of where the right ovary was located, high and behind the uterus, the RE would have had to go through the uterus to retrieve the eggs, and they did not want to do that. That would disrupt the uterus and would impact embryo implantation. Babe is not satisfied with the answer. He thinks there should be a way to access the eggs. A laparoscopic surgery, maybe?
Does anyone know if there is another way to access eggs other then via the usual IVF procedure?
I'm going to have to call my RE and find out if there is a way that we can access the eggs in the right ovary during retrieval.
I worked on my resume all day yesterday. It shouldn't have taken that long, but it did. It's difficult to think that hard when you haven't used your brain like that in a while. It's probably a good thing, in case I forget totally how to use it. I managed to send my resume in to the recruiter last night.
I spent all day today working on a document with prescreen questions on it. Yeah, they won't even look at your resume until you have your prescreen questions answered. Only then will they look at your resume. Again, it shouldn't have taken such a long time to answer 15 questions. Questions like what is your long term career goals, why do you want to work for this company, tell me your experience working in....., etc. But it did. I wanted to make sure that I think carefully about the answers I put down. With it being a Word document, it's going to exist forever, and it may come back to bite me in the ass sometime in the future. But it's done. I just sent the final copy of my resume and the prescreen questions to the recruiter just now so she can submit it to the company tomorrow. I'm just relieved that it's done. Maybe the headache will go away now.
Last night, I tried to have the "What if this IVF doesn't work" discussion with Babe. I wanted him to start thinking about what our next steps would be. But it didn't go so well. He didn't want to talk about or think about it. His rationale is, he wants to go into this next IVF assuming it's going to work. He wants to go in feeling positive about it. If it doesn't work, then he can be disappointed. He doesn't want to approach it thinking it's not going to work, and being disappointed with the whole thing for the next couple of months even before the procedure.
I can understand how he feels. Actually I'm glad he feels that way, it totally makes sense. We could use all the positivity we can get!
Being me, of course I'm trying to lay out our plans for the next few months, especially with a potential job coming up for me. Also I wanted to start having the conversation about adoption, specifically embryo adoption. Not that we are making any decisions yet, of course, but I just wanted to put it out there. Maybe have him start thinking about it. But he's not ready to give up yet (Yay!).
One thing that still bothers Babe is the fact that the RE could not get to the eggs in my right ovary at the last retrieval. He wants to know why. I've explained it to him before, that because of where the right ovary was located, high and behind the uterus, the RE would have had to go through the uterus to retrieve the eggs, and they did not want to do that. That would disrupt the uterus and would impact embryo implantation. Babe is not satisfied with the answer. He thinks there should be a way to access the eggs. A laparoscopic surgery, maybe?
Does anyone know if there is another way to access eggs other then via the usual IVF procedure?
I'm going to have to call my RE and find out if there is a way that we can access the eggs in the right ovary during retrieval.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Egg Retrieval Update
Here's what happened at Egg Retrieval today.
We got to the clinic a couple of minutes before 6:30 am. We were the only ones there. We waited for about 20 minutes before being called in. A nurse went over the usual questions with us, health, drugs, etc. We found out that we were the first procedure that morning, but it was going to be a busy morning with 8 procedures lined up. Two retrievals (including us), and 6 transfers. When we were done, we were brought into the recovery room where I was asked to change into a gown, cap and booties.
Vicky, the nurse anesthetist came in and went over some more questions. She walked us through the process and explained that I will be receiving a mild sedative, Propofol actually. Yup, the same drug that Michael Jackson died from, but of course I would be closely monitored.
Then Dr. M, came in and went over my chart with us. He asked if I had any issues retrieving eggs during my prior IVF cycle, and I said no. Dr. M told me that based on my ultrasound scans, my right ovary was in a difficult location and there is a chance we would not be able to retrieve eggs from it. He would have to go through the uterus to extract the eggs, and he didn't want to do that. He wanted to leave the uterus alone. That came as a shock to me! Not once did any of the nurses or ultrasound techs mention anything like that to me. Dr. M reassured me that, 80% of the time they can still retrieve the eggs by manipulating the other organs around a little, but he wanted to give us a heads up that there is a chance we may not be able to retrieve the eggs from my right ovary.
I do remember at one of ultrasound appointments at a different clinic, the tech did mention that one of my ovaries (I don't remember which one) was in a weird location, behind the uterus I thought he said. Dr. M reminded me that IVF is not a race to get as many eggs as possible, but the goal was to get the best quality eggs. He's experienced a time where he retrieved 30 eggs but no pregnancy, and one where he got 2 eggs and still have a successful pregnancy. I totally understand it is all about the quality of course, but still. When you have more eggs to work with, the odds of getting good quality eggs increases dramatically.
When we were done meeting with Dr. M, my Babe and I kissed and said good byes. Babe was off to the Andrology lab and I was sent to Procedure room 1. The first thing I realized was the room was warmer and more comfortable than the other rooms. Vicky had me hop on the examination table and she covered me with a very warm blanket. It must have come from an oven or heated cabinet because it felt really warm and comfy. An IV was put into my vein, the sedative injected, and before I knew it, I could feel myself feeling drowsy and that was it. I was out like a lightbulb. I don't even remember the nurse putting on the oxygen monitor on my finger or the heart monitor stickers.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room with my Babe in it. Dr. M stopped by to tell us they retrieved 8 eggs from the left ovary, none were retrieved from the right. My body will ovulate the rest of the eggs on the right ovary.
Recovery was fine. All I wanted to do was sleep, but the nurse gave me some water because I was so thirsty. I was stuffed up this morning from allergies so I was given some meds to dry up my sinuses, which also made my mouth super dry I could barely talk. Then they gave me some liquid Ty.lenol (Yuck, I hate liquid meds of any kind!) for my slight pain. The next thing I know, they had push in a wheel chair and I was getting dressed and getting ready to leave. The whole time, I just wanted to lay down and go back to sleep!
We were out of the clinic by 8:30 and home by 9 am. The only thing I wanted to do was crawl back into bed. But before that, I went into the bathroom and threw up my liquid Ty.lenol. I felt better after that. I brushed my teeth, took my first does of tetra.cycline, and went back to bed. I got up at noon and had something to eat. I took some more ty.lenol as I was feeling some soreness, plus I remembered that I had thrown up all of the tyle.nol I took in the morning.
So here I am, recovering from my egg retrieval. I have to say that I am really disappointed with only 8 eggs retrieved. Looking at the number of my follicles from the last ultrasound on Wednesday, I truly believe I would have been able to get an additional 8 to 10 mature eggs.
With only 8 eggs, how many will fertilize? And how many will make it to day 5? Will I have any embryos to freeze?
I should be getting a call on Sunday on the status of my eggs and how many fertilized.
I have to remind myself that God is in control, and He knows what is best for me. I have been praying that He will provide the perfect number of mature eggs, the perfect number of eggs that will be fertilized, the perfect number of embryos that will make it to day 5, and the perfect number of embryos (if any) that will be frozen.
I believe and trust that everything is in God's hands.
I'm going back to bed.
We got to the clinic a couple of minutes before 6:30 am. We were the only ones there. We waited for about 20 minutes before being called in. A nurse went over the usual questions with us, health, drugs, etc. We found out that we were the first procedure that morning, but it was going to be a busy morning with 8 procedures lined up. Two retrievals (including us), and 6 transfers. When we were done, we were brought into the recovery room where I was asked to change into a gown, cap and booties.
Vicky, the nurse anesthetist came in and went over some more questions. She walked us through the process and explained that I will be receiving a mild sedative, Propofol actually. Yup, the same drug that Michael Jackson died from, but of course I would be closely monitored.
Then Dr. M, came in and went over my chart with us. He asked if I had any issues retrieving eggs during my prior IVF cycle, and I said no. Dr. M told me that based on my ultrasound scans, my right ovary was in a difficult location and there is a chance we would not be able to retrieve eggs from it. He would have to go through the uterus to extract the eggs, and he didn't want to do that. He wanted to leave the uterus alone. That came as a shock to me! Not once did any of the nurses or ultrasound techs mention anything like that to me. Dr. M reassured me that, 80% of the time they can still retrieve the eggs by manipulating the other organs around a little, but he wanted to give us a heads up that there is a chance we may not be able to retrieve the eggs from my right ovary.
I do remember at one of ultrasound appointments at a different clinic, the tech did mention that one of my ovaries (I don't remember which one) was in a weird location, behind the uterus I thought he said. Dr. M reminded me that IVF is not a race to get as many eggs as possible, but the goal was to get the best quality eggs. He's experienced a time where he retrieved 30 eggs but no pregnancy, and one where he got 2 eggs and still have a successful pregnancy. I totally understand it is all about the quality of course, but still. When you have more eggs to work with, the odds of getting good quality eggs increases dramatically.
When we were done meeting with Dr. M, my Babe and I kissed and said good byes. Babe was off to the Andrology lab and I was sent to Procedure room 1. The first thing I realized was the room was warmer and more comfortable than the other rooms. Vicky had me hop on the examination table and she covered me with a very warm blanket. It must have come from an oven or heated cabinet because it felt really warm and comfy. An IV was put into my vein, the sedative injected, and before I knew it, I could feel myself feeling drowsy and that was it. I was out like a lightbulb. I don't even remember the nurse putting on the oxygen monitor on my finger or the heart monitor stickers.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room with my Babe in it. Dr. M stopped by to tell us they retrieved 8 eggs from the left ovary, none were retrieved from the right. My body will ovulate the rest of the eggs on the right ovary.
Recovery was fine. All I wanted to do was sleep, but the nurse gave me some water because I was so thirsty. I was stuffed up this morning from allergies so I was given some meds to dry up my sinuses, which also made my mouth super dry I could barely talk. Then they gave me some liquid Ty.lenol (Yuck, I hate liquid meds of any kind!) for my slight pain. The next thing I know, they had push in a wheel chair and I was getting dressed and getting ready to leave. The whole time, I just wanted to lay down and go back to sleep!
We were out of the clinic by 8:30 and home by 9 am. The only thing I wanted to do was crawl back into bed. But before that, I went into the bathroom and threw up my liquid Ty.lenol. I felt better after that. I brushed my teeth, took my first does of tetra.cycline, and went back to bed. I got up at noon and had something to eat. I took some more ty.lenol as I was feeling some soreness, plus I remembered that I had thrown up all of the tyle.nol I took in the morning.
So here I am, recovering from my egg retrieval. I have to say that I am really disappointed with only 8 eggs retrieved. Looking at the number of my follicles from the last ultrasound on Wednesday, I truly believe I would have been able to get an additional 8 to 10 mature eggs.
With only 8 eggs, how many will fertilize? And how many will make it to day 5? Will I have any embryos to freeze?
I should be getting a call on Sunday on the status of my eggs and how many fertilized.
I have to remind myself that God is in control, and He knows what is best for me. I have been praying that He will provide the perfect number of mature eggs, the perfect number of eggs that will be fertilized, the perfect number of embryos that will make it to day 5, and the perfect number of embryos (if any) that will be frozen.
I believe and trust that everything is in God's hands.
I'm going back to bed.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Egg Retrieval Tomorrow
This is it! Tomorrow morning is finally time for my egg retrieval. It is scheduled for 7:30 am, and we have to check in at the clinic at 6:30 am. Another really early morning for us!
Then, it's party time....
Time for the "boys" and "girls" to meet up for a good old part-tay in the petri dish!
Dear Future Kiddos,
Please play nice with each other, OK? No beating each other up!
I'm hoping you'll all have such a jolly good time at this party, you'll stick around for a while. We'll see a couple of you again in 5 days where we will move you to your nice comfy new home for the next 9 months. Then you will finally be able to meet your daddy. He's been waiting so long to meet you.
The rest of you can be the "cool kids" and hang around in the freezer. Hope to see you around soon too.
Lots of love,
Your Future Mom
My butt is somewhat sore today from yesterday's trigger shot. Didn't have any soreness yesterday, just a little today. Not bad though, a reminder that I did have a shot in my butt yesterday. But the circle from the black sharpie marker is still on my butt today. It's not coming off even though I've scrubbed it in the shower. Anyone want to take bets on how long before it's gone?
Even though "Helga" is not my favorite person at the clinic, I have to give her credit. Considering I've had 7 blood draws done in the last 10 days, and all but one of those were in my left arm, my vein in the left is is looking pretty darn good. No nasty bruises or anything. If fact, you can hardly tell that I've had blood drawn at all. Hats off to you, Helga.
I was looking at my IVF calendar. If all goes as planned I'll have a 5-day embryo transfer on March 24th. My beta would be on Good Friday. That means I would know on Good Friday if that I am pregnant! And what a Great Friday it would be!
I took a walk around my neighborhood today. Spring has finally arrived. The weather was gorgeous, the air was cool and crisp and the sun was shining. It was nice seeing people walk their dogs, hearing the sounds of birds chirping and smelling steaks on the grill. I even saw some robins and a bright red cardinal playing in the grass. All signs of spring and new life.
A reminder of ME bringing new life to the world!
I'll try to do an update after the retrieval tomorrow. Please keep me in your prayers that all will go wonderfully well.
Then, it's party time....
Time for the "boys" and "girls" to meet up for a good old part-tay in the petri dish!
Dear Future Kiddos,
Please play nice with each other, OK? No beating each other up!
I'm hoping you'll all have such a jolly good time at this party, you'll stick around for a while. We'll see a couple of you again in 5 days where we will move you to your nice comfy new home for the next 9 months. Then you will finally be able to meet your daddy. He's been waiting so long to meet you.
The rest of you can be the "cool kids" and hang around in the freezer. Hope to see you around soon too.
Lots of love,
Your Future Mom
My butt is somewhat sore today from yesterday's trigger shot. Didn't have any soreness yesterday, just a little today. Not bad though, a reminder that I did have a shot in my butt yesterday. But the circle from the black sharpie marker is still on my butt today. It's not coming off even though I've scrubbed it in the shower. Anyone want to take bets on how long before it's gone?
Even though "Helga" is not my favorite person at the clinic, I have to give her credit. Considering I've had 7 blood draws done in the last 10 days, and all but one of those were in my left arm, my vein in the left is is looking pretty darn good. No nasty bruises or anything. If fact, you can hardly tell that I've had blood drawn at all. Hats off to you, Helga.
I was looking at my IVF calendar. If all goes as planned I'll have a 5-day embryo transfer on March 24th. My beta would be on Good Friday. That means I would know on Good Friday if that I am pregnant! And what a Great Friday it would be!
I took a walk around my neighborhood today. Spring has finally arrived. The weather was gorgeous, the air was cool and crisp and the sun was shining. It was nice seeing people walk their dogs, hearing the sounds of birds chirping and smelling steaks on the grill. I even saw some robins and a bright red cardinal playing in the grass. All signs of spring and new life.
A reminder of ME bringing new life to the world!
I'll try to do an update after the retrieval tomorrow. Please keep me in your prayers that all will go wonderfully well.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Trigger Time!
Update from today's appointment:
Lining: 15 mm
Left ovary: 16, 15.5, 15, 15, 13, 13, 13, 11, 11, 10
Right Ovary: 19.5, 19, 18, 17.5, 15.5, 15.5, 14.5, 14, 14
Today, I noticed that my lining seemed to have shrunk 1 mm so I checked with the nurse. She is not concerned because it is only a 1 mm difference. To tell the truth, I think these measurements are not always consistent because I get a different ultrasound tech every time anyways. So far I've only had the same tech once. So the numbers for the follicles may not be exact in comparison from day to day either. I'm not going to get too hung up on the numbers. At this point, it looks like I have 10 mature follicles (15 mm or larger).
Anyway, the point is I'm READY! The nurse called this afternoon to confirm.
I'm triggering tonight!!
My Babe will be giving me my HCG shot tonight at 7:30 p.m. After this, I'm done with all my shots. Yippee!!
I get a break tomorrow. Then I check in at the clinic at 6:30 a.m on Friday, and my retrieval is set for 7:30 am. Dr. Hopeful (my regular RE) will not be there to do the retrieval, but one of her partners, Dr. M will be doing it.
Before leaving the clinic this morning, I had the nurse draw circle on my left butt cheek with a black sharpie pen for where my Babe should be sticking the needle. So now, I'm walking around with a black circle on my butt under my jeans. He's got a target to shoot for, or shoot in tonight.
Also, Nan had commented on yesterday's post about assisted hatching. I checked with the nurse today, and it sounds like they will be doing assisted hatching for me. If you are 35 or older (I'm 36), it is standard procedure at the clinic to perform assisted hatching. So thanks Nan, for suggesting this.
I'll update later about how the trigger shot goes tonight. Wish me luck!
Oh by the way, Happy St. Patty's Day!
Lining: 15 mm
Left ovary: 16, 15.5, 15, 15, 13, 13, 13, 11, 11, 10
Right Ovary: 19.5, 19, 18, 17.5, 15.5, 15.5, 14.5, 14, 14
Today, I noticed that my lining seemed to have shrunk 1 mm so I checked with the nurse. She is not concerned because it is only a 1 mm difference. To tell the truth, I think these measurements are not always consistent because I get a different ultrasound tech every time anyways. So far I've only had the same tech once. So the numbers for the follicles may not be exact in comparison from day to day either. I'm not going to get too hung up on the numbers. At this point, it looks like I have 10 mature follicles (15 mm or larger).
Anyway, the point is I'm READY! The nurse called this afternoon to confirm.
I'm triggering tonight!!
My Babe will be giving me my HCG shot tonight at 7:30 p.m. After this, I'm done with all my shots. Yippee!!
I get a break tomorrow. Then I check in at the clinic at 6:30 a.m on Friday, and my retrieval is set for 7:30 am. Dr. Hopeful (my regular RE) will not be there to do the retrieval, but one of her partners, Dr. M will be doing it.
Before leaving the clinic this morning, I had the nurse draw circle on my left butt cheek with a black sharpie pen for where my Babe should be sticking the needle. So now, I'm walking around with a black circle on my butt under my jeans. He's got a target to shoot for, or shoot in tonight.
Also, Nan had commented on yesterday's post about assisted hatching. I checked with the nurse today, and it sounds like they will be doing assisted hatching for me. If you are 35 or older (I'm 36), it is standard procedure at the clinic to perform assisted hatching. So thanks Nan, for suggesting this.
I'll update later about how the trigger shot goes tonight. Wish me luck!
Oh by the way, Happy St. Patty's Day!
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