I Am Exhausted!

Seriously… this first cycle of IVF has been a complete rollercoaster ride for me. The last few days have been crazy and I took a step back from blogging to try to relax.

This will be a long post, so sorry in advance!

Friday, April 8^th – Egg Retrieval Day

Mark and I arrived at the clinic a ½ hour early – at 5:30 am. My procedure wasn’t scheduled until 8:00 but we were required to be there at 6:00 am for prep.

When we walked in, we realized that we had arrived before anyone else… including staff. We signed in and then sat down to wait. A little after 6:00 we were called back to our “room” which was really just a little cubby area with a curtain, a bed, a chair, and a small closet. I changed into my beautiful pink gown and a few minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in to start my IV. He explained a few things and had me sign a few forms and told me he would see me later. After he left, the embryologist came in to take Mark’s “specimen” back to be washed (he had “produced” at home earlier that morning).

A few minutes later, the doctor who would be doing my egg retrieval came in to talk to us… MY doctor! This was exciting for me since I go to a very large practice and I could have had one of SEVERAL doctors performing the actual retrieval. She explained the procedure again to me briefly and told me that they were actually going to take me back a little earlier than originally planned. Apparently, another couple who had their retrieval scheduled earlier had completely screwed up their trigger time (WTH??) and to compensate, they had to switch them with some of the other patients who are actually able to follow basic instructions (I’m sorry, but when it was time for US to trigger, Mark had the injection ready to go and I was bent over staring at the clock for at least 10 minutes before so we could trigger right on the dot. How do you mess that up?).

Anyway…. Finally, the anesthesiologist came back and told me to go use the bathroom one last time before the procedure. After I kissed the hubs goodbye, I was led into the room where the retrieval would take place. I sat down on the table and the anesthesiologist put something in my IV and said, “You can sit up for now but you are going to want to lay down soon.” I remember there being a lot of people in the room and I told one of them, “I’m starting to feel dizzy…” A few of them started laughing and told me that it was normal and that I should lay down. One of the nurses told me to scoot down further on the table and that was the last thing I remember.

The next thing I remember was Mark and a nurse standing over me saying my name. They asked me if I was in any pain and I told them that I had some sharp pains on my right side. The nurse put a heating pad where it was hurting and told me to lie back down and rest and that they would get me some pain medication. I must have fallen back asleep because Mark had gone to get a prescription filled (there’s a pharmacy in the same building) and was standing over me with a vicodin and a cup of water.

The next thing I knew, my doctor had come in and told me they retrieved 7 eggs. I remember thinking, “That’s it??!” My doctor said that was good and she had anticipated a number like that since she had me on such a low dose of medication. I was still really disappointed but was hopeful that the 7 eggs were of good quality.

A little while later (after I could prove that I could walk) I was released. I slept in the car most of the way home and Mark put me to bed as soon as we got there. I was a little surprised at how sore I was but it really wasn’t too bad. Thanks to the vicodin, I slept for most of the day. When I was awake, I spent most of my time thinking about my 7 eggs and hoping that they were in the process of fertilizing.

Saturday, April 9^th – Fertilization Report

I woke up early on Saturday morning but I still wasn’t feeling so great so I went back to bed around 10:00. Around 11:30, my phone rang. The nurse on the phone told me that she was calling with our fertilization report. She said out of the 7 eggs retrieved, all 7 were mature, but only THREE fertilized! I could have cried. I knew that with only 3 embryos that we would definitely be looking at a Day 3 transfer provided that we even had any that would make it to Day 3.

The nurse told me that they would give me a call on Sunday with a transfer time for our Day 3 transfer on Monday.

Sunday, April 10^th – Scheduling the Day 3 Transfer  

I felt sick waiting for the call to come in on Sunday. I was praying that they wouldn’t call and tell me that none of the embryos had made it.

When the nurse finally called, she told me that our transfer would be on Monday at 3:15 but that we needed to arrive no later than 2:45. I was glad that it looked like we still had good enough embryos to transfer. I finally asked her how the three were looking. She told me that they had done a check that morning and that we had a 5 cell, a 4 cell and a 2 cell. So… not the greatest… but at least they were growing! I had read that by Day 2, embryos should be between 2 & 4 cells so I was hoping that by Monday we would have one or two that would be between 6 & 8 cells.

Monday, April 11^th – Day 3 Transfer… Wait, never mind!  

Yesterday morning, Mark and I woke up late and had breakfast. It was a beautiful day outside so we were planning on going for a walk before getting ready for the transfer.

Around 11:30, my phone rang. It was my nurse. Originally I thought… holy crap. She’s calling to tell me that none of our embryos made it and they are canceling the transfer. But instead she said, “Guess what? They are moving you to a Day 5 transfer! All three embryos are looking great … you have a 9 cell, a 10 cell and an 11 cell!” Again, I could have cried. It was the best news I’ve had since starting IVF. I’m so excited that our little embryos are doing so well and that we get to do a Day 5 transfer.

So today I’m back at work (after 4 days off) and I’m getting excited for our transfer tomorrow (at 10:30 am!). My nurse called not too long ago and said all three are still looking great and two of them are looking exceptionally great. We still haven’t decided if we are transferring one or two. Originally, we wanted to just transfer one embryo on Day 5 but when we got the news that we would be doing a Day 3 transfer, we decided on two. Now that we are back to a Day 5, I feel undecided. I feel like I’m leaning towards transferring two, although I think Mark is still set on one. We will see. I think that we will make our final decision tomorrow once we talk to the RE and the embryologist.

Wish us luck! :)