IVF Update #8

There is good news and bad news.

The good news is that we were able to retrieve 31 eggs yesterday! That’s got to be a record amount!

The bad news is that I did get hyperstimulated and I won’t be able to do a fresh egg transfer; I will have to wait 4 weeks and do a frozen transfer. And I am in an incredible amount of pain.

Other bad news is that Daniel’s sperm wasn’t good quality yesterday (which is a shocker because usually the doctors are floored at how healthy his sperm is).  Because of this the doctor called us yesterday and said they would have to do ICSI. Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is where the embryologist selects a single sperm to be injected directly into an egg, instead of fertilization taking place in a dish where many sperm are placed near an egg.

Now we wait to hear from the doctor today to see how many eggs got fertilized. I’ve got my fingers crossed for all 31!

Here are the details of yesterday’s events:

We drove to the doctor’s office at 7:30AM Sunday morning. They immediately started getting us ready for surgery. I made sure to tell the anesthesiologist that I am sensitive to anesthesia and it makes me sick. He said that they would add some anti-nausea medicine in my IV to help with that.

Then they whisked Daniel away to collect his sperm and I went into the surgery room. There were 5 nurses/doctors around me, and I’m just lying there nervous as heck, in my hospital gown and blue booties and blue hair net. I’ve got one nurse strapping my feet into the stirrups. One nurse is arranging blankets across my lap and legs since I am now exposing myself to the cold air because of my legs being spread open by being strapped into the stirrups. Then I’ve got one doctor putting in my IV for anesthesia. Another doctor sticking heart monitors on my chest. A nurse is covering my mouth with an oxygen mask. I’m lying there watching all of them doing a hundred different things, them telling me to just relax (as if!), and then I’m out.

The next thing I remember is being in the recovery room with Daniel sitting next to me holding my hand.

Everyone comes out of anesthesia different I’ve realized. A few years ago when Daniel had a surgery he was extremely polite when he was waking up from being put under. He kept telling the nurse “thank you” after everything she said or did. It was pretty cute. But me – I’m just an idiot who is clueless to what is going on. I just wanted to go back to sleep, but all these nurses kept coming in and asking me questions. I couldn’t get myself to just wake up. My left eye wouldn’t stay open because I was so tired. I don’t really remember this, but Daniel said that when the nurses and doctors came to talk to me I would hold open my left eye with my hand. Hahaha! He said I looked super creepy and weird.  

Then I got the shakes really bad; like my whole body was shaking. They asked me if I was cold and I said no (which I also don’t really remember). But I was shivering so hard that they couldn’t ignore it no matter what I said. The nurse brought in this awesome machine that is a heater with a long tube and you just put it into bed with you and it blows the perfect temperature of heat. It was awesome and I totally want to own one! I would tell Daniel to move it from one side of the bed to the other and I eventually stopped shivering.

Our doctor stopped by to tell us that he was able to retrieve 31 eggs. He also said that my left ovary was hiding my right ovary (mine like to crowd each other out, which make it difficult to see both. It happened last year with IVF and occasionally it will make my ultrasounds difficult as well).  He said that because it was difficult to get to he had to poke through my vaginal wall multiple times to be able to get to all of the follicles. He said to expect a lot of pain because of that.

Also, since I had so many follicles and they were hard to get to the surgery took 3 times as long as normal. It typically is a half hour procedure, but it took me over 1 ½ hours. Daniel told me that the anesthesiologist had to run out to get more medicine because instead of the normal 2 vials I had to use 5. That could have something to do with why I was having a hard time coming out of it. I didn’t puke though! So props to the anesthesiologist for that!

After I was able to get up and get dressed, they gave us some prescriptions and sent us home. They warned me that I would be in a lot of pain and told me to get lots of fluids and bed rest. On the drive home the doctor called and told Daniel about his sperm and them having to do ICSI. I really hope that is works out and that we will have lots of embryos to freeze.

They weren’t kidding when they said I’d have a lot of pain. It feels like my abdomen and pelvis got hit by a train. The medicine makes me dizzy and drowsy. I have major pain; I am so bloated that I looked like I could be 5 months pregnant. You quickly realize how much you use your core for every movement. Even a hiccup or fart hurts, and sitting up on your own in practically an impossible act.

Luckily I have an amazing husband who spent the day helping me out. He would help me sit up, fix my pillows, warm up a rice bag, and get me medicine and water. He even passed on going to his brother’s house to watch NBA finals, just in case I needed some help. And, because I was the most comfortable in our recliner chair in the basement I decided to sleep in it for the night and Daniel slept on the couch next to me. He is seriously the sweetest.

Today I continue to rest. I do feel better compared to yesterday, but I am still feeling in pretty rough shape. At some point the doctor should be calling us to tell us how many eggs they were able to fertilize. So fingers crossed that all of them did!

We are bummed that we don’t get to do a fresh transfer. You get yourself mentally prepared for it because that has been the plan the whole time. It was going to be nice having it all done at once and have the rest of the summer to play. But we will do what the doctor says. Since I was getting hyperstimulated I had to take a different “trigger” shot than originally planned so that I didn’t go into severe hyperstimulation and have to be hospitalized. This shot makes it hard for your body to carry a pregnancy. Also, being hyperstimulated isn’t a good environment to carry a pregnancy. So we will let my body rest and hope that we can freeze some embryos to transplant later.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! Keep them coming because we still need them!

Sorry for the incredibly long post! Also, sorry if there are any errors; I’m going to blame it on me being tired and drugged.