My Egg-citing Day.

Thanks to everyone who played 'Guess the Eggs' from my previous post. Congratulations to Duck - she guessed correctly! They retrieved a total of 12 eggs!! I was truly amazed, considering my follie sizes on Wednesday. I was then immediately curious as to how many might actually fertilize, but tried to put it out of my mind so I didn't go nuts.

Well, my fertilization answer came this morning.... 10! TEN!! DH and I started jumping up and down and high-fiving when that phone call came. Now the next step... will they continue to grow? I'll know tomorrow, but as of right now, we have 10 little ones. I can't believe it. Since I have never been pregnant for one second in my entire life, I really thought there could be an egg/fertilization issue. I know the numbers can still change a lot, but I am still happy about the initial results.

Anyway, the egg retrieval yesterday was actually much easier than I anticipated. I actually could have gone into work, but decided to just take the day. I didn't post yesterday because I got involved in doing things around the house that I just usually don't have time for during the week, making phone calls (you know, the kind where you have to wait on hold for 15 minutes and speak to 3 different people - a real pain to do during work), etc. Then DH and I went out to dinner to celebrate our dozen eggs.

So, for the retrieval, DH and I arrived at 6:30am at RE's office (I shall now refer to my RE as Dr. M. I decided he is cool enough - a while ago - to get a title besides the generic 'My RE'.) Anyway, I just had to fill out the paperwork for the anesthesiologist, pay for the anesthesiologist, and then I was taken to another room. DH asked if he could go along but that's when I had to get prepped and he had to stay in the waiting area.

'Prepped' was basically just taking off my clothes, putting them in a locker, putting on a gown, hair net thing, and booties, and going to the bathroom one last time. I walked out of the locker room/prep area and sat down for a minute, and then just a few minutes later went into what looked like a mini operating room. There was a square opening on one wall, and you could see into the lab area on the other side. They told me that after they retrieve the eggs, they hand them over to the lab, right through that opening. Pretty cool. I then lay on the table while they hooked up up to monitors and an IV, and then put little tubes in my nose. I then received some very nice drugs that made me feel pretty mellow and happy. :-) I schooched down and my legs were propped up in something like a stirrup, except my calves actually lay on the contraption instead of my heels. I remember looking up at the ceiling, and then the next thing I knew, I was being helped up off the table.

I was assisted into the recovery area, which was actually the first area I sat down in after changing before the procedure. They commented on how well I was walking. I felt a little 'out of it' but not too bad. This was about 7:25am, because DH looked at the clock - just as I was sitting down in the recovery area and putting my legs up in what felt like the kind of recliner I wouldn't mind sitting in all the time at home. He only peeked in for a moment because he was being led into the 'sample room.' I guess they wait to make sure they actually get eggs before they have him do anything else. Poor DH - I can't imagine having to do that right there at the office! Our IUI samples were always done at home because the office is so close.

As I was sitting there, before DH came back in, they told me how many eggs they retrieved and I would have jumped if I still wasn't a little woozy! Then DH came in and I have to say, I felt pretty ok. Maybe slightly 'out of it' but not bad at all. I then asked the IVF coordinator to review the PIO shot procedure with DH. Then, by 7:50am, I was leaving the office! They didn't rush me at all, I could have stayed longer but I felt fine. They did say that I recovered faster than most people. Dr. M did say before I left that I was to stay out of the gym! Believe it or not, he goes to the same gym as I do and I have bumped into him before! Oh darn, I have a valid excuse to not exercise. ;-)

I felt rather crampy the rest of the day and took some Tylenol. Actually, the worst pain was in my throat! They mentioned before retrieval that I would be breathing on my own, but maybe they put a tube down your throat anyway once you are unconscious? I tell you, my throat just felt scratchy and dry all day. I can still feel a little bit, over 24 hours later. However, I actually couldn't believe that I felt find except for the crampiness and sore throat. I guess about 1pm yesterday I suddenly became very tired and zoned out for about an hour. Then the phone rang and I felt fine again.

When I went to change later to go out to dinner, I noticed something else - thank goodness Dr. M. told me about this in advance. My post retrieval puffy middle! My pants were super tight around my waist - my abdomen was (and still is!) as puffy as can be! I was pretty bloated before retrieval, and Dr. M. told me not to be alarmed if I became bigger in the days following the retrieval. In fact, he said some people feel like they need to wear maternity clothes! Now, that's a bit of an exaggeration but I'm certainly not going to be wearing anything that's form fitting around my middle this weekend, and elastic waistbands are my best friends right now. I probably sound incredibly vain, but I'm not - and I'm not complaining - I just get ancy sometimes because I have struggled with weight my whole life. While I am currently not overweight, (I am a lifetime Weight Watchers member - yes, the program does work!) it's a constant battle (thus me going to the gym a lot and bumping into Dr. M.) which makes me more conscious of my puffy middle, especially since that is one of the main places where my fat decides to hang out. Trust me though, I'll be loving my big middle when it's related to pregnancy!

I think DH was more nervous about the PIO shot than I was. I got the needle ready last night and told him not to worry - just stick it in! I was surprised how little it hurt. The shots I had to give myself in my actually stomach hurt more. I start proges. suppositories tonight, and I have to use those twice day, and have the PIO shot every night. (and I thought taking less than half this amount of proges was bad - hoo boy, this is going to be fun!) I am also taking Doxc.ycline, Eastra.diol and Me.drol.

I find out tomorrow how our embies are doing, and will find out if it will be a 3 day transfer (Monday) or if things look good enough for a 5 day transfer (Wednesday). Dr. M. said they only freeze 5 day embies and I really hope to have some to freeze. Now it's time to wait for the next phone call..... is it Sunday yet?!?!