Retrieval

On Thursday, Sept. 22nd, Hubby and I headed off to retrieval. I must admit that I was a little anxious - I knew what I was in for this time! At 8am, I took my Xanax happy pill as prescribed. I think it made me calmer, but it didn't make me loopy like last time. Since I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything since midnight the night before, I was really thirsty. I thoroughly enjoyed that little sip of water I got with the pill. I offered Hubby a large sum of money if he'd sneak me a glass of water, but he said no.

At 8:45am, we arrived at the cryogenics lab and signed papers for them to thaw Hubby's sperm. We then went next door to my Doc's office to get ready for the procedure. A woman from the lab came over and had us sign papers for them to thaw the 1 embryo we had frozen last time - just in case there was some major fluke of nature and we didn't have many fertilize this time. After that, I got a shot in the rear of dilaudid (narcotic). The point of this was for me to relax and take away pain. As with the Xanax, it worked, but only marginally. I was relaxed, but I wasn't goofy.

By 10am, I was on the table, the Doc had opened the window to the lab next door, and I was being prepped. The nurse and I chatted about our allergies being bad this year as the Doc numbed me -what else do you talk about while 4 people are in a room with you while you're naked and getting your you-know-what numbed?! The Doc pulled up the pics on the ultrasound machine, and set to work. Hubby stood at my left, held my hand, and rubbed my forehead. Once again, we could see everything that the Doc was doing and the doc through the little window in the wall started saying numbers aloud.

Then the pain started. I was certainly feeling more this time and it wasn't good. Hubby and i watched the ultrasound screen intentky as we could see each black follicle be punctured and then get smaller as the fluid was taken out of each. By the time he had moved over to the other ovary, I was really experiencing pain. I could feel everything he was doing. I kept thinking that I just needed to hang on long enough for him to get through and it'd be over.

And finally it was.

They closed the window to the lab, got me cleaned up, and got me a glass of water. Thank goodness! It doesn't take much to make me happy these days! The nurse began sitting me up gradually. She was there during retrieval #1 when I tried to pass out and didn't want me to do that again. When she left the room, Hubby said that he could tell I felt more this time and was in more pain because he caught me holding my breath several times. What can i say? It hurt! After several minutes of laying there with my glass of water, the nurse came back in, helped me sit all the way up and asked Hubby to help me get dressed.

When she stepped out, Hubby sat at the end of the table, looked at me funny, and asked me if I was ok. I said yes. And then about 5 seconds later, I got that really weird feeling again - the feeling where my head is floating above my body and my fingertips go numb. Darn it! It was happening again. I told Hubby I wasn't ok and he immediately laid me back down. He ran out and got the nurse, who came in and told me I'd lost my lips -and all other color - again. She put a cold rag on my head. I apologized for pulling this stunt again and she said that it was very common, which made me feel a bit less embarrassed. She put a cold rag on my head and had me lay there a while longer.

After a few minutes, she put me into a wheelchair with the stylish paper blanket over me and wheeled me to another room where I could lay down as long as I needed. When I was able to hold myself up, Hubby got me dressed and we made our way out. On the way out, the nurse told me that the final egg count was 14!