January 1, 2019 – Retrieval Eve
Happy New Year!
We were up bright and early for my last blood draw before egg retrieval. We drove into Seattle first thing in the morning and we were in and out of the office, quick and easy. It’s our tradition to take a walk somewhere, anywhere, by the water on New Years Day, so we did just that. We headed over to West Seattle, grabbed a coffee and walked about 3.5 very slow miles along Alki Beach’s bike trail. I was quite bloated and uncomfortable, but the fresh air was a complete necessity. It was a beautiful, sunny, brisk morning and we started off the New Year full of hope and excitement for our egg retrieval and upcoming year.
My husband is just the cutest, and made me a DIY homemade clay face mask for my Christmas stocking, so we busted that out tonight and each masked our faces. It looked like a had the remnants from a poopy diaper on my face, but it sure felt cleansing and my face is so soft now!
January 2, 2019 – Egg Retrieval Day
What!! Is this day really here? We were up bright and early again to get to the surgical center at our clinic in Seattle and check in by 7:45 a.m., (about a half hour drive). I woke up SO thirsty, and of course can’t eat or drink anything before surgery. I was pretty nervous, but we were well taken care of today. Our nurse was the sweetest, compassionate, funny, and excited for us. I was changed into my gown with my pineapple socks on (thank you friend who sent me the care package with these), a heated blanket over me and my IV in my arm all pretty quickly. I had the nurse, the doctor and the anesthesiologist all come in and ask me a variation of the same questions and make sure I was, in fact, there for an egg retrieval. Once those logistics were done, I had someone follow me into the bathroom so I could empty my bathroom and I thought for sure she was going to stay in there, and I was thinking “I’m never going to be able to pee with you standing here!” Turns out she just wanted to take my weight, and let me pee in privacy. Phew! I was walked into the operating room, where I climbed up on the table, laid down and had about 6 different people all coming at me from different directions hooking me up to all kinds of stuff and talking me through everything. They were all so kind. The last thing I remember is the nurse telling me she would have graham crackers and apple juice ready for me when I woke up (she’s the real hero in this story). Next thing I know, I was awake (if that’s what you want to call it, more like visiting in a daze from another planet) with apple juice and graham crackers ready for me – what an angel! The nurse told me we got 19 eggs (!!!) and asked if I was ready for Dylan to come back in (yes, or course!). I don’t think I said anything ridiculous as I was coming out of my daze. In fact, I couldn’t get any words to come out at all, just head nods. But who knows what I said or if I said anything before I remember waking up. By the time we were sent home, it was about 2.5 hours from the time we walked in to the time we left. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Thank you hormones for the lovely, flawless, skin. (Eyeroll).
All my Instagram IVF sisters always post pictures post retrieval with McDonald’s fries since salty foods are supposed to be good for avoiding OHSS (Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome). Seems to me like McDonald’s is the last thing you should be eating, ever, but why the heck not, I’m easily influenced by this social media world. Aren’t we all? We hit up the McDonald’s driveway for French Fries, for the first time in like, well probably ever and let me tell you, these fries were shamelessly and disgustingly delicious. So, shout out to all of you who have done this, you had the right idea. So we scarfed our fries (remember, I hadn’t eaten anything except those promised graham crackers, which ended up being about one graham cracker total), and then went out to breakfast for actual human food.
I was pretty sore all day and out of it. I took a really long nap, stayed in bed all day besides getting up to eat Chicken Noodle soup for dinner, read a book, a trash mag, watched numerous shows on Netflix and just smiled in a painful daze about the fact that we had just retrieved 19 eggs. I repeat, 19 eggs! I don’t know what we were expecting, but we are ecstatic with what we got!
January 3, 2019 – 1 day post egg retrieval
I had a heck of a time falling asleep last night after sleeping all day but I was out for the count once I finally did. I woke up pretty sore still and… sick as a dog. What the heck! I’ve been battling a cold since the first day of winter break (go figure) but it’s been pretty mild and more annoying than anything but I think the anesthesia turned it into a full blown cold. Yuck!
We got a call from our nurse pretty early in the morning with our fertilization report. EEK!! Of the 19 eggs retrieved yesterday, 14 of them were mature and underwent ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). Of those 14, 11 of them were successfully fertilized and are currently growing and developing in the incubator and being left undisturbed until day 5 or 6. We should hear on Tuesday (ish) how many of them kept growing and developing and will be biopsied to be sent off for PGT-A (preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies) testing.
I have done a whole lot of absolutely nothing today. I was planning to return to work tomorrow but I’m going to take the weekend to recoup so that I can return on Monday 100% and ready to tackle my edTPA (student teaching/teacher certificate stuff).
Again, I have no idea what we were expecting but this is just the most fantastic news ever. It is so wild to think about the fact that we have babies growing outside of my body right now. What in the world!? We are so hopeful that this continues to go as smoothly and positively as it has this far and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this journey brings.
Send us all your positive vibes!
Grow eggies, grow.