Cycle Day 15: Retrieval Day

I was a mess last night. I was freaking out that I'd ovulate before the procedure, that I'd twisted an ovary with the walking through the caves on Tuesday (I was soooo bloated), that there would be nothing in the follicles. After Aidan did the assigned acupressure points, he did the happy spot on the top of my head to calm me down. Boy did it work. We watched 2 episodes of season 5 (I think) of Ballykissangel with him pressing the spot on my head. I slept like a baby and only work up once during the night.

This morning Aidan had cereal in our room as I could not eat or drink before the procedure. We headed out at 7.15 to check-in at 7.30 on the third floor of the clinic. They took our paperwork and took us back to our room. It was a room for 4, painted a golden yellow with Anne Geddes prints on the wall. The beds had brightly coloured pillows and comforters. My bed had a window that looked out on the forest. I was asked to change into my pajamas (a long top in my case) and I climbed in bed to read while I waited.

At 8am they took Aidan to do his part (he said the room was well furnished - posters, magazines and DVD player already loaded) and at 8.20 or so I was walked across the hall to the procedure room. It was bright and modern and well equipped. They got me settled and my doctor was cheery and said it would be a quick procedure. The anesthesiologist was quick and I was out in moments. When I awoke they transferred me to my bed covered me with the comforter and told me to rest. Aidan was in the room when I got back.

I was in some pain. My right ovary, who had been playing hide-n-seek during each u/s was throbbing. I did the guided visualization exercise for the time between retrieval and transfer and was able to breather through most of the soreness but that ovary was driving me nuts. Aidan did the happy spot on my head for a while and I zoned out for about an hour or so, napping and such. The doctor came in to tell us that he had retrieved 19 eggs and that the embryologist would be down shortly to talk about Aidan's sample. He was also going to check to see if everything was ok and decide whether I needed the shot of pain medication.

The embryologist was very nice and said that the eggs were good quality but the sperm sample made her decide to use ICSI. She said they would begin the process at 12 noon and for us to call our coordinator, Petra, tomorrow at 1pm to see how many fertilized. We'd talk later about freezing because we had already decided that we'll transfer 2 embryos in a 5 day transfer on Monday, Sept 7.

We were then visited a few more times by the nurses and my doctor. My examination went well and I was then given the pain meds injection on my Bottom. Boy, did that sting. It smarted for a while and then it was fine. I dressed slowly and then after checking out we went to the pharmacy to get the progesterone gel suppositories that I'll be using instead of PIO (they don't want to take any risks with my allergies).

The rest of the day I took it slow and napped a lot. I wanted McDonalds for lunch so Aidan and my mom made it happen.  I'm still a bit sore but I feel much better than I did earlier. Thanks everyone for the kind words. I truly appreciate it and you bring a smile to my face often. The next few days are a numbers game and, yes, we've started a Novena to St. Gerard because we need all the help we can get... :)