September 24, 2012

Today is Monday!  I didn’t write all weekend, I needed to relax some.  But I wanted to write now and fill you in on everything that happened.

On Friday I didn’t have to take any medication which was awesome! And I went in at 10 am on Saturday morning. I met with a nurse first who told me what some of the side effects of the procedure are (pain, spotting/bleeding, dizziness, nausea, etc.). After that, I saw Dr. Heiner who told me he was hoping to get a dozen eggs. 12!  Crazy right?!  He wanted to be able to answer any questions I had – I didn’t have many, he has been so good about answering all of my questions so far, so I didn’t worry about it and didn’t have many questions.

After I talked with Dr. Heiner, I was taken back to the prep room. I changed into the hospital gown, put on my hair net and my foot covers, and went in to the Operating Room. I got up on the bed, and they had me get in the stirrups – but these weren’t just regular stirrups like for a routine gyno visit… These were stirrups that I put my thighs in! Whew!  I was able to meet the Anesthesiologist there and he told me he would put me completely under and I would be taking a nap during the procedure. He made some small talk and then the Embryologist came in. He told me he would take all of the eggs and perform the ICSI.  He was really nice!

After I talked with them, the anesthesiologist asked if I had any other questions – and I told him No. He said it was my last chance because I would fall asleep rather quickly. I told him I was okay, and I watched him put the medicine in my IV, and the next thing I knew – I was laying on bed in the prep room again, and they were telling me to take some deep breaths to help me wake up and they would be bringing in Travis. 

Travis came in a few minutes later and held my hand while I sat there. I kept falling back asleep and would slow down my breathing. Travis gave me some chapstick because my lips felt all dry, and then the nurse gave me some water. The water helped me perk up quite a bit, and tasted so nice! I hadn’t had anything to drink since around 11 pm the night before so I was extremely thirsty!

After about 15 minutes, I was awake and ready to go home. I was in quite a bit of pain because the procedure is pretty painful, and I was told the pain could last for 7-10 days, so I kind of expected it.  Before we left, I asked the nurse how many eggs they were able to retrieve, and she said 14!!!!!  Can you believe it?

The nurse said she would call me on Sunday morning and let me know how many of the eggs were mature, and how many fertilized.   I spent most of the day walking really slowly anywhere I went, and taking some extra strength Tylenol!

On Sunday morning, the nurse called me and said they had retrieved 14 eggs. 12 of them were mature, and 10 of them fertilized properly!  That means they have 10 eggs to work with so far!  On Tuesday they will call me and let me know the quality of the embryos! On Thursday they will do the PGD biopsy, and on Friday at 11 am, they will implant two embryos!  

I can’t believe this is all finally happening. It has seemed like it has taken so long to get to this point! I’m so happy right now I can barely stand it!