Lucky number 19...

As you can guess from the title of this post, they got 19 eggs this morning! They haven't told me how many of them are mature vs immature so I'm sure the actual usable total is less.

This morning we got there at 8am, T went off to the lab to "do his business" while I got set up with some Tylenol, anti-nausea medication and Ativan. The nurse there today was so nice. She is one of my favorites. She even got my IV in on the first try! Most people can't! They gave me a lot of written instructions to look over as I waited for T to get back.

Soon it was time to head into the procedure room. Once I got settled they put my legs up in the "holders" (they aren't really stirrups) and then gave me a dose of Fentanyl, a strong pain reliever. First the RE injected some local freezing into the sides of my vagina (which I didn't feel at all) and then waited a few minutes to let that kick in. Dr. T, the RE, has done some work at the hospital where T works as an OR nurse so they chatted about various staff members that they both know. Then it was time to begin. I could see the ultrasound screen beside me so was able to see the needle going into each follicle and draining it. Pretty neat. One nurse was sitting at the foot of the bed with the doctor and collecting the fluid in test-tubes and handing them over to an embryologist when they were full. It wasn't long until he said "I have the first 2 eggs" and then I relaxed a bit as for some reason I had this fear that they wouldn't find any eggs in all those follicles (crazy, I know!). The other nurse kept my pain meds topped up and stood at my head and stroked my hair. Normally I would hate that but it really felt comforting. T, being the technical guy that he is, was much  more interested in what the RE was doing and asking questions than paying attention to me! That's OK. I'm glad he asked the questions because they were the same ones I would have asked. Soon it was over so they got me into a wheelchair and pushed me back to the recovery area. T and I both got juice and cookies and I took a little nap while we waited for my meds to wear off and for them to get a last count of the eggs.

Crazy coincidence while I was there...one of the nurses in the recovery area came over to me and asked where she knew me from. I was like "um, I'm not sure, maybe I've just seen you here?". Then we got chatting about what T and I did for a living and I told her I was a public health nurse. She got this big grin on her face and exclaimed "You immunized my kids 2 weeks ago!" She knew the name of the clinic I work at and told me that I had done an excellent job with her 2 kids. Strange! T and I live and work about an hour away from this fertility clinic so I was definitely surprised to meet someone I had dealt with at work!

After I was feeling less woozy from the meds I was allowed to get up, go pee and get changed but she made T come in with me in case I felt dizzy. Then we headed home! I can't believe it's over!

I am on strict instructions to "take-it-easy" because my ovaries are HUGE and they are worried about OHSS. I now have a monitoring sheet where I have to weigh myself daily and measure my stomach. Fun!

Tomorrow we'll get a call to find out how many of the 19 fertilized with ICSI! One more thing to be terrified about (what if none fertilize!). I'll let you know how it goes!

I just woke up from a 3 hour nap on the couch with my cat...supposedly T and I had a few conversations while I was asleep but I remember NOTHING! Yay for strong pain meds!