Today we got an update on our embryos and a time for our transfer tomorrow. The embryologist didn’t check on them today, but when he looked at them yesterday, there were ten dividing. Ten! That means the one I thought we lost forever may have just had a slow start. When I told Heather this, she said, “Oh! One resurrected!” Bahaha. We transfer tomorrow at 9 am! And then begin my two days of bed rest. Time to watch even more LOST and read lots of books!

I received a phone call a little while ago updating us on our embryos. Of the 12 eggs that were retrieved, 10 of them were mature, so they performed ICSI on those ten. All ten fertilized, and today nine of them are dividing. The embryologist told me to plan on a transfer on Wednesday, five days after the retrieval. I’m sure not all of the embryos will make it to that stage, but I hope we have some left over for freezing for future cycles!

So, yesterday was the egg retrieval. Jacob had to work the night before, so he only got maybe an hour of sleep before he had to wake up and get ready for our appointment. I was all intent on documenting every part of our day, but when I woke up it felt like my ovaries were about to explode, so I ended up not taking any pictures of our drive to the clinic and concentrated on not gasping in pain every time we drove over a bump in the road. These eggs were definitely ready to come out!

When we arrived at the clinic, we didn’t have to wait very long before I was escorted to a room to change into a lovely gown and fashionable brown socks. A nurse came in to place the IV in the top of my hand, which was a little more painful than I was expecting. After she left, Jacob took a few pictures while we were waiting for Dr. Johnstone. He wanted to take a picture of her as soon as she walked in the door, but I managed to persuade him that she might not be the most appreciative of an unexpected photo flash.

When Dr. Johnstone came in, I signed the consent form (which, looking back, I probably should have read), and then we moved to the retrieval room. I sat in a reclining chair with wide-spread foot pedals next to an ultrasound monitor. Two nurses were in there to help, Janine and Vanessa. I think. I was placed under conscious sedation, which is similar to the anesthesia used for wisdom teeth extraction. The nurse told me when she started the medication through the IV line, but I don’t even really remember getting sleepy. I think I heard voices and felt them washing out my nether regions, but I don’t exactly remember.

Beforehand, three different people told us that after I woke up from the procedure, I was likely to ask the same questions over and over.  I was determined that I wasn’t going to do that! When I first woke up, I heard music playing and the room was empty. I tried to sit up to look at the ultrasound monitor to see if there was a clock on it to tell what time it was, but that was not happening. My body felt very heavy. As I drifted in and out, some nurses came by and soon Jacob was able to join me. I asked what time it was and how many eggs they were able to retrieve. Jacob told me they got 12 eggs. (I’m not sure how many time I asked and he answered, but he later said I was repeating myself.)

I had a blood pressure cuff on my right arm. I was aware of it constricting my arm every so often to check my blood pressure, but some time later I asked Jacob why my right arm was heavy. Guess my short term memory really was shot after all.

The nurses asked if I wanted some crackers and juice, and I agreed. They had to move the chair from its reclining position to a more vertical position, and as they moved me apparently I started crying because the pain hit me all of a sudden. How embarrassing. I heard the nurse suggest to Jacob that he comfort me, and I think he stroked my face and said some reassuring things. The nurse said she could give me a Lortab for the pain, but that I had to eat something first.  Jacob fed me some crackers and held up a straw so I could drink apple juice. I was pretty thirsty because I had to fast since the night previous, so I ended up drinking three of those small cups of juice. While Jacob was feeding me, I asked him if I had fed him after his surgery last year. I can’t remember if I put the food in his mouth or if he fed himself.

I was given the pain medication, and before long I was told that I could go home to recover. I was given a ride in a wheelchair to the car. We had driven maybe three streets when I started feeling nauseated and told Jacob that we needed to find a bag or something in case I was sick. He pulled over the side of the road and I ended up vomiting twice on the sidewalk. Fortunately, it was mostly apple juice, but how embarrassing. Jacob called the IVF nurses and left a message asking if we should be concerned. We drove home without further incident, but I asked Jacob to drop me off at the apartment before picking up the pain medication prescription in case I was sick again. Good thing, too, because I threw up another three to five times once we got home.

When Jacob picked up the medication, he told the pharmacist what had happened and the pharmacist said to make sure I had a full stomach before taking any more Lortab. When he came back, I was lying on the couch, feeling very groggy. He brought a water bottle and a granola bar to the side of the couch in case I got hungry, and then he brought our plastic pitcher in case I needed to throw up again. How thoughtful. He staggered off to bed, because at this point he had been awake for close to 20 hours. A few minutes later he came back and reminded me that I needed to get the progesterone shot in my bum. We did that and then we both went to sleep. I woke up maybe two hours later, when the nurses finally called back and said basically the same thing the pharmacist did. I was wary of taking another Lortab, but once it wore off I ate a decently sized lunch and took another one, with no bad side effects, thankfully.

I spent the rest of the day mostly on the couch watching Lost on Netflix, though by the time Jacob woke up to get ready for work I was alert enough to make his dinner for work (which really, was leftovers and sandwiches, so it wasn’t terribly difficult). My sister-in-law Carly ended up texting me later asking for restaurant recommendations for a date, so I gave her a few options. I didn’t think anything of it, because she and her husband are in Utah for a little while visiting her family. Maybe an hour later, they knocked on our door! They bought a movie (The Devil Wears Prada) and a gift card to Olive Garden to help out when I’m on bed rest after the embryo transfer. They didn’t know I had the retrieval that morning until they came by and I told them, so it was good timing! Carly had wanted to make me a meal when I was on bed rest, but she’ll be back in Arizona when that happens, so this was her way of helping out. It was very thoughtful of them.

Tomorrow we’re expecting a phone call telling us how many of the eggs fertilized and whether we’ll do the transfer on Monday or Wednesday. I’m hoping it’ll be Wednesday, because it seems like the later it is, the better chance you have of getting pregnant. Fingers crossed!

A few things to remember:

-       One night as Jacob and I were laying in bed together, we discussed when I would be due if I get pregnant this cycle. I told him that I would be considered two weeks pregnant from the time of the egg retrieval. He said something to the effect of, “Hooray! Two free weeks!”

-       Tomorrow is the egg retrieval. That means last night I received my first bum shot – the hCG to trigger ovulation and bring the eggs to maturity. It wasn’t as terrible as I was expecting, but I was very nervous right beforehand, especially looking at that needle! I had read that it’s best to walk up and down stairs before and after to keep the bloodflow moving and spread the medication. So after Jacob gave me the shot, I walked up and down our outside stairs two or three times. I would’ve repeated the action but then I saw movement in our downstair neighbors’ apartment and I didn’t want them getting suspicious or asking questions. My bum is still pretty sore today, despite the exercise and a warm compress.

-       We had to administer the trigger shot at a very specific time, because the retrieval takes place 36 hours after the trigger shot. When I discovered the shot would take place at 9:15 at night and that Jacob would be at work because he signed up for overtime, I may have flipped out a little. Tears. Everywhere. And a little bit of anger at Jacob, because how dare he sign up for overtime a month ago! I texted Heather in a panic because I was afraid to ask any of my neighbors to give me the shot – there is no way to request that of someone without being horribly awkward or mortifying! Heather said she would be willing to help me out if I came down to her, which was very nice. It still wasn’t the best option, however. But Jacob smoothed things over when he called his sergeant and received permission to go into work late that day, so he was able to give me the shot after all.

-       I had ultrasounds scheduled every day Monday through Wednesday of this week, in addition to ultrasounds last Thursday and Saturday. Five ultrasounds in a week! I received printouts of how many follicles of each size at almost every ultrasound, so I could see how they were developing. Today I put all of the information into a spreadsheet so I could attempt to predict how many eggs the doctor will retrieve tomorrow. Later, I made a little wager with Jacob to see who can predict the closest number to the actual number of eggs retrieved. Based on my spreadsheet, I guessed 15. Jacob was optimistic and guessed 18. Loser has to scoop the winner a bowl of ice cream!

-       Oh man! Tomorrow we’re making some embryos! I hope this works.

I suppose I ought to document our IVF process for posterity. So, here goes.

Last Friday I had my screening ultrasound to make sure we were good to go this month. The ultrasound lasted all of three minutes, and the doctor counted a total of 34 follicles in my ovaries. This seems pretty good, but it also makes me a little nervous about potentially developing OHSS – ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Which apparently could result in hospitalization and/or death if it isn’t handled correctly. Fortunately, our RE, Dr. Johnstone, has put me on a low dose of stimulation medications to try to prevent that from happening.

After the ultrasound, I met with a nurse for our “injection training” class. I was expecting a little hands-on experience, perhaps practice mixing the medications and injecting them into an orange. (Why an orange? I don’t know.) Well, for one thing, I was a little peeved that she started with the demonstrations before Jacob arrived in the consultation room. He had been on the phone with American Express, trying to sort out payments so we could pay off our cycle ($18,500), and no one told him to come in once he got off the phone until after the nurse had started her spiel. And the “class” was not what I expected. She basically showed me how to twist the needles on and take them off and how to set the dose for the Gonal RFF pen. I had watched the injection videos online prior to this, so it wasn’t anything new, but she went so fast that I could barely process what she was doing.

Then she asked if we had any questions. I knew that starting day 8 of the injections, I’d be expected to come in for morning blood work to check my hormone levels. I mentioned I might have a slight conflict because I have work training from 8 to noon on July 16^th. She didn’t seem sympathetic to my plight at all and gave me the impression that I was just going to have to skip it, too bad, so sad. I guess she did say it was a possibility that I could come in at 7:30 or 7:45 so I wouldn’t be so late that day, but the vibe she sent off just rubbed me the wrong way. After that, I didn’t feel like asking any more questions, of her at least.

After the appointment we drove to the pharmacy to pick up our medications. We had two big bags waiting for us, but they didn’t have a sharps container or alcohol swabs, so I’m glad I asked for them before we paid. I forgot to ask for gauze, so we’ve been doing without for now.  The medications cost a little over $1,200 and apparently included everything we’ll need except for the trigger shot medication. I was pleased the price was relatively low, because I was expecting it to be closer to $2,000. I suppose it might be after we pay for the rest, though.

I started the injections two days ago, on Monday. The first day wasn’t so bad. I told Jacob he was in charge of giving me the injections, because while I don’t necessarily have a phobia of needles, I can’t watch them enter my body (or anyone else’s, for that matter). I pulled up the training videos on my laptop, and we would watch for a few seconds, pause the video, and then follow the steps. And repeat. Over and over again. All told, it took probably 30 to 45 minutes to prepare and administer the two injections.

The first injection we do is the Gonal RFF pen, which isn’t so bad. The medication is already inside the pen, so we just need to set the dial and pull out the button and it’s ready to inject. The second injection is a little trickier. We were given five vials of Repronex powder and five vials of a diluent. First, we take a giant mixing needle and insert it into the vial of diluent. We withdraw a milliliter of diluent, which we then inject and mix with the vial of powder. Each dose is only half a milliliter, so the idea is that one vial will last two days. The Repronex also burns when going in my skin, so that’s less than pleasant.

So, the second day we had a little drama with the Repronex. We had put the vial back in the fridge inside the bag of medications, but when I pulled it out in the morning it was tipped on its side. Then, when we were withdrawing the remainder of the medication, the needle slipped out prematurely and some of the medication sprayed out. We were left with only one fourth of a milliliter, or half of a dose. So then we weren’t sure what to do next. I was afraid of screwing things up if I only had half a dose, but I was also afraid of running out of medication and needles if we mixed another vial. I told Jacob to inject what we had, which he did, and it burned really badly while going in. That, coupled with the stress of the spilled medication, led me to crying in the hallway while Jacob cleaned up.

After a few minutes, I calmed down, and then I suddenly decided that we needed to administer the other half a dose, lest we adversely impact the cycle. So we opened another mixing needle (after a brief debate about whether it would be okay to just reuse the one from that morning) and mixed up another vial of medication. So I ended up getting three injections that morning instead of just two. I called the IVF nurse hotline later once the office opened (we’ve been doing the injections around 6:15 in the morning to accommodate Jacob’s work and sleep schedule), and the nurse said I could get more needles at my appointment tomorrow. I’m still hoping we’ll have enough medication, but I guess we can buy some more if necessary. I just hope they come in smaller packages, because I certainly don’t think I’ll need an extra five vials – one should be sufficient.

Today the injections went fine and didn’t hurt quite as badly, but my stomach is pretty sore. From day one my stomach was a little tender if I rested a book on it or while wearing a seatbelt, but now it even hurts to bend over. So far I don’t have any bruising, so that’s good. I’m nervous about what it’ll be like once I start the intramuscular injections – those needles are an inch and a half long, and have to be jabbed in my bum in a “dart-like motion.” I cringe every time I watch those training videos. I shouldn’t need one of those injections until sometime next week, so I guess I should be grateful that I’m only doing two injections with half-inch needles a day for now. Tomorrow, I’ll find out if we’re ready to add a third medication! Yippee!