Retrieval day!

So, today was retrieval day. G and I got to the clinic just before 8.00am and G did a good job of distracting me from my nerves by having lots of random conversations with me, lol!

The nurse then took me to the prep room where she went though everything that was going to happen and got me changed into the hospital gown. Next in came the lab technician who also explained what she would be doing with each of the follicles during the procedure (i.e. checking them all for viable eggs etc). She said she would ring me sometime tomorrow morning with an update on their progress (following their insemination with the donor sperm later on today) and at that stage I will be advised of the likely transfer date.

Next came in the doctor (M) who inserted the IV line, after which I was ready for theatre. G came in and sat next to where I was lying and generally kept me calm. :-) The procedure itself was mostly ok but because I had specifically requested to be given the least amount of medication necessary to sedate me, unfortunately there were some times that I could feel the needle going into the follicle and it definitely DID hurt. Twice the nurse had to top up my IV line, but because the procedure was so quick (20 minutes tops in the theatre) the ovary prodding was practically over by the time the additional drugs kicked in, lol!

Ironically, it was actually G that had more issues than me during the procedure. The heat of the theatre made her almost faint (as she is currently 6 months pregnant) and the nursing staff suddenly had to wheel her out and lie her down in the recovery room long before the doctor had finished with me, lol! So, here I was, in the recovery room, sitting on the chair feeling pretty well my usual fine self (since I'd had so few meds); and there was G, collapsed on the recovery room bed drinking sweet drinks and eating the muffins provided by the nursing staff!! It was hilarious! Not sure that she will live that down for a while, hehehe.

So... as for the eggs, we got nine! :-) The lab technician who spoke to me before the procedure said that on average two-thirds of the eggs retrieved will fertilise (the outcome being more or less depending on the quality and maturity of the eggs etc) so hopefully that will give me approximately six or so fertilised eggs to work with providing the embryos all continue to develop as they are supposed to.

After about an hour in the recovery room (and once G was feeling alright again, lol!) I was then discharged and taken home by G to chill out and sleep on and off for the rest of the day. The nurse also gave me a bunch of progesterone suppositories which I have to start from tomorrow morning. I am really not looking forward to those as I have heard they can produce some pretty nasty side effects(!) but it has to be done in order to best prepare the lining of my uterus for the hopeful implantation in a few days time.