26 Eggs and Red Velvet Pancakes= Good Day

Today started with the alarm going off at 5:00 a.m.  I was not excited about that, but after I woke up a little and it slowly sunk in that today was the day that my potential future babies would be started on their journey, my excitement started to build.  I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be as we drove to the fertility clinic, or when they had me change into a gown and those ridiculous paper shoes and hair net. And honestly, the rest was so easy and the clinic makes it as stress free as possible, that nearly all my nervousness went away. My situation is not unheard of within this center.  They often help women preserve their fertility who have even less time than I do.  Those women have cancer that requires treatment in a week or two at the most and the fertility specialists can still get them through a cycle with successful retrieval.  They also work with women who have struggled to have children for whatever reason. For some IVF is the last resort in a long stressful journey filled with disappointment after disappointment.  All the staff have an amazing compassionate spirit.  You feel that they really care about you and why you are there and they choose their words carefully and thoughtfully.

I wasn't sure what exactly to expect from the retrieval today even though multiple nurses, embryologist and fertility doctors have gone over every aspect of the procedure.  Some things you have to go through to really understand. They have one nurse stay with you through the whole process to answer any questions and let you know what to expect at each step. Mine was great.  She even used lidocaine before she put in the IV...a tip to everyone: ask for this any time you have an IV, makes it SO much better.  She said they don't have it available for everything, but it never hurts to ask for it. The anesthesiologist was great as well...the first thing he asked was "so what did you have for breakfast?"  I guess some people don't always follow directions and not eat or drink anything after 11 p.m. the night before. I react so badly to anesthesia, no way would I mess with that directive, and no way would I take a chance that I might not be able to go through with it after taking daily shots for the last week and a half and knowing that this was my one and only chance.  

So the outcome of the day was 26 eggs retrieved...pretty big number, no wonder I felt so bloated and could feel my ovaries with every step I took (really not much of an exaggeration.) Not all will be mature enough for freezing...they will call me with that number tomorrow and I'm ok with whatever that number is. Thankfully the comedic anesthesiologist decided he would go ahead and do a preemptive strike on my tendency to be very nauseous after anesthesia and gave me something before I woke up.  So no feeling like I was going to throw up or actual throwing up this time.  I was still pretty out of it for the rest of the day, but my stomach was feeling well enough that I got to have red velvet pancakes at IHOP....YUM.

I'm at peace with this part of my journey.  It doesn't matter how many eggs are ok for freezing tomorrow, I've done everything I can do to preserve my fertility.  Now I can focus on the next part.  My big surgery is 4-1/2 weeks away.  I'm no longer as stressed as I was a month or two ago when I would sometimes cry the whole way home from work.  It's more of a waiting game and making sure that I do everything I need to get done before the big day.  It will be here before I know it and I will be ready for whatever comes with it. I can do this...I got this.