21 eggs!!!

We are so happy with that number!

I wasn't nervous going in to the office, but once I got there and they took me back to the IVF rooms (never been back there before) I got nervous.  Of course as soon as I went back they wheeled the patient before me past, looking miserable.  Then they stuck us in this creepy rather bare room with chair, a locked medical storage cabinet, some other built supply cabinets like normal offices, and what I will call the horror movie chair.  It had the same teal cushions as all the exam tables, but it was like a sawed off dentists chair with foot stir-ups..  And nothing around it but a small light.  I can only assume that is the transfer room.

So the nurse moved me to another area to check my vitals and get me changed.  I briefly met with my RE, which made me feel better because I didn't know which RE would be doing the retrieval, but she has been in there several times before so I was more comfortable knowing it would be her.  I also met the anesthesiologist, whom I told about my very high tolerance for all pain meds and anesthesia (can you see where this is going?) Then they take me to another room, which was also semi-creepy because it did not look like any surgical procedure type room I've ever been.  Oh, and there was a big sign outside the heavy door that said "Procedure Room"  how vague and ominous is that?   So at the far end of this room is the table, with braces for my legs.   I get up on and lay down and the anesthesiologist starts trying to get the IV in.

You may remember that both my hands have bruises from failed b/w attempts.  The larger of these is on my left hand, which is, of course, where he started.  It was extremely painful when he put the needle in, and I was gripping the nurses hand and staring at the ceiling trying not to burst into tears (partly from the pain and partly because of nerves).  Finally it felt better...I glanced down at my hand and...no IV!  Instead there is bloody gauze pad taped to my hand and the anesthesiologist is muttering and moving around to my right side.  So I had to go through that painful crap again.  He did have success with my right hand and everyone said I'd be getting a nice "cocktail" soon and wouldn't feel a thing.  Um, wrong.

My RE walked in shortly after the IV was in place, took one look at my hands and sympathetically said "you called it" (I had expressed concern to her earlier about that).  She also said I'd be feeling fine in no time.  She had told me earlier that I'd probably feel some of the beginning stuff such as the fluid for the abdominal ultrasound, so I didn't think too much of it when I could feel the speculum go in.  At this point I was getting some drugs, which just made me feel more relaxed and semi-dizzy.  Shortly after the speculum was in, I began to feel sharp pinching pains, which I realized was the needle retrieving my eggs.  Mind you, my RE specifically reassured me that I'd be semi-awake but feel NO PAIN.  Yeah, it wasn't jump off the table awful, but it felt like being stuck with a bloodwork needle on the inside.  When I said (or perhaps mumbled something incoherent) that I could feel the needle, my RE said "we are almost done".  After that they must have upped my meds, because I do not remember being wheeled out into the recovery area.

Afterword I was just really tired and dizzy.  I wasn't in a whole lot of pain, but I felt pretty bloated.  Right now it just feels like horrible intestinal pains, which, in all honestly, is actually what some of it is.

Tomorrow we will get our first fertility report!