And our lucky number is...

...8!

So yes, egg retrieval was today. We got up very early, woke up the little man at 6:10 am, dropped him off at the neighbors at 6:30 am and took the car to the clinic, where we arrived just before 7 am. Had to wait a little before a nurse brought us to my room, that I was sharing with another woman also there for an ER. Got paperwork sorted, changed into the hospital gown, said goodbye to hubby who was off to the lab, and then someone already came to wheel me to the OR.

The nurse told me Dr Speed (reference to IVF #1, see the blog archives) would do the procedure. This time that didn't make me more stressed, but brought a smile on my face - and when he walked in belting an enthusiastic "bonjour messieurs'dames" and "ah, c'est ma fiancée" I was instantly relaxed.

The nurse brought in the IV for the anesthetic. She first tried near my wrist, but that was so painful that she gave up and used the inside of my elbow instead. The anesthesiologist was the same as I'd had for the consult and he was very nice, so everything was good. The anesthetic hurt though! Must be different stuff than time, but it worked immediately, because I didn't even have a sensation that I was drifting away - felt the pain when he put it through the IV and then next thing I know I woke up in the recovery room (or was it still the OR, I don't remember). It took me a few seconds before I knew where I was, I first thought I had overslept and missed the ER!

I stayed for about 20 minutes in the recovery room, which looked more like a hallway and was also used for impromptu meetings by the nursing staff. A bit too much chatter for my foggy head I must say...

Then I was wheeled back to my room (it was 8:15 am by then), where I drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour, then I felt a bit better, and after an initial glass of water they also brought me some breakfast, which was appreciated. In the meantime my roommate had been brought back into the room as well and now we were both waiting for the embryologist to come tell us what the harvest score would be, and after that for the nurse to take out the IV needle and the anesthesiologist to sign the discharge papers.

The embryologist came by between noon and 1 pm. Result: 8 eggs retrieved. A bit disappointed, but no big surprise as the RE had said on Friday that there were 7 (this in contrast to my roommate, who was told on Saturday there were six follicles, only to hear today that 22 were retrieved! So she was quite shocked - have the feeling someone did not pay attention along the way, somehow I was glad when I found out she's with a different RE team than I am). I have to call the lab tomorrow to ask how many were fertilized and at what time I have to come in for the transfer on Thursday (so 2-day transfer this time instead of 3-day). So now we have everything crossed that out of the eight eggs we'll get at least one or two decent embryos that can be transferred back and grow into a healthy baby. Here's hoping...

Anesthesiologist came at 2:15 pm. By that time both my roommate and I were bored out of our heads. We were finally home about an hour later. Felt very tired and slightly crampy. Will make it an early night tonight.

CD30 - getting pessimistic

Well, everything is basically still as OK as the last few days, but today I asked the RE how many (usable) follicles we can count on, and the answer is seven (...).

Last time (yes, 2.5 years ago) they retrieved 14 (of which eight were fertilized, of which only two were good enough to be transferred). So I'm a bit scared that it won't work this time. I know you only need one great one, and some smaller ones could still mature over the coming two days, but hmm, I'm a bit blue. Oh, and for the records, estradiol level is 2621 pg/ml today.

But the good news is that we do have a date set for ER and it will be Tuesday, so exactly the same cycle length as last time, even though I'm reacting differently to the stimulation and the dose for the last few days is also much higher than for IVF #1. I guess that's due to being 2.5 years older than last time? So tonight and tomorrow night again 225 IU Puregon injections, then triggering Sunday night.

Update: the RE's secretary called to say I should change back to 150 IU Puregon for tonight and tomorrow night (based on my pretty high estrogen level).

Ponction

So today was egg retrieval day, or 'ponction' as they say in French. Got up at 6 am and had my betadine scrub shower (yum!). We were at the clinic just before 7.30 am. Went all pretty quickly from there: was shown my room, changed into the hospital gown, hubby left for the lab to do his thing, and a few minutes later the nurse came to have me sign some paperwork and put in an IV for saline drip.

Was wheeled to the OR around 8 am. The OR nurse double checked all my information while still in the hallway, somehow I felt like I was already sedated, but it must have been the stress that made me feel like my answers came out very slowly. Saw that it was my own doc for the procedure, luckily not Dr 'Speed', that would not have been very good to get my stress-level down... The anesthesiologist got to work and I slowly 'floated away'. When I woke up again I was wheeled into the recovery room, it was 8.31 am. Stayed there for about 20 minutes. Was feeling OK, but still out of it - no wonder with blood pressure at 112/47 - 114/51 - 112/53.

Back in my room the nurse again checked blood pressure, bleeding (a bit) and asked if I had a lot of pain - it wasn't too bad, so I gave it a 4 on a scale from 1-10. Hubby came back after about 30 minutes, which was nice. For a moment I thought the pain was getting worse, but luckily it subsided again. At about 10.30 I got a little breakfast. The tea tasted like coffee, so after three sips I left it for what it was. Had some yogurt, toast and water. Blood pressure and bleeding were checked again and we tested if I could get up without fainting or feeling dizzy. Everything was fine, so the nurse took out the IV and I could go to the toilet.

After about another hour they told me I could get dressed again. A few minutes later another nurse came in to give me back my paperwork and told me to wait for the embryologist ('médecin biologiste'). After that I was free to go home. The doctor came in and told me they had collected 14 eggs, everything looked good. They would call me on Thursday about the results and set a time for transfer on Friday.

We were back home around 12.30pm, had lunch together and then hubby left for work. I'm lying on the couch, feeling OK, but a little tired, so I'll take it easy for the rest of the day. Not much pain, just a bit of a dull ache.