Egg retrieval and an update

Hi everyone! I have been absent from this bloggy for a little bit. To be quite honest, I haven't had the time or energy to even think about it. I know you guys are dying to hear all about me [sarcasm] so let me rewind…

2 weekends ago we spent both Saturday and Sunday driving 2 hours both ways to our fertility doctor for monitoring appointments. They check hormone levels and look at the follicles in my ovaries. My hormones were skyrocketing despite being on super low dosages of the injectable meds. My doctors were quite worried because with such a high estrogen level mixed with so many follicles, I was at super high risk for Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). So they continued to turn my dosages down and stopped one of the three meds altogether in hopes that my estrogen would level out, and it never did. I had to make the 2 hour drive both Monday and Tuesday as well then rush straight to work. Finally, on Tuesday (5/3) they told me I was ready to trigger.

What is triggering? Exactly 35 hours before egg retrieval you give yourself a shot of HCG (the pregnancy hormone) to "mature" your follicles and prep the eggs for retrieval. This meant my egg retrieval would officially be Thursday morning. At that point I was so bloated and uncomfortable and just SO ready for those eggs to be OUT.

Thursday morning bright and early we woke up and made the 2 hour drive for the millionth time in the last month. I suffered without breakfast or coffee which was just plain torture. I had an overwhelming calm the whole morning which I know is due to all my prayer warriors! I got changed into my sexy hospital gown and cap, got my IV started, and talked to my doctor and anesthesia team. The last thing I remember is begging my doctor not to get our embryos mixed up because I had heard a story where a Caucasian couple birthed an African American baby across the country and no one knew. They all assured me that would not happen to me, haha.

After retrieval I woke up and the first question I asked was how many eggs they got. 44 eggs! My doctor said she can count on one hand how many patients have had that many! Score!! I felt a little dizzy and nauseous so they made sure I could keep some sprite and crackers down before heading home. I slept the whole way home with a heating pad on my belly and then it was straight to the couch.

The day of retrieval I was in mild discomfort, almost like cramping. The heating pad was a Godsend as well as the pain meds they gave me. I had strict instructions to drink only Gatorade and eat as much salt as possible, all ways of preventing OHSS. I was also started on a medication called Cabergoline to prevent OHSS. I had to weigh myself twice a day to monitor fluid build-up in my abdomen. All was good on day 1...

Day 2 I woke up and felt pretty darn good. However, by night time I was struggling. My belly was SO full and rock hard and I was so uncomfortable. Day 3 it continued to worsen, I was vomiting and so miserable and they wanted me to go to the emergency room. Being the stubborn PA that I am (we are truly the worst patients), I politely declined because I knew all they would do is make me wait 8 hours just to get a bag of fluids. My doctor wanted to see me to check the fluid build-up in my abdomen so Sunday morning we made the miserable drive again which was hell. I felt like pure crap and every bump in the road was excruciating. They did an ultrasound which showed some fluid in my abdomen and my ovaries still huge. I had mild/moderate OHSS [of course I did]. There wasn't enough fluid to drain with a needle which I was actually disappointed about. I wanted immediate relief! Luckily all my electrolytes, liver values, and pancreas values were normal. So back to the couch I went.

The only reassuring thing about the whole situation when I was feeling like pure crap was hearing an update on our embryos every day! They called every morning with an update until day 5 and we have 28 perfect little frozen embabies. Makes it all worth it! My doctor said she has never had a patient have that many perfect embryos to freeze! She said we could be the next Duggars haha! Usually with IVF you shoot for a fresh embryo transfer 5 days after egg retrieval then you freeze all the other embryos. However, with how sick I was my doctors did not want to transfer fresh. They were worried it would just start the whole OHSS process over. I am totally okay with this, as I was not physically or mentally prepared. I thought I would be heartbroken, but I want my body in the best shape possible to transfer a little embryo. So for now I focus on getting healthy and recuperating. We will transfer a frozen embryo in a few months.




I finally returned to work on Tuesday which was a struggle. But today I am finally feeling 99% back to normal! Thank you for all the prayers! We have hopefully made it through the worst and it is only uphill from here!