Egg Retrieval

May 2012

I was very sad when the IUI didn't work. I knew there were still options but just really wanted it to work! We again met with Dr. Nani who said we can try IUI again or just to IVF. We really thought trying something that didn't have a great success rate again, when it already didn't work once, was foolish. We checked with insurance and found out that because Illinois has an infertility law... if you are diagnosed with infertility then your insurance has to cover up to 4 times of IVF. WaHOO!!! We decided to get that ball rolling. Your first month you spend on birth control (at least that's what I did for timing purposes). Then the shots begin (2 of them daily) and again the monitoring with internal ultra sounds and blood work. The first part of IVF is the egg retrieval. The prep work for this is the meds trying to get you to produce as many eggs as possible all at once. I have to say this is the grossest I have ever felt in my body. I was bloated and my lady parts hurt so much I had to put a travel pillow in between me at the seat belt in the car. They day we could finally do the retrieval was God sent because all I wanted was the eggs out of me! They want you to stay bloated to prevent OHSS (Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome), you really couldn't force anymore chips, popcorn, or Gatorade down my gullet. Now once things look good by the ultrasounds showing you have several follicles maturing or at least 18mm you again trigger like IUI and head to the lab within 36 hours. Our lab was at River North in the city. This day you need someone to come with you because you go under anesthesia and will need a ride home. Of course Cam wanted to come anyways but they make sure you have someone with you. So here you are super bloated and uncomfortable, in a gown and socks (make sure to bring socks because your feet get cold, also I was tipped off by a friend to bring a pillow and blanket for the ride home GREAT TIP). They wheel you away from your hubby and into the procedure room that connects directly to the IVF lab. You are in these thigh high stirrups and exposed to the room but you don't care because that's when they start the IV of night night juice :) the procedure is quick and you wake up back in the room you started. Then they want you to pee and they check and make sure you are not bleeding. Now I have never come out of anesthesia all that well, and this time wasnt much different. Once left alone in the bathroom I passed out and the nurses found me after a few minutes. Everything turned out ok but I scared Cam! The Dr. comes in and tells you how it went. In my case because I'm young (27) and the PCOS has caused me to rarely if ever ovulate... they retrieved 53 follicles from me! That's a shit ton. Most people get half that if they are lucky. 55 was the labs record... damn just shy of breaking that! Anyways  that's when the lab gets to work. They said out of the 53, 35 had mature eggs and 30 of those eggs fertilized. Now I did forget to mention that on egg retrieval day, your hubby needs to bring in his 'sample.' We had been given a cup, brown paper bag and instructions a few days prior. He has to retrieve his sample the morning of into the cup and place it in the bag. The bag needs to be kept close to your body (i just put the cup in between my boobs... ) and brought to the lab with in 2 hours. Alright so where were we- so because they got more that 35 mature eggs it can be harsh on the body and their policy is no transfer that week. This is very bittersweet. Usually you retrieve the eggs and they fertilize them. Those are your embryos. The lab watches the embryos grow and cells divide and they want to go to what is called blastocysts which means they are awesome ans ready to implant. The transfer of the embryos back into the Mama normally happens 3-5 days after the retrieval. BUT in my case they made me wait until the next cycle. Apparently even after the retrieval you can still get OHSS and that's why they make you wait.