Post Egg Retreival Recovery

I wanted to write a bit about my recovery from the Egg Retrieval. As you might have read a couple months ago from my cancellation I don't like not knowing what to expect. I did quite a bit of research and most women said they felt okay in 2-3 days unless they got Ovarian HyperStimulation Syndrome (OHSS). Since I was at low risk for that I didn't worry to much about that.

My egg retrieval was on a Saturday morning, and I'm going to call that day 0.   On Wednesday before my retrieval I had 17 follicles, 14 of which were larger than 10mm.  That is a pretty average number, and my E2 was around 1300 (high E2 makes OHSS more likely).

Day 0 (Saturday)- Returned home around 9:00 am and I went straight to bed and slept about 2.5 hours.  Pain was moderate all day but I slept off  and on.  I stayed in bed all day/night. Bleeding was moderate, quite a few clots, about like a period flow.

Day 1 (Sunday)- Felt pretty good in the morning. Got up, made breakfast, read the paper.  Up about 2 hours before pain started to escalate and went back to bed. Got up a couple more times but stayed in bed lying down or reclining most of the day with the heating pad on my abdomen. Bleeding was still present with some clots but less than previous day.

Day 2 (Monday)- Got up around 7, showered and dressed and worked in my office for a couple hours, went into work around 12:00p.  Still bleeding some. Severe diarrhea in the AM, slight nausea. Pain was moderate, got severe with bowel movement.

Day 3 & 4 (Tuesday and Wednesday)- Worked full days both days, pain mild for the most part, moderate if I got jarred or had to bend at the waist. Bleeding stopped.

Day 5 (Thursday)- Pain was moderate, worse than the previous days and diarrhea was back

Day 6 (Friday)- Pain moderate to severe.  Left work at 2:30 and came home and rested lying down until 5, went to a birthday party. By 9 pain was getting bad, got home around 10 took 3 advil and immediately went to bed and less than 5 minutes later I was writhing on the bed in pain.  Dinner had given me gas and there was no room inside my abdomen for both my swollen ovaries and gas. The pain was so bad I thought I was going to pass out. After about 15 minutes I was finally able to pass some gas and started feeling better.  Hubby brought me the heating pad and I was able to fall asleep after about an hour.

Day 7 (Saturday)- Full week since ER.  Pain is mild to moderate today, tending towards more soreness than actual pain, potholes hurt and I feel bloated today.

I attribute Friday's pain to a few factors, the clinic recommends intercourse the night before a embryo transfer and since we first thought it would be Thursday and then Friday we did it two nights in a row, I think that caused irritation of my swollen ovaries. Second factor is that I wore too tight jeans to work on Friday and I think that irritated my abdomen all day. Thirdly was the gas.

So once again, I am in a place where what I expected was not what happened. So if you find this blog I hope some of this info can help you!

Waiting and recovering

I emailed the nurse today because I'm still having some bleeding and quite a bit of pain.  She told me to rest, hydrate and take over the counter pain meds.  I worked for half a day today and am now sitting in the recliner with the heating pad.  Tomorrow morning we should get our day 3 status report, to say I'm anxious for the results would be a bit of an understatement.

Fertilization Report

I got the call from the clinic this morning while I was in the shower, I figured that is what would happen so I'd taken my phone in with me. So I jump out and take the call dripping and naked.

Of the 9 eggs they retrieved 7 were mature and 4 fertilized, one is still questionable and may still fertilize.   There was more details about the 4 that fertilized but they went over my head. I've emailed my nurse to ask if they used the fresh sperm or the frozen vials because I forgot to ask on the phone and asked for the details of the fertilization report too.

I'm still incredibly sore this morning, I have to move slowly but the pain is not as bad as yesterday. I'm still bleeding a little but less than yesterday. The nurse said I could take ibuprofen.

Update:
Found out that they were able to use sperm from the fresh samples, that is HUGE news for us!  18 months ago hubby was diagnosed as azoospermic (zero sperm) so to be able to use fresh sperm for IVF was something we didn't think could happen.

Here is the actual fertilization report from the clinic. m2 indicates a mature egg, "gv" or germinal vesicle indicates immature egg, "2pn" is 2 polar nuclei and indicates normal fertilization, "nef" is non efficient fertilization.

Also it appears from reading the report that we have 2 that are on the fence, not one. So let's hope those little buggers decide to get with the game!  Maybe I should name them to encourage them?

Update and PIO Shots

Just wanted to post an update; I've spent the day in bed, that's really all I've felt like doing. I took some advice from other ladies and started using the heating pad after lunch and that helped a lot.  I've played around online, watched some tv, read, slept. The pain has lessened a lot as has the bleeding.   Bending and jarring still hurt so I haven't moved much other than to go to the bathroom and walk to the kitchen. Probably won't do much tomorrow either.

I enjoyed one day without a shot, tonight we start the Progesterone in Oil (PIO shots). Now we're in a little bit of a unique situation because we still have not yet decided if we are doing a staggered or fresh cycle. We are going to wait until our day 3 report (Tuesday) to decide based on our embryos.  So in case we decide to do a fresh cycle (transfer embryos next week) we have to take the medicines. Progesterone supports the utereus and fetal development so I will take 50mg per day in an intramuscular injection until either we decide to do the staggered cycle or until 12 weeks of pregnancy.   This is a shot that goes in my butt so hubby does this one.  He's been doing the E2V shots so he's not as freaked out as he was when he first did a shot for me.   

I'm trying not to think too much about the fertilization report but I do hope the call comes early in the day. 

Egg Retrieval Day

I woke up at 5:30, more than an hour before I needed to, so I laid in bed for awhile before my buzzing brain made me get up. Long shower and still had time to kill before we could leave so I painted my toenails

Finally time to go, we got there and were taken straight back, we were the first ones of the day.  I was told to undress completely and put on a gown. I did that then they took hubby  away for him to do his business for his sample.  A nurse came in to put in my IV and I was so surprised when shot got it in on the first try! 

Next they gave me a Valium, which means I got a drink of water, that made me happy, I was thirsty already! She gave me my medicine instructions for the next few days and my discharge instructions.     My doctor came in and talked with me, I shared my concerns with him and he put them to rest, he's a great doctor and a good person, I even got a hug!

Hubby came back and we waited a few minutes then they took me to the bathroom then back to the surgery room.

I sat down on the table and draped my legs across these huge stirrup thing, different than the regular stirrup beds these go from your knees down.  The anesthesiologist then started putting something in my IV and I started getting fuzzy.  However, while I stayed fuzzy I was not under well enough and I started feeling pain when they were working on me. I remember them asking me if I hurt a few times and I must have said yes because I don't recall anything after that.  As a side note,  this is not the first time this has happened to me, when I had a gastroendoscopy some years ago I also woke up during it, must be something about the light anesthesia for me.   I woke up back in the recovery room with hubby  and the nurse telling me to breathe because the monitors were going nuts because my oxygen level dropped.  Again, not unusual for me, this happens every time I have surgery.  I was still very woozy and dizzy and only vaguely recall them coming in the say that they had found sperm in hubby sample (yay) and they wanted him to do another one. 

They also came in and told me the got 9 eggs which I was happy with, it was the number I had in mind for a few days now for some reason. 

Not sure how long I stayed in recovery but they came in and told me I could get dressed.  I managed that but needed help walking out.

We came home and hubby made me a breakfast sandwich and some coffee which I ate and then promptly feel asleep while he went to pickup my refill of dexamethasone 

I slept very soundly for a couple hours and woke up with pretty bad cramps/pain.  My discharge instructions didn't say anything about pain meds so I called the nurse line and she told me to take extra strength Tylenol.

So here I am now, laying in bed, eating a few potato chips and drinking some powerade.   Tomorrow they will call with fertilization report. 

Oh, and here is a photo my my ovaries ultrasound they gave me, not sure why.