Egg Retrieval and Post Egg Retrieval

Brandon and I got to the clinic a little early this morning, but they were running behind anyway, so we ended up having to wait an extra fifteen minutes anyway. Dr. B. took us back to her office to review what was going to happen today as far as procedures go and all that jazz. We signed another permission form, then she took me back to the IVF section of the clinic, which I never even knew existed. I kissed Brandon goodbye, and we parted ways at the doors.

In the mini-hospital section of the clinic, I was taken to a small room to change into a hospital gown. The nurse took my vitals, then another nurse came in to have me fill out some paper work, and then the anesthesiologist came in to tell me how that would work...and after he came in, the embryologist came in to introduce herself as my "egg babysitter." She told me she'd call me tomorrow morning to tell me how my eggs are doing. Sounds good!

After all the doctors came in, another nurse came back to me and showed me to the operating room. I had to give special permission to let a med student back there to watch the procedure, which at that point, I've lost all my dignity anyway, may as well have one more person in there looking at my business, right?

I got up on the table and they covered me up with a nice, warm blanket. The anesthesiologist had a hard time finding a vein to use for my IV line, which the nurses apparently warned him of ahead of time. He spent a lot of time checking my left arm, then ended up using a vein on the inside of my right arm. He told me, "This is our secret vein. Don't tell the nurses." Haha. Then he injected the IV with the sleepy meds and stood over my head and said, "Things are going to get blurry now..." Long pause. "Because I'm going to take off your glasses."

I liked that guy.

Sometime after he took off my glasses, all I remember is the nurse telling me that she's going to put my legs up now, and that was the end of that. I was out cold. Zzz.

When I woke up, I was in the recovery room, and I came too rather quickly. I also felt wonderful, which was a relief, because I thought I'd wake up feeling sick or something. But no, I was good! And then, things suddenly weren't so great.

The nurse came over to the side of my bed, leaned down and said, "They were only able to get three eggs."

Three eggs.

Just yesterday, the doctor was telling me that we should get between 10 and 12 eggs...and they were only able to get three. I was crushed, and I wanted to cry, and it was really easy for me to cry while being loopy on medicine, but I didn't cry. She said that I probably ovulated on my own before this, and only three eggs were left over. Next, the doctor came out and told me the same thing, to which I replied, "I was worried this would happen because with my last IUI, I ovulated less than twenty-four hours after the trigger." She asked me if I was crampy before this, and I told her that I was my most uncomfortable this morning.

The next person to visit me was the embryologist, who assured me that my three little eggs were good little eggs, and that she'd watch them good.

I still wanted to cry. I want to cry now, in fact. But I've not cried. I'm trying to be strong. I'm trying to tell myself that these three eggs will make it to the embryo stage, and then they will make it to Friday. I have to stay positive. It's all I have left at this point, really.

Three is a lucky number...right?