26 Eggs

As you know, yesterday was egg retrieval day.  Luckily, they had me take a Valium the night before and the morning of the retrieval.  So I had a good night of sleep and was fairly relaxed by the time I came in for the procedure.  

The only experience I had had with anesthesia prior to this experience was when I had my wisdom teeth out about 10 years ago so I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was so surreal to put on a hospital cap and gown, have an IV put in, be wheeled out of the procedure room on a hospital bed, and then be wheeled out in a wheelchair to my car when it was all done.  

I was awake during the procedure, but my recollection of it all is very blurry.  I was glad my husband was in the room with me because he was able to tell me all the things the doctor said.  I remember a few moments of pain and pressure, but overall it went smoothly.  

After the procedure was over, the doctor came into the recovery room to talk to us.  I'm especially glad my husband was there during this part because we were required to make a few decisions.  I was shocked when the doctor told us that he had managed to retrieve 26 eggs!  It seemed like he wanted to only fertilize about 16 of them, but I figured that if we had the eggs that we should fertilize them all.  He also asked us how many kids we wanted and said that with those numbers he thought we could get away with only transferring a single embryo.  We've decided that we would still like to do two embryos.  I am slightly scared of the possibility of twins, but at the same time I'd be thrilled if I never have to go through this again!  It still makes me laugh to think of discussing all of these serious life decisions while under the influence of anesthesia and strong painkillers, with a doctor I had never met until that day. 

After the procedure, I spent the rest of the day on the couch.  I even fell asleep for a couple hours.  If you know me very well, you probably know that I don't take naps.  I wasn't in excruciating pain the rest of the day, but I wasn't feeling great either.  My whole abdomen just felt sore and swollen so moving wasn't very pleasant.  I just kept taking Tylenol and using my heating pad and the pain was pretty tolerable.  

Today I woke up feeling quite good actually so I'm hoping that I can actually get some things done around the house and run some errands. I just have to be careful not to overdo it.  Tomorrow is embryo transfer and the beginning of two days of bed rest so I'd rather not spend much time on the couch today.  

Today I will also get a fertilization report and the time of my procedure tomorrow.  The doctor said to expect about 80% to fertilize and about 80% to be viable. I can't wait to see what our actual numbers look like!