egg retrieval

so this morning, we had the egg retrieval. my DH took me to the hospital at 7am (that's earlier than i leave for work!) so that we could prep and be ready for the procedure at 8. the nurse (i think her name is krystal) was a pretty lady who said that she had taken this position at the assisted reproductive technology center as her "retirement" position. she used to be an er nurse! she was telling us stories as she put in my iv about husbands who would faint at the sight of her sticking a needle into their wives. she was funny and nice and made us feel very much at ease.

the anesthesiologist was also very nice. he explained that for this procedure, they don't do the typical general anesthesia for surgery since they didn't want to put me on anything that might interfere with the whole fertility process. so basically he was going to give me something for the pain and something to put me to sleep, but not too heavy.

finally, it was time, and they took me into the room for the procedure. the anesthesiologist did his thing once i was settled into the room and i was quickly out. don't remember a thing until they woke me up to make sure i was ok back in my room where my DH was waiting. i went back to sleep, and they took my DH out to provide his sample and informed him how my procedure went. he told me they retrieved 13 eggs! that's great, because the dr had told us that they usually like 10-12. apparently he got all 13 from my right ovary only because my left one somehow "slipped" out place, whatever that means. :-)

so i've been at home today, slipping in and out of sleep because of the painkillers. i basically feel like my stomach is totally bloated and it hurts to try to suck it in. and i get crampy every once in awhile, only slightly more severe than usual (hence the painkillers). the embryologist will be calling us every day to give us progress reports on how many eggs are fertilizing and how they look.

all in all, not a bad experience! i'm still dreading the progesterone shots, which start on wednesday. i'll let you know how those go. i'm off for a little nap!

cheers,
cathy

my debut post!

hi there! my name is cathy, affectionately nicknamed by husband as "bunny," hence the name of my blog. i was never much about keeping a diary, so i always thought blogs would be something i'd read, but never undertake. but here i am! i hope the non-use of caps doesn't bother you. if it does, feel free to comment and i'll think about changing to the traditional use of caps.

for now, i plan on blogging mainly about whatever stage of life i'm in. i've been through so many stages... childhood, young adulthood, college life, getting married. currently, we're in the ttc (or, "trying to conceive" to you non-message board readers) stage. we've been ttc for almost 4 years now, and thanks to the super-fabulous benefits of the company by whom i'm employed, we're about to try ivf.

i've been taking the shots for a couple of weeks now, and we went in for our second sonogram to count and measure the follicles in my ovaries yesterday. the nurse called me an "overachiever!" they told me that they usually expect about 10-12 good follicles in the desired size range, and apparently i have about 14! i guess all the shots and super-fun bloating have paid off! so tomorrow morning, they're going to put me under general anesthesia to do the egg retrieval. from there, my eggs and my DH's sperm will be placed in a petrie dish to hopefully fertilize.

i'm so nervous and so excited. it seems a little surreal that we may be preggers in a couple of weeks! they say infertility is so common these days, but actually, we're really the only ones out of our circle of friends who have experienced this many problems. i'm just thankful that it hasn't become an obsession to have children, but that we're blessed with a great relationship and 2 gorgeous dogs who take a lot of our attention.

ok, i don't want to make my posts too long. i'll try to stick to updates on the ivf (and then hopefully pregnancy) stuff, but being a blogger, will probably comment now and then on other goings on.

til next time then! cheers!