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