Retrieval is done

Last night I had one student still taking the exam at 8:20. Some had finished as early as 7:05. I let him know he had 10 more minutes. I've never had to do that before, and if it was the morning or afternoon I probably wouldn't have, but I was tired. At 8:35, I told him his time was up. I felt badly to stop him before he was done, but the final exams are two hours long. I got home about 9:15, ate a little oatmeal, and went to bed. I don't usually eat at that time of night, but I knew I wasn't allowed to eat after midnight, and usually I eat at 6am while I feed Nadia her oatmeal.

Paul's parents arrived at about 7am, and we left at 7:25am. Denise (the nurse) succeeded with her first attempt at putting in my IV (whereas it took 2 people a few tries last time). She told me that Dr. A had said yesterday he didn't want to give me anything preventatively for the nausea. I was not happy about that! Thankfully Dr. N (who is in her 2nd year of her fellowship at this clinic) was the one to review my medical history and such, and she immediately put in an order for a drug for my IV for the nausea. Yay for Dr. N! I heard her defending her decision later to Dr. A. I made sure she knew how very grateful I was.

Dr. N did the retrieval on the left ovary which from the u/s over the last week didn't have as many follicles. However it proved to be the more productive ovary as she got 10 eggs from that side. Dr. A did the retrieval on the right ovary which ended up having only 4 eggs. She said that although the right ovary did have more follicles than the left one, the largest ones were on the left side. After they got 10 out of the left side they said it looked like they'd get as many as last time (26) since they were expecting to get more from the right than the left, but that isn't what happened. I wonder why it was so different. My E2 was about the same. I was on a lower dosage of Follistim for the last 7 days of stimming so maybe that's why I only had 14 eggs this time? Of course 12 is actually the number they shoot for in an IVF cycle at this clinic so it's not like it's a bad number.

I was only in the recovery area for 2 hours this time. I actually was discharged 4 hours after I arrived (compared to being there 8 hours last time). I didn't throw up until we were in the car (twice on the way home). I never fainted either (fainted twice last time). I was able to walk to the car instead of being taken by wheelchair. Big difference! I attribute it all to being on the medicine Dr. N ordered for me. :-) They prepared and inspected all the eggs and declared 12 of them to be mature. They injected each one of those (ICSI). Last time 18 of 26 eggs were mature and 7 fertilized. So the good news is that at least a higher % of the eggs were mature this time around (12/14 vs. 18/26). They said overall the eggs looked to be of a better quality this time around. So hopefully our fertilization percent will be better this time around. Last time it was 7 out of 18 which was really low. They'll call tomorrow with that report and depending on what it is that might determine when the embyro transfer will be. So please pray that those eggs will become embryos and grow, grow, grow!!!! As Paul said, Nadia is proof that it only takes one. :-)

Paul had to leave about 3:30 for a meeting at PSU this evening. So I'm home alone with the peanut. Normally I wouldn't mind that at all, but I don't exactly feel great right now. I am very, very sore. My ovaries are very bloated, etc. At least I kept down the egg salad sandwich and grapes I ate a couple of hours ago. Nadia and I had those for "lunch" (around 2:30pm). She loves grapes and also egg salad sandwiches - a girl after my own heart. :-) I napped on the couch during her 2nd nap, and I plan to go to bed right after I put her down at 7pm. I graded a few exams in the hospital after the IV was hooked up, but I think the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks for praying for my retrieval, and I would greatly appreciate prayer for the fertilization process and development of any embryos that we might have!!! The photos today are of another tulip that opened in the front yard yesterday, and of Pop Pop walking with Nadia outside today.