Egg retrieval round 2

I had my egg retrieval this morning!
I forgot how much cramping you experience after, ouch!

But let me back up for a second... so I had an ultrasound on Monday and my dr. was very happy with the size of follicles that he could see.  He measured 7 but said he thinks we should be able to get double digits at the retrieval.  He set the retrieval date for today, the 5th, and the transfer was scheduled for the 11th.  Later in the afternoon I received a call from one of the nurses on the nurse team.  She told me that they had gotten the results back for my bloodwork from Sunday and Monday, that my progesterone levels were too high and that Dr. Wilcox had recommended freezing all embryos following the retrieval.  Then she just stopped talking.  Um what?  I was like okaaaay, so what does that mean.  And she just repeated that my progesterone levels were too high so the dr had recommended freezing all embryos following the retrieval.  A million questions were running through my mind.

So does this mean the transfer isn't happening?

What does having high progesterone mean?  What does it have to do with all of this?

How did I get high progesterone?

Is there anything that I could have done to prevent this?

What does all of this mean?

When do I get to transfer the embryos?

WILL I get to transfer the embryos?

I DON'T UNDERSTAND!  NO ONE TOLD ME THIS COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN!

I got a grip and asked her what the new plan is then.  When would I be able to do a transfer?  

She said that after the retrieval, I would stop all meds except the antibiotic.  The embryos would grow to day 5, then be genetically tested and frozen.  My body needs to 'reset' and once I start my next period we can go forward with doing a frozen embryo transfer. I still had a lot of questions but to everything else all she would say is that I could ask my dr. any/all questions I had at my appt. on Wednesday.  K. Thanks for the bad news.

I equate the feeling I had with this phone call to how I felt when I was trying to get pregnant naturally.  Great, another negative pregnancy test, guess we'll try again in a month.  The waiting game is the worst.

My day wasn't all bad news though.  My friend Heather sent me an edible arrangement that was so yum!  And incredibly thoughtful.  It totally brightened my day and made me feel super loved.

And Wyatt, being the awesome kid he is, must have known I was having a terrible day because he was amazing that day.  He actually ate fruit.  My child, that won't eat fruits or veggies in their natural state {basically, they must be pureed or hidden in other food} at a grape from the edible arrangement.  And then he ate another, then another.  What?  So I decided to try cantaloupe, ate it.  Honeydew, ate it. Strawberry, took a bite and made a face, but didn't spit that bite out.  Pineapple, ate it.  Later that night I tried apple and he ate 2 whole slices!  This is HUGE for me!  I've felt like the worst mom ever for the longest time because I can't get my kid to eat fruits or veggies.  For Wyatt, I know it's not a flavor thing, it's a texture thing, so I'm really hoping this means that he decided that he's ok with those types of textures. :)  The cherry on top is that Wyatt matched all the shapes on his colored shapes puzzles the first time for every shape.  YAY!!! 

Monday night/Tuesday morning I did my hCG shot at 12:45 am since my appt for the retrieval was at 11:45 today.  {It has to be given exactly 35 hours prior to retrieval} That shot hurts, but this time it didn't hurt as much as I remember it hurting from last time so that's awesome.

I started my antibiotic yesterday and basically just laid on the couch all day because it made me super nauseous.  Boo.  

So now for today.  Today I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight until after the procedure.  The retrieval was at 11:45 so I fully expected myself to be in a full hangry rage.  Fortunately I was not.  I was actually really calm today compared to the past few weeks.  Maybe because I'm not injecting myself with all those hormones anymore?  I don't know.  We got to our appt. at 10:45 and I was called back to get prepped for the procedure, then Jared went to the special room so he could make his donation.

Romantic, I know.

As soon as I was called back I was all nerves.  I changed into the gown and put my hair in those awesomely fashionable blue hair cap thingy's.  I laid back on the bed and was hooked up to a bunch of monitors to get my vitals.  Yep, heart rate was like 85.  So then I tried breathing in and out really slow to help bring it down but I could not get that sucker under 81.

After 45'ish minutes I was lead over to the procedure room?  I don't know what they call it.  I smiled to myself because Adele was on the radio, and it made me feel better.  {Adele was on the radio during my last retrieval & it went really well, so I took it as a good omen.}

It took 2 different people to get my IV in because I hadn't been allowed to drink anything that day.  I get dehydrated easily and my veins kind of suck to begin with.  Anyway they finally got it and didn't have to dig too much on the second attempt.  Dr. Wilcox came in when the anesthesiologist came in & asked how I was doing.  So I told him I was nervous.  Of course, he reassured me that everything was going to be great and he expected to get a good number of eggs.  While the anesthesiologist explained everything, Dr. Wilcox sat down and held my feet to make them warm.  Seriously, it's the little things with this guy.  He is SO thoughtful and caring about all of his patients... I wonder if he remembers my embarrassing confession from last time about how I love how his hands are always warm, haha}  I remember asking the anesthesiologist how long it took for the medicine to kick in once she injected it into the IV and she said, I don't know, you tell me.  I immediately started getting fuzzy and was completely out within, I don't know, 5 seconds.  It was fast.

Next thing I know, I'm being wheeled into the recovery room & they're asking me how I'm doing.  Maybe 10 minutes later Dr Wilcox came over, grabbed Jared, and talked to us about everything.

He was able to get 11 eggs.  I'm a little disappointed with that number because it isn't as high as last time, but Dr. Wilcox told me that this is a better retrieval than last time because all of the eggs are bigger, and look to be good quality.

They'll call tomorrow with the results of how many of the eggs successfully fertilized {I'm hoping at least 8-10!}.  Then, like the nurse told me on Monday, they'll grow for 5 days, whatever is still growing will be biopsied then flash frozen.  We'll get the genetic test results back within 3-4 days and then we'll start a frozen embryo cycle after I get my, you know, cycle.

Last time we were able to get 13 eggs and 8 fertilized, however we opted to not do ICSI last time and this time we are, so I'm hopeful that this will be a good cycle even though it's not moving on the time frame that we had initially planned.

So that's where we're at.  I spent all day on the couch 'recovering'.  I have the worst cramps I've had in since I can remember.  But I got to have yummy recovery food.  Double pan fried noodles & Candied shrimp with walnuts from PF Changs.  YUM!  And we got cupcakes from Dots Cupcakes.  I probably ate like 3000 calories today.  Oh well.  It was worth it ;)