It's hard to believe that our egg retrieval day is tomorrow! Crazy to think that we officially started this in-vitro cycle back on December 20th with the birth control pills and the antibiotics. We've come a long way and luckily everything has gone better than I was expecting. Even though I've felt normal up until now - I'm thinking that I won't be able to say that after the egg retrieval - but who knows! Here is a recap of what's going to happen tomorrow....
- No food/drink tomorrow morning before the egg retrieval for me - my husband is free to eat/drink as he pleases. :)
- At 8:40am, which is two hours before my procedure, I need to take a Xanax with a tiny sip of water. Xanax is a mild sedative to relax me before the egg retrieval.
- At 9:25am we have to report to Reproductive Diagnostic Services (right next-door to Ohio Reproductive Medicine) where we will both have to show picture ID.
- After we show our IDs, my husband will stay there to collect a sperm sample. (Speaking of which, most of us women don't think that guys giving a sperm sample would be a big deal. We think they'd probably like the idea or the excuse to do so. But that is not the case. The whole thing is quite humiliating and not something that my husband (or other guys that we've talked to) wants to do more than absolutely necessary. So for the ladies out there whose husband's aren't thrilled at the fact of having to get tested or provide additional samples in a doctor's office- it seems to be pretty normal.)
- So after we show our IDs, I will head next-door to Ohio Reproductive Medicine to check in. They said I have to be there an hour before my procedure. Hopefully it won't take me 15 minutes to show my ID. :) I'm supposed to bring my purple folder (wouldn't dream of leaving home without it) and the Zofran that they prescribed me in case I develop any nausea.
During the actual egg retrieval process a needle is passed through the top of the vagina under ultrasound guidance to get to the ovary and follicles. The fluid in the follicles is aspirated through the needle and the eggs detach from the follicle wall and are sucked out of the ovary (link to video of ultrasound during egg retrieval). Most doctor's offices in the nation put the woman in a "twilight" sleep so that they are knocked out during the procedure. In an effort to keep costs down for us, my doctor's office doesn't do this. They just use a combination of the Xanax, a narcotic medication (Dilaudid, I think), and local anesthetic to ease the discomfort during the procedure. So I will be awake but hopefully relaxed enough or too high to care about what they're doing. They say that some women feel intense cramping during the procedure - not sure what that is like since I never get cramps. But the entire procedure is only 10 minutes, so I'm sure I can deal with it for that short amount of time for a great purpose! :) My husband will be in the room with me (but no video-taping or recording is allowed). After the procedure I'm not sure what to expect - perhaps a little groggy and nauseous and uncomfortable. We will just have to wait and see.
The good news is that we won't have to wait too long for any information tomorrow - they will tell us how many eggs they were able to retrieve before we leave their office. Today I've been trying to level-set my expectations about how many eggs they retrieve. It only takes one good embryo to make a baby, but of course it'd be nice to have a couple good ones for this transfer and some more to freeze.
We are really excited (and probably slightly nervous/scared) - but hopefully we'll be able to sleep tonight with all of the excitement. Well, I should head downstairs to have my scoop of whey protein and take my last pill of Minocin for the day. Maybe I'll have a snack, too - since I can't eat/drink after midnight. I'll have to wear a "Don't Feed the Annie" sign tomorrow morning. :)