Since this was my 2nd time going through the egg growing/retrieval process, I was pretty confident I knew what to expect but boy was I wrong! My doctor explained that for the first round, the meds and procedures are based off of general stuff like age and weight. For the second round, they were able to tailor it more specifically to me. So they upped my meds significantly and apparently my body REALLY like that because it responded more than my doctor was even expecting. This was a really good thing.. at first..
At every ultrasound they count the follicles/eggs that are growing and it wasn’t long before the count started hitting the high 20s. Next thing I knew, they were counting 35+ which is amazing because the first time, we barely got 25. Along with every other day ultrasounds, they had to monitor my hormone levels which was why I had to get blood drawn every other day as well. Just to give you a comparison,
the 1st time we did this.. the day before the retrieval, my levels were pushing 2500 max. This time, my levels were measuring at 5500 and the day before the retrieval, I was over 8600! That’s an insanely high hormone level!! My doctor kept asking me if I was in any pain since we were reaching dangerous levels but I really wasn’t at all.
My philosophy going into this second round was “the more eggs the better” and I didn’t care what we had to do to get them. Once you start growing embryos from the retrieved eggs, you lose some each step of the way so the higher the number you start out with, the better chances you have to get more embryos. When they told me they were counting at least 35, I was very excited! Cliff and I both kept saying that if we could retrieve at least 20+ eggs, we would be happy.
Okay enough of the background stuff.. what happened on my retrieval day is much more interesting..
Retrieval day started off just like last time. My mom and I got to the doctors office (Cliff had to work) and we were waiting in one of the consult rooms for them to give me my wristband and to go over everything with my doctor. When my doctor came in, Cody insisted on going over my chart and my doctor (who absolutely loves Cody) agreed and wanted to make sure Cody was comfortable with everything before we proceeded..
Once Cody was satisfied, my doctor asked again if I was in any pain. Other than the typical extreme bloating and uncomfortable feeling from my very oversized ovaries, I was doing great. So my mom went to the waiting room and Cody and I headed to the egg retrieval room! The anesthesiologist nurse had a really hard time getting my IV in so we didn’t get off to a great start. He had to stick me with the needle 4 or 5 times in each arm before he finally got it in.. dumb! Anyways.. they gave me the sleepy meds and I started speaking gibberish before I drifted off into a nice 15-20 minute nap.
Since this wasn’t my first rodeo, I expected to wake up just like I did last time.. Sitting in the recovery chair, groggy, a little sore, but feeling okay and anxious/excited to hear how many eggs they got. Unfortunately, there was no way to prepare for what I actually woke up to. Remember when I mentioned before that my doctor kept asking me multiple times if I was in any pain before the retrieval? When I woke up, I finally figured out what he had been so worried about. You know how when you are getting sick you slowly start to feel worse and worse until one day you are at your peak sickness and you feel like a freight train just ran you over then backed up so it could run you over again? I woke up to what felt like thousands of freight trains constantly running over me again and again. There was no ramping up to the pain, or even a warning that things were going to hurt. I woke up to a wall of pain that instantly flooded into my system.
Apparently, my body had been working so hard to grow all those eggs that it didn’t spare any energy for recognizing pain. Once they took out the eggs, all that energy had to go somewhere and my body turned every ounce of it into pain. I started crying and shaking before my brain even had a chance to recognize what was going on. They gave me some hardcore pain meds into my IV which should have kicked in quickly but nothing changed. So then they tried giving me 2 Vicodin. I’ve taken Vicodin in the past and its pretty powerful stuff so I expected to start feeling better after that. But again.. nothing changed. My pain level was so bad that the IV pain meds and 2 Vicodin may as well have been water and M&Ms.
This was when I could tell my doctor and nurses started getting worried because the frequency at which they came in to check on me increased and eventually, they stopped leaving and just continuously monitored me. At this point, I was hurting so badly that I was ready to just pass out from the pain or for someone to punch me in the face and knock me out. When it became clear that the Vicodin wasn’t helping, they decided to try another full round of IV pain meds. So I hung on to Cody with one arm while they loaded me up with pain meds.. again.. in the IV in my other arm. And that’s when I FINALLY started to feel the pain slowly start to calm down. I was still shaking and crying but I could tell relief was on the way. My mom took this picture of Cody and I and I feel like it really shows how hard this IVF process can be while you are going through it.. Sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do but hold on for dear life..
Even though this was one of the worst physical pains I have felt since we started the IVF process, there is a silver lining to it all. When my brain was able to comprehend things again and it wasn’t just screaming PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! my doctor told me the best news.. they were able to retrieve 34 eggs!!! 34!!!! That is almost twice as many as we got the 1st time and way more than we thought we were going to get. My doctor was happy, I was happy, and in that moment I didn’t care about how much pain I was having to go through.. It was worth it.
After the 1st time, I came home and was on 1 antibiotic for a few days and I was relatively back to normal a day or 2 later. This time, I am on 3 different medications which include an antibiotic, pain med, and one that is supposed to help lower my hormone levels as quickly as possible. I have been pretty much confined to my couch since the retrieval because even though we are managing the pain, it still hurts to do basic things and I can’t walk around for very long either. But really, I don’t care.. I will deal with this for however long it takes.. Every day while I gave myself those shots, I asked God to give us as many eggs as we needed for this to work and I promised to deal with whatever side effects that came with it. He has clearly answered my prayers so now its my turn to hold up my end of the deal.
When my doctor called the next day with news, I felt everything was worth it all over again. For comparison purposes.. the 1st time, we retrieved 18 eggs, 10 were mature enough to use, and 8 of them fertilized. This time, we retrieved 34 eggs, 23 of them were mature enough, and ALLLLLLLL 23 of them fertilized! Hooray!! Like I mentioned before, we will lose embryos every step of the way. So the update we got as of today is that we lost 2 overnight but still have 21 embryos growing! This makes our chances of getting multiple embryos at the end of the growing process SO much better than last time. And if we get enough, we never have to do this egg growing part ever again.
I am happy. Cliff is happy. And we are sending as much love and happiness to those growing embryos as we can. This is one of those parts of IVF that is unexpectedly hard and painful but the hope of what might come out of it is all we need to keep going. Due to all of my complications, we wont be doing a fresh transfer and will freeze all the embryos we get. But the transfer part is for another day.. for now all we need to do is focus on those growing little ones. Oh yeah.. and I guess I should focus on healing and getting better too.. Harry Potter marathon here I come!! ♥
Betsy knowles says
I am not “Anoymous” – I am the nurse friend of Susan’s who helped take care of you during your first surgery for fibroids. My grand kids call me “Cozy” – and I can’t wait for the day when your babies can call me Cozy too! God has your baby’s birthdate on his calendar, and as hard as it is to be patient and to wait, your baby WILL BE WORTH THE WAIT! You and Cliff will make great parents!! Continuous prayers for success this time around and for a healthy pregnancy to result!
Betsy Knowles
Betsy knowles says
I am not Anonymous – I am Betsy, but my grandkids call me “Cozy”and I for one can’t WAIT to tell your babies to call me “Cozy” as well! I was the nurse who helped take care of you at one of your surgeries, and have been Susan’s friend since childhood. I am praying for success and a healthy pregnancy soon! You and Cliff will make GREAT parents-and that special child will be WORTH THE WAIT!
God has this baby’s birthdate on his calendar!
Anonymous says
Focusing on getting better is paramount in this process, we want you to be the best you can be for the next step. Keep the faith and know you/Cliff are SO loved. The # of embryos is so exciting!! A ton of people are praying and love you.
Anonymous says
Grow embryos, grow!!!
Anonymous says
That wasn’t Anonymous, that was a grandmother in the making!!