Retrieval Report

First of all, I hate being NPO. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight last night until after my 12:30 PM egg retrieval today (which really meant 2PM). I kept thinking about food, almost reaching for it before I would catch myself. Last night I dreamed that I forgot about the rule and had a huge breakfast so they had to cancel the whole thing. The anesthesiologist was nice and at least let me have clear liquids until 6:30 this morning. I actually set my alarm so I could wake up and drink water. Strange but true.

MM went into work this morning, then came home in time to pick me up for the big day. Everyone at the office was great. The anesthesiologist was very chatty and matronly, probably in her early 60's. I was asking my doctor some questions about where they were going to put the eggs when I started feeling the effects of the propofol. It's such a strange feeling when you're going under. No matter how much you want to hear the answer, or make a smart remark, you're on your way out and there's nothing you can do about it. The next thing I knew I was asking, "Am I supposed to be awake?" and crying. That's what I do post-anesthesia--I cry. It has nothing to do with pain or the emotional nature of the procedure. It's happened before with much less sentimental procedures. I just cry. Luckily I was aware enough to realize what was going on and laugh at myself through the tears. When I was finally coherent enough to speak I asked about the egg count. They retrieved 12! A whole dozen! I was very excited and relieved. The semen specimen looked great as well, so the embryologist said there was no need for ICSI. BTW, the picture at right is a diagram of how the egg retrieval is done. In case you needed a visual.

MM came in to sit with me in my "recovery" while the cute old anesthesiologist went on and on about her sister who went into counseling after she retired from her first career and her son who has some psych issues and her daughter who trains horses. Funny lady. I was a little crampy right at first, but have felt fine ever since. I'm glad that part is over and will anxiously await the embryology report. We're scheduled for the embryo transfer on Thursday. It's so weird to think that right now we could have little 2 celled embryos in a lab. Crazy. I really hope this works.