Egg Collection Day

My egg collection is all done.  They managed to retrieve 12 eggs which apparently is a good number,  I can't help wishing it was even more seeing as I had 24 follicles but I think some of the follicles were pretty small so not big enough to get eggs from.

Before the egg collection I was feeling fairly relaxed and managed to sleep quite well last night much to my surprise. 

This is me before the egg collection, smiling for some bizarre reason!  The nurses were all really lovely and made me feel a relaxed.  Before the egg collection I had to get changed into a gown - they advise you to bring a dressing gown with you and I was very glad I did seeing as the gown was somewhat see through!  I wasn't able to eat from midnight onward and couldn't drink for 2 hours before the procedure, I was fairly lucky that my egg collection was early in the morning, though not the first as it happens, meaning I didn't have to sit around hungry for too long.  Once I was all changed they came and checked my details and attempted, unsuccessfully, to put a cannula in, so they left the cannula for somebody to do once I was in the room ready for the procedure.  I also had a pre medication tablet of temazepam and some paracetamol suppositories - I was in half a mind not to mention those in the blog since it's a bit embarrassing but since this is meant to be a candid account I can't really leave anything out, all I can say is the suppositories weren't as bad as I thought they would be.

Once the time was ready I walked through to the theatre where 3 people all together had to check my details again - of course there can't be any risk whatsoever of a mix up of eggs

as the implications would be unimaginable.  Despite the amnesic effects of the  sedation I can remember the theatre quite well.  There's obviously the undignified chair and stirrups to sit in though it really didn't feel that bad as they keep everything almost completely covered and only leave a little gap to get to where they need to go so I felt fairly relaxed from this perspective.  They got a cannula in no trouble the second time, the cannulation is a bit painful but not too bad, a kind of nasty stinging feeling I'd say. They were then able to give me a bit of fentanyl followed by the midazolam.  I wasn't knocked out at all just rather woozy and vague.  I'd like to be able to say that the procedure wasn't painful but that would be a lie, the first ovary, my left I think, wasn't too bad, painful but they'd got in, done it and got out before I really had much of a chance to think about it.  I'd been planning to watch on the screen but it all happened so quickly and I was so spaced out that I just didn't really get round to it.  The right ovary was more painful, they asked how I was feeling and whether I wanted more fenanyl and initially I said no but as they started to go in it was pretty painful for a few seconds and I automatically pulled back a bit and remember saying "I think you're going to have to give me some more pain relief," which they did without question.  All in all I'd sum up the experience by saying it was probably about what I expected, it was pretty painful but only for a very short period and the sedation helped to keep me relaxed and calm.  My one bit of advice would be to take something with you to squeeze on, a stress ball or something, as I find this really helpful to focus on when I'm in pain but I found the arms of the chair a bit difficult to hold onto to squeeze and I wasn't able to hold the nurses hand as she needed those to give me pain relief.

I was all quite a surreal experience because you have a Doctor doing the procedure, one nurse monitoring you and one giving the pain relief but then there's a door at the end that goes through to the lab and there were about 3 embryologists in there waiting to received my eggs and hopefully get them fertilised and into the incubator.  It really is quite an amazing and surreal experience.

Recovery Room

 

After the procedure they put me into wheelchair and wheeled me back to the recovery area where I just had to step across into a nice comfy reclining chair.  They put my dressing gown and a nice comfy fleece blanket over me and checked my blood pressure and other vital signs for a little while.  Matt appeared and got me some water to drink and once I'd had that and kept it's down I was allowed a cup of tea and some biscuits.  I was fortunate that I didn't feel sick at all though the lady in the cubicle next door did, every body's different in their response to the drugs. 

Here's a picture of me being monitored after the procedure and having a cup of tea.  I did manage to spill quite a bit of tea on the blanket, I'd like to say that's because I was under the effect of the drugs but knowing me I probably would have done that anyway!  I was feeling fairly comfortable and just a little bit spaced out at this time, though not as spaced out as I thought I would be, I guess it depends how much sedative they end up needing to give you, Matt commented he was surprised how 'with it' I was.


Once they were happy with everything they took off the monitoring, I was rather thirsty and had 2 cups of normal tea and a peppermint tea and some extremely nice orange chocolate biscuits. They then just needed to wait for me to have a wee before I was allowed to go, I hobbled over to the bathroom without too much trouble and managed to do a tiny little wee which was somewhat uncomfortable.  I had a little bit of bleeding which is normal but they gave me an advice sheet on what to do if this gets any more substantial.  I was then able to get dressed and walk to the car.

Relaxing at Home

 

We got home and I put on my lounge clothes and I've barely moved from the sofa since, apart from the hobble to the loo.  Matt has looked after me really well and as I wasn't feeling sick he made me a big plate of yummy pancakes with raspberries, blueberries, bananas and maple syrup and has been keeping me well supplied with hot drinks for the aftenoon.   I've felt rather sleepy and had a nap for about 1/2 hour but otherwise have just been chilling on the sofa with the telly on and some crochet.  The pain I'm experiencing at the moment is kind of like period pains combind with a sore cramping feeling as if somebody has put a needle into me and sucked my inards our, funny that...  It's not too bad though, definately ok when I'm sitting down though I made the mistake of watching something funny and laughing is painful as it pulls on my tummy muscles. Walking and going to the loo is a bit painful too but managable and paracetamol seems to help fairly well.  The pain got a bit worse initially as the IV pain killers they'd given me wore off but just as long as I take it easy I'm ok.  I would defnatley make sure you're able to take it easy for the rest of the egg collection day and have the next day off work. If your husband/partner isn't able to stay with you then get somebody else to come round and look after you if you can, I would have managed on my own but it's much nicer to be able to take it easy.

The Wait...

So now I just have to get my daily embryo update and see how they're developing, best case scenario is they can at least get one to a good blastocyst stage and put it in on Monday but we'll have to wait and see!