IVF Cycle 5 – Egg Retrieval & Tourism

Saturday, May 16, 2015
Today was quite eventful.

Our game faces.  Much different than yesterday.

MCRM & my trusty egg socks - I always wear these on egg retrieval day!

We arrived at MCRM at 8:30am for my retrieval.

I like taking pictures of the lobbies, so I will remember what they look like.

Before the procedure started, I ran into the embryologist in the hallway.  I asked him about the embryoscope technology they have where they place the embryos inside and don’t remove them as often to view them.  It’s supposed to help maintain the quality of the embryos.  He informed me that there are only 6 spots available for each cycle in the scope and all of the spots were full for this cycle.  I was devastated.  We chose to come to Ahlering for state-of-the-art technology, and now, we were missing out on two of the major forms of state-of-the-art technology that he offered – nanoselection beads and embryoscope.  It wasn’t a pretty start to the day.  After much talk with Shawnie and Dr. Ahlering, I started feeling a little better about our cycle. 

I was taken into the procedure room.  They allowed me to wear make-up and my tshirt, which were just two things that were strangely different from Bundren & TFC.  The anesthesiologist started my IV, and I drifted into la-la land.

The first thing I remember when I awoke was that the counter on the wall was telling me we had retrieved 7 eggs.  I wasn’t surprised at all as that was the exact number I had told Todd I thought we would retrieve.

I was moved to a wheelchair and taken back to the exam room to recover.  I wasn’t allowed to lay down, and I had some of the worst nausea of my life.  I was informed by the anesthesiologist’s nurse that Dr. Ahlering had chosen to do a uterine biopsy; no wonder I had so much pain.  When I realized that Shawnie and Dr. Ahlering were too busy to speak to either of us after the retrieval, I made it my goal to get out of there and back to the hotel as fast as I could.  It was seriously unpleasant to have to sit up straight for the entire recovery.  I’m used to being allowed to lay in a hospital bed and relax.  I lied to the anesthesiologist’s nurse about not feeling nauseous or having pain, so we could be released.

Todd quickly got me back to the hotel, loaded me up with pain management, and tucked me into bed.

 

A few hours later, I awoke, and we decided we were tired of being cooped up in the hotel room. It was time to go see St. Louis. Here is the rest of our day in pictures:

The rotunda in the courthouse was beautiful!

Headed to the arch

Waiting in line to enter

This arch is amazing!

At the top of the arch

I like to think he's dreaming about our embabies that are being made while we play.

At the 360 Bar & Restaurant overlooking the Cardinals' Stadium

Headed to dinner with our Tulsa friends that are also in town for a cycle!

By the time we got back to the room and into bed, I was exhausted and considerably uncomfortable.  It was good to be back in bed!

(AFTER-THE-FACT ADDITION:  After dinner, I started having pain in my left thigh for some reason.  I later found out that there was a possibility that the Progesterone shot they gave me was administered directly into the thigh.  I was told it would be in my right buttocks, where we always give my Progesterone injections.  Regardless, that thigh hurt for days!)