egg retrieval & biopsy

On Thursday morning, bright and early, we headed to SLC for the egg retrieval and biopsy. Before we went to the clinic we stopped at Beth & Brian's, where my dad meet us for father's blessings. We are lucky to have wonderful fathers willing to do this for us on our big day. Thank you.



Beth dropped us off at the clinic at 6:55 am. In sweat pants and baggy shirts we headed inside, both anxious yet excited. The nurses had has go back into one of their treatment rooms. We changed into hospital gowns and socks and sat side-by-side as we got our IV's placed.



Colin went first and the doctor came back from his biopsy after 20 minutes with 2 thumbs up. He said Colin did great and they got lots of healthy, viable sperm. Phew!!!! I was confident they would find sperm but there is some anxiety there until they actually have it. Once they got the sperm they took me back for the egg retrieval. The dr. told me that according to my estrogen levels and ultrasounds they would expect to get 7-8 mature eggs. They gave me Versed right before they retrieval and it knocked me out cold. Although I do remember feeling pain during the procedure and having my eyes swell up with tears. Then they placed oxygen on me and that's all I remember until I woke up 1 1/2 hour later with Colin dressed and sitting next to me in the same room I had the procedure. The dr. came in to check on us and to my delight said they got 12 mature eggs, a dozen is a great number.

this is a picture of one of my ovaries on Tuesday a.m., the big black spots are follices and they are very plump

Shortly after they gave me crackers and juice and I got dressed. They had to push me out in a wheelchair, which I was glad about because I did not feel like I could walk with much balance. But Colin was up and walking around and said he didn't need a wheelchair. I had to tell him he at least needed to let the nurse push me down to the car because he was insisting he do it.
Beth was waiting for us at the car and then we went up to the Huntsman pharmacy for to fill our pain med prescription, which Colin hasn't even used and I only took 1 Loratab and it made me sick. We haven't needed it, Tylenol for me has been fine and Ibuprofen for Colin is all he has needed. After that we headed home to Heber. Beth drove us home, went to the store for us, weeded our yard, took the dog for a walk and made us chicken and dumplings and fruit salad. She even brought no-bake cookies (Colin's favorite) for us to munch on. Although we spent most of the afternoon sleeping it was so nice of her to be there for us. Later in the evening Colin was up and running around working in the yard, even though I told him to rest. Although still recovering he is doing great. I am a little bit slower in the recovery process and still pretty sore. I spent much of the day sleeping but today I am feeling better, still sore and tired when I am on my feet too long. I sort of feel like I am having menstrual cramps and bloating but its not too bad all things considered.

Today we are still taking it easy, watching movies and running a few errands. Its fun to have a few days off together even though we are both sore. We wait to hear from the embryologist tomorrow on the progress of our embryos. He will tell us if the transfer will be on Sunday am or Tuesday.