October 2015.
It’s easier this time – I know everyone, I know how it goes and whats expected of me. This familiarity makes it easier to ask questions and I was surprised to find out how much power I had.
I was terrified that I’d ovulated my eggs away before we could retrieve them. Everyone told me they were still there but I wanted to see for myself. So, with some bargaining I was allowed to stay awake for the first part of the procedure, while they cleaned me up and scanned everything. Sure enough, my follicles were still there. I relaxed, and they sedated me.
There’s a new anaesthetist who let me ask questions, and surprisingly, responded with such reassurance and compassion. Unlike previous rounds, I was allowed to move the central line from my hand into my inner elbow (which is why I’m so grateful for the new anaesthetist). I hate having it in my hand, it almost always hurts and swells up and is horrid. I have nice veins on my inner elbow, and as long as they strap my arm down there’s no fuss.
I also managed to negotiate a different form of pain relief – one through my veins rather than up my behind. I’m not sure this was a great idea, actually. The collection went fine, and I rushed through the checklist (Eat something, drink something and pee) that they do before you’re allowed to leave. I always prefer to recover at home, so I downed loads of water and forced my body through it so we could go.
Not so clever once we were home. I crashed out in bed almost immediately and was in a lot more pain than the previous rounds. I felt like I couldn’t use my abdominal muscles at all. This got even worse when I stood up to go to the bathroom – I made it across the hall, but blacked out while in the bathroom. I now have massive lumps on my head and my shoulder where I hit the tub. I don’t know how long I was out for, but when I came around I was super hot, dizzy and nauseous. I made it back to bed but oh, I felt horrid.
There’s a six on my hand, from where Zee wrote the number of eggs collected so I could see it when I woke. Six. It’s not the twelve from last round, or the three from the first. Six is okay. I am disappointed, though. I feel like if I’d done more – stuck to the diet and been a bit more strict with my lifestyle choices we could have got more. We’ll see. They say at least four are mature, so that’s helpful for setting expectations.
We’ll see. I’m hopeful all four come through fertilisation and grow into healthy blastocysts. Fingers crossed!