Because my follicles look like this, this morning…

…we now have hard dates so that my gametes can meet my hubby’s gametes for the first time. My blood test must’ve been okay, cuz the doctor cleared me for egg retrieval on Monday, Feb. 28. (The blood retrieval process this morning, btw, sucked. The regular phlebotomist wasn’t there, the nurse who took my blood yesterday wasn’t there, and there was some very rough looking large woman who wasn’t particularly warm. Think “Berta” on Two and a Half Men. She pricked me FOUR TIMES, frowning and, according to Mr. W, pretty carelessly, before she poked the right spot. OW.) So at the ultrasound, Doctor #3 measured a bunch of follicles between 18-20mm. They’re the right size! They’re SO right, I could feel the ultrasound wand poking at my ovaries, making me squirm. The doctor told me to take my last dose of Menopur in their office (yeowch!) and the nurse gave us an orientation on what to do next and how to administer the next shots, over 2 weeks’ worth of daily intramuscular injections (*whimper*). The urologist also called us and worked his schedule in with my surgery schedule. So here’s the beginning of the scary stuff happening in the next couple of weeks:
Tonight, at 8pm (the were very specific about the time), I am to take my first intramuscular injection, a hormone called Pregnyl, to start the ovulation process. It’s a two-vial med like Menopur, and Mr. W has to draw 1 cc of the fluid from the liquid vial, squirt it into the powder vial, mix it, draw it into the syringe, change the needle to a thinner one, then inject it to my upper outer buttock area, just around the corner from my hip. I’m glad I don’t have to do it; it’s so counter-intuitive to stab oneself, even after having done it daily for the past few weeks. I actually sat on the bed with the teeny Lupron syringe aimed at my abdomen this morning, my brain went into hyperdrive, and I could not get myself to do it. Mr. W was there and he just took the syringe and did it for me. It felt like being 7 again, standing at the edge of the highrise diving board, and being absolutely unable to make myself step off the board to fall 20 feet into the water. (Swimming class.) It’s a good thing the doctor announced I’m done with all other previous injections now. YAY! After this scary Pregnyl thing, I have NO SHOTS tomorrow, the first shot-free day I’ve had in almost 3 weeks. (Great timing, cuz tomorrow’s Rebecca At The Beach day and it would suck to have to rush back by 6pm for my evening shot.)
The Monday morning at 6:15a, I’m to check into a different medical office that has operating rooms and labs on-site. My surgery is scheduled for 7am; I’m the first patient. They make a little incision in the back of my vagina, use that hole to reach the couple of centimeters to each of my ovaries, suction out the fluid in the follicles, collect the egg in each follicle they suction. (They do approx. 550 of these a year.) I’m going to be put completely under for this, which is scary to me because I’ve never been totally under anesthesia before. I hope I won’t be paralyzed but conscious, THAT is a horrific thought. Bubble of light, bubble of light!
Meanwhile, because they moved my surgery up a day to Monday, it means Mr. W’s sperm retrieval is not possible the day before as it would be Sunday. So the urologist worked out something with Mr. W: hubby will drop me off in the morning of my procedure, then go to the urologist’s nearby other office. Sperm collection will take place then, then the goods will be packaged and handed to Mr. W so that he could drive his own boys back to the OR where I am. Then at that lab, my eggs will be fertilized that day. And then he drives me home. I thought he would need his own driver after his procedure, but the urologist and Mr. W aren’t concerned. I definitely will not be allowed to drive; I’m told to be on bedrest and be cared for in the 24 hours following retrieval.
The following night, I start the first of what the nurse called “the monster of all these injections,” Progesterone. It’s only 1 cc in the same butt muscle area (switching back and forth between sides), but because the hormone’s in sesame oil, it’s thick and requires a thicker needle to draw into the syringe. Once in the syringe, the needle is unscrewed and replaced with a thinner one for injection. And supposedly it’s very uncomfortable once in; the oil makes it harder for the body to absorb, so they recommend massaging the injection site immediately after administering the shot to help the liquid disperse and absorb, then to use a hot compress on the area 3-4 times a day. Apparently what’s not absorbed may harden and stay in there, so they want heat to help keep the stuff liquified. UGH! I’ve heard about how painful Progesterone could be. Although, I wonder if it could be as bad as that same area felt after I climbed the Great Wall of China; I couldn’t even straighten my legs or walk upright the next couple of days. “I’ve been through MUCH worse, this is nothing,” I keep telling myself.
So the day of retrieval, the eggs are fertilized and doctors monitor the embryo growth. They’ll let me know same-day how many eggs they’ve collected. Then a day or two later, the lab will tell me how many embryos have successfully been created. If the embryos look like they’re not doing well, they’ll pick the best and implant it on Day 3 after the collection. If the embryos look like they’re doing well, or there are enough good embryos to wait, they’ll wait till Day 5 to implant, so they have more time to pick the best one. In those couple of extra days, the eggs would’ve evolved into “blastocysts,” which I guess just means they’ve got more cells than the Day 3 embryos would have. I’ve prepaid up to the blastocyst transfer; if they have to do an embyro transfer (day 3), they simply refund the difference since we’ll be using less lab time.
After the implant I’m on bedrest for 48 hours. Then on March 16, they have me go in to the fertility doctor’s office for the last time for a pregnancy test. Meanwhile, through all this, the progesterone injections continue, one a day. And starting the day of the retrieval, I take two drugs orally, Doxycycline and Medrol for about a week to fight off infection and stuff. After the implant, in addition to the Progesterone, they add the hormone Estrogen. LUCKILY, this is in the form of a Vivelle sticker dot; I just stick 2 to my lower abdomen, and change them with new ones every 3 days.

Mr. W is at the gym right now, since he can work out and I’m not allowed to. I do feel my lower abdomen in the sense of twinges when I walk or when I’m in certain positions, but nothing more severe than the twinges I feel in my left ovary when I’m ovulating from that side naturally. However, I’ve felt sick in the evenings for the past 2 days in a row. A tad nauseated, just a general feeling of “ick.” I blame that on the hormone overload. I expect to feel better from now on because I’m off the 3 hormone injections. Eating has been tough on this high-protein, low-carb, low-salt, low-sugar, no-caffeine restriction. I’ve gotten used to the no-caffeine and removed coffees, teas and chocolate from my diet, no biggie. But the past couple of days of the other stuff, I started running out of things to eat. I had an eggwhite omelette with cut pieces of tri-tip steak for two mornings, steamed tilapia over kale salad for dinner, half a butterflied prime rib with steamed veggies for lunch, and last nite I made cream of asparagus soup for dinner, processing firm tofu in place of cream with my boiled asparagus and shitake mushrooms for extra protein. The thought of meat makes me nauseated. I’m craving fresh fruits and veggies. Today for breakfast I had an avocado, and for lunch, a smoked salmon, capers and tomato omelette. I’d meant to ask how long I have to keep these dietary restrictions up, but forgot. Mr. W ate a small basket of mini muffins, Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies, and other cookies in front of me, but I didn’t cave. In fact, maybe due to these restrictions (plus it’s amazing how much junk food you don’t eat when you eliminate chocolate from your diet), or maybe due to the workouts I’d had since joining the ultra gym, I think I’ve dropped a couple of pounds at a time when a common symptom is to bloat and gain a couple of pounds a day. That’s good, cuz I figure, if I’m not going to gain more than 24 lb through my pregnancy, I want to start a little on the low side so I can reuse my adolescent stretch marks (wishful thinking). Starting right about now brings my maximum weight to what I weighed at my heaviest.

Less than 2 hours to my first intramuscular thought. I feel a little sick thinking about it. But it’s coming to the last stages!