We arrived at the doctor's office at 6:45 this morning, no sign in required, we were the only ones expected. The necessary vitals were taken and we were escorted the first room where I darned the oh so flattering medical garment and placed a lovely blue head cover on my head. I wasn't able to wear make up, or even contacts so you can imagine what a sight I was. Jeremy said I looked beautiful (what a nice husband I have). I was able to wear a piece of my own clothing, fluffy red socks to keep my feet warm. (I wasn't able to drink or eat anything from midnight last night; it's funny how much thirstier I felt in the morning when I knew I couldn't drink anything.)
The anesthesiologist came in, went over a few basics and then I said goodbye to Jeremy and went to another room. There was a "bed" and some intimidating looking foot holds, with straps. If you're thinking they retrieve the eggs through my stomach, they don't. We'll leave it at that. They placed three round things with wires connected on different places of my body (I guess to keep track of my heart rate.). The drip anesthesia was poked into my hand and an oxygen mask placed over my nose and mouth. (It felt like I could breath less with that darn thing on my face.) For maybe, 5 minutes, I was feeling good, and I thought maybe I'd be somewhat conscious so I could see what was going on. Next thing I remember was being gently shaken awake. I wanted to keep sleeping.
Jeremy came into the room and a nurse went through what the next few days are going to be like. They retrieved 16 eggs, not all will be mature enough and most likely not all of the mature ones will fertilize. We can expect a call tomorrow with the number of eggs that were successfully fertilized. Jeremy practiced giving me the first progesterone shot, which will make the lining of my uterus "extra cushy" for the transferred embryos.
The pain medicine I received this morning is wearing off and my wonderful husband will soon be returning from the pharmacy with extra strength Tylenol (the only pain medicine I'm allowed to take).
I googled IVF success rates last night and wish I hadn't. The few sites I found only give it about a 50% of being successful. It's a good number, but when you're going through it, it seems so low. I would've liked it to be a 75% chance of working. I'm trying to focus on the positive that I'm young and there isn't any reason it shouldn't work, especially with the extra dosages of progesterone and all the prayers from family and friends. :)
