Today was one of our big days. The day of the egg retrieval.
Joel gave me my trigger shot on Sunday so that my eggs had reached their final maturation stage for today. The retrieval takes place exactly 36 hours after the trigger shot.
I met with the nurses and nurse anesthesiologist. My vitals were all taken, and the procedure explained by my doctor. The iv was started and we headed across the hall to the retrieval room. The nurse told me that the anesthesia that were going to give me would give me some amnesia.
I hopped onto the bed, the oxygen tubes were placed in my nose, and I was strapped in.
The next thing I remember was chatting with Joel back in recovery. According to him I had been awake for a good 10 minutes, although I couldn't remember a second of it.
Apparently I had chatted with the doctor, nurses, and asked Joel numerous times how many eggs we had.He answered that they had gotten 15 eggs.
A few minutes into our conversation, the part that I remember, and embryologist popped her head in to tell us that they had found one more egg. So we have a total of 16 eggs!
During the egg retrieval they took a large needle, Joel said it was at least 18 inches, and inserted it through the vaginal wall into each ovary. It was guided by an ultrasound image. The needle has a small suction and gently removed the follicular fluid within each mature follicle. The fluid traveled down a plastic tube into a test tube. Each filled test tube was passed through the window of the retrieval room into the embryology lab. The technicians in the embryology lab analyzed the follicular fluid and searched for eggs. Each egg that was found was placed into it's own petri dish where it is determined if it is mature and healthy.
All mature and healthy eggs will be fertilized.
We won't know how many eggs successfully fertilized and became embryos until Thursday afternoon. They will leave a message on the medvoice to tell us what day the embryo transfer will take place. It will either be Friday or Sunday.
Until then we just pray that the Lord and the lab take care of our embryos.
dear joel and annie, this feels so good. I BELIEVE that this is it, that this will work and that you are meant to be the best mom and dad ever. please BELIEVE it too. you need to BELIEVE, i know you do, I do, I BELIEVE. thank you, thank you , thank you for letting us take this journey with you! love you lots!
ReplyDeleteAh I'm all teary eyed!!! Praying right along with you and your family. :)
ReplyDeleteJust sending big hugs your way. The knot in the pit of the stomach . . . . wanting to know how it will all turn out . . . wanting the best for you both . . . . I often go back to what Pete's mom said to me a few years ago, "The Lord loves them more than you do" . . . and then learning to trust that.
ReplyDeleteWell, more than anything we want you to have children, and we have dreamed of being the grandparents. So-----another day closer to the goal! To God be the glory. Love, Mom