Egg Retrieval

March 24, 2019, Egg Retrieval day. This was a big day for me. I had only ever been lightly sedated when I had my wisdom teeth removed, so I was quite nervous about being “put under” for the procedure. When we got to the clinic they told us that my doctor, Dr. Houserman was out that day and Dr. Marry Mann would be doing the retrieval. We waited just for a few minutes and then a sweet nurse named Liz came and walked us back to where I would get ready for the procedure. The area had three beds that were separated by curtains, and there was a dressing room/bathroom to the side. The nurse gave me a gown, hair net, and booties to wear. Once dressed in my hospital gown I was to sit and wait for my turn in bed number 1. There was paper work that I had to fill out and then nurse Liz came in to get my IV started. Let me just say, I have terrible veins. They are small and roll real easy. So, I wasn’t really surprised when the nurse had trouble getting my IV started. She called over another nurse that was back there helping but she couldn’t get it stared either. They tried two different places before calling someone else. Still no luck. Remember the nurse that did my SIS, Megan? Well they had to call her for help and she came in and got it in the first try (told you she was one of my favorites). Finally it was my turn to go in for my procedure. They wheeled me into this big open room. I remember it was dark and cold, they had a radio on. I scooted over to the operating table and they helped me get comfortable. Dr. Mann came in and introduced herself. I don’t really remember much after that because, hello sleepy meds. When I woke up I was really nauseous from the sedation medication. They gave me a sprite to sip on. I was finally awake enough to get dressed. While getting dressed I did end up getting sick. My husband, Ross, went to get the car and nurse Liz wheeled me down. I slept pretty much all the way home and then some.

Dr. Mann was able to retrieve 6 eggs. Out of the 6 eggs retrieved only 3 were mature enough to try and fertilize. The next day, March 25th, they called to let us know that out of the 3 mature eggs 1 had fertilized and 1 was half way. On March 27th they called again to let me know that the one that had fertilized had developed into an embryo and the other one had stopped growing. March 30th they called to let me know that the embryo hadn’t changed since they checked it on the 27th. But the embryologist was going to give it another day. The next day we got the call that we had a frozen embryo! I had an appointment on April 7th to do another Baseline Ultrasound and bloodwork. I was to start birth control that day as well.

As you all know by this time Covid 19 had started making its way into the US. Well, all procedures had to come to a halt. That included all infertility related things. We were at a stand still. I was so upset. We had came so close, we had and embryo frozen in time but couldn’t do anything with it. Luckily ART was able to open back up mid May. When they called me to set up my transfer cycle (that was really still kind of up in the air as to if we could get started soon) they informed me that during the time of the closing and opening back up our doctor, Dr. Houserman retired. I got to choose between Dr. Allemand or Dr. Mann, who preformed my egg retrieval. I chose Dr. Mann. I really liked her and had already gotten real acquainted with her.