I’ve been down for the count the last few weeks. Writing a
blog was the last thing on my mind. Here’s a re-cap, or the full story for those
of you who have no idea what happened.
I made it almost all the way the through the 1st
IVF cycle without a hitch. They retrieved 25 eggs at the time of the egg
retrieval surgery. Which by the way was excruciating afterward. I was in a
considerable amount of pain due to the high number of eggs and they were
difficult to retrieve because they were smashed on top of each other. I didn’t
have much to compare the feeling to, so having no idea how I should feel, made
it hard to realize ovarian hyper stimulation had occurred. All in all we got 3
fully mature embryos out of the 25 eggs, which was great news. I toughed it out thinking everything
was on track. The morning I was suppose to go in for the transferring of the
embryos into my uterus, they found a significant amount of fluid on the ultra
sound. This happens very rarely in cases of infertility treatments. Lucky me! (Boo)
They suggested that I shout not do the transfer. I was not, I repeat NOT,
heartbroken. I was in so much pain it would have been a disaster to move
forward with it. They gave me an IV in the office, some nausea meds and sent me
home. I thought I was getting better. Again not knowing how everything is
supposed to feel I kept on trucking. Two days after being in the office I was
“forced” by my mom and Dash to go back in or go straight to the hospital. I
insisted that a trip to the hospital would be ridiculous. They basically carried me into the
office. After another ultra sound, they realized I had “severe” hyperstim. Symptoms include significant weight
gain over a few days time, severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath and
swelling or the abdomen. In my case I also had loss of appetite and I couldn’t
drink water for 3 days prior to this visit. My ovaries were 11cm, a normal
measurement would be 3cm. There was also a great deal of fluid still in my abdomen.
Surprise, surprise, they sent me straight to the hospital to get an emergency paracentesis.
This procedure in short removes the fluid. You’re awake during the procedure
and it’s just as awful as it sounds.
Thank goodness I didn’t have time to Google it before hand, or I’m
pretty sure I would have crawled back home. I felt instant relief as I saw my
stomach getting smaller and felt the pressure subsiding. Apparently my organs
were floating…sick nasty. It took quite a while to recover from the procedure
and the hyperstim. 
I finally feel semi normal again. I can put real pants now
and go out into the world. Now that everything has settled down, I am a bit
disappointed. We would have found out if we were pregnant yesterday, had the transfer
happened 2 weeks ago. It was very clear it wasn’t the right time. Everything
was picture perfect up until the transfer. There was no reason for anything to
be off track, other than God’s sovereignty pulling rank. Currently, we are
waiting to get through a round of birth control to start injections again.
Birth control sounds crazy to take when you’re trying to get pregnant, but it
regulates your body’s cycle. Thankfully we have 3 beautiful embryos frozen, so
we don’t have to go through the stimulation part of it. The stim injections are
the ones that produce eggs. I will only have to take a few hormone shots.
I feel much more prepared for the cycle, I feel great
actually. If anything just a little impatient, which has never really been my
thing, which is probably why God is making me wait. :/ I’ve seen it front and
center time and time again how God’s perfect timing is so much better than any
misguided plan I’ve conjured up in my mind to have a Christmas baby. (It would
be nice) I’m also grateful for doctors who are more concerned with my health
than what I want. I’m pretty sure I told them “lets rally”
when they told me my organs were floating. I had no idea what I was saying; I
was just trying to keep moving forward, cause that’s what I do. (Ladies, don’t
be a hero)
Thank you for all of your messages, phone calls, emails,
house visits…I’m so blessed with incredible friends and nurturing family, even
supportive strangers. I’m so humbled by your outpouring of love.
Round 2…DING!
