Egg Retrieval Day

Optimism coursing through every vein in my body, I woke up early at 4:15 AM… I think due to sheer excitement. I took a shower and forgot I was not supposed to put on deodorant. I enjoy taking showers, so subconsciously it may have been an excuse to take another one before I headed in for the procedure. I donned my lucky shirt - a vintage looking t-shirt with Wolverine from the X-Men ready to attack on the front. I suppose it might be a bit odd for a grown woman to wear sci-fi cartoon characters outside of ComiCon, but I don’t care; he brings me luck, and today I am taking all I can get. 

I had to wait a bit until they served breakfast. I managed to choke down my scrambled eggs. With all the talk of eggs - "How many eggs do you think they will get?", "How many eggs might fertilize?", "What is the percentage of quality eggs?" - actually eating eggs in any form is no easy task. But speaking of eggs, mine need protein. I am not sure if it is an old wives' tale, scientific fact or a new internet rumor, but the word on the street is that protein can help egg quality.  Whether it is true or not, it seems worth doing.  And scrambled eggs have protein in abundance - thus, the last and final day of choking these down.  Tomorrow, I can eat the dosa or something else delicious.

So one thing I've learned about IVF is that it makes you  hungry - I mean Hungry Hungry Hippo hungry.  I do apologize for all the references to food, but I haven’t been able to satisfy my stomach since I began these injections. So food and eggs (mine that is) are nearly consuming all thoughts.

My procedure was scheduled for 3:30 PM, and after 10:00 AM I was to halt all consumption of food and beverage. Trying to hold off the thirst that was sure to follow, I downed a Gatorade at 9:59 like a frat boy with a Natty. I then waited for 3:00 to roll around… I checked in on all of my blog family and took another shower.  I went to the clinic and then got dressed in the gorgeous gown supplied by all hospitals.  I remember the anesthesiologist asking a few questions about asthma and snoring, and then I remember waking up in the room I started out in. The whole surgery took about 20 minutes.  Dr. Shivani came in and said that everything went really well - they were able to retrieve 14 eggs.  My 14 sweet little egg babies!

Surrogate Meeting

I was fortunate to get to meet the beautiful surrogates who might carry our babies. I don’t want to use their names out of respect for their privacy, so I will call them Tummy Mummy D & B.  Tummy Mummy D is a 26 year old housewife with two small boys aged 5 and 4. Tummy Mummy B is a 31 year old divorcee with a 7 year old daughter. They both had such warm smiles. The cheerful Arpana acted as our interpreter and I started off telling them how humbled I was by their generosity for doing this.   I had been practicing Hindi because I wanted to tell them thank you without an interpreter - I told them "Dhanyavaad".  Evidently, I must have needed a bit more practice as they smiled at my painfully weak attempt.

I went on to say through Arpana as our gracious interpreter that my husband couldn’t be here, but of course wished me to convey his gratitude. Our babies are not safe inside my belly and we are so grateful that you will protect them. They smiled back at me as if they understood that it was hard for me to admit that my body could not protect my children. I thanked them again with another attempt at my one Hindi word – " Dhanyavaad ".  

Arpana then asked if I had questions. I was so focused on how to express how grateful I was that I didn’t prepare for the opportunity to ask any questions. For the past six months, I had a thousand questions that had been racing through my mind about what the surrogates would think, feel, and be. But in that moment, I froze and could only think of one - “Are you comfortable in the surrogate apartment?”  They both nodded that they were and I thanked them again. They shook my hand and then they were off.   I have such admiration for these women and their strength to do this - not only for me and my family, but I also admire what they are doing for their own children's future. It truly is an amazing act of love.

Trigger Shot

IVF Cycle Day 12

 I didn’t have many of the symptoms associated with IVF until the last two days. I now have experienced some nausea, back aches, and more severe cramping than I had previously.  My mother gave me my last and final trigger shot of Lupron.  We set the alarm for 6:00 AM and groggily woke up to give the shot, which  in hind sight was great because I was able to roll over and return to my dreams of Rahul's prediction of us having three babies. Wouldn’t that be one non-stop party! Anyways, I completely slept through the burn J

LH 1.2

Estradiol 3232

 

Stim Day 7

 

IVF CYCLE DAY 10: I can feel that my ovaries have become quite swollen, although the pain is still relatively mild.  The ultrasound showed the follicles measuring 13 - 15mm. My injection prescription has changed to Orgalutran and Humog HP. From what I understand, this will help the follicles to mature a bit more for egg collection which is tentatively scheduled for the end of the week.  I meet the surrogates and the lawyer  tomorrow evening.   I hope that I am able to express the magnitude of what carrying this child will mean to both me and my family, and how grateful I truly am. After all the planning and research, I could absolutely pinch myself that this is really happening.   

L.H:  2.01

Estradiol:  2733

STIM DAY 5

I was really nervous going in for my IVF Cycle - Day 8 (Stim day 5) ultrasound. I had some symptoms the night before that had me completely convinced I was prematurely ovulating. I laid down on the bed for the scan and in very "woe is me" fashion, I told Dr. Shivani that all is lost - I am ovulating. I didn’t exactly bring my hand to my forehead, but I might as well have. Dr. Shivani smiled and told me that I am not ovulating and the symptoms that are similar to ovulation can be brought on by the rise in Estrogen.  The poor doctor deals with hormonal women all day and I have a stinking suspicion she might get this reaction frequently. Fantastic! I am sure my mother would have wished this information was known the night before, as I spent the evening recollecting all my baby dreams that have crashed and burned in such a dramatic fashion that Meryl Streep would have blushed. All is not lost, and the Day 8 ultrasound looks promising. In fact, it appears we should get 16 eggs which is two more than initially expected. According to advancedfertility.com, it is just enough to put me in the higher success rate threshold– I’ll take it!

Estradiol  - 821

LH  - 1.75

Shots!!!

I've had a few of the injections now. Dr. Shivani put me on 400g of Repronex and Puregon. From what I understand, the Repronex is to stimulate the follicles. The Puregon is to prevent premature ovulation. So far it has been relatively easy. I kind of chickened out on giving myself the shots. I tried – ok, so by "trying", I mean I had the intention of giving myself the shot, but then the nurse asked if I wanted her to stick me  instead  and that I could just come to the clinic everyday and not deal with that scary needle myself.  I jumped on that like a cheerleader on a trampoline.  

The shots themselves haven’t been so bad. They just burn a bit going in, kind of like a bad bee sting. Some time ago a friend recommended to another friend going through IVF that she buy some maternity jeans to wear. I have no idea how or why I remembered that, but am so glad I did.   Since the shot is given in your stomach it is nice to not have anything binding on that area.  Anyway, it was such great advice, I thought I would pass it on. But I have to admit it's a little ironic to be wearing maternity jeans while going through surrogacy treatment.

Hilton is Awesome

 

The Hilton Garden Inn at Saket Citywalk is fabulous.  The hotel has a direct entrance into the DLF Mall, which is great for dining - you literally walk out your door of the hotel and into the mall with both a food court as well as some sit-down dining options. There are American chains like  TGIFridays and Hard Rock Cafe, but also a lot of other attractive sit down cafes and restaurants as well. Speaking of dining, the breakfast at the Hilton is unbelievably good.   (So between hormone injections and all the deliciousness, I have no doubt that I will have some extra “incentives” to hit the gym back home.)  In addition, there is a hop-on, hop-off city tour bus called HOHO with the mall / hotel as one of its stops. All of that and free wifi!!! I am very pleased, and grateful to those that recommended the hotel.

I am still adjusting my circadian clock, but I feel it is almost a losing battle. I have had so little sleep in the last 4 days. I tried to sleep on the plane, but the airline put me in the middle (UGH.) In fear of  getting dehydrated and doing an IVF cycle, I may have went a bit overboard on the water drinking. Needless to say, I didn’t want to climb over a stranger all night.  I asked the flight attendant if I could change seats - no problem, there are lots of empty aisle seats. So picture it:  (Me) - (empty seat) -  (smelly, incredibly limber gentleman). Before take-off, my "neighbor" decides to make a bed out of his seat and the empty one between us and puts his nasty, smelly feet all over me. He keeps pushing me with his feet in a similar way that my dog does when he wants the couch to himself. The flight attendant walks by and asks if I would like to move to a different seat before take off - Yes,  Yes,  Yes!  I move and he says thank you - whatever. The pleasantries are quite surprising considering he literally just kicked me out of the row.

So now the seating arrangement is: (Me) - (empty seat) - (very nice lady). She at least waits until I fall asleep before she tried to make a bed out of the two seats she claimed. I literally woke up with her smelly feet in my lap! The only  feet I would allow in my lap are my husband's size 13s, and every time I tried to fall asleep –  her feet appeared in my lap. Ah, the tales of economy class..... 

No worries, we arrived safe and sound so that is what really matters. At first, I was so excited to meet the doctor and see the clinic  that I could manage on a mere 3 hours of sleep.  Now I'm  determined to get on India time and I want to stay up, but for some reason I am still  sleeping intermittently for 3 hours at a time.  I walked around the mall a bit, and it is really nice. But when I realized I was talking to a mannequin and not the store clerk, I surrendered to my tiredness and went to lay down in my very comfy Hilton bed.  So be it  - if I am stuck on American time, at least I won't be the crazy person talking to mannequins.