Well, this pain has taken me by surpise! Yesterday after my egg retreival I was feeling good, and we went out to dinner with no issues. We stayed up until after 1 am because I had napped during the day and we wanted to wait until pretty late to do my progesterone shot (with a big honkin’ needle). Then I got caught up in knitting a hat for myself, and the next thing I knew it was 1:15. (And I have to go to the knitting store tomorrow to get more yarn since I finished the hat and most of the scarf today, but ran out of yarn…)
Then I woke up at 5:20 with menstrual-cramp-like pain which turned out to be from the ER. By 6:20 I decided I wasn’t getting back to sleep and got up to take some extra strength Tylenol. That did NOTHING. So I went over to the drug store (30 minutes before it opened – oops) to fill my Tylenol with Codine prescription. And I have been laying on the couch with a hot-pad on my abdomen the rest of the day. The Tylenol is only taking the edge off the pain – I hope the pain goes away before I run out of my drugs. Yikes.
So, they called at noon to tell us that they were able to introduce sperm into 6 of the eggs (via ICSI) and that only 3 fertilized “normally”. I was really hoping, and expecting, a much higher number than that. We were only planning on transferring two, so it doesn’t throw a wrench into our plans, but I was hoping that we would have more embryos to freeze for insurance. I am kind of disappointed. But, what can I do? Just hope that the three that we do have are great quality and decide to stick…
I was a little testy with Mike today. I don’t know if it was the pain or the Progesterone shots (I have heard rumors of “progesterone rage”) or everything in combination. He kept asking me “are you okay?”. Every five minutes it seemed like he was asking me that. I answered patiently “yes, I’ll be fine” for a while, but then I got sick of it. No, I wasn’t fine – I was in a LOT of pain, I am so tired from only sleeping 3 1/2 hours last night and I am disappointed by the results. Fortunately he didn’t react to my snippiness. The last thing we need is to get into an argument right now.
I know that he was getting nervous (as was I!) about possible infection. They have me on antibiotics, and they gave me some in my IV yesterday too, but with my history of hospital visits, I definitely don’t want any more PID in my life. It is a similar pain, but I have no fever, so I am in the clear for now. I just have to remember tomorrow not to take my antibiotic along with my vitamin because the calcium apparently hinders the absorption of the antibiotic. Oops.
One more full day before the little embryos get transferred back to my body. Please, God, let this work.
I think the next two weeks might be the hardest of this whole process – not knowing if it is going to work… All I can do is try to keep busy. I have a paying gig for my new business next weekend, so that will keep my mind off of the IVF result somewhat and I am trying to plan lots of other things (haircut, manicure, breakfast with my friend and her 1 1/2-year old, etc.) to keep me busy. Especially since Mike will be away Wednesday and Thursday on business. Some days when he is gone I don’t see another living soul. Actually, it doesn’t bother me usually, but I need to stay out of my head as much as possible over the next couple of weeks! And I think interacting with other people is a good step in that direction.
Okay – Blockbuster then the couch and some more tea are calling me. Hopefully this pain will go away and I’ll be good as new tomorrow…
