Egg Collection!

 I've not got round to posting in the last week so I'm going to try and do a few updates in quick succession.  First up, egg collection day!

On Wednesday night (30 June) I stayed up until 10 PM to do the trigger shot and then it was all systems go.  The time went quite quickly as I was at work on Thursday and we were out of the house on Friday morning by 7 AM.  Ant's stepmum came over at 6:45 to look after Oscar and take him to nursery and we were hopeful that we would be back to pick him up at 1 as my egg collection was set for 10 AM.

We had a steady drive to Sheffield, parked up and then headed off to Jessop Wing.  We arrived about 8:20 and were taken through pretty much straight away by a lovely young nurse called Alex.  She went through the plan with me, popped a cannula in and then sent Ant off to do his sample.  Somewhere along the way an Embryologist came to discuss things with us too.  I sat and read for a while until Ant returned and then we just chilled out until 9:30 when Alex came back to give me some IV paracetamol.  It took about 15 minutes to go through so when she came back to turn it off she said they would be coming to collect me in another 15 minutes.  Just after this the Consultant came in to introduce himself and explain the procedure, assuring me it would only take 10-15 minutes.  I started to get a bit nervous but got myself ready, nipped for a wee and waited.  However, there was a bit of a delay and they didn't actually come for me until almost 10:20!

Once in theatre there was me, Alex, another nurse called Emma and the Consultant.  They got 50 mg of fentanyl in straight away to relax me, along with some ondansetron to prevent nausea/sickness and got me started on some gas and air.  I felt completely fine so I wasn't convinced the fentanyl was doing anything but I barely felt the local anaesthetic going in at all.  He got started quite quickly and I ditched the gas and air and just watched what was happening on the screen.  We talked about Oscar and McDonald's and general stuff and I really didn't feel any discomfort until he was almost done with the first ovary and then fentanyl started to wear off.  I used the gas and air and they topped me up with another 25 mg of fentanyl before proceeding to the second ovary.  This one was a bit more uncomfortable and towards the end a couple of the eggs being collected was really quite painful and I was relying heavily on the gas and air.  So that I wasn't too uncomfortable afterwards they popped in another 25 mg of fentanyl and then it was all over!  I couldn't believe how well I felt and that I didn't feel woozy or anything.  Emma and the Consultant were both really good at noticing when I was starting to get more pain and adjusting the medication/procedure accordingly.

They wheeled me back through to the room around 10:40 and I immediately sat up and had a drink and was delighted to tell Ant that they had got SIXTEEN eggs, even more than last time!  They popped a heat pad on for me, got Ant a coffee and checked I was okay then left us to it.  They said that once I felt up to it I could start moving around.  Tracy, our usual IVF nurse, popped in to see me and we discussed how different the process was to Guy's Hospital (and how much better).  She was really pleased with the amount of eggs and it was lovely of her to take some time out to check in with me.  We spent the next hour chatting and eating snacks and I gradually got myself dressed, had a wee and packed my bag ready to get home.  Around 11:45 they did all my final checks, removed the cannula and sent us on our way with some information about OHSS because I'd had so many eggs.

We got back just in time to pick Oscar up at 1:15 (okay, so a little late but nursery were aware and happy to keep hold of him).  He wasn't thrilled about me being somewhat incapacitated but I wasn't in too much pain so I just chilled on the sofa with him.  My friend, Amy, came over for the evening while Ant was at work.  She brought McDonald's, entertained Oscar and even helped me put him to bed.

So that was it - egg collection complete!  It was so much less dreadful than I was expecting and I was definitely proud of myself for how well I handled it.  Then it was just a case of nervously waiting for updates on our eggs.