Grow babies grow! My egg retrieval was yesterday (July 6, 2015) and it went so well! They were able to retrieve all 20 follicles, 15 of them being mature enough to fertilize!! Dr. J is our first hero and Dr. Shu is our second one. He is the lab director and makes all the magic happen. He called this morning to let us know that out of the 15 eggs they fertilized, 11 fertilized normally and are in the early state of embryo development!!

Okay, I got a little excited to share that information, so let me now start from the beginning. We had to be there at 7:30 am. I know it was supposed to be a happy time, but for some reason, in my mind, it kept feeling like we were going for a D&C (procedure to clean out your uterus after a miscarriage) I think it felt that way because so many things were similar... I had to be NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight, couldn't wear jewelry or make up, going under anesthesia, etc. But, thankfully, I had my sweet sweet hubby right there by my side to remind me that this was a happy time!

These are the faces of 2 people ready to go make a baby!

Once we got there, got checked in, I got my IV I thought my mind would start to turn around. Nope, it didn't. Kip had to leave me to go to the magical room (I will elaborate soon on that) and there were the tears! I was sitting on the stretcher, all alone, looking at my IV and I was thinking about our babies that we have lost. I thought about sitting there for my first D&C and knowing that our baby was still inside me and had been for about a week at that point, not alive. That precious heart that we saw on the screen and heard beating, was no longer beating. The nurse came to check on me and bring me some kleenex. I told her I was fine! I had been pumped full of hormones for the past 2 weeks and thought about our previous losses and the emotions just took over but I was fine

In comes David. He hooked me up! He was the nurse anesthetist and he made all those worries and concerns go away with a delightful little medication cocktail. I remember waking up, Kip sitting next to me with a big grin on his face and telling me "they were able to get all 20! Good job Madi loves!" And then, I had to ask....... how did things go for you? This is what he told me:

I was so embarrassed. They walked me through the waiting room and I know everyone in there knew what I was about to do. They opened the door from the waiting room and took me directly into another room, right there! It was interesting looking. They had a military grade lock box with the "stash" in it. It was so awkward. I could hear people walking by, I could hear Dr J's voice down the hall. Let's just say, I washed my hands for quite a while after being in there...

Of course, he took pictures of the stash and sent it out to his friends so they could see the collection they have there. Undoubtedly they used to have movies because one friend told him he should have popped in (no pun intended) "Fire and Ice"  

Thankfully, through all the awkwardness, the deed was done and now we have 11 embryos that will hopefully continue to grow and thrive. Dr. Shu will call on Thursday with an update on their growth. Saturday and Sunday a single cell will be biopsied from each embryo and on Monday, sent to the Genesis lab in Detroit, Michigan. We should know the results  of how many embryos have normal chromosomes by the end of next week. Please keep your prayers coming! We are definitely feeling them and feeling very blessed

Oh! I almost forgot. Here is an update on my trigger shot injection site. Much better! 

Also, a little piece of advice if you are going to be going from an egg retrieval soon. Take a colace that night after your retrieval. Those narcotics sllllloooooowwwww the system dooooowwwnnnn