Cycle 1 - Egg Collection

My first egg collection experience.

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The morning of my egg collection I felt ready to explode, my abdomen was so bloated and sore. I often get some pain and cramps around ovulation anyway so this was 10x worse than normal.

Sitting was uncomfortable, I could feel my ovaries being pressed when I sat down. The car journey to the clinic was not one I’d want to repeat in a hurry.

We arrived early and the nurse called us through to our private room. The staff were all lovely and explained everything really clearly. I was given the sexy hospital gown to wear and told I could keep my top on but everything from the waist down had to be removed. They did give me a dressing gown to wear which I thought was a lovely touch!

The consultant came through to complete the consent forms then my husband was taken to do his fresh sample. I was shown into the theatre by the nurse, and had to position myself on the bed with my legs in stirrups. Not the most comfortable position and it does feel a bit daunting knowing you’re exposed in a room full of strangers but they did their best to preserve my dignity.

The anaesthetist was also lovely, quickly put a cannula in my hand and before I knew it the consultant was back in the room, manoeuvring my legs into the air and I was falling asleep. I had sedation only.

I woke up in the recovery room and felt pretty rough. I’d had paracetamol before the procedure and they gave me a diclofenac suppository while I was still asleep but I was sore. They moved me back into my private room and I ended up asking for more pain relief. I did have a bit of a cry, I think it was a combination of the stress of the whole situation and the pain and cramps. They brought through a hot drink, water and some biscuits and once the codeine kicked in I was able to eat and drink something and felt much better.

Once the nurses were happy that I’d been to the toilet and was walking around without any issues, they removed the cannula and I was free to leave.

We saw the embryologist before we left who confirmed they’d retrieved 28 eggs!! And my husband’s semen analysis was normal! So it must have been the flu that killed most of his sperm off in January. Despite the good results they are still going ahead with ICSI to give us the best chance of fertilisation and will give us an update tomorrow.

I’m still in a lot of discomfort this afternoon. The bloating has eased but my lower abdomen just feels sore and bruised now. I’ve also had some bleeding which they said was normal. Now trying to drink all the electrolytes I can to minimise OHSS and really hoping we have a decent number of mature eggs that fertilise.

L x