Knowing that I couldn’t eat or drink anthing for 6 hours before my egg retrieval, I got up at 6am to sneak in some breakfast before I went back to bed again.
I had also been told to take a pain relief suppository (Voltarol) an hour before leaving home.
When we arrived at the hospital, we were shown to my Recovery room pretty much right away. Well I say a room, but really it was an open plan cubicle surrounded by a curtain. Inside, there was a gown, some foam slippers and a hair net for me to change into.
A man in one of the cubicles directly opposite mine was telling one of the nurses that his partner was in agony – not really what I wanted to overhear shortly before my turn! Another nurse was telling a lady that they were still counting her eggs. As I waited with my husband, I felt both nervous and excited.
We met with the doctor shortly before I was due to go into the egg collection room. He put it simply to us – best case scenario was that we would get 3 eggs, worst case was 0 eggs. What happens during egg collection is that a fine needle is used to empty the follicles in each ovary. The fluid from each follicle is then examined under the microscope to check for any eggs.
Shortly before my husband was called to produce his semen sample, I followed the doctor blurrily into the egg collection room (as I couldn’t wear my contact lenses and I had to leave my glasses in the recovery room). Inside, I met a number of other people involved in the procedure – a nurse, an anaesthetist and their assistant.
I was asked to confirm my name and date of birth before lying down. Something that felt like a needle was inserted into a vein on the back of my right hand. The anaesthetist explained the medication that would be given to me – a painkiller, sedative and anti-sickness medication. At the same time, an oxygen mask was put over my mouth and I was attached to the equipment that would monitor my heart rate and blood pressure. Everything seemed to happen so quickly and efficiently.
I remember chatting to the anaesthetist about where I lived and him telling me that he used to live near there. The doctor was asking about whether something was ready. Then the sedative must have taken efect as I was overcome by the weirdest light-headed feeling, the ceiling panels I was staring up at started to move like a conveyor belt.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the recovery room with the nurse who had greeted us when we first arrived. My husband hadn’t returned yet and I asked what time it was – it was about 20/25 minutes after I had entered the egg collection room. He soon arrived though and asked me how I was feeling. I actually felt fine – like I had been woken up abruptly from a dream and was relieved and surprised that I felt no pain other than from the catheter that was still attached to my right hand. I only realised later when I got up to get changed that I had bled slightly from the procedure. This had come from the site where the needle had passed through the vaginal wall during egg collection.
I was attached to a machine which continued to monitor my heart rate and blood pressure while I rested for a hour or so.
We had just finished some tea and biscuits when the doctor came in to explain that the procedure had been straight forward to perform. However, when it came to it, I only had one follicle and when this was checked out, there was no egg to be found. Needless to day, this was an outcome far worse than I had anticipated. I knew 0 eggs was a possibility, but it never occurred to me that I would lose 2 follicles!
The doctor put it down to the fact that the other 2 follicles had probably run out of steam. Fair enough as on average, egg collection happens after 13-15 days of stimulation. I had been doing maximum dose Gonal-F injections for over a week longer. Although the cycle failed, I have no regrets that we continued for as long as we did as this was the only way that we would know for sure that we had tried our very best.
It will take a bit of time for us to recover from such a massive disappointment. Since leaving the hospital, I have been overcome by feelings of sadness that hit me out of the blue. At first, even my husband’s hugs which are always a reliable source of comfort were not enough to pull me out of these moments of deep melancholy. Instead, they served to remind me of our disappointing experience. It was my husband’s birthday a couple of days ago and I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to make his birthday wish come true. If nothing else, this process has brought us closer. He made time to accompany me at every one of my 7 scans. I have never been more grateful for his love and support.
So here ends our first and maybe our only IVF cycle. We have a follow up appointment with the consultant gynaecologist on the 10 March to assess our treatment. It will do me good to return to a bit of normality for a month or two (Yay, no more injections or scans!) Some kind of holiday would also be good.
I am doubtful that it would be worthwhile having another go at IVF but let’s see what the consultant says. I would like to understand better why our cycle failed and whether there are any other options available to us before embarking on the egg donation route.
I need reassurance that my body is able to produce eggs. If it is, this cycle hasn’t given us any information on what the the quality of my eggs is like. Also, say they were able to collect an egg or two, would my husband’s sperm have fertilised them to produce an embryo?
IVF couple 