Bloated, Bitchy, & Bruised
Let’s throw in nausea, headaches, and constipation while we’re at it. Y’all, I’m a real PEACH to be around right now…
Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve taken 56 pills and 22 shots. I’ve given 7 vials of blood and had 5 vaginal ultrasounds. And I’ve got over a dozen bruises to show for it. I’m freaking tired. These stim shots are exactly why we’re called “warriors” in this community. This isn’t easy. This is, by far, the worst I’ve felt and the hardest schedule I’ve had to keep. Sure, I’ve got people around me telling me to “hang in there” and that I’ve “got this”. But honestly, that shit does not help when I’m deep in the trenches of shots and scans.
On Friday night, I took TWO trigger shots. This told my body to go ahead and release alllllll the eggs it was growing. Extraction Day was finally scheduled for Sunday morning, bright and early. These two shots (one of which I've done before) are the BIG shots; the scary shots; the shots that make me feel like poop. This go-round, they did not disappoint. Friday and Saturday, I was pretty miserable. Then tack on being scared and hella anxious. They say to get a good night's sleep the night before surgery. I closed my eyes, but I'm not sure how "good' my sleep was.
Sunday Morning: EXTRACTION DAY!
Kirk did a really good job of trying to keep me calm. My #FlatKaley post is 100% because of him. In fact, I was already dressed when he made the suggestion, so I got undressed for the sake of the 'gram! It may seem like such a simple, silly suggestion, but taking that picture helped me to reset and focus on the good of the day. We had made it! We knew this was going to be the hardest part, but we also trusted Dr. Huber and his staff. We knew we were in good hands and it was completely out of our control at this point.
The procedure took about an hour and I don't remember most of it. I remember Nurse Michelle helping me to go to sleep and waking up thinking I had gone Christmas shopping! Ha! The scary part happened once I was back in recovery. My pulse kept dropping too low. Part of this is due to how active I am, but then it continued to drop lower. I started to get nauseous and dizzy. I remember asking for more juice and then what felt like every nurse was in my small little room. After more meds into the IV, a cool rag on my neck, and a few minutes lying down, I finally started to feel better. Dr. Huber came in to check with us and let us know that he was able to retrieve twelve mature eggs! TWELVE, y'all. This was more than Dr. Huber anticipated so he was extremely pleased. He did have to give me a few internal stitches, but said that's not uncommon. My pain level is teetering between a low 6 and a high 7, so my goal is to take it pretty easy for the next day or so.
Now, we wait (joyfully) to see how many of my eggs were fertilized and then how many of those continue to grow. We should know by the end of the week how many embryos will be biopsied. Those will be sent off for genetic testing, which takes about 3 weeks. Based on those results, we'll do a FET (frozen embryo transfer) in January/February!
Seriously, thanks y'all for all the prayers & positive vibes. Thanks for the contributions to our GoFundMe account. Thanks for following along not only here on the blog, but on Instagram, too. Just thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
