Ok future womb-mate, it’s just about go time! I want you to know that, much as I will enjoy our time together, I will have zero problems handing you over to your parents. You see, I’ve done this before! Ok, not EXACTLY this, but similar. When I was 20 I had an unplanned pregnancy. In the first (and perhaps only) completely unselfish act of my life, I decided that I was in NO way prepared to be a mother, much less a single one, so I had a beautiful baby boy and gave him up to a wonderful couple. Here’s the big, fat, looming, makes-ALL-the-difference, exception in this situation: from day one, minute one, even before you’re you, you do not belong to me. In any way. You’re a 7.5 lb bag of groceries that took a long time to get to its destination. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to love you and cherish you and hug you and call you George…wait, not George! But the rest. And when the day is over, I’m going to go home to my boys that look like me and act like me and belong to me. I’ll miss you hanging around in me, but it won’t be the kind of missing that crushes your entire being into a tiny wad of sensitivity, it’ll be normal.
Tag: eggs
10/06/2014
Today was egg retrieval day. Our appointment was at 7:00 am which required a 6:30 check in. The timing of all this is very important because at 7:00 pm on Saturday night Katie had to take a HCG shot which was the trigger that caused the release of her eggs. They’re not screwing around about it either……the shot NEEDS to occur 36 hours prior to the retrieval. Too late and the eggs won’t be ready for retrieval, too early and Katie would ovulate and the eggs would be gone. Same thing on the appointment side….don’t be late! The science of all this is pretty crazy. We were there right on time and the procedure went well. They were able to remove. In addition to the retrieval procedure, I also had to bring my primary semen sample to the appointment. As I discussed in an earlier post regarding the backup sample, there is a specific process you have to follow, questionnaire you fill out, etc. The backup is collected in the event of “stage fright,” which apparently happens more than one would imagine. So, now they’ll fertilize the eggs and call us tomorrow with the “fert rate.” If you want a better explanation of that, you’d better pop over to Katie’s blog as, I’ve indicated before, she’s smarter than me. All I know at this point is that 8 eggs are awesome! I like those odds as I’ve been telling Katie since this started, all we need is one.
Aside from the two grueling semen samples I had to provide, so far I’ve had it pretty easy in this process. Katie, however has had to put up with a ton and has dealt with it like a champ. She never, and I mean NEVER, complains……and the pills and shots she’s had to take made her feel “pretty cruddy.” The fact she said anything shows to me that she feels like crap. I’m thankful that at this point she is through that stage and can hopefully start to feel better soon. I’m so thankful for my beautiful wife.
10/02/2014
Katie had a really rough night last night. She was very anxious trying to go to sleep and finally drifted off only to be up again at 3:00 am. Her heart was racing and she had pain in her legs that was new and concerning. She was up for about 3 hours before being able to get back to sleep for a little bit. I felt really bad for her. It’s one of those situations where you want to help in some way, in any way, but there isn’t anything you can really do. She was back up again at 7 am, took her shots like a champ, we got the kids off to school and then rushed over to our daily appointment with the doctor. They did another ultrasound to check the follicle development in her ovaries and were able to identify 6-7 that were coming along nicely. I told Katie that all we need is one, so 6-7 is more than enough. She scoffs at my optimism at times, but until proven wrong I’m sticking with it. After the ultrasound we met with the doctor to discuss how Katie had been feeling and he validated her anxiety as he said the process causes many women to be anxious. Then, they told us to come back tomorrow and sent us on our way.
07/30/2014
Katie wanted to go alone to this appointment so I understood. I was disappointed because this was the appointment where Katie was going to find out if she still had eggs available for the procedure. Prior to the appointment, Katie was not in the most optimistic frame of mind and was worried that they would find something that would immediately preclude us from moving forward with our desire to have a child together. I wanted to be there for her in case her hunches proved correct. However, I was not too concerned about that because my overly optimistic self knew that everything would work out. Katie has consistently proven herself to me to be the most capable person I’ve ever met and I didn’t see any good reason why that would end now. So, I waited for the appointment to end and for my phone to ring…….which it finally did. On the other end of the phone was Katie telling me that she had eggs and everything looked good to move ahead. To this day, I think I’ve managed to keep my “I told you so” on the matter in check. In all seriousness though, it was a big excitement and relief for many reasons. Exciting because it meant we could take one more step. Relief because I knew Katie’s concerns were genuine and heartfelt. In as much as I was glad for us, I was probably more glad for her at this point because she could check that big box off of her list.
Myrtle – I told you that you were going to have eggs. This is all meant to be. When is the next appointment?
9/30/2014
Today our appointment is to see how Katie’s ovaries are responding to the medication she’s been taking. For almost a week now, she’s been injecting herself in the abdomen with two shots, twice daily. I, as proclaimed earlier, have become a master mixing, dosing and timing expert. But, I do feel bad for Katie after I prepare each morning or evening cocktail because she then has to inject them. Her belly is a bit bruised from previous shots. I should also point out that she has been nothing but pleasant to be around considering her body is coursing with excessive hormones and medications. So……good on ya Kate! We go to the appointment and Katie gets an ultrasound to determine how many follicles are growing in her ovaries. Similar to earlier experiences, Katie thinks there is going to be some problem, I know there won’t be one. And……the ultrasound proves me correct once again (Ahem.) as Katie’s ovaries do indeed have growing follicles. At this point she has 6-8 follicles which, as my pea brain understands it, means there are potentially 6-8 eggs. Also, there is still an opportunity for more follicles to develop. The doctor’s office gives us a break from our scheduled appointment tomorrow, but wants us to come in for our appointment in two days.
Myrtle – That’s a perfect number of eggs. Just what I thought you would have. Awesome!
#2 – Good job mom