This weekend the pain and bloating really started to kick in. I gained five pounds over the weekend because my ovaries are so swollen. Andrew and I managed to make it to Charles City to celebrate my grandpa's 85th birthday, but it was pretty uncomfortable riding in a car for 4 hours. Sunday was pretty awful and I didn't move from the couch much.
I had an internal ultrasound and blood work done this morning and everything is moving way faster than I thought! My right ovary has a whooping 15 follicles!! Holy smokes...no wonder why I hurt so much!! My left ovary only has 5 though. The nurses always have a difficult time finding my ovaries because they are way out by my hips (unlike most people) so they really have to poke and prod at my stomach to get them to move. Fortunately, now that my ovaries are HUGE they are really easy to find and see on screen (although my left one is still kinda difficult so I may have more than five follicles and we just can’t see them). Since my ovaries are way out by my hips they get pitched and shifted every time I move (stand, sit, walk, etc.) and it is painful!
This is what my ovaries look like right now. This is not a picture of my ovary...I stole it from Dr. Google. But this looks exactly like what I saw today on the screen during my ultrasound. Those circles are the follicles and my right ovary contains 15 of those!! The biggest one is 18 mm right now which means that it is about to release an egg, but the others are still a ways behind so we still need to wait a few days before egg retrieval. 20 follicles does not necessarily mean that we will get 20 eggs though. Not all follicles contain eggs....or good enough eggs to make a baby.
I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I hate to complain. BUT I wish someone would’ve told me what to expect when my ovaries grew to the size of tennis balls. So, here it goes….I am going to complain for a minute so other people who have to do IVF will understand how uncomfortable it really gets.
-It hurts to stand
-It hurts to sit
-It hurts to walk (I look like a slow turtle)
-It hurts to lay on my side in bed (sleeping is pretty uncomfortable in general)
-It hurts to pee (having a full bladder squishes my ovaries)
-It hurts to poop (so don’t get constipated)
-It hurts to use my abdominal muscles in any way
-It hurts to hold babies (sad!)
-It hurts to have kids sit on my lap
-It hurts to go over bumps in the car (I kept telling Andrew to avoid them HA)
-It hurts to wear pants (I haven’t been able to wear jeans since last Thursday)
-It hurts to cough, sneeze, and sometimes laugh
Sounds fun, huh? I shouldn’t complain though...I am in so much pain because IT IS WORKING and I am producing lots and lots of eggs!!!! I keep telling myself that the pain could be worse! I just wish that someone would’ve told me all of this BEFORE it started happening. Of course I spend hours asking Dr. Google, but sometimes I like to hear it from a real person going through IVF. Also, if you ask me in a week…I am sure I will forget about all these uncomfortable side effects, so I better write them down just in case!
Wish us luck! Retrieval is scheduled for Thursday! Pray that we get lots and lots of GREAT eggs!!
2 comments:
Good luck!! Sorry to hear you are in so much pain, but it will totally be worth it! I never wear jeans anyways, join the sweatpants club, haha!
I hope Savannah didn't kick you Sunday! If she did, she's sorry!
I hope you feel better soon, and it was really great that you came although I'm sure the car ride there and back wasn't fun. If you don't like the sweatpants, you can always practice wearing some maternity pants to try those out - definitely not stylish, but better than sweats.
I will always let you hold Savannah when we see you! I just hope you're not too sad when you do. We are thinking of you & hope you get some good eggs!
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