So....apparently I am not the poster child for in-vitro fertilization. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this blog because I am going to freak everyone out and no one is ever going to want to do IVF after reading this. Although this is TERRIBLE...if we get the end result...it will all be worth it! Right??
Here is an update on the past two days:
Monday: I felt pretty good after having fluid drained from my abdomen on Monday. I could sit up easier, breathe easier, eat more food, and was in less pain. We went out for dinner that night and of course loaded up on my sodium with French onion soup and a French dip sandwich. I even attempted to sleep in our bed for the first time in 4 days....although that was short-lived because I woke up at 4:00am and I couldn't breathe again. Fluid came back. So I moved to my handy dandy recliner across the bedroom and attempted to get more sleep.
Tuesday: Andrew called the fertility clinic to check-in with them and we confirmed that I was in no condition to do the embryo transfer that day. They told Andrew they had two embryos ready to be frozen. TWO??? Only two?? Out of 16?? My heart sank and I am pretty devastated. They said they are watching some others that they might freeze on Wednesday. We will find out Thursday how many they actually froze.
I felt okay during the day....still extremely bloated, nauseous, and some difficulty breathing though. Took a two hour nap in the afternoon (which I rarely do!) and just laid around. Come dinner time it was getting difficult to eat again. I had a little bit of soup and that was about all I could manage to fit in my huge abdomen. I tried to get comfortable to watch a movie, but then had to go get Andrew because it was really getting difficult to breathe and my heart felt funny. We decided we probably needed to go to the hospital.
Let me just say that hospitals know NOTHING about infertility. They were clueless! We talked to a nurse, a med student, and then a doctor and all of them had a difficult time wrapping their head around the in-vitro process.
What drugs are you on? Like 10--we pulled out the list and of course they question us on what each one of them does. I don't know...it is just part of the IVF process.
How long have you had pain in your abdomen? Like weeks since my ovaries have been the size of tennis balls!!
Do you have pain while urinating? Do you have blood in your urine? Well...yes...I just had my vagina poked with a foot long needle yesterday!
And many other questions that I found hilarious to ask an IVFer.
My Symptoms:
-Difficulty breathing
-Can't lay down without feeling like I am suffocating
-Heart feels funny--beats irregularly
-Crave water and I am so sick of salt!
-Sore throat that feels like it is closing and I can't get enough air in
-Blisters in my mouth and throat (the nurse found these when she looked in my mouth)
-Rash on my abdomen (nurse found this when she poked at me...I didn't know it was there)
Their treatment: 2 bags of fluid through an IV and call my fertility doctor in the morning.
Really??? That is it??? So we waited for two more hours until the IV was finished and then we were sent home (@ 1am). I just paid how much money to have you give me an IV and now I am even more bloated and full, have to pee all the time AND I still can't breathe or get comfortable??? Thanks!
Went home and took some more Vicodin and tried to get as comfortable as possible in my recliner chair. Told Andrew goodbye (I know...morbid, right?) in case I stopped breathing in the night. Finally fell asleep, but still woke up at 6am when pain meds wore off.
Wednesday: Woke up this morning after a short night of sleep and Andrew called the doctor and we were told to come into the office as soon as possible. The nurse did another external and internal ultrasound to see how much fluid I have in my abdomen. She said my ovaries are still huge and are called "kissing ovaries" because they are touching each other. I don't have as much fluid as I did the other day, but I have one pocket at the base of my ribs that must be causing my breathing issues. They decided there wasn't enough fluid to put in the catheter and that we would just have to wait it out and I should "turn the corner soon" and hopefully start feeling better. I was told to just keep taking Vicodin and increase my dose if necessary. I really hate taking Vicodin (I try to take it only at night and Tylenol during the day) because it makes me tired and loopy, but I guess if it will help me breathe then it is my only choice.
So that's the update! Hopefully I haven't scared any of you who were thinking about doing in-vitro. This doesn't happen very often to people---so of course it would happen to me! Nothing is ever easy for Andrew and I. Someday our luck will change, right???
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