The Egg Collection Saga: Day 3 (Part 2), Monday 13th February

I left off on Thursday with Mr Click and I going our separate ways; him to do his bit of the whole process and me preparing to meet with the Anesthetist before my op.

The Embryologist took me along to the Post Op Waiting Room. This is where you wait both before and after your op. There was one other woman waiting in there who was off for her egg retrieval before me. Up ahead of us at the end of the ward was another woman as well.

There was a rather awkward wait. The other woman in the waiting room bit and I exchanged glances but neither of us spoke. One of the nurses did come along and make a comment about the two of us sitting there in silence, in a valiant attempt to get us talking. But I think we were both too nervous about what was to come to strike up a conversation.

The wait was broken up by the Anesthetist coming along to run over the details for my sedation. It was relatively straightforward since I've had it done before. He checked that I'd not had a reaction to a sedative before, went through what the process would be (a line put into the back of my hand, two different drugs would be administered and that it wouldn't take too long to come round from it afterwards), and he also checked my mouth just in case I needed a full anesthetic. Since I broke the bottom off of one of my front teeth and had to have it reconstructed with a white filling, I told him about that and he made a note.

He told me that he's only ever knocked one person's tooth out and it was one which was already lose, they just didn't tell him about it, but he felt horribly guilty when it happened.

A bit of chit chat and then through for some more waiting in the waiting room. The woman ahead of me was called through to the ward and I saw her in her dressing gown heading out through the doors at the other end, off for her retrieval.

It seemed like a really, truly long wait when in reality it was less than an hour, but I couldn't help but worry a little bit. My belly felt really full and heavy and I was convinced that I was ovulating and would lose all my eggs before they could get in to collect them.

Then I was moved up to the ward, into my little cubicle. I was given my gown to change into, put on my pink fluffy dressing gown and unicorn slippers, and then sat to wait for the next bit. I could hear the first woman on the ward, who was in recovery, chatting to one of the nurses. She'd gotten nine eggs and by the sounds of things she was an egg donor. Part of me was thinking that nine eggs was a good number, but the other part of me was hoping against all hope I would get more than that especially as we were going to be freezing everything so I wanted as much to work with as possible.

A little more waiting and a trip to the loo (which I was glad of because despite only having a tiny mouthful of water, I had realised I was getting kind of to the point of needing to pee). And then the woman who had been ahead of me was wheeled back into recovery.

Being the nosy person that I am, I was listening out to see if anyone mentioned to her the number of eggs that was retrieved. Part of it is because you can't help but compare yourself to others ('if she got ten, then perhaps I'll get ten too') but it's also because you're rooting for the other people going through what you're going through ('did they just say three? oh, I hope she got more than three'). I didn't get to hear though, for one thing, they'd had to use a full anesthetic on her so she was still out of it and also because that was when I was called through for my turn.

I paused outside the door to theatre to put on my sexy hospital hat and to shed my dressing gown, then was ushered in to the room.

It looked much as I remembered it. White walls with lots of metal trays dotted around. Big bed thing in the centre of the room. And a hatch in the wall to the left hand side that I was guided over to.

Back when we met the doctor and the embryologist I was given a card with both mine and Mr Click's details on it. At every step of the process there's a lot of checking your name and your date of birth so they can make sure that Mr Click's sperm and my eggs are the ones being paired up. At the hatch I handed over my card which would be scanned into the system so everything retrieved from me would be tagged as being Click produce.

Then it was over to the table.

There was a sort of puppy training pad on the edge of it which I sat on once my gown had been unfastened at the back. Then I lay back, put my feet into the stirrups and someone took off my slippers. I was complimented on them and there was a fair bit of chatter going on around me as things were set up ready to begin.

A woman stuck on some heart monitor things on my chest (which I didn't realise were still there until the following day when I took a shower and they are now stuck to the side of my craft drawers because they're kind of a cool souvenir of the day, since I've not yet been able to bring an embryo home with me).

Then it was time to say hi to the anesthetist again as he tried to get the canula into the back of my hand. I'm pretty brave when it comes to having things stuck in my veins, but this one really hurt. I ended up with a woman holding my other hand and chafing it between hers, chatting to me the whole time, which I was grateful for because getting that needle in was really uncomfortable.

I'd got a mask on my face by the time the first lot of stuff started to go in. I was warned it might make my arm feel a bit funny but I can't say it did. It did make me feel like the head of the bed had suddenly dropped and I was going to tip off it head first. But then the next lot of stuff started going in and I don't remember anything else after that.

Until I was coming round in recovery.

I remember feeling pretty sore and uncomfortable but I also had that sensation of trying to catch just a few more seconds of sleep. It was such hard work to open my eyes that it was almost easier not to bother. Then I kind of remembered where I was and what was going on and I thought 'I need to know how many eggs I got' and forced myself awake.

There was a nurse sitting beside my bed and I wish I'd made a note of her name because she was just fantastic.

The first thing I asked was how it went and she told me straight away that it went really well. I felt kind of shaky when I came to so she got me an extra blanket and I took a peak at the notes beside the bed to see if I could see how many eggs I had. I couldn't but it did say that I was extremely sleepy when I went back in to recovery. The nurse also asked me how I was feeling and I promptly burst into tears and said 'a bit emotional' but it was cool, she was on hand with tissues.

Then it was time for tea and toast, but as I was waiting for it the doctor came, which is what I'd been waiting for all along. I'd been told by the doctor when I came round before but part of me was nervous in case they couldn't say anything this time. I needn't have worried. I got 19 eggs, exactly the same as before. I'm nothing if not consistent.

After a little while I was allowed up to get dressed and Mr Click was brought through to meet me in the Post-Op Waiting Room. It was wonderful to see him again, even though we'd only been apart for about three hours.

I wasn't allowed to be discharged until I'd peed which was tricky because all I'd had to drink that morning was a mouthful of water and some tea. Once I'd satisfied the nurse that I was able to pee I was allowed to have the canula in my hand removed. And promptly bled all over my sleeve and trouser leg (thank goodness for having a change of clothes in the car).

And then it was home to recover. I was so relieved to get back to my own bed at home.