Collecting them eggs and the aftermath

I had the egg collection yesterday and in a nutshell it was pretty awful. I was nil by mouth from midnight on Sunday so wolfed down a few blueberry pancakes courtesy of Mr IVF at around 10pm.

I had a shower in the morning using aqueous cream as this is unscented, I skipped the deoderant (shock horror!) and of course no perfume, makeup or nail polish allowed because the chemicals may damage the eggs. I wore comfy, stretchy clothes - Uniqlo leggings and thermal top and a hoodie, and my glasses instead of contact lenses. I felt fine and positive, this is a standard procedure after all, and I was looking forward to getting those eggs out and feeling normal again.

We went to the clinic for 7.10am (thankfully it's only 10mins away in the car) and were taken to our cubicle in the recovery area. I went into theatre at 9.30am so just chilled out with Mr IVF and chatted whilst the anaesthetist, nurses and the doctor came and went with various drugs, instructions and questions . It was a relaxed atmosphere and I still felt fine about the whole thing.

Mr IVF was given a pot to go off and do the deed. It took him a while! But a successful drop off nonetheless. He came back holding his little bag (with pot inside) looking a bit embaressed at having to go out in front of everybody and find the nurse to give it to.

I went in at about 9.30ish there was music in the theatre room which was not particularly soothing but quite happy and jolly which I quite liked! I was sedated and then came around in my cubicle with the curtain drawn open. One of the nurses came over to give me a drink (hot chocolate please) and some biscuits (bourbons oh yes). I felt woozy, obviously, but came round in about 20mins. The normal recovery time is 1-1.5hrs which we calculated as us being out by 11-11.30am (£8 on car parking!)

I didn't get out until 2.30pm. I kept feeling dizzy and sick and couldn't pass urine until around 1ish (and they won't let you go until you do) and then after sitting up for around 20mins I vomited! The nurses came to check on me and gave me some drugs intravenously to help with the sickness. I laid back down and felt ok but the nurses insisted I stayed until i felt much better. The anaesthestist came in to apologise bless her. She said it's unusual to have such a bad reaction and pehaps I was dehyrdrated from the day before (probably).

It was after lunch and I could tell Mr IVF wanted to get going, he was looking and stating that he was bored which is fair enough. He also said he was meant to be playing squash later that evening but that it was an away match, which meant he would be out for about 4-5 hours. I thought this was out of order because he was meant to be looking after me for 24hrs. I told him to make the right decision but left it at that hoping he would, but at the same time vowed to never speak to him again if he did abandon me.

So by 2pm after a few dizzy and sick spells I felt ok, not 100% but fine enough to get home so we decided to make a move and walked to reception to make an appointment for my OHSS scan in a weeks time. Mr IVF went to get the car and waited in reception, after a couple of minutes I suddenly felt all the blood drain out of the top half of my body, came over very dizzy and sick and felt like I was going to pass out. An embryologist was at the reception desk and next thing I knew was holding me by the elbow and leading me to sofa to sit down. I felt sooo sick it was awful. She went to get one of the IVF nurses that had been monitioring me. Mr IVF came in and said I looked really pale. I managed not to vomit and the colour eventually came back. The nurse made me walk around the clinic, slowly, holding me by the elbow. Eventually I came round fully and felt ok to go home. The nurse looked so concerned and wanted me to stay in recovery, part of me wanted to but part of me wanted to get home too, so home I went. The nurse said if I was still feeling bad later on I should go to A&E and they would probably admit me and keep an eye on me for a couple of days.

So home we went with some of the hospital vomit catchers (I have no idea what their real name is!) Literally as soon I stepped through the door I had to be sick, thankfully I made it to the kitchen sink. Mr IVF pulled out the bed settee for me and got me pillows and a duvet and I laid down in front of the tellybox. I managed to eat half a sandwich but then at around 3.30 I started to feel really dizzy and sick again. I closed my eyes and tried to stave off vomiting, eventually i managed to fall asleep for about 30mins.

Of course I was feeling bloated and uncomfortable but I had really painful pains around my stomach area underneath my ribs which was making breathing lying down really hard. I was breathing in short breaths in an attempt not to make it anymore painful. Everything hurt.

At around 5pm again I felt better so tried to have a walk around the flat. After 10minutes of slow shuffling I vomited again. At this point I wished I had stayed in the recovery room. We decided to go down to a&e because I just wasn't getting any better, every time I was standing up for 10mins I would come over dizzy and sick.

We arrived at a&e which is a polyclinic, it was pretty quiet. I was sick in the toilet again before seeing the doctor who took my blood pressure and asked me some questions. She said my blood pressure was really low and sent me upstairs to see another doctor who said that all these symptoms are really common after egg collection. Oh, ok, I thought. She pressed around my tummy which really hurt and then prescribed me some tablets for the nausea and vomiting. She didn't seem to be too concerned which was a complete contrast to the nurses at the IVF clinic who seemed very concerned because most ladies walk out in just a few hours and I was still being sick.

So we went home (vomit catcher still in hand), I was still feeling dizzy and as we got nearer home I started to get numbness in my fingers and across my chest and top lip. Just as we pulled up I vomited hard into the tray. I couldn't stop, everything hurt and it was freaking me out. Mr IVF opened the door and took the full tray off me, I leaned out of the car and vomited into the road. Hideous. I felt exhausted. I made it back into the flat and got back into bed and fell asleep for a while.

I kept in a horizontal position for at least three hours until Mr IVF brought me a hot cross bun which went down a treat, albeit slowly. Some pasta followed, not much but something. I had to eat to get my blood sugars up and gain strength. I stayed on the bed settee until midnight and then went to bed with Mr IVF. It took ages for me to find a position to sleep and I still couldn't breathe deeply. I kept waking up in the night in pain (even after taking paracetamol) and having to re-adjust myself. It wasn't the worse nights sleep I've ever had but it certainly wasn't the best. I think I got a few hours in.

Thankfully Mr IVF didn't abandon me for squash. think the vicious vomiting in his car put the point home that I needed looking after. Although I still can't believe he thought it would be ok to go off and play squash. Priorities Mr IVF!!!!!