Day 2: Recovery

Thus far I think I've been pretty lucky with my recovery. I'm still good with just a couple Tylenol or Advil every 4-6 hours and if I don't take it, there's only a minor ache of discomfort. I never really had any bleeding, nausea, constipation, or serious pain. I know every egg retrieval is different and I don't want to jinx it for next cycle, but I hope I can get off this easy next time. Maybe it's my reward for having such a shot heavy stim cycle :)

The two symptoms I am experiencing at the moment are two I could definitely do without. For starters, I'm still super, super bloated and uncomfortable with a belly the size of a watermelon. Possibly even more bloated now than on retrieval day.  I haven't tried to wear my jeans yet but I doubt they'd button comfortably right now, even my loose jeans would cut right across my ovaries. This is probably still mild OHSS so I've just got to grin and bear it and hope it goes down.

In the same category, my grapefruit sized ovaries must be pushing on all sorts of things because I'm getting awful heart burn. No matter what I eat or how I sit, I have the worst acid indigestion. This is another one of those things you just have to wait out, so I'm popping Gaviscon like candy and hoping that it passes quickly. I just ran through my last bottle so getting more is first on my list of things to do tomorrow.

My secret weapon

For anyone else getting ready for an egg retrieval, I absolutely think that the crazy amount of water I've been drinking has played a big role in why I've felt okay. I drank 100-150oz the day before the retrieval and another 100-150oz the day of. I've been drinking at least 100oz a day since and despite the anesthesia, it's probably physically impossible to be constipated with that much water in your system. I know a lot of clinics push laxatives after a retrieval but I prefer to avoid that stuff if I can. In this case, I think the water is a pretty viable alternative. Plus, peeing every 10 minutes, while also tied to OHSS, helps clear the extra hormones out of your system which should mean less bloat and misery. I'm still sleeping with my feet up on a pile of pillows as well, which is supposed to help all the excess fluid drain.

The acupuncture has probably also played a roll. Even the regular treatments that just keep all your energy and such flowing normally can really help with clearing out your system. The surgery center was a little weird about herbs so I stopped drinking my herbs a couple days before the retrieval and I just started back up again today with my acupuncturist's blessing.

The embryologists try not to bother the embryos on days 2 and 4 so I sadly didn't get an update on my embies growth today. They should be growing and dividing with at least 4 cells so that they can reach 6-8 cells tomorrow. I'm on pins and needles waiting for tomorrows phone call and I'm hoping and praying that all six are still growing well.

 

Original Photo came from here

ETA: I totally forgot to talk about boobs! My boobs are SO SORE. They feel awful if I'm not wearing a bra, which luckily is almost never since they're on the gigantic side and I never go braless. This is probably from all the hormones too and just another thing I have to wait out :(