15, 14, 12 -- Phew!!!!

I'll cut to the chase -- as of about 3pm this afternoon we had 12 embryos growing. Now I'll backtrack. So, retrieval went fine. Except, about 10 minutes after I woke up I started to hurt -- bearable but my past retrievals were pretty much without any pain so I was sort of surprised. Apparently I was really pale too and my blood pressure was going down, so the nice nurse caring for me put something in my IV to help out and sure enough I started to feel a bit more awake within a few minutes. But at the same time the pain was increasing too. We were thrilled when the doctor came in and reported that they'd gotten 15 eggs and I figured that was why I was experiencing more discomfort that usual. Anyhoo, after a few more minutes the nurse called in a prescription for vicodin to the pharmacy downstairs and I sent hubby down to get it lickety split. I took it the minute he got back, but let's just say it didn't kick in right away. So I hobbled down to the car and made hubby drive straight to Whole Foods to get me some chicken noodle soup, because despite the pain I was STARVING! We got home and after 2 bites I felt nauseous so I went to bed and fell fast asleep for about an hour and a half. I felt pretty good for the next few hours, but last night the discomfort came back—not as bad as the pain right after the retrieval, but again something I'm not used to. So I took another vicodin before bed. Woke up this morning and actually felt ok, had a decent breakfast and then headed to acupuncture (pure heavan!). After my acupuncture appointment I went and got a luxurious pedicure and manicure and then grabbed a sandwich at Star.bucks. Throughout the morning I continued to feel really bloated and uncomfortable and then after two bites of the sandwich I felt icky and promptly threw it away. Then I hit the bookstore for about 15 minutes and was ready to head home when hubby called to check in and I realized it was already 2 and I still hadn't gotten a call on my cell about the fertilization—they'd told me to expect a call between 12 and 3. After I made my purchase I checked my work voicemail and there was a message from my nurse saying she was just calling to see how I was doing. Unfortunately I've never been able to figure out how to check our home voicemail remotely! So at this point I was starting to panic and of course got stuck in horrible traffic. By the time I got home it was after 3 and I still hadn't gotten a call on my cell. I was totally convinced that there'd been no fertilization and I cried the last ten minutes home. (Found out later that poor hubby was at work having the exact same worries!) When I finally got to my voicemail machine my hands were literally shaking and I thought I was going to throw up. But all that anxiety turned out to be unnecessary. 14 of the 15 eggs were mature and 12 fertilized. I'm so grateful for that good news that I'm not worrying at all about the next call! Unfortunately, I'm still feeling very bloated and tender. My nurse told me to quit water and drink gatorade, so I've been guzzling it all evening and peeing constantly – but I don't care, because we've got 12 embryos!!!!!