Sunday, December 4, 2016

How to have a successful egg retrieval

Leading up to my egg retrieval I had did a lot research about egg retrievals and also talked with all my patients that had gone through the same. 4 years ago we had our first egg retrieval that I felt was for the most part successful but I knew this year I would be older, and we would be doing PGD which could limit the number of usable embryos. I decided I would combine all information and come up with my own combination to have a successful egg retrieval. 

Preparing for egg retrieval

For 5 months (The acupuncturist suggested to do 3 months, but our egg retrieval date changed a few times) prior to my egg retrieval I did acupuncture once a week with a licensed therapist that specialized in woman's oriental medicine. I had never done this before but found it very relaxing and I noticed a change in my menstrual cycle after the first month. I felt great!! At about 3 months prior to the egg retrieval I started taking royal jelly pills, wheat grass pills and drank alkaline water (you do not have to buy the expensive bottled kind, you can make your own). About 30 days before I went on the fertility diet. This diet does not really focus on what to take out of your diet but what to add. They suggest adding 5 things to your diet every day. 1. drink a gallon of water 2. drink a fertility smoothie (just a mix of fruits and veggies with an added fertility super food ex. royal jelly) 3. drink a green drink (I used Amazing Grass Green Superfood Original) 4. A large salad 5. Spinach A lot of these steps you can totally add together so it doesn't seem like too much. Once I started taking medications from the IVF doctor I did not take anything extra and I discontinued all acupuncture treatments.

Our egg retrieval 

Our retrieval was June 28th. We ended up retrieving 35 eggs, which is almost double than the last time. Last time we retrieved 21, ended up fertilizing all of them, but at the end of the 5 days we had 5 left. This time we started with 35, 23 were mature enough to fertilize and 17 fertilized normally. At the end of the 5 days 10 were frozen and after PGD 4 had mutations. We ended up with 6 frozen. Now last time we had 5 frozen but out of those 5 frozen we have one live baby, we also did not do PGD so who knows if any of them had any genetic issues. We were very happy with all of this and were so grateful for everyones help.  

Side effects after egg retrieval 

With my first egg retrieval I didn't really have any bad side effects. I remember feeling bloated but we had also done a fresh embryo transfer and became pregnant shortly after. This time I was very bloated and very swollen and had pain as well. This lasted for about 9 days, at 7 days post I was starting to worry that I wasn't feeling better at all. I didn't really do much these 9 days, stayed down most of the time, drank Gatorade and took pain medication. 

I hope this helps any of you going through this process. It is not the easiest of funnest thing, but remember what you are doing it for and try and stay positive

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