By Jamie Schenk DeWitt
As I slowly regained consciousness from my second egg retrieval surgery, a 4.9 earthquake shook the recovery room. I turned to my right and there was my husband’s tender loving face just the way I had left him. “It is an earthquake honey. Everything is going to be fine.”
I turned to my left and the nurse who got me prepped and ready for surgery was holding on to my IV stand and bag for dear life. “Don’t worry we got your eggs out. Ten of them.”
I looked in front of me and there were nurses and doctors racing through the room. I was definitely groggy still from the aenesethia, but I knew enough to know that it was an earthquake. It registered in my brain something like, “Ohhhhh…it is an e a r t h q u a k e Ohhhh…TEN EGGS!”
Thankfully the earthquake lasted for only thirty seconds, but as anyone knows who has lived through an earthquake those seconds can feel like minutes. There were no injuries to the medical facility and surrounding area and within a few minutes the recovery room was operating back at normal speed.
Now that the earth stood still once again, I could focus on having ten eggs extracted, which was A LOT for me. During my last IVF extraction, my doctor extracted 6 eggs and only 3 were viable for transfer. I suffer from elevated FSH. My egg production is rapidly decreasing, which makes it difficult for me to produce healthy eggs.
After the earthquake, my doctor approached my bed with a gentle smile to make sure that I was recovering comfortably. “We extracted ten eggs. Several of them are premature. We’ll just have to wait and see how they all develop over the next three days.”
Agh, the next three days of having to wait to see if the sperm takes to the egg. Waiting to see if I have any embryos and then if those embryos grow into 2 cells, 4 cells, then hopefully to the optimal number of 8 cells.
The nurse leaned over and said “Ten eggs are great. Your eggs are so healthy and so good that they shook the earth.” I laughed and said, “From your mouth to GOD's ears.” But what I was really thinking was, “Please let me be so lucky to have just one of these eggs be healthy enough to grow into my much desperately wanted unborn child.”
That sounds like a frightening ordeal! Glad to hear you and the eggs were okay.
Posted by: TheEmpoweredEgg | 09/28/2010 at 12:13 PM
Just at the end of one of my embryo transfers, there was a power outage in the area. Fortunately the center has plenty of emergency back up, but I just recall laughing together as my husband and I walked down the stairs because the elevator was out. Good luck to you!
Posted by: Andrea | 09/23/2010 at 08:47 PM
Not luck, but God's will, the physicians skill and your to that time unproven skill as a loving mother brought the joyful 2 into your and our world. Conrad Giles
Posted by: conrad giles | 09/21/2010 at 09:02 PM