The Fertility Diaries: Friends and Mothers
The Fertility Diaries: Friends and Mothers
Jody: "I went in at 6:15 a.m. I'd already taken Valium and Vicodin at 5:30 a.m. like the doctor's office told me to, because although it's minor, egg retrieval is a surgical procedure. They say you're usually not completely out during the procedure, but you don't remember anything. I could hear voices and I remember them saying, "We got one egg!" Then around 10 or 10:30, my husband, Scott, had to give his sperm. Because not all of Scott's sperm are normal, the doctor used a process called ICSI — intracytoplasmic sperm injection. He selected the best sperm to inject into the eggs. They fertilized three good eggs using ICSI, and we had to wait five days while the fertilized eggs developed enough so that the doctor was sure that they were viable. Some clinics will put the eggs back in at three days, but five days gives a higher success rate. I was afraid they'd tell me that none of the eggs made it. That was my nightmare. But all three made it until day five — the day they transferred them back into my uterus."
After the egg transfer, Jody was sent home with instructions to stay on bed rest for two days — no showering, getting up only to go to the bathroom, and sitting up only to eat. Twelve days later, her doctor would do a pregnancy test. Until then, all Jody could do was wait.
Jody wasn't the only one waiting. While she was getting her hCG shot on New Year's Eve, her pal Carrie was taking a nap to make sure that she'd be awake at midnight — she was just over seven months pregnant and due on February 21. Carrie, a marketing manager, and her husband, John, 32, planned to spend the first weeks of January decorating the baby's nursery. Her pregnancy had been remarkably easy, but time was starting to drag as she eagerly awaited her baby's birth.
Carrie: "Toward the end of January, I was so tired and so busy at work that I think my body just blew up in protest. I literally gained about 6 pounds of water weight. Thankfully, due to a relaxing weekend, most of that went away quickly, but it did freak me out — and it taught me that I couldn't work long hours anymore."
The Fertility Diaries: Friends and Mothers
Jody: "I went in at 6:15 a.m. I'd already taken Valium and Vicodin at 5:30 a.m. like the doctor's office told me to, because although it's minor, egg retrieval is a surgical procedure. They say you're usually not completely out during the procedure, but you don't remember anything. I could hear voices and I remember them saying, "We got one egg!" Then around 10 or 10:30, my husband, Scott, had to give his sperm. Because not all of Scott's sperm are normal, the doctor used a process called ICSI — intracytoplasmic sperm injection. He selected the best sperm to inject into the eggs. They fertilized three good eggs using ICSI, and we had to wait five days while the fertilized eggs developed enough so that the doctor was sure that they were viable. Some clinics will put the eggs back in at three days, but five days gives a higher success rate. I was afraid they'd tell me that none of the eggs made it. That was my nightmare. But all three made it until day five — the day they transferred them back into my uterus."
After the egg transfer, Jody was sent home with instructions to stay on bed rest for two days — no showering, getting up only to go to the bathroom, and sitting up only to eat. Twelve days later, her doctor would do a pregnancy test. Until then, all Jody could do was wait.
Bright Hopes
Jody wasn't the only one waiting. While she was getting her hCG shot on New Year's Eve, her pal Carrie was taking a nap to make sure that she'd be awake at midnight — she was just over seven months pregnant and due on February 21. Carrie, a marketing manager, and her husband, John, 32, planned to spend the first weeks of January decorating the baby's nursery. Her pregnancy had been remarkably easy, but time was starting to drag as she eagerly awaited her baby's birth.
Carrie: "Toward the end of January, I was so tired and so busy at work that I think my body just blew up in protest. I literally gained about 6 pounds of water weight. Thankfully, due to a relaxing weekend, most of that went away quickly, but it did freak me out — and it taught me that I couldn't work long hours anymore."
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