My Experience + Essentials
It feels surreal to say this but it has been almost a year since our egg retrieval. A part of me wishes I wrote a post at the time – I tried to! – but it felt important to be to be present in my experience and work through my emotions real time. I did share a lot on Instagram stories though – you can find all everything on my IVF highlight!
That being said, when I was going through the retrieval process I didn’t feel like there were tons of accessible resources available to me. That part was really tough. My goal in this post is to share a bit about my experience and some of the tips and tricks that helped me the most in the hopes that others don’t feel so alone.
One of the things I never really thought about until I was in the midst of our IVF journey was that the egg retrieval process is not just an IVF experience. While the actual details of retrieval differ from person to person and case to case, the process is the same whether or not you’re going through with fertilization or freezing your eggs for later. Whatever your reason(s), I hope this post provides some helpful tools, support and comfort.
Please remember I am not a doctor or a medical professional – none of what I’m sharing here is medical advice, it is simply my own experience. I don’t feel comfortable sharing the details of our medication schedule because that is very case dependent. For example, I have PCOS (my qualifying symptoms are cystic ovaries, lack of ovulation and hormonal imbalance) and as a result I do not ovulate. Therefore my entire cycle had to be simulated. I took a combination of Menapure, Dexamethasone, Follistim, Ganirelix, Pregnyl and Lupron throughout my treatment.
If you are thinking about, preparing for or in the middle of an egg retrieval – I see you. I know it is not easy, but I also know that you can do this. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me here, on Instagram or via email if you want to chat more personally! I am here for you.
A few common FAQs:
DID YOU DO ANYTHING SPECIAL TO PREP FOR THIS PROCESS?
Generally, I leaned in to healing practices that helped me feel grounded and calm. For me that meant focusing on nourishing anti-inflammatory foods (my body runs inflammatory and I am in remission from a childhood auto-immune disease), weekly therapy sessions, journaling, meditation, daily walks and light movement. I avoided stressful activities, media and people. I really focused on the energy around me and making myself feel GOOD.
More specifically, I read the books It Starts With The Egg and The Egg Quality Diet (more of my fertility focused book recs here). The first is excellent and I highly recommend it for anyone who is embarking on a fertility journey, struggling to conceive, or is thinking about freezing eggs. I found Fett’s scientific and personal approach to be very accessible and empowering. I had already made most of the lifestyle changes over the last several years so the validation was helpful, too! I also used ISWTE to help guide my supplement regime (which my clinic approved) since I wasn’t working with a holistic practitioner at the time. She breaks her supplement guidance down by specific fertility struggles and is very thorough.
The second book is much more intense, and if you are at all triggered by more extreme dietary changes it is probably not for you. I used it as guide / supplement vs following Aimee’s recs word for word and that made it more manageable for me! I incorporated lots of eggs, whole fruits and veggies, smoothies, bone broth and a few other key items into my diet.
HOW DID YOU STAY ORGANIZED?
I kept my approach pretty basic. I originally tried to make a chart in excel and realized that was too much work, so I literally printed out the instructions / plan from my clinic and then every week I would write out what shots I needed to do every day. Then I checked them off as I went. Every week I would add the next week to my sheet!
Keeping it minimal helped with my stress levels. If going ham on organization and scheduling makes you feel better, definitely go for it, but that wasn’t the case for me. Even for a type A / organization nerd I simply wanted to put that energy into other things. It was clear to me that being a control freak about the process wasn’t going to make it more effective.
HOW WERE THE INJECTIONS?
As someone who doesn’t love needles or shots, I was dreading this process. As a result, I essentially put the medication mixing and administration in C’s hands. I would say he did about 90% of my shots throughout the entire process and we were fortunate to be able to schedule our shot times around his schedule even with his commute. This was definitely a luxury, as neither of us really travels for work. Not only did this system help my anxiety but it helped him feel more involved and included in the process.
I had a great routine of ice + looking away + shot that helped tremendously. I did do several of my own shots when C had dinners or worked late, and for those I just re-watched the instruction videos (details below) and FaceTimed C or a bestie for moral support. After the first few, they didn’t really HURT but they were never comfortable for me.
I think mindset is also really important here. It is really easy to resent/dislike this process especially because it is uncomfortable. I reminded myself every day that this was something we GOT to do, not something we HAD to do. Our goal was a baby and IVF was the treatment so I could either be upset about that or embrace it and dive in – I chose the latter. I also told myself every single shot was magic medicine that would help us get closer to our baby and that mental shift really made a difference, too!
HOW DID YOU FEEL PRE-PROCEDURE?
Bloated! Look, during this process your ovaries are going nuts and growing wayyyy more follicles than they usually do. Because I have cystic ovaries with zillions of follicles anyway, I had SO many follicles growing and felt extremely bloated by the end. Plus I was a bit sore and sensitive from all the shots. It can be a bit of a mindf*ck to get a growing belly, but reminding myself that it was all temporary helped a lot.
HOW WAS THE ACTUAL PROCEDURE?
So quick. I expected it to be more of a *thing* and it just wasn’t! I think I was only under (they completely sedate you) for 15-20 minutes, which is very long for a retrieval. Mine was longer because I had so many follicles to sort through! I remember speaking to the anesthesiologist and before I knew it I was waking up in recovery and my favorite nurse was offering me apple juice.
WHAT WAS YOUR RECOVERY LIKE?
Hard. Because I had so many follicles, we retrieved 29 eggs (you know the number that day but you don’t know how many are mature until later). That’s a lot, but it also has nothing to do with whether or not they are mature or genetically normal. Numbers are just numbers – please remember that and do not compare yours to mine or anyone else’s. My point in bringing that up is that I had a bit of OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) which caused a lot of swelling, pain and general discomfort. Some people are able to return to normal activity the day or two after retrieval, but I wasn’t feeling myself until at least 2 weeks later. There isn’t much you can do for OHSS except for rest, but severe cases do require medical intervention so be mindful of your symptoms!
ORGANIZATION + LOGISTICS
Training Videos – We had medication training at our clinic, but we also used the videos from this site to supplement real time. I am a visual learner so these were REALLY helpful especially when I had to do shots by myself!
Tackle Box – I used this tackle box to organize / store all of my meds and supplies. We live in a small apartment and have a dog so I couldn’t afford to use up any counter space! There are others on the market specifically designed for IVF, but they are more expensive and come with a bunch of extras I didn’t need.
Ice Packs – I had two packs that I used and loved. These provide isolated VERY cold support and come with several packs. That may seem silly but sometimes a girl forgets to put the ice pack back in the freezer ya know? I also love this one that can be used hot or cold. It came in handy later with PIO shots!
Day Minder – I used this more during the transfer process, but it can be great if you take a minimal about of meds/supplements.
Binder – I am not a “print it out” type person, but I don’t mess around with medical stuff and need to read things more than once. I printed out all of my doctor’s instructions and kept them, our insurance invoices and anything fertility/IVF related in a binder for safe keeping and easy referencing. I used these dividers.
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Mindful IVF App – If I could recommend ONE thing for the retrieval and IVF process, it would be this app. There are are lot of free sessions but some of the more specific ones require additional payment which I believe is 100% worth it. I loved that every meditation is specific to EXACTLY what I was going through, down to the week. It anticipated my worries, needs and how I needed to be supported. There are no other meditation apps that can speak to the process so personally and sensitively.
Journal – There are lots of emotions and big feelings that come up during this process. In addition to weekly therapy sessions and daily meditations, it helped me to write out my fears and feelings in my journal. I’m a big journal gal, so if you aren’t this may not be the healing practice for you, but just getting words OUT of my head enabled me to process them, sit with what I needed to sit with and ultimately move forward.
Bracelets – It really helped me to have “good luck charms” of sorts. I wore a selection of bracelets to every single appointment and ultimately they provided great comfort. My favorites are my rainbow Bombonitas, Warrior bracelet, Fertility stones bracelet from Claire and my St. Gerard / Miraculous medals from my MIL. I am not even religious, but having the patron saint of fertility with me felt like a nice buddy to have 🙂
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