the bees knees

(source)

I did not win the me.ga mil.lions as far as eggs go, but I came pretty darn close. We had our retrieval yesterday around 11:00am. I hate not being able to eat/drink after midnight, but it actually wasn't that bad. Because I had a huge Mexican dinner the night before, I wasn't even hungry. I always think the worst part is the thirst! My goodness I just wanted to have some water! When I was taken back for the actual procedure (about 2 minutes after we arrived), I told the anaestheologist that I was going to be a tough one. My veins are always hard to get and I knew that because I was dehydrated, it was going to be even harder. This is what happened:



AND:



She blew the vein on top of my right hand, miss the vein on the side, couldn't find the one at my elbow, and then finally moved over the left hand where she was able to get it in on top. Each time she poked me she put in the numbing medicine which stung like no other. When she finally got it in on the left hand, she told me that what she was injecting might "feel warm" and then admitted that she was sugar-coating it and it would probably hurt. I asked, "Is it going to hurt more than the four pokes you've given me?" And it didn't hurt at all, although at that point she had put something in my IV that was making me feel REALLY good. It seemed like I was being wheeled back out in no time and within an hour, the doc was coming to tell us that they had retrieved 12 eggs. He was impressed because that's one more than we retrieved 19 months ago even though I'm slightly older. My mature to retrieved egg ratio wasn't the greatest the last time, so he cautioned us that it might not be the best this time either, but that we would get a call today with the results.

Well, color me shocked! The nurse waited to call me until lunch time, which I was convinced was due to the fact that we were unable to produce any viable embryos or we only had 2-3, but that wasn't it at all. She told me that of the 12 eggs retrieved, 8 were mature and ALL EIGHT FERTILIZED. Last time we had 11 retrieved, 6 were mature, and 4 fertilized. We have twice as many embryos this time!!! As of right now, all eight are growing and she said we are doing five day transfer. My clinic has a 75% success rate with five day transfers. After she told me the results, she continued on with instructions and I had to have her repeat them to me because I was in such a state of shock. EIGHT EMBRYOS? It is likely that we will have two good ones to put back at day five :). As soon as I got off the phone, I ran upstairs and made MBL put his phone call on hold so that I could tell him the news. We're elated that we had better results this go around. Now, something could still happen and some of those embryos could arrest early and I could get moved to a three day transfer, it seems unlikely at this point, but it's still a possibility. And, Piper is a three day embryo, so we know those can work. At this point, I'm so hopeful for this cycle. And now the countdown to Monday begins!

Am I the only one out there who always assumes the worst case scenario? Do you ever get anxious when you see the RE's number on your phone? Has your cycle ever surprised you like mine just did?