Day 23 in Turkey

Well I guess Staci felt she really should get out of the hotel room!!!  What better way to spend a day, than in the hospital.  NOT!!!  I mean, we admitted that the bed will drive one to require orthopedic surgery, but that is certainly an understatement.  Sometimes it’s like a death sentence to serve the remainder of our time on this rock (they call a bed)!!!  LOL.  Staci actually admitted the hospital bed was more comfortable than the one in our room.  It’s a funny site to behold, our bed.  We, today, asked for 2 additional thick blankets to add to the pile we already accumulated over time.  It requires serious effort to make sure housekeeping does not steal any of our bed linens each day.  It is to the point, that we will often leave the “No Disturbing” sign on our door all day long as to protect our biggest pride and possession (not the laptop --- NO, but our bed linens)  LOL.  It’s like the princess and the pea.  But it’s still hard as a rock.  We will see if tomorrow morning we awake and are not in considerable pain and/or agony.  Last night was a killer.  Each night, the bed seems worse.

In all seriousness, Staci had been feeling some symptoms that required attention.  Today we went to see the doctor.  Unfortunately, Dr. Arici left today for a 3-day conference regarding embryo implantation techniques in France.  This left us in the hands, of the other doctor, who I’m sure is good, but we associate her with pain.  Whether, right or wrong, we attribute some of her “roughness” with the pain Staci has suffered.  So we try to avoid her, and frankly we really wanted to see the real expert, Dr. Arici.  The pain is real, so we were desperate for any physician to examine her.  Anyway, Staci had symptoms of shortness of breath, pain and so forth, which was not improving.  We thought initially that the pain was because of built-up gas or pressure, as the pain was displaced throughout different locations of her body.  We were not sure if this was normal or not.

The doctor said she would examine Staci.  The examination revealed that there actually was considerable “fluid” from her ovaries released into her stomach cavity area.  She instructed us that she could perform a procedure to extract it.  It would involve no anesthesia, the prick of a needle would be felt, but in the end no more pain and a lot of relief.

We agreed, so then a slow process began.  After an hour, we learned that there was quite a lot of fluid.  The amount of fluid that they slowly extracted was described to the tune of  2 liters and 500 ml (which I think is 2 and a half liters).  Wow!!!   Can you imagine how much that is?   I know I can drink that much soda in 5 minutes, but WHOA!  LOL.  We then knew, why she is in so much pain. As I was with Staci, I kept asking how she was doing.  She was such a wonderful woman,  I wish she didn’t have to go through so much pain to have a baby, let alone babies.  This was just the beginning and even our peers in IVF never had to do this either.  I hated that she had to endure this additional “torture” from my angle.  It is terrible that one would have to endure this.  I was relieved, that as gradually more liquid was extracted from her, that she was able to breathe, laugh, sneeze, and operate freely.  I wished that I would have known this to be the case and expedited this procedure before.  This truly was a great way to lose weight!! LOL  j/k. Don’t get me wrong.  Staci did seem to “be showing” way too early, and if you know me, that is the least of our concerns.  I have been humbled at what she has gone through, and know that none of this and none of what is to come is pleasant.  We both know that the final product of having children is the most rewarding adventure for a mother (and a father).  It is only the magical “forgetting” of the pain that allows a mother to consider having a second.  

I have no place to speak here.  Staci is the trooper.  I am just writing this to allow her more time to sleep.  Today, she was taking it easy.  She is doing much better now.  She is more comfortable, more free to breathe, and laugh, and everything.  Hormones are plentiful and she has been a little more susceptible to tears.  This is natural and I try to console her.  She is wonderful!  I am in awe, and just grateful to all mothers.
Saturday, we might need to repeat the procedure.  We will see.  We have an appointment Saturday morning.  The doctor will then decide after the examination if we need to repeat it.  Hopefully not, because it still was painful.  It was more than a needle “prick” as she promised.

Unfortunately, we learned that none of the remaining embryos are healthy enough to be frozen for additional IVF cycles if we chose or required them.  This is kind of disappointing to us as well.  We felt lucky to have 7 other what looked like good prospects a couple days ago.  But this is how IVF goes.  Everyone’s story is different.  We have had peer IVF couples with lots of eggs, they were even able to freeze them.
Friday or Saturday is the time we think the 3 embryos will “implant”.  This is one of the last hurdles of IVF.  The embryos must implant and some say “hatch”.   The science surrounding this, according to my understanding is very limited.  It is still unknown why an embryo will succeed or fail to implant.  So, we must rely on prayer and nature.

Given, all the adventures today, please continue to pray for us.  Sometimes, we worry about hyper-stimulation with the extra-fluid and/or other symptoms.  There are too many worries and emotions.  Just like normal parents have worry about their children as they grow, too many people going through IVF have to worry about all these symptoms and challenges before they are born.  We try to just think positively about having this result in healthy babies.

Thank you again.

Glen and Staci