Friday the 13th...unlucky or lucky?

I'm a bit of a superstitious person. I think I was simply raised that way by a mom who is very superstitious. Growing up it was very common in our house to hear things like:

• Use the same door to leave as you did to enter
• Do NOT walk under a ladder
• If you have a bad dream about someone you must tell them….then it will not happen. (good or bad dream included!)
• Be extra careful on unlucky Friday the 13th. We may have even stayed home on this day growing up (us and 21 million other people in the US according to Wiki)

And the list goes on…..

Well it happens that today, EGG RETRIEVAL DAY falls on Friday the 13th……….the 7am phone call I received from my parents home was most likely my mom wanting to remind of this.. I can imagine it would be followed by some crazy request to try and move the retrieval to a “better” day.

I am only “assuming” this of course, but just in case, I did not answer the phone. There was no time of superstitious nonsense.

This morning I was struggling with extreme nausea and pain…….100 times worse than a menstrual cycle…my ovaries were ready to pop! I was anxious to get Cole to the daycare and get that IV going.

8:15 - I settled into the comfy PJ’s the clinic provided, a recliner, a pillow and a blanket. Weight, heartrate and blood pressure checked in ok, Tim was off doing his “thang” in the “PRIVATE” room. I think the male’s job in this process may not be as involved, but it is way more uncomfortable from a personal standpoint. As women, we get regular pap smears done from teenage years on. Most men do not have to “perform” on the spot, in a small room, with minimal “aides”. I think we were both praying this would be a one shot deal.

An IV was placed in my arm and a saline drip of antibiotics started. A pill was given under my tongue to “relax” me.

9am - we entered the retrieval room and I assumed the pose - most females know this pose. What makes it most uncomfortable is when you must be waiting in this pose for 10 minutes! Where was my doctor?

As soon as he popped his smiley face into the room I relaxed; it was my cutey, wonderful doctor that would be performing this procedure! Friday the 13th was starting off pretty strong!

My nurse administered the “happy drugs” I was instantly stoned, fighting sleep and in a very pain free place. I wanted to see my follicles! I wanted to hear them say there were eggs in them! But the soft music and oxygen streaming in my nose made it impossible to focus. I chose to rely on Tim to give me the update later.

For those interested. The retrieval is performed by passing a hollow needle through the wall of the vagina into the ovary (hence the drugs!!) The needle can be guided into the follicle where the egg resides. The fluid is aspirated from the follicle and deposited into a test tube. The test tube is inspected under the microscope to find the egg. Although every follicle should contain one egg, it is not always possible to remove the egg. Older patients, those with poor ovarian reserve and those with smaller follicles, may see a lower percentage of eggs recovered.

As I sat in recovery 30 minutes later, higher than high, they could have told me anything really.... but the results were in.

My Type A personality had shone through again

9 follicles = 9 eggs!

The nurses called me an “overachiever”….I had the slowest reaction to the meds, but the most eggs of all the patients this round. I can handle that! Tomorrow (Saturday) the nurse will call me to let me know how many eggs of the 9 retrieved will be perfect enough for implantation and freezing.

On our way home in the car, the radio was talking about Friday the 13th. The DJ mentioned that this day tends to only fall once a year. Today though was the 3rd time this year that Friday the 13th had fallen on a Friday. This has not happened in 11 years……

I’m thinking Friday the 13th is a pretty lucky day in my world.