Side effects of stimulation

[Anonymous]

I was bloated, but not terribly (only had 8 eggs). Just didn't close the top button on my pants and wore long tops. The bloating did not get much better after the retrieval though since the progesterone also made me bloated.

If I were you, I would try to push the whole cycle back by one month. The date of the retrieval could change depending on how you respond, so if you want to avoid it being close to the time of the graduation, just try to move the whole cycle.

[Anonymous]

I agree a thousand percent with all the previous posters that are trying to explain that you do not have any control over timing of things in the IVF process, except when to tell your dr to "start." After that, sadly, you just need to be able to "go with the flow" for basically the next 2 months. It's frustrating. VERY frustrating. We feel you on that. But if you have travel or important events that are absolute musts then you should probably put things off until you have a window of several weeks with nothing like that on the horizon. Go ahead and ask your dr what they think the scheduled might look like, but just realize that all they can do is guess. They don't know what your body will do. For example, my period that was so regular you could set time by it, went haywire and started 4 days late the cycle I did IVF. And then I was a slow stimmer, so I stimmed for several extra days. All that added up to my retrieval being a week later than their best guess.

You can definitely do normal things up until your retrieval, although it depends on how flexible you are with having to take needles etc with you to places and what kind of medical protocol you're on. For me, taking all that medicine and doing the shots etc kind of stressed me out and I was very glad that I had NOTHING on my calendar. I didn't see friends, family, or anything other than work. But I'm sure others tried to keep busy so they didn't just sit around and think about things.

As others have said, the last 3-4 days before your retrieval can be physically uncomfortable and you don't feel like walking around a lot, but you can wear loose clothes and get through most things. Again, I definitely wouldn't have wanted to handle a big social event, but it's definitely not impossible. But like others have said, there is absolutely no flexibility about when your retrieval will be scheduled and you will only be told what day that is until about 3 days in advance!!!

And then... I hate to be a downer, but you need to be aware that you MAY get sick after your retrieval. I was definitely expecting to take the day of retrieval off of work and then was basically expecting to go completely back to normal. Instead, I didn't go back to work for a WEEK. I was in a lot of pain, was vomiting, was even MORE swollen, etc. It's called overstimulation and mild/moderate cases happen to about 20% of women. (Then there's the 1% who end up hospitalized over it.) Obviously, you will have no way of knowing if you are one of the unlucky few who will feel worse, not better, after retrieval, but you might want to at least try to prepare for that.

[Anonymous]

There is no wiggle room on retrieval day. Totally out of your hands.

I did 3 retrievals and always felt the worst right before. But I also never had more than 12 follicles.

My honest advice, which you may not like, is cancel the family in town. It's a preschool graduation. It's a few hours and it's an awesome event. But it's preschool. Go with your DH and enjoy and take the rest of the pressure off.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone!