As this is my second round of IVF, I am feeling a little bit more prepared for tomorrow’s egg retrieval surgery.  Here are some tips for preparing….

1.  Take a day off work the day before Egg retrieval.  Fortunately both times for me it has been a Sunday the day before and so have not been at work.  The chances are you are waddling around by this point, ovaries full of beautiful follicles!
2. Stay hydrated in the days leading up to and after Egg Retrieval.  Take a water bottle around with you every where (make sure it is BPA free, glass bottle would be better).  Add in the occasional sports  drink, such as Gatorade or Powerade.
3. Prepare you body to prevent constipation.  Prune juice worked wonders for me last time around.  I tried collace and that just did not get my bowels moving.  I am trying prune juice and green tea the day before Egg Retrieval, just in case this helps.  (I don’t know if it will, but it won’t hurt!).  It’s a mix of the anesthesia drugs, pain killers (if you decide to take the narcotics), dehydration and your ovaries ballooning from the follicles that are leaking in your ovaries that create the conditions for constipation.  Plus if you are constipated, you don’t want to be straining yourself after the surgery.
4. Pack your bag with some funky happy socks (ask if you are allowed to wear them), trashy magazines that don’t require too much concentration to read (you will be nervous whilst waiting so make it light reading with pretty pictures works well!), water bottle (remember you can’t drink/eat anything before the surgery so don’t forget this), powerade/gatorade for car journey home, with a banana or something similarly easy going on the stomach.  (You are not supposed to eat fried/fatty/heavy food after the anesthetic – it helps with your recovery if you avoid these foods.)
5. Change bed sheets day before Egg Retrieval so you can snuggle up into nice clean bed sheets when you get home.
6. Get the hot water bottle/heat pads ready.  I like hot water bottles because they are just that little bit warmer.
7. Have soft brushed, stretchy, baggy clothes ready, including pyjamas.  Go to surgery in loose clothes…the bloating will be almost instantaneous after surgery you might think that they snuck a pillow into your uterus whilst you were out of it.  Cosy socks – treat yourself to the ones with aloe lined in them, after all you will be in them for 24hrs or so, you might as well make them soft and beautiful whilst you are at it.
8. Stock up on healthy bite-sized snacks such as grapes, clementines, celery, raisins and pistachios.  Chicken or vegetable broth is probably all you will be able to stomach for lunch, and is easy going on the tum!  But also stock up on a little treat or two for later in the day.  YOU DESERVE IT AFTER THE PAST FEW WEEKS!!!!
9. Borrow, rent or add to your watch list a completely new season of a TV series.  Because really, the day after you are not going to be wanting to get off the sofa much.
10. I am also going to be keeping my sanity and avoid thinking every 5 seconds when I am going to get a fertilisation update by knitting, reading some more of ‘Gone With the Wind’ and adult colouring in (meditative colouring in no less!).

11. 

    Egg Retrieval survival kit!  On the left is what I will be wearing and taking with me to Egg retrieval.  On the right what I will mostly be wearing (pyjamas!), eating and entertaining myself with!!!

Feel free to add your Egg Retrieval tips below!! Share the love!!!