Home again

Well, that was an interesting experience. The nurse who came to talk to me and start my IV found out early on that I'm an anesthetist. I decided to tell her since I drank a cup of apple juice this morning at 8am, more than 2 hours before the procedure, which is completely acceptable even before a general anesthetic. I didn't want her to think I was just some idiot flaunting the rules.
She was really hesitant poking me for the IV, and I helped her find the vein in my elbow, but she didn't manage to thread the catheter in properly. Then she got another nurse to try on my forearm - no success. Then I tried in the back of my hand - got blood in the needle, but wasn't in the vein long enough to thread the catheter in. Then they got one of the REs from LQ to come and try, who supposedly never misses, and he blew it twice. After that, we agreed to just do it with local anesthetic and a little nitrous oxide (laughing gas) if I needed it. You should see the bruises now!
I was just as happy with that, since I didn't really want drugs on board to make me feel woozy or nauseous afterwards. Dr H did try to talk me into to taking something, but I turned it all down. The local in the vaginal was a little pinch, but not bad. Until the epinephrine in it hit (what people give themselves for anaphylactic reactions - it constricts blood vessels and bumps up your blood pressure and heart rate), and I got a major head rush, racing heart, felt lightheaded, and had a funny sensation in my ears. That went away in about 30 seconds, and then I felt better.
The retrieval itself wasn't too bad after that. The right side was a little less painful than the left, which got a little ouchy at the end when he was aspirating the small follicles. Nothing that was unbearable by any means. My legs started shaking a little right at the end, but settled down when I steadied one of them with my hand.
He told me before he started the retrieval that he was really glad we triggered when we did. My E2 apparently jumped up to 13000 yesterday after the HCG shot, and he still thinks I could be at slight risk of hyperstimulation. After the retrieval was over, he told me we got 16 eggs. We'll get the call tomorrow that will tell us how many were mature and how many fertilized. I hope most of them did!
Now the wait begins. I'm hanging out at home with a heating pad on my belly (which is partially distracting my body from the little bit of pain in the vagina and weirdly the rectum) and hoping that the two extra strength tylenol I took after the procedure will be enough to keep me comfy when the local wears off.
I hope my colleagues don't all decide they need to ask why I have bruises all over from the IV attempts when I go to work on Monday!