This pain I have

is ~not~ the kind that I experienced with all my laparoscopies. The laproscopic pain was due to trapped gas and it would "float" UP depending on what position I was in. For instance, standing up would make my shoulders hurt. Laying on my back would make the air "float" to the top of my belly.

This pain is different. I can tell this is fluid because when I am sitting up, it gathers at the bottom of my abdominal cavity. When I was trying to lay down, it would sit on the bottom, whatever was against the bed - and that was the worst. It would lay in a pool along my side and the pain by my lung/shoulder would be the worst. Which makes sense since there is just no room for fluid to hang out up above. Every breath would make me cry out in pain since the expanding lung would force the fluid to be compressed.

So, this is why I have been in a sitting up position for 2 days now, there is room for the fluid in the abdominal cavity where there isn't room when I lay down and it moves up top. These pictures show how bloated my stomach is. My stomach isn't supermodel flat, but it certainly doesn't stick out this much. I seriously look like I did when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Allison. (Or 16 weeks with Ella).



I've been drinking ~tons~ of gatorade. Tons. And low carbs (per nurse) and extra protein. It's seeming to help. I gained about 8 lbs of fluid since surgery, and as of this morning, I'm down 4 lbs. Still quite bloated, but not as bad. Now I think it's just my giant ovaries which need to shrink, which will take some time.

When the nurse called with my fert report, I asked her what the next step was. She told me I was to definitely call with cd1, which due to no progesterone/estrogen, should happen in about a week. Then she said something that made me happy... "If we are going to try to get you ready for the April cycle, we'll be doing all we can to calm down everything." Whew. That means they are going to ~try~ to get me ready asap. If I'm not ready, I understand, for I want to have perfect conditions. But if anyone would really think about my situation, I want to do this as soon as my body cooperates. I'm not going to wait "just in case", like one of the last commenters said. If my body is physically ready and my lining is good, we're going for it. I won't push it if I'm not ready, but I simply do ~not~ have "a couple more months" in me just to wait around. As you all know, we're closing up shop in 5 months. If I wait, then I'm giving up the chance to even try another round of IVF.

I feel lots better today. Hopefully I'm well on my way to recovery. My left ovary still is pretty painful, but I am hoping that's all because it's starting to shrink now.

Thanks to everyone for their support! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

To The Mod Squad - I'm thinking of each and every one of you! I'm so happy there are 9 of you. As you will learn, mommy and daddy are both huge baseball fans (go redsox!) and there are 9 players on a team. The number 9 is daddy's lucky number. The number 9 is daddy's birthday. Having 9 of you makes me feel secure that 9 embryos is all we will need. Go nine!