Eggs Extraction/Delhi trip

I remember it went something like this. I had 9 eggs. They were only able to extract 6. Guess the rest got stuck. Only 5 fertilized. Of those only 4 grew well in 3 days. I get an email that all 4 were place in the surrogate, who rested in the hospital after that for the dreaded 2 week wait. I had transferred the $500 egg freezing charge early in my naivete thinking we would have leftovers. (Used that as a credit on the 2nd attempt with egg donor) When we are home I'll find out that 0 implanted and she did not get pregnant. I'll talk about that later, but the word disappointment doesn't cover it. .

The extraction was probably like it is in the US, save the shared operating room with another patient and that you tip the nurses. I have had plenty of surgeries, but when I saw the lady knocked out in the stirrups getting an egg extraction and realized that was about to be me I did freak a little bit and some tears leaked out of the corner of my eye. I was ticked at myself because I just made it through the police academy without crying, though puking was involved on the worst nights. But the anesthesiologist was so nice and sweet to me. He knocked me out with ketamine immediately, and I went to a happy happy place down a tunnel with bright lights where you could taste all the colors of the rainbow. The procedure only took 10-15 minutes but in my mind it took 30 seconds. I woke up with no pain, but wishing I could go back to the happy land of rainbows a little bit instead of the small waiting area on the comfy stretcher. My husband did later tell me they wheeled me out still in the stirrups, but fortunately no one else's husband was waiting that day for the showing. But remember, I was in happy land at the time and frankly if it gets me a baby I could have cared less and sold tickets. Unfortunately it did not get us a baby with my eggs, but it was something I had to do to finally accept that I'll never have a child with my eyes, smile, and belligerent personality!

A couple I meet in the hotel (whose baby was born last month I later heard) were feeling well enough to travel the next day, so I asked Dr. Patel and Dr. Hitesh and they said if I felt up to it we could. It was a little painful riding in the car with all the bumps, but it was well worth it to leave Anand early and stay in Delhi with family so that we could finally see them again. This was the best part of the trip, and totally unexpected. Vinnie and I had a great talk on the plane and were able to let go of some of the difficulties of living such separate lives the past year, and looked forward together towards finally having a family.


Art feature at Delhi airport-all hand symbols have meanings



Cool planter at Delhi airport


Before I got sick at the tail end, I did get a little touristy and walk around with Vinnie and take some pics. That part was fun, but I was not feeling all that well and whatever bug his family got I got much worse and got even sicker on the way home. I don't recommend to anyone flying with stopped up ears, because mine were damaged temporarily but could have caused permanent damage if it had been worse.


Mitlesh Auntie takes me to see the monkeys!!!

  

My husband's cousin Manu's wife Shalini Narang runs her own fashion design shop on the top story of their home. I took pics of all her beautiful fashions.   http://www.shalininarang.com/index.html

 

 

I walk around the neighborhood and take some pics.

 

 

Mitlesh Auntie takes us to two temples. It is my first time visiting the golden temple that I had seen in the distance. It is a Muslim temple, and you keep your head covered at all times and cannot take any pictures inside. The same rule for pictures at any temple, but if you google you can find some heathens who broke the rules.  
 When at the Lakshmi temple on the right I am sick and my nose is running constantly. Lucky for me because I find myself overwhelmed with emotion or leftover hormones and very tearful. I am unable to hold it in but try to disquise it. We make offerings to specific Gods and Goddesses, and I'm sure she is offering prayers for our success. I am stricken with thoughts of how much is riding on this, and how I'll ever recover if this doesn't work. I'm not sure if we have enough money to try again. 

Mitlesh Auntie keeps my spirits up, and I make an absolute pig out of myself eating the incredible food cooked by their amazing cook Gopal.  At least one of us likes to eat. She takes me shopping in an older area to buy a nose pin, which of course I promptly lose on the plane. Here is my favorite photo from the trip. Very artsy of me. 

My husband's cousin's daughter, which I think makes her a 2nd niece or something, is an expert at shopping and takes us to the most touristy area at Janpath to go shopping for souvenirs for my mother. It is as fun as I remembered, but again I tell myself I'll shop on my trip back aside from this small little foray.

On my last day I decide to keep with tradition and get some henna done. It doesn't stay on my hands all that well for some reason, so no after photos. But the during photos are nice. I was feeling so sick and look awful, but the artist was very good.

 

 
One final tip for traveling to India. Security is tight at airports and they don't mess around. ARRIVE EARLY!!!! Expect to go through multiple checkpoints and X-rays. Lots and lots of people stamping stuff. And most important because it could have caused us to miss our flight: HAVE A PRINTOUT that proves you have a flight. You have to get inside to get the boarding pass, so if you don't have one printed out then you better have a printed itinerary that is official looking.