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.

Hubby arrives in Anand

I was thrilled to see my husband! This was a new start for us, because for the past year I had been working opposite shifts from him and sometimes with opposite days off as well as doing the police academy. We hardly saw each other for a year, and when we did I was beyond exhausted from the physical training and no sleep and a high stress job supervising training in emergency services. I demoted myself right before the trip so that we would work the same shift, I could work less hours, be less stressed, and finally focus on my family and give up my workaholic tendencies. It's amazing how everything fell into place once I set my priorities straight, and I haven't looked back since.

The first day he was there he was bleary eyed and jet lagged, but they sent him upstairs right away for some paperwork. He never did get to meet our surrogate, but I'm sure that could have been arranged because most husbands did. My husband was only there a few days, and I didn't push for it to happen.

They asked if we wanted to do a frozen backup sample, and we were not charged extra for this. This was done really so that if he couldn't perform on the actual day of transfer they would have an extra one ready. We said okay, though I really wished he could wait until after he was rested so that we got good little swimmers. I will forever be grateful we said yes!  Any rumors you hear about the sperm collection room are probably true. I wouldn't say it is gross, but it sure feels that way because you know this room only exists for one purpose so nothing feels clean. They give you a sheet with instructions and a tiny container, and this is India after all so no visual aids to help you along. I did not realize there was A/C in this room, and only saw it turned on the separate waiting area dowstairs for foreigners.  I think the worst part is the line of folks directly outside in the waiting area, male and female, who all know what you are doing. No pressure. The best thing I can say about this part is that the room has a lock. I highly recommend asking if you can leave and do this in your hotel room and come right back, because I heard that is allowed. Video below:

I spent a few more days feeling ill, and then finally the shots stopped and we were ready for egg extraction. The last shot was delivered by a nurse on the day the clinic was closed, and so she came to our hotel late at night with her husband. In India it is normal and expected to TIP YOUR NURSES! I recommend at least 50 rupees minimum, but 100-150 is better. I'm not really sure but that is what we gave.

Before I detail the egg extraction, here is some local pics we took. I loved walking up to the fruit and veggie market because I am an afficiando of exotic fruit and veg. I wish I wasn't so sick and had an electric stove with me, because I would have found a way to buy and cook some!

 

 

At the end of the road near the train station I took a pic of the Gandhi statue and Christian church near the veggie market.



Ghandi Statue near train station



Christian Church near police station





I find it cool that scaffolding is actual limbs



Celebratory parade for some festival going on





Pellet guns sold along street to local males I'm sure. Guns are legal only with a special permit that you are under threat I'm told.



 



Once again I indulge in my habit of visiting fast food chains in foreign countries. The Subway was great, and there are two lines for vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Yummy! Some say not to eat the lettuce (no peel, local water) but I forgot at the time and did not get sick. Diggin the guy with the US flag T-shirt!

I took several cool videos of the local area on my iphone but can't seem to figure out how to pull them off Facebook and put them here. So I'll post one from HammockGuy66.