Me and my Vagus

I thought while I was here I would address a comment from lostintranslation about the anesthetic. I found the collection pretty painful, which I kind of expected (although it was worse than I thought) but opted for a local because generals are so full on and I think to be avoided if possible.

I didn’t mention this before because it seemed kind of trivial in the scheme of things, but of course now I feel like dissecting my experience a bit – I think it helps with the grief.

While the most invasive part of the process was going on – the jiggling – where it felt like the doctor was punching repeatedly at my cervix with a sharp object – oh yeah she actually WAS doing that – I started to pass out. Not from the pain, it wasn’t that bad. I just started to get all light headed, even though I was lying down and as I’m familiar with fainting (low blood pressure) I knew I was on my way out. Big H knows that I know when it’s happening for real, so he was pretty concerned. They had to slow down and make sure I was still with it a couple of times. Then I had this weird crying reaction that felt un-emotional but unstoppable. Then I was ok. Apparently I had a Vagal Response. We have a “vagus nerve” in our cervix’s and sometimes when it’s stimulated it causes dizziness, nausea etc.

The upshot of that is that “next time” I should have a general for the egg collection.

I just thought I’d share that because I had never heard of it before. I think I’d still rather chance it with a local and some mental preparation. If I was to do this again. Which I don’t know if I will…