Donor Blog

Bloatedness: Post Day 5

I spent the rest of my days in Boston touring around and taking it easy. I've already returned home now. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to still have this bloated feeling 5 days after the retrieval. This doesn't feel right. I've been letting it slide without reporting it because I have been stuffing myself in the amazing Boston restaurants and figured I would gain a little vacation weight. Also, I haven't had one bowel movement since the retrieval, so I thought it was just gas and constipation building up inside. If I massage my abdomen, I still feel sore spots and sometimes a little pressure or pinch here or there. I blamed the sore spots to all the severe vomiting and the workout my insides got from it, and the pressure/pinches from gas/constipation.

Yesterday and today, I've been starting to feel like this bloating is going up almost to my ribcage. It stops just under my sternum, so I have trouble taking in deep breaths. My belly is so bloated I look like I'm "starting to show." I have no appetite (I think because my stomach is squished), but when I do eat, I can eat a normal hearty meal and realize I needed to eat. I feel very tired and doing anything physical like walking a flight of stairs exhausts me and because I can't breathe in deeply to catch my breath, it takes a longer time for me to relax. I was able to endure it to this point, but if it gets any worse, I could be hurting myself.

I just sent an e-mail to Boston IVF and my case manager, and both of them believe I am experiencing moderate symptoms of OHSS. I'm not in any pain, it's just not very comfortable. I have to wear my stretchy pants since I can't close anything that buttons, and loose fitting shirts to hide my protruding belly. We will monitor my progress tonight to see if I need to make an appointment to get it checked out by a local IVF doctor. Every egg donor's recipients are required to purchase Donor Accidental Insurance, which covers 100% of any post-retrieval issues for 3 months. So if I do need further treatment, I'll be covered.