I have had 2 egg retrievals so far. The first one was super easy, very little pain or bloating after, was back to work the next day. Did not need anything for pain relief. They took out 12 eggs I believe and 3 made it to day 5.

The second egg retrieval was a doozy, I developed OHSS so my ovaries were over stimulated which made me feel extremely bloated. To walk, sit, lay, movement of any kind really, was so ridiculously painful. I couldn't work for a week. I had to go back to the doctor a week later and I saw a different doctor in the practice (mine was out) and looking at my ultrasound, he thought I was still waiting to have my retrieval, that's how bad it was. But I think that is worst case scenario, but figured you would want both extremes. And they took out 17 eggs the second time, so not that much more than the first time.

So I had my egg retrieval back in April of 2015. I had done two weeks or so of stim... and within that had 100 blood tests and ultrasounds. Once they eggs looked mature, I was told to do my trigger shot and had the retrieval 36 hours later. I had 20+ mature eggs so I was feeling bloated leading up to the retrieval, but otherwise felt ok.
My procedure was done under general anesthesia, so no eating or drinking after mid night the night before. The procedure itself was very brief. It took longer to put me out and wake me up than it did to actually get the eggs! They removed 20+ eggs, 14 fertilized and 6 made it to day 3. We then did a fresh transfer of two of the embryos and one took. The remaining 4 are still frozen.
My recovery post retrieval was minimal. They gave me pain meds in the hospital after the procedure and I went to over the counter meds after that. I didn't even need anything prescription. I was back to work the next day with no issues. And 3 days later we did the transfer, which is painless and literally only takes minutes. The hardest part to that was that I had to have a full bladder to do it lol and holding my pee that long was probably the only uncomfortable thing!

But for my next retrieval, it will be done under sedation and not general anesthesia. This is new for me. Has anyone done retrieval under just sedation and not full on knocked out?

I had my first retrieval last week! It was successful. MENTS: We retrieved 3 eggies and 2 were mature and immediately fertilized. Waiting to hear if they made it to 2-4 cell today. As far as surgery, the most painful part was the annoying IV on my wrist. I had general anesthesia and felt nothing. I had AF like cramps that were mild and was just tired. Slept the whole day after procedure. Yeah I feel bloated and took laxatives for only 2 days. Also drank lots of water and prunes and never had a problem clearing out daily. The 3 rd day was the most painful. I heard you should take it easy for a week or so, therefore I will not start exercise to avoid ovarian torsion. So I am ok with being pudgy, if it means I won't damage and loose an ovary! Lol.

I woke up trying to shake people hands and asked "how many eggs did my chicken lay today". I was completely out. I didn't feel a thing during the procedure. They strapped my legs up which made me uncomfortable but they knocked me out so quick I didn't have too much time to think about it. I was at high risk for OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrom) so they had me eat lots and lots of salt and drink lots and lots of Gatorade after. I was sore for about 3-4 weeks after but I devolved alot of follicles. My estrogen was well over 4000. Again, I was at high risk for OHSS. My dr told me that why I was sore for so long after. We transfered 1 egg but it didn't take. My husband and I are doing our first frozen cycle at the end of this month. Good luck to you! It wasn't bad!