Update for those who may be in the same boat. Here's what I did. Your mileage may vary.
Remove wheels on both sides
Remove cotter pins on CV shaft
Loosen CV shaft nuts, tighten finger tight as best as possible
Remove shocks on both sides
Bounce the suspension by hand as hard as you can. Lifting high as possible then forcibly dropping does the trick.
See if the CV shafts move outwards from the differential while doing this
If you bounce it hard enough you might get lucky and have the CV pop out clean
If not wedge something between the CV and the differential and bounce the suspension.
Pops right out.