It’s been a very exciting day! We are just about done with meds and all set for surgery on Wednesday to retrieve my pretty little eggs.
I met with Dr. H this morning to do final vaginal ultrasound (for now) and blood work (for now). I brought him a card that I wrote in my mind this morning at 5am. Later when I wrote it and then read it, it made me cry. Which isn’t saying a whole lot but then I read it to Gina and it made her cry too, so I think I did what I intended it to do: give this man my utmost gratitude for using his great mind and skill and heart in helping us become pregnant.
Card for Dr. H ~ Full of love and gratitude.
Final Stats
So, here are the final stats on my follicles and blood work.
– I showed 20 follicles today! Yowza! BUT…
– About 10 of those were too big or too small to assume they’ll be “viable” (one was at 28 mm, no wonder it’s uncomfortable to walk at this point!)
– About 10 look like they are “just right” and will likely be fertilized. Yah!
– My estrogen is over 3000 today- and I feel it. Seriously. It’s like having way too many drugs in my body and everything is just, too much.
– He said that my follicles are “much farther apart in size than what’s average”. You have to get that Dr. H rarely uses words like “much farther” followed by “average”- he’s just not a dramatic kind of guy…nor does he like to alarm us overly estrogenated women. But, for me, I had eggs that were 7mm to 28 mm, and he likes the follicles to all be right around 18mm at this stage. Again, I never was one to confirm so I guess my follicles are not either.
– Suffice to say, he still is “very pleased” and when I asked him if we’ll lose the largest follicles and he told me that’s likely, “but,” he reminded me, “there is nothing to worry about.” So, I will not worry. He’s happy. I’ll be happy. All part of my game called surrender. While my health and my body are mine, I am also learning to give way to the expert who really knows how to get a girl knocked up. And so it goes.
My follicles on Day 7- The large one on top is 20mm in this pic. One day later, it measured 28mm.
Final Instructions
In the end, he prescribed one more does of Menpur (which Caitlin gave to me in the office- I had been instructed to bring it with me) and tonight at 10pm, one last dose of Follistim. At 11pm, we’ll do the long-awaited “Trigger shot”. Instructions read “EXACTLY AT 11pm!!!”
The timing of the retrieval surgery is totally dependent on this trigger shot. It will be exactly 35 hours later (Wednesday morning). If it’s even an hour too late, we risk losing it all. Why? Because once the HCG (trigger shot) is injected my body will begin to surge (toward ovulation). When that happens, certain chemicals are released in the follicles and the structure of the eggs begins to change. If it/they change too much before harvested, it’s too late. When they say they have this down to a science, they really aren’t kidding. *Note: the HCG that we’ll inject is actually the pregnancy hormone from pregnant women’s urine. Trip out.
Here is a video of the Follistim and the last Lupron. The Follistim is a “pen” that we crank to the right amount. Once Gina is in my skin, she pushes the top down with her thumb then waits 5 seconds to let all the meds release into my body. Note the lovely crunching sound that you hear when the needle penetrates my belly.
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Trigger Shot
Trigger shot with baby alter in the background.
Next Steps
Well, thank goodness no doc appointments and no shots tomorrow! Not even acupuncture. Yah!
I have pre-op instructions now and a slew of papers to sign (Gina took an hour to read over them thoroughly).
Tomorrow after midnight no eating or drinking. Show up Wednesday morning at 9:15. Surgery at 10am. Takes about 45 minutes. By noon, the eggs begin to be fertilized.
I’ll take the whole day off Wednesday. We’ll get a call later once we are home letting us know how many follicles they got.
We’ll get one more call (and they are clear on that) before we do the embryo transfer. That call will be on Thursday when they’ll tell us how many eggs they have fertilized. From there… we pray. At least I know I will.
Five days later, on a Monday (one week from today), we’ll do the embryo transfer. I’ll take the whole week off and be on bed rest for half of it (Dr. H’s orders). We’ll start on some painful progesterone shots and 10 days later take a blood test to tell us if we are pregnant. And, Bob’s your uncle.
I Am.
One last thought… this weekend I saw the film, I Am. I recommend you see it. It’s THAT kind of film. It really got me thinking about the energy that I am holding and creating right now, and how that energy is going into these follicles/eggs and how these eggs are the beginning of our child’s life. The begining of our child’s life!!!
And so, it’s not just the pregnancy that I want to bring good juju to but the time is, not surprisingly, now. The time is now to be happy, present, calm, content- to bring good juju. The time is now to believe and to know, unequivocally and without a doubt that we are all connected and all one and that all is well. The time is now to just BE love, sit back and let it all unfold.