- My estradiol yesterday (Sat 9/18) was 765
- Today it looks like I have 5 follicles on each ovary with the following average size (I bolded the larger ones):
Left
- 18 mm
- 17 mm
- 8 mm
- 15 mm
- 12 mm
Right
- 20 mm
- 18 mm
- 15 mm
- 11 mm
- 12 mm
I asked Dr. Heiner if this looks good - he said for an ICSI round he usually likes to have at least two 20 mm follicles, but that he'd probably go ahead and have me trigger tonight for egg retrieval on Tues morning.
Blake and I like to place bets for bragging rights (yesterday while waiting for my exam, I bet him that Dr. Heiner had ridden his bike in to work - we asked and I was wrong - he was going to his daughter's birthday party after work so didn't have time... d'oh! Foiled!) - this morning he bet me Dr. Heiner would come in at 9:11 a.m. and I bet him it would be sooner - it was sooner! Hooray - one for me. Dr. Heiner thinks it's funny that we do that and said maybe we should bet how many eggs we'll get? I immediately said "4" - Blake said "5". I kind of hope Blake is right.
Dr. Heiner said that they will generally retrieve from follicles over 15 mm; he said at 14-15 mm, you generally get a viable egg 50% of the time (better as they are bigger). He thought my guess of 4 was pretty good.
The nurse instructed me on how to do the trigger injection and gave me instructions through Tues assuming lab results didn't change the plan. It's pretty easy - I have a powder vial of HCG (10,000 units worth) and a vial of diluent (liquid). I use one of my mixing syringes to draw up 1 cc (or 1 mL), inject it into the powder and withdraw the needle, roll the vial to thoroughly mix, draw it all back up - carefully to get every last drop possible, switch needles, and inject into my abdomen. Then tomorrow I take a pregnancy test around 11-12 noon to make sure it absorbed adequately (as indicated by a positive test). If I don't get a positive, I'm supposed to try a different test; if no positive, I call the nurse for further instruction. Hope it is positive! :)
This afternoon the nurse called to verify that I will do my trigger shot tonight at 10:30 p.m. (my estradiol today was 1132 so progressing pretty well), then Tuesday we are to get there at 9 a.m. - they'll prep me for retrieval while Blake gives his sample and my retrieval will be at 9:30 a.m. (35 hrs post-trigger shot - the trigger shot will make you ovulate 36-40 hrs after you take it so timing is VERY IMPORTANT!!!) No food/drink for me until after the surgery/retrieval.
They'll let us know Tues who wins the bet re: how many eggs we get, then we should find out Wed if/how many successfully fertilize. Fingers crossed! I'm hoping for 3-4...
I am nervous, excited, and happy - I feel calm and like this is a good thing to be doing. Hopefully by next Sun we'll have transferred a couple of embryos and will be going into the dreaded waiting period to see if things take!
So this is my last shot this cycle tonight... weird. This is going by FAST!!!
After retrieval, assuming all goes well, I'll start taking progesterone (not by shot) and 81 mg baby aspirin, and continue with the prenatal vitamins.
Thanks again for all of the kind thoughts and prayers coming our way! :)
P.S. I'm so thankful - I got to talk to my friend JoDee who is going to take care of one of two meetings I need to cover Tues! :) Woohoo!
Blake and I like to place bets for bragging rights (yesterday while waiting for my exam, I bet him that Dr. Heiner had ridden his bike in to work - we asked and I was wrong - he was going to his daughter's birthday party after work so didn't have time... d'oh! Foiled!) - this morning he bet me Dr. Heiner would come in at 9:11 a.m. and I bet him it would be sooner - it was sooner! Hooray - one for me. Dr. Heiner thinks it's funny that we do that and said maybe we should bet how many eggs we'll get? I immediately said "4" - Blake said "5". I kind of hope Blake is right.
Dr. Heiner said that they will generally retrieve from follicles over 15 mm; he said at 14-15 mm, you generally get a viable egg 50% of the time (better as they are bigger). He thought my guess of 4 was pretty good.
The nurse instructed me on how to do the trigger injection and gave me instructions through Tues assuming lab results didn't change the plan. It's pretty easy - I have a powder vial of HCG (10,000 units worth) and a vial of diluent (liquid). I use one of my mixing syringes to draw up 1 cc (or 1 mL), inject it into the powder and withdraw the needle, roll the vial to thoroughly mix, draw it all back up - carefully to get every last drop possible, switch needles, and inject into my abdomen. Then tomorrow I take a pregnancy test around 11-12 noon to make sure it absorbed adequately (as indicated by a positive test). If I don't get a positive, I'm supposed to try a different test; if no positive, I call the nurse for further instruction. Hope it is positive! :)
This afternoon the nurse called to verify that I will do my trigger shot tonight at 10:30 p.m. (my estradiol today was 1132 so progressing pretty well), then Tuesday we are to get there at 9 a.m. - they'll prep me for retrieval while Blake gives his sample and my retrieval will be at 9:30 a.m. (35 hrs post-trigger shot - the trigger shot will make you ovulate 36-40 hrs after you take it so timing is VERY IMPORTANT!!!) No food/drink for me until after the surgery/retrieval.
They'll let us know Tues who wins the bet re: how many eggs we get, then we should find out Wed if/how many successfully fertilize. Fingers crossed! I'm hoping for 3-4...
I am nervous, excited, and happy - I feel calm and like this is a good thing to be doing. Hopefully by next Sun we'll have transferred a couple of embryos and will be going into the dreaded waiting period to see if things take!
So this is my last shot this cycle tonight... weird. This is going by FAST!!!
After retrieval, assuming all goes well, I'll start taking progesterone (not by shot) and 81 mg baby aspirin, and continue with the prenatal vitamins.
Thanks again for all of the kind thoughts and prayers coming our way! :)
P.S. I'm so thankful - I got to talk to my friend JoDee who is going to take care of one of two meetings I need to cover Tues! :) Woohoo!
Wow, so much going on!! It sounds like everything is good! Things ARE going by fast, it's really happening, so exciting. :) Let me know what I can do to help on Tuesday...
ReplyDeleteThank you Kris! You're already saving me with your work on the grant! Let me know if I can do anything to help tomorrow (Mon) before I'm out - that's about it at the moment! :)
ReplyDeleteWOW WOW WOW AND WOW ,thank you so much Melissa, this is amazing , Ive been down sick and didnt get to see it yesterday but here it is all the ingredients ,remember your young womens motto that got me threw yesterday....cannot wrap my mind around this account ....incredible... gotta go pray...miraculous wonderful more than good thing!!!! yikes this is so wonderful to be able to have you be such a smarty pants so that we can know completely what is happening when and then you with all your going through to be so utterly unselfish to take the time to explain .. thats my wonderful daughter....what a joy you are ....sometimes I havent wanted to be a blog I wanted to be a mom and now I see this is the absolute greatest ...luv mom
ReplyDeletejust wondering, now with your diabetes how do you go that long without food or water? mom
ReplyDeleteOh it works out pretty well - I just usually let my blood sugars run just a little high. Plus I'll be in at 9 a.m. and probably done by ~10:30 a.m. - so it's just like sleeping in/eating breakfast late! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mom - all is going great.
when will they introduce the embryos to you? when all that goes that way
ReplyDelete:) That is a cute way of saying that! They will take a picture of the ones they're transferring, so I guess that counts, right? If/when we have embryos ready to transfer, it will be on day 3 or 5 after retrieval. If all goes well tomorrow and we get some developing, that will be Fri or Sun for us. The embryologist monitors the developing embryos and makes the call on which day he/she thinks will give us the best chance - so we won't know too far ahead of time which it will be. We'll let you know when we know for sure! :)
ReplyDelete