A Welcome Day Off

Guess who doesn't get ANY needles today? That's right. THIS girl!

So, this is a boring update. No ultrasound this morning. I triggered last night. Smudge has been having some trouble getting down to sleep thanks to some molars, so her Dad was busy. Smudge's Aunt had to do the trigger honors, and despite both of us being terrified she might f it up somehow, she did a great job!

This morning I went to Dr. Z's office. On the way, I noticed the street sign on the highway for the exit I take. I always see it, but I just never paid attention before. Do you know what I mean. Anyway - this is what I saw:

All roads lead to hope.

Anyway, this trip was just for a blood draw. No follicle check this morning. There's no reason to. They triggered me, so 36 hours from trigger, they go in and take all of the eggs out. The follicles should keep growing (and therefore eggs maturing) post trigger, so it's always a little bit of a surprise to find out how many they'll get. 

I can't wait to find out what my E2 was today. They'll tell me tomorrow before retrieval. There's a chart somewhere online (i'll have to google) that gives you an estimate of how much estrogen each follicle puts out and at what stage. It can help you figure out exactly how many good eggs you have going on in there. All I know is my numbers are better than they have ever been. 

Nothing but good things can happen tomorrow.

T-22.5 hours until show time. 

It's 9pm. Do You Know Where Your Follicles Are?

It's Official!

Holy crap. I can't even wait to get to my laptop. I just downloaded the blogger app, and I'm writing from my phone!

I'm triggering tonight. This is totally my Smudge schedule. Trigger at 9pm, ER Wednesday morning.

Who wants to know my E2?

1314.

One thousand three hundred and fourteen. It's not a type-o, folks. It's the best pre-trigger E2 I have ever had.

These eggs are going to kick ass.

Now it starts to get interesting. Keep everything crossed for me and stay tuned.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Or, what a difference a doctor makes. Either way, today is a complete reversal of how I felt over the weekend. Today, I actually feel this foreign feeling. It could actually be:

Smudge's Dad says that Dr. O's technique must just be "different". Screw that PC crap. I say she's an idiot. But I feel like I have the right to say that after the IF hell she put me through the last two days.

When I got to Dr. Z's office this morning (first, as usual), my only hope was that Fran was back in the office and I was going to get to see her for monitoring. I got even better. I got Dr. Z. He only had one retrieval this morning, and he made time to see me (I haven't seen him since the middle of last week) before he got that started. The first thing he said was, "Your lining looks great." Great? Yesterday it was 12, which I know isn't anything to sneeze at, but my hallmark is nice thick linings, so 12 didn't make me happy. Today's 16.2mm makes me smile though. 

16mm of beautiful trilaminar lining! MY lining.

He got really quiet then, and was just clicking and measuring. Nothing can make an infertile more nervous that her normally talkative and smiling RE quiet. So, he started talking... mundane stuff. How was your weekend? Telling me about some boring business conference he had to go to. Asking me if I had met Dr O this weekend? That was my in. I mentioned that I had, and that she measures a bit differently that he does. And obviously, that he remains my favorite. 

By then he was done. I sat back and asked him how they looked. He said, "They look great. You're probably going to trigger tonight".

What?!

I told him that yesterday I had only had 2 follicles above 15 and the majority were 12 -13mm. He just shook his head, chuckled and showed me the numbers for myself.

I have 5 that are DEFINITELY mature (above 17mm), 3 that are PROBABLY mature (above 16mm) and 6 that MIGHT mature by retrieval (above 13mm), since they continue to mature after trigger. That might mature category includes one 15.4mm and three 14.5mm or larger. There's no way anyone can convince me that all of these sprung up from 12-13mm follicles overnight. So, thank you Dr. O for needless worry. I'm thrilled I'm not your actual patient, and I'm kind of concerned for the ones who are.

And now that is gone, out of my head, and my focus is on waiting for the phone call with my instructions for tonight and tomorrow.

If I trigger tonight, I'll be on the same timeline as my Smudge cycle, with a wednesday retrieval. Interesting note, my lining was 16mm the night I triggered for her as well.

I feel really positive (and bloated) right now. I know things are working in there. There's no question. I have NEVER felt this bloated or full during an IVF cycle, and that is just a testament to my ovaries in overdrive.

I asked Dr. Z about my estrogen per follicle theory and asked him what he thought. He said that he felt that it showed that the egg quality was going to be superior. I'll take it.

So, for now, I'm sitting here, once again staring at the phone. I'm excited. I'm hopeful. I'm a little uncomfortable.

It looks like tonight is the night. EEEEEEEEEEEK! Here we go again!

Power to the Penguins

I have a confession. I'm comparing cycles like a mofo. 

I got my E2 back. It's 498. So, definitely better than yesterday. Today is stims day 8. Wouldn't you know that I also started Ganirelix on stims day 8 in my Smudge cycle too? That's a happy coincidence, don't you think? My E2 was 615, but I also had 13 follicles over 10mm. Now I only have 8! I think that's really good news for my level.  I had 13 follicles and the E2 was 615 (we retrieved 13 eggs BTW, but only 7 were mature).  I think it's actually HIGHER now, looking at the number of follicles. The actual number is a little bit lower, but I have almost half the number of follicles! I bet all 7 of these will be mature. 

Can you imagine if they all fertilize?! The thought of having 7 embryos is almost overwhelming. I don't know if we would ever do another fresh cycle (if this cycle works), but Smudge's Dad has already agreed to do a FET in the future if we wind up with something to freeze. 

Okay - getting ahead of myself. 

All that matters is I have 7 follicles going strong. 

Going back tomorrow, and I'm sure every day until trigger. 

OMG. This is going to happen REALLY soon.

And the Happy Feet Update is....

E2 is 293. I go back tomorrow and likely every day from now until trigger.

Hopefully things start picking up.

(As I try desperately to NOT compare anything to last cycle.)