Egg Retrieval - "12 is my new favorite number"

Okay, so first things first.  How many eggs did they retrieve?  12.  A perfect number for eggs as they typically come in a dozen!  J was the one who told me how many eggs they retrieved and I guess I have seen so many large numbers from other girls that I thought 12 was low but the two Dr.'s who did the retrieval seemed genuinely excited with this number.  When J told me they retrieved 12 I was just waking up and I apologized the number was so low but after J told me what he researched regarding ER numbers, I feel at peace with the number 12.  12 eggs on the 12th of May as J said.  Perfect.  I just hope they are healthy and mature.

Our morning started early.  We were due at the Dr. at 6:45 AM but a huge storm came through St. Louis and woke us up at around 3:00.  J and I got up and prepared for the day and talked a little bit about what was in store.  He had ER questions so I showed him a couple of blogs and I think that helped.  So we finally left for the Dr. and arrived right on time.  We were there before the office opened so we had to ring a buzzer.  We were greeted promptly by a nice lady from the OR and taken back to our room and I was told to get dressed in a gown, hat and booties.  Another nice nurse came in and told us what to expect for today and the next few days and then Dr. C and Dr. K came in and shared more information.  I felt at ease knowing I was in good hands.  Anesthesia came in and drew blood for a study I am participating in and started an IV, a kiss good bye to Jamie and I was walked to the Operating room.  I was in there two minutes tops and I remember feeling the effects of the drugs while my feet were placed in stirrups.  I vaguely remember being told to scoot over to another bed after the retrieval was over and then I woke up in my room.  The whole procedure was about an hour.  I was back in my room at 8:40.  A nurse came to check on me and told me she was going to get my husband.  He came in a few minutes later and gave me a thumbs down sign...this wasn't in reference to the eggs but rather in reference to the "collection room".  We had come up with a plan earlier that he would give me a thumbs up or thumbs down first thing indicating whether the room was nice or not.  He did very well though and the nurse said his specimen looked good.

I had some apple juice and a Graham cracker and after an hour and a half in recovery we left.  I took it easy on the sofa for most of the day and had a nap around noon.  J was so nice as to get me lunch complete with flowers and a card.  Love that guy.  His mother, Nancy, came over later and brought a card and a beautiful bracelet too.  The card read "12 is my new favorite number" on the inside and the bracelet said "dream".  It was so nice and it turns out I have been dreaming today.  I've been day-dreaming about my eggs and J's sperm in the petri dish.  Hoping they are playing nice and even visualizing a sperm penetrating one of the eggs as I drifted off to sleep this afternoon.  I hope that is what's happening.  A perfect egg and a perfect sperm playing nice and making a perfect baby.

First fertilization report comes tomorrow.  There will be either a three or five day transfer.  So Saturday or Monday is what we can expect.  I am sore and crampy today but I am headed back to work tomorrow to save my payed time off for next week when I will really want to be home and rest provided there is a transfer.  I will close with a couple of pictures.  Me after the surgery and J on a business call working from the hospital.

Stim Day 11 - Trigger tonight! :)

We arrived at the office at about 7:45 this morning and the waiting room was packed.  We managed to snag a love seat against a wall and waited for about 5 minutes.  I went in for blood work and we were off to ultrasound.  My left ovary had 14 measurable follicles with 19 being the largest.  Other follicles measured were 3x18, 16, 15.5, 14.5 and some smaller ones. The right ovary had 9 measurable follicles with 18.5 being the largest and it's other follicles measured 2x17, 15.5, 14, 131 2x12, 11.5.  The ultrasound tech was kind of surprised at how many follicles I had and I guess how big they were.  She asked if anyone had mentioned egg retrieval yet.  I told her that Thursday had been thrown out there but no official word.  The follicles were large and all smooshed.  On a TMI note:  Holy EWCM batman! It would seem as though my body is getting ready for the ovulation of it's lifetime (it kinda is) and does all this estrogen give you full time THO or something?  Geez Louise!  I've had THO for four days straight, J even laughs.

Okay so.....the good news!  I heard from a nurse at 1:30 today.  I'm triggering tonight!!!  Egg retrieval is Wednesday!  Oh, I am just so thrilled and feel so thankful that we have made it this far.  Every little milestone is such a blessing and just to have made it past stim day 10 means we are in new territory.  From this point on we are newbies to the process.   

Instructions for the next few days are as follows:

Monday night instructions-

• watch video on how to prepare and give trigger injeciton
• trigger shot at exactly 7:30
• a little personal interaction between j and myself (Dr's orders to clean out the "pipes".)

Tuesday instructions-

• no injections AT ALL (Yay!)  I get a holiday!

Wednesday instructions-

• Nothing to eat or drink after midnight
• Arrive at office for ER at 6:45 AM
• ER scheduled for 7:30 AM
• Not to wear anything scented at all as it can affect the eggs and sperm, wear glasses, remove jewelry
• Bring progesterone and medrol medications
• Bring inhaler just in case

Eek!!  I am so excited.  Very nervous as I have no idea what we are about to go through and scared to death of bad news from here on out but I am thankful, so thankful for this chance.  I called J to share all of this news with him and at the end J asked "did you call my mom and tell her?"  I said "no, why don't you call, this is your news too-you should call and share."  We both went back and forth a few times and decided to call her on three way.  You would think we were celebrating a real pregnancy here people, no...just egg retrieval.  It's the little things.  :)

If you have read this far I want to leave you with a quote from a beautiful blogger at KelleHampton.com.  I had to reread this a few times to really understand it and translate it to my life.  With Mother's Day just passing it's worth the read...  House of Motherhood is the title of the post, you can visit her blog for her entire post.

"In each of our Houses, there are doors. Doors which, upon our entrance, transform us into better, more beautiful women. Doors to rooms which hold deep pains, pure joys, and truths which will root themselves deep into our souls and change us for good."

Stim Day 9 - We have lift off!!!!!

J and I went in for our second ultrasound this morning.  I couldn't imagine much would change over night but there were changes.  To my delight the biggest change was in my E2!  961!!!!!  I thought we might see some larger follicles or more of them maybe but it never occured to me that my E2 would almost DOUBLE!  I am so thrilled.  This E2 was a huge hurdle in my mind.  As for the ultrasound the technician took one glance at my ovary and said "boy I bet you are sore you have a lot going on in there! " then she turned to J and said "she's not lying if she says she's sore".  We hadn't even discussed me being sore but I have been.  My abdomen is extremely tender.  This morning I told J that I was lying in bed and thought I could trace on my abdomen exactly where my ovaries and uterus are!  We did see more follicles over 10mm, 8 this time on the left ovary with the largest at 12.5 and 11 on the right ovary with the largest at 14.5.  Things are looking great.  The nurse said that they are expecting my egg retrieval to be Thursday. So if this is true it looks like I will be triggering Tuesday night.  Next ultrasound is Monday morning at 7:50.  I can't wait to see progress.  Fingers and toes crossed!  XX  Meds stay the same tonight and tomorrow night.

We have our massages in a couple of hours and I am going to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend and just appreciate all of these wonderful things I have to be thankful for.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Stim Day 8 - U/S!!

So much to say!  My E2 today was 447.  That's a slightly better rise than I saw on day 6.  I just cross my fingers that I see a good jump soon.  The nurse said that the Dr. wanted to keep my lupron at 10 units and Menopur at 150 again tonight but to up the Follistim dose to 225.  We go in again tomorrow for more blood work and another ultrasound at 8:50.  Hopefully the extra Follistim does something spectacular!  See my chart below with new information added.

I had a special visitor at my ultrasound this morning, my Mother in Law, Nancy!   J couldn't make it.  Nancy was gracious enough to fill in and provide support so I didn't have to attend my first ultrasound alone.  I left her in the waiting room as I went and gave blood (just because it's such a small room) and then came back and got her and headed to ultrasound.  We had a short wait and then we were instructed to go to room one.  I promptly changed clothes and had a seat and we were off!  I wasn't sure what I was going to see with a low E2 on Wednesday...I told J last night that we were probably going to have clunkers for follies since he didn't sing to them the night before.  This brought swift action on his part..he was singing in no time!  It must have worked because on the ultrasound screen this morning we watched as the ultrasound technician meticulously measured 6 follicles on the left side all over 10mm (12.5 was the largest) and 8 follicles on the right side over 10 mm(14.5 was the largest).  There were many more that were under 10mm that I am hoping will catch up by our next scan.  All in all I was very pleased.  No clunkers, just beautiful growing follicles.  It's so neat to see what all of our injections are bringing us.  I am hopeful that these little guys will keep growing and produce healthy eggs.  I sure am having crampy feelings more and more these days.  This morning I caught myself thinking that my period must be coming because the cramps felt so familiar.  It's so automatic: cramps equal period.  It's funny to have to remind yourself that those aren't period cramps but (hopefully) growing follie cramps.

As for this weekend.  I am so happy to have massages scheduled at our home Saturday.  I think we could both use a little stress relief.  And Sunday I think we may be having brunch with J's Grandmother which will be nice.  I always enjoy seeing her.  Sunday afternoon we are celebrating Mother's Day at Nancy's. 
 It's nice to have a Mother to celebrate.  I have contemplated on whether or not to send my own mother a card or email.  I think I have decided to send her an email.

For those of you IF ladies that are dreading Mother's Day - I hope you are able to find peace in some form and enjoy the day in some way.  I've been reading about the pain that so many women I blog with are experiencing in regards to Mother's Day and it breaks my heart.  Maybe it's because I am fairly new in my infertility journey but I'm not sad for myself.   What does make me sad is the severed relationship I have with my own Mother.  This year I choose to celebrate and be happy for the women I know that are Mothers and the women I know that just realized they are going to be Mothers.  I'm very happy for them.

(Click image to enlarge.)

Stim Day 6 - E2 Update

The nurse called today around 2:30.  She said my E2 is 308.  Kind of bummed that it wasn't higher with the doses of Menopur we added the last two nights.  But hey, it's still climbing right?  It's over two times higher than I had in March.  They upped my dose to 150 (2 vials) of Menopur and kept the Follistim at 150.  I go in for my first ultrasound on Friday and will have my blood checked then as well.   I asked the nurse if this number is normal and she said there really is no normal because every woman is so different.  She added that the follicles are so teeny tiny that they don't produce a whole lot of estrogen right now but when they do get bigger they should produce around 200 in estradiol per follicle.  I guess I am just wondering...last cycle I had approximately 30 follicles and my E2 was 137 on day 10.  I suppose this is pretty common PCOS?  Lots and lots of follies but few quality eggs?  I don't know.  I think I better consult Dr. Google.  I updated my handy dandy chart, it sure would be nice to see a jump in estrogen!

Stim Day 5- BLOAT (already?)

You know, I was thinking about it today and it seems like the only time an infertile is able to get excited and have hope is when she's cycling.  You know, when you find yourself in that critical window of a cycle?  Whether you are on clomid, using timed intercourse, doing IUI or IVF there lies a window in which we all get to have hope and enjoy the mere possibility of what may lie ahead - if only for a short while.  With each passing day since I started stimming I have been in a better mood and for the first time since March I do have hope.  With each injection, each appointment, each day I mark off my calendar I am reminded of what could be at the end of this cycle and that gives me a tremendous amount of happiness.  A few times today I took notice of my happiness and it feels foreign.  The happiness goes against everything I've been feeling the past few months but it's so welcome and it feels so nice.  I would love for it to stick around a while longer. 

I started noticing this morning that my pants are tight.  While sitting at my desk I must unbutton my pants or someone may lose and eye!  I remember last cycle I had this issue as well and that is when I started wearing SWEAT PANTS to work!  Not your average sweat pants, no elastic around the ankles  just a simple black straight leg pant.  It's hot out though and this time it isn't as exciting as last time but man oh man, I can't go through another day being this uncomfortable!  It seems so soon but I looked back at last cycle and it was also around day 5 that I felt this way so I guess that's just my "norm".

Oh yeah...that 7 pounds I lost a couple of months ago when I decided to start Weight Watchers (which ended a week later when I started birth control for this cycle) is back too.  *Sigh*  I think it's water weight only because I haven't been eating differently and it crept up the last few days.  The only difference in my diet are protein shakes.  It's got to be the meds.  My hips feel full and my abdomen feels very bloated, like a water balloon.  Even after peeing, my abdomen still feels full and heavy.  Well, I remember one lady saying last cycle "the bloat means it's working" so I am going to take her word on it and dress for comfort. 

Another E2 check tomorrow.  Let's hope that number keeps on rising!  J's been singing to the follies nightly!  (He sings into my belly button so they can hear!)  Ha ha.  Something silly that makes us laugh every night before we go to sleep.  This is my favorite part of cycling!

Stim Day 4 - GREAT E2 NEWS!!!!

Today is day four of stims!  I am feeling great.   I went in for my blood work this morning.   I was in the office for less than 5 minutes which pleased me very much.  I have been worried about my E2 since last cycle.  After 10 days of stims last cycle my E2 was 137 which caused us to cancel.  I am happy to report that after 3 days of stims this cycle my E2 this morning was 217 !!!  I am ecstatic!  My nurse told me that this is a great increase and they are very pleased.  I received some more information for my calendar as well!  Tonight we add 75 units of Menopur, decrease the Follistim to 150 units and keep the Lupron at 10 units.  Three injections...we are definitely in full swing!  My next appointment is Wednesday for more blood work.  Most of us have seen the chart below, for those who haven't this is what estradiol should do as stimulation proceeds(my body missed this memo last time-I barely got off the bottom line!)  I added my canceled March cycle in orange and this current May cycle in blue to the chart!  My E2 this cycle doesn't look as high as the chart but I am hopeful that it will increase more as these next few days pass.

Important E2 notes (Source):

• Estrogen hormone blood levels are important. Estrogen (actually estradiol) levels are usually under 60 pg/ml at cycle baseline and rise significantly as multiple follicles develop.
• Peak estradiol levels in IVF at the time of HCG are usually between 1000 and 4000 pg/ml.
• The stimulating process usually takes about 8-10 days