US #4 & #5 +Trigger Shot

I went in yesterday for another US. He said that things are looking good and he estimated a Tuesday or Wednesday egg retrieval date. He told me to come in today. (As it gets closer to the time of retrieval, they like to monitor the egg growth and hormone levels closely so they will know when the best time is to harvest the eggs. So I'll probably expect to go in almost daily from here on out.) I talked with the nurse about medications. She gave me some to get me through until today since I had another appointment scheduled. She asked me how I was feeling and if I was tender or bloated. I told her I was indeed both and also incredibly tired and nauseous. She said that was pretty normal with the increase in estrogen. She said she would call later to confirm dosing.

Later that afternoon she called and told me to do 3.5 vials of Bravelle, plus 1/2 of the vial I had left over from the day before. So I ended up doing 3.75 vials and a little less on the low-dose HCG. It's kind of crazy figuring it all out and often seems like such a small difference when it's a matter of drops of liquid. She also told me that my nausea and tiredness were to be expected as my estrogen spiked from 700 to 1000 in two days. I guess it's just preparing me for pregnancy...and boy am I in for it. I'm pretty sure I need to get my act together now before it all hits and I become a sluggish, lazy, blob on the couch. Also, I can't believe how these microscopic egg follicles that are growing can cause so many different feelings in my body. Today, Owen was laying on my chest and pressed down on his knees (into my abdomen) to sit up. It was pretty painful and uncomfortable. Not to mention I feel bloated. It's just odd.

Alright, back to my appointments. I went in this morning for my fifth US. We talked about potential retrieval dates again and he mentioned he will be out of town this weekend. I knew it was a possibility he wouldn't be around on the weekends for me since I am off from his current IVF schedule due to me not being back from Christmas in time to start with his other patients. Currently, they are all in the process of doing their retrievals and implantations. I'm about a week behind. He told me to come in tomorrow and again that he was expecting I'd be ready Tuesday or Wednesday. He also mentioned that since we are doing ICSI he likes to let the eggs grow a little more. He said if we didn't do ICSI and just put the eggs and sperm together over night, it would give the eggs more time to mature and grow. However, when you do ICSI the same day as the retrieval, they don't get that chance. I talked with the nurse again, got more meds and went home to wait for the confirmation call on dosage.

She called me this afternoon and said, "Change of plans." She told me that my estrogen level had gone up to 2000! It went from about 1000-2000 in one day. She said that the doctor decided that since my estrogen level was exactly where they want it, and I have a number of eggs that are about the optimal size (18-20...not sure the unit measurement) that he wants me to do my HCG trigger shot tonight. So no more of the other medications - just the HCG. She gave me instructions on how to mix the HCG and administer the shot. She said that it has to be done at *exactly* 10:30 PM tonight. I don't know all the details and how it works exactly, but I just found a pretty good site that explains IVF step-by-step. This is what it says about the trigger shot:

"The next step in your IVF treatment is triggering the oocytes to go through the last stage of maturation, before they can be retrieved. This last growth is triggered with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).

Timing this shot is vital. If it's given too early, the eggs will not have matured enough. If given too late, the eggs may be “too old” and won't fertilize properly. The daily ultrasounds at the end of the last step are meant to time this trigger shot just right. Usually, the hCG injection is given when four or more follicles have grown to be 18 to 20mm in size and your estradiol levels are greater than 2,000pg/ML."

So that's basically what I said. The nurse told me I don't need to come in tomorrow anymore (which is nice since the doctor was coming in early at 7:45 AM for me so that Miles could watch our sick Owen {more on that later} and not be too late to work). She told me tomorrow I need to take a home pregnancy test some time after noon to make sure the HCG is properly in my system. (This is the hormone your body would naturally produce when you are pregnant. Obviously, I won't actually be pregnant.) Then on Tuesday I can't eat solids past 3AM (let's be honest...I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to eat anyway) and clear liquids only up to 5 AM. We'll show up around 8:30 AM, prep for a 9:30 AM egg retrieval and should be out by 11 AM. Thankfully, Miles's awesome brother, Mitchell, will be watching Owen during that time.

So there it is! We're getting closer to hopefully creating a life. I am so excited and as annoying as it is to go in for appointments daily, I'm anxiously awaiting our Tuesday egg retrieval!