She's ready to POP

I had another ultrasound yesterday to check my follicle size and my estrogen levels. It was a crowded little room looking at my lady parts, there was the nurse, the doctor, and a medical resident in training. When they looked at my ovaries, they were practically cheering at how well I am responding (I am serious too, the resident actually said, "wow"). I had a bunch of nice size follicles that will be ready for tomorrow (I will explain more what tomorrow entails in un momento). I had 11-12 viable follicles that will be transferred out. They ranged in size from 15-22 mm, which are pretty darn big. The doctor actually said, "She is ready to pop!", which was him vocalizing how I feel right now.

So they had us continue last night with my regular dosage of follitism, menopur, and antagon. But they added a new shot to the mix. The HCG shot, which is the one that forces ovulation. So TOMORROW is the transfer out!!!! I know, it was super fast this time. We have to be at the Crest Hill clinic tomorrow at 8:30, the procedure should be around 9:00.

What they will do is put me under, then they are going to insert a ultrasound wand with a special attachment in, it will have a very long needle that actually sucks out the follicle liquid and the eggs into a little vial. Seconds after the procedure, that vial is given to the egg specialist in the window, who in in a room adjacent to the operating room. He will put the eggs into a dish. Then he will check the quality of the eggs, they have grading methods based on color, quality, size, shape, and he will throw out bad eggs. My nurse said we are hoping to get about 8 eggs after this is all said and done.

Then they will add Matt's contribution to the dish and let those little guys fertilize. If they don't fertilize on their own, the nurse will force fertilize them through a procedure called ICSI (intro cytoplasmic sperm injection). Then they let those little embryos grow. They will remove the ones that don't and when is all said and done, Matt and I are hoping for at least 5 fertilized eggs so we can freeze a few.

Then Sunday, we will go back to have the two best and brightest fertilized eggs transferred back in. We start the progesterone shots that are hoped to make a little baby Xanadu. After that, we can just hope and pray that they latch on and grow. We will find out if it worked probably around the 12-13 of October. If it doesn't, then hopefully we can use the leftover frozen eggs to transfer in and try it again.

So as you can see, LOTS going on right now. I am going to schedule an acupuncture appt for Friday and for Monday and eat alot of pineapple after the transfer (it is a anti-inflammatory that is supposed to help). Then next week, I am on light duty, very little cleaning and cooking, I am just going to put my feet up and relax and hopefully it will work.

Thanks for checking in! We appreciate all the love and support. :)


Love,
Krista