Revvin' 'em Up

Over the last week I have been taking injections at night to stimulate my ovaries to produce multiple eggs. In other words, we're revvin' 'em up just like we would an engine when you're about to drag race! The medication I am taking is causing the follicles in my ovaries to grow big enough to have enough mature eggs to extract by this weekend. I started out with 30 resting follicles at my baseline ultrasound on Monday, January 25th. On Tuesday, January 26th I started the new stimulation medication. By Saturday, March 1st it was looking like there were 18-20 follicles that were stimulating well. My estrogen level went from 50 on 1/25 to 697 on 3/1....it was no wonder I was so tearful and irritable on Friday and Saturday! Today, at my third ultrasound it looks as if we have 14 follicles that are going to be definitely mature enough for the egg retrieval, and then about 11 more that we are hoping will kick it in high gear over the next couple of days! My estrogen level today was at nearly 1,900!! Ironically, I'm not feeling as emotional as I was on Friday and Saturday-maybe because those were just hard days for me in general with Riley's birthday.

Because the doctor's said I was stimulating so well on Saturday, they were thinking they might need to move our egg retrieval up to Thursday from the original plan of this coming Saturday, March 8th. They decreased my medication from 3 vials of Bravelle and 1 vial of Menopur down to 2 vials of Bravelle and 1 Menopur. We were praying the retrieval would not be Thursday, as much as we would like to be pregnant as soon as possible, because Alex has a meeting with his Regional and District Managers and did not think he would be able to get out of them. It was definitely good news today when we were informed the retrieval would NOT be on Thursday! Based on today's ultrasound results, the doctor is thinking most likely Friday...but possibly Saturday for the egg retrieval. Either day is great for us:)

One thing the doctors are concerned about right now is the possibility of ovarian hyperstimulation. If my estrogen level gets above 4,000 before the retrieval it could push the retrieval back a few days and may even affect the number of eggs they will be able to retrieve. With the rate my estrogen has been rising-this is a strong possibility which could also result in low egg reserve as it did for another Baby Quest recipient. I ask that everyone put us in your prayers that this does not happen-we don't need a road block now or any more rain to come pouring down on us!

I have another ultrasound and blood test on Wednesday. I will be going to Columbus to our actual clinic where we are doing the retrieval, genetic testing, and transfer. I have to be in Columbus at 8:15am after not getting home from work until Midnight the night before:( Our hope is that this will be the last ultrasound before the retrieval and that the blood work looks great so we can set a definite date to get these eggs out of me! I've been getting quite crampy the last two days, couldn't sleep last night because I couldn't get comfortable, and it's getting difficult to get out of a chair once I'm sitting down. My belly is very bloated, as you can imagine, from having 25 good size follicles that are continuously growing! In the end, this is all worth the possibility of creating rainbows:) And, as a side note, the injections that I am taking now are no where near how bad I thought they would be! The next round of injections seem like the scariest of all...I have to trust my husband with stabbing a needle in my butt-yippee!!!!