So here we are, on day 10 of stims, and HAPPILY – tomorrow morning is my last day of injections! They told me to take my Gonal-F tonight as normal, and then tomorrow to only take the Ganirelix and Menopur in the morning.
Dr. Cass came in and very happily and said we are ‘on our way’! She then told me how her arm gets tired after doing my ultrasound because I have so many follicles on the right hand side. “I cant rest my arm while performing the ultrasound, and there’s so many!” She is now affectionately referring to my right ovary as my “marathon ovary” and we call lefty the “underachiever”. Here’s the count:
On the right:
- 19 x 19mm
- 13 x 9mm
- 16 x 11mm
- 15 x 14mm
- 23 x1 4mm
- 15 x 14mm
- 16 x 13mm
- 19 x 13mm
- 22 x 15mm
- 20 x 13mm
- 19 x 11mm
- 12mm
If you notice (or are paying close attention), that is two more follicles than she had seen or counted previously.
Dr. Cass advised there are still several smaller ones on my left ovary from what she can see (my left ovary is a little tricky to ultrasound). Here’s the count for my left ovary:
- 16
- 17×11
- 16×13
Dr. Cass told me that I definitely have 3 “big guys” who have matured, and there are several others just behind it that are almost there. It is important that they grow to as large of a size as possible, otherwise they will not be eligible to be fertilized using ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection…aka a fancy way of saying “inject one sperm into one egg”). She is confident that if we would have triggered today, that most of my follicles would be big enough by the time we did egg retrieval. However, because but she wants those smaller ones to fall in line, she decided the extra day of stimulation would be the best thing to help them grow before having my trigger shot. So, the big and important news –
I have an appointment at 8:10AM for my trigger shot tomorrow, and we will also fill out all the necessary paperwork for the egg retrieval, which is now scheduled for Monday, May 30th. If you are squeamish, I suggest that you turn back now because I am going to talk about what that procedure actually entails.
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Okay, now that the sissies are gone – let’s talk about what an egg retrieval actually is.
That giant needle is going through my vagina. TWICE. Just think about that for a second. Thankfully, I am not awake for this because they will put me under general anesthesia. They use an ultrasound to help guide them to where the follicles are, and then with that long needle aspirate all the fluid inside the follicles and then the eggs detach from the follicle wall, and into a specimen collection dish. This is the day Dean will give a sperm sample, while I am having this procedure done (sorry you have to masturbate in a doctor’s office, Dean) and they will insert one sperm into each of the eggs that they have retrieved, and then we wait for a phone call the following day to see how many fertilize. There are plenty of numbers out there around how many actually fertilize, generally ranging from 60-80% of what is retrieved.
They will be transferring back our embryos I believe on either day 3 or 4. As things progress we will find out more.
Now all that’s left is for me to remain calm and not think about the giant needle that is going to be inserted into me in three days. I’m trying, really – but my interest in science also wants me to google youtube video of the procedure being performed. I will try to abstain. But no promises.
xoxoxo,
Jen