March 10th Appointment

Susie was able to tag along at this appointment (thanks Suz for the company!)  My ultrasound showed A LOT of follicles, and hopefully each of these has a mature egg inside.  

I had an E2 level of 774, which I was assured was "Not too high but just high enough!"  My lining measured 10 mm and had a TRIPLE STRIP, which is FANTASTIC and prime for IVF.  My right ovary had follicles measuring 13, 14, 17, 14, 12, 12, 14, 12, 14, 14, 13, 14, 11, 10, (total 14) and about 10 less then 10 mm.  My left side had a 13, 12, 11, 14, 12, 12, 10, (total of 7) and a few less than 10.  Once the follicle reaches 18 mm it usually means that a mature egg is inside and they are ready to be retrieved.  The follicles that were below 10 today will probably never catch up to the others and may not contain an egg.  Having this many and that great lining is a WONDERFUL thing and gives us a better chance, just seeing this put a huge smile on my face. 

The long lasting drug has worn off and since we are not at 18 mm yet I was given gonal-f in a very low dose (75 units) to take home for tonight. I go back tomorrow a.m. to check them out again and see how much they grew overnight.  We want for all the follicles to end up between 18mm and 21mm at retrieval time.  Average growth is 1 - 2 mm per day.

As it stands we could be close tomorrow, if so I will be given another shot called HCG to take home.  It will boost the eggs to final maturity and cause them to begin to break away from the follicle.  Once given the HCG shot, the retrieval will be scheduled for exactly 34 hours later.  As of today, this makes our tentative retrieval the morning of Thursday the 14th!  

Another step closer!