January 23, 2008

So...I had to go in today again for blood and ultrasound. The ultrasound showed nice progress today! I had 1 follie at about 15, a couple at 14 and numerous at 13 mm.

I got a call at 2:00 pm from our RE office, who told me that the doctor wanted me to do a shot of 150 iu Menopur. My response was "right NOW?" So I called Curt and he met me at home and gave my my shot.

The big news is that the rush was because they are scheduling my EGG RETRIEVAL is scheduled for Friday. I was a little surprised, because mature follicles are 16-20 mm, and while mine are FINALLY closing in on those numbers, we are not there yet. I expected 1-2 more days of stims.

The nurse explained that my estrogen levels had doubled overnight. They are around 2500, and while this is good (estrogen levels are an indicator of ovarian funciton, so higher numbers mean that my ovaries are working!), numbers that are too high, or rise too quickly can be an indicator for ovarian hyperstimulation, which can be a dangerous. The doctor wanted me to get home for one last stims shot, then do my trigger tonight, and go in for retrieval on Friday. He is concerned that if he continues to stimulate my ovaries, my estrogen levels could continue to double again daily, which really...would lead to OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome), and OHSS can be quite dangerous.

The nurse at the fertility clinic says that they hope to have 6 follicles that are mature by that time. That number...6...seems so SO so low given that I have 40-50 follciles growing in there. But...because they are concerned about hyperstimultion, this is the option. Yes, I absolutely AM excited...overjoyed that things are moving along. I just am scared...anxious, that things go well. I hope that many mature eggs come from this, and taking them early is not going to cause this to fail :(

We are to take our HCG trigger shot tonight (which matures the eggs and holds the follicles for 36 hours) precisely at 11 pm. The nurse was clear that it MUST be done AT 11 pm so that the retrieval can go as planned. No more Lupron. No more stims. No more baby asprin. And tomorrow....NO SHOT. Wow! I know it's only been like 3 weeks, but no shots for one whole day? Wooo hooooooooooooooooooo.

So, please, at this point in this process...please pray for continued maturation of the follicles/eggs and lots and lots of mature eggs on retrieval!