WOW!

What a whirlwind this morning was! I went to my appointment just praying everything was developing enough to be able to continue the process, and was so surprised to find out not only were my follicles developing, but they are READY! I'm ahead of schedule and things have progressed a little faster than expected, but I'm thrilled. With our scan this morning I had 9 follicles and three that were already 18mm (the minimum for retrieval) or greater. They have grown a lot in the last 2 days, so the assumption is that the others will continue to develop today and tomorrow. My estrogen level had nearly tripled again since my last appointment....another sign that things are ready! I was hoping for twice as many follicles, but they assure me not to let this number discourage me.

So, tonight I take an HCG trigger shot, called Ovidrel. HCG is a natural hormone produced by the pituitary gland, but this form of it just regulates everything more precisely. I do this injection at 7pm this evening and then 36 hours from then, my eggs are released and ready to be retrieved. So that means that my egg retrieval is scheduled for 7AM Monday morning!!! As we understand it should go like this: show up at 6:30AM, get an IV started, Mat makes his contribution :) , go into the OR, get sedated, the eggs are retrieved (Mat and my mom watch on an ultrasound monitor next door), go to recovery for 1-2 hours, then come home and rest the remainder of the day. We will find out that day how many eggs were retrieved and then the following day we'll find out how many embryos have fertilized.

The only downside to all of this is that Monday is a HUGE day for Mat at work. He's just been transferred to a brand new branch, about 5 minutes from our house, and the opening is Monday. As the manager, he's in charge of this, so it's a lot of stress on him right now. Also he has a 3 1/2 hour class that night. Of course IVF is our first priority, but he is just feeling the pressure big time! Luckily someone is going to cover for him for a few hours at work on Monday morning and my mom will be here to help take care of me at home so he can go to work after the procedure.

After the retrieval, I'll begin Progesterone injections. This is the one injection that I've been dreading, but I'm sure it won't be too bad when it's all said and done. Depending on the development of the embryos, our embryo transfer will be scheduled 2-5 days past the egg retrieval!

Please pray for a safe flight for my mom tomorrow night (she'll be getting here just in time), lots of healthy eggs Monday morning, and peace of mind during this stressful time. We greatly appreciate all the wonderful comments and offer of support. Your love and encouragement gives us daily strength.