Tuesday morning, before my appointment, I had to give myself a couple of shots. This was my set-up in the hotel room.
My Momma took on her photographer role again. I woke up pretty bloated again, which my ultrasound tech told me is very normal, especially considering how many eggs my right ovary is producing. My right ovary has double the amount of eggs that my left one has.
My last appointment before my egg retrieval! Feeling all the things. This was my last appointment in Tulsa for this cycle, we will do the retrieval in STL, then do everything again to retrieve more eggs, before we transfer (implant the embryo), which will also be in Tulsa. A little more information: originally, we planned to transfer in October. But with my low follicle count, our doctor wants us to do two rounds of egg retrievals to make sure we have enough eggs to fertilize. We did A LOT of thinking about this and decided to go for it – it’s called egg banking. So, they will freeze all my mature eggs from this initial round and we will do everything again before transferring an embryo.
We haven’t met our doctor in person yet (just through video conferencing), but the other doctor came in and told me that my right ovary is a rockstar. HA! Since I still have a lower number of eggs (I have a low follicle count, which is part of the reason we had trouble getting pregnant naturally), we will be doing egg banking, like I mentioned above. Based on my numbers from Tuesday, they think they will get anywhere from 6-8 eggs this round. Usually 1/3 to 1/4 make it to the implant stage, which is why we are doing egg banking. On Tuesday, my numbers for my left ovary were (18mm, 13mm, 11mm, and 8mm) and the number for my right ovary were (22mm, 22mm, 22mm, 17mm, 16mm, 15mm, 14mm, and 12mm). The doctor told me they want to retrieve eggs at 16mm or bigger, but will sometimes take 15mm. So, I have 6 they want for sure, and a couple others may be big enough by Thursday morning.
After my appointment, I received all my instructions for up to our retrieval. I started another new oral medication and got to do my trigger shot, which you have to do a certain amount of time before retrieval – mine was 36 hours before. It is so crazy to me (STILL) what science allows us to do and how our bodies adapt to it.
I felt the worst I have felt throughout this whole process on Tuesday when my Mom and I got back into town. I don’t know if it was my new oral medication or what, but I was so light headed and nauseous. I bent down to pick something up off the ground and almost passed out, so I crawled into bed around 4PM and spent the rest of Tuesday there. I have been trying really hard not to complain about any of this – I am so thankful that God chose us for this journey, but man…I was extra grateful that I hadn’t felt that awful the entire time.
At 9PM, I got ready to do my trigger shot. I had two shots to administer, so I got them all prepped.
The trigger shot is a big ass shot…not the needle or anything, but the amount of liquid in the shot was a lot. I had two other shots that contained a lot of liquid and they hurt. A lot. They were less than half this amount, though, so I was worried about how much this one would hurt. It didn’t hurt at all! I was so relieved. Jake is my biggest cheerleader. Some girls have their hubby give them all their shots, but I’m such a control freak that I just need to do it. I think I can prepare for the initial stick that way. Jake sits with me whenever he is home and watches me administer shots. He always says he is proud of me and impressed with all I’m doing, which makes my heart swell and I usually cry. I am blessed to have him as my husband.
I was so bloated and uncomfortable all Tuesday afternoon and evening. I told Jake I was so thankful I hadn’t felt this awful the whole time.
I was still feeling pretty crummy, so Jake joined me for some Netflix and cuddles in bed.
