Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Anyone have Eggs for sale?

Today I went in for my cycle day 9 ultrasound to see how I've been responding to the stimulant meds...this will determine when egg retrieval will be and about how many eggs we can hope to retrieve. Unfortunately though I was a little disheartened by what they found. They said my lining looks great at about a 10, so that's good news. Regarding follicles here is the approximate breakdown from what I remember...I might be off a little (the goal is for them to be between 18 and 20 mm to trigger)

12 mm (2)
14 mm (2)
15 mm (2)
16 mm (2)
17 mm (1)
18 mm (1)

Based on what I found online anywhere from 8-15 is considered "average"...so I do fall within that range. I guess the let down came because when we went for our initial follicle count last week he said he thought there were about 12 or so follicles. Based on that, I was getting my hopes up that 12 would probably be the LEAST amount of follicles we would have...and that we'd have a few small ones that would surprise us today by growing to the right size and giving us more like 15 or so eggs. Not so much :o( We did have one overachiever in the group though that came in a whopping 25 mm already! Yikes! It's on my left side and I'm guessing is likely to blame for the cramping I've been having down there. So after the ultrasound Dr. A. studied everything again briefly and decided to give me another shot of stims tonight (and uped the dosage from 150 to 225) and then I go again tomorrow and do this all over again. He said he's pretty sure egg retrieval will be this Friday...Saturday at the latest. Right now I'm just praying, wishing, hoping that this extra dose of stims tonight will bring those little ones up to the perfect size...and that it won't cause our 17 & 18 ones to get too "overdone." I'm trying to stay calm and relaxed, but this whole thing is just overwhelming and unpredictable! I mean...8 eggs could be more than enough to give us a happy healthy baby or two, but there are sooo many unknown variables left to go!! Like, what if not all of these 8 follicles have eggs in them...now we're down to 6 or 7...and what if the two 12's get bigger, but aren't mature once retrieved...now we're down to 4 or 5...let's just say all 5 fertilize since we're doing ICSI, but then what if they all don't make it to a day 5 blastocyct stage. We could very easily be down to only 1 good embryo to transfer!! Which is just terrifying!! Especially since the quality of my eggs is questionable anyway there is probably a good chance that 8 eggs retrieved does not mean 8 beautiful embryos! Ugh! I'm scared and just feeling kinda down right now, so thanks for letting me vent! Hopefully these are the worst case scenarios and everything will work out perfectly over the next week or so. Just keep us in your prayers because the stress of it all is already getting to me and we still have a ways to go!!

Countdown to ER: ~3 days!!

2 comments:

  1. I'm definitely praying SUPER hard for you guys! I can totally see how you'd have these concerns.

    Just keep in mind that I had tons of follicles and, on the surface at least, it ended up meaning virtually nothing. So, while I'll be praying this extra dose brings about a handful more to work with, I'm praying even more that the ones you do get are of the very best quality.

    I just know you are going to do great and ER will be here before you know it! So exciting!! Call or e-mail me if you need to talk or want to go out for a bite to eat to take your mind off things. Have a good night!

    ~Cathy

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  2. Praying like crazy for you guys!!! Oh my! I can only i magine the stress... Can't wait to hear the update and how those follicles grew wonderfully! :-)

    ~Meghan

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