Sixth and final ultrasound appointment

Well today was "D" day - we had another ultrasound appointment and well - they are READY!!!! All follicles measured 18.3mm+

Dr. Gaytan couldn't even count them all there are so many! I think on my right ovary he stopped counting at 15 or 16 - he counted and than said plus plus plus. He figures we will have at least 30 (darn follicle factory!!!)

So we are set - retrieval day is Wednesday at 11 a.m. - the plan is to do a five day transfer (these helps "weed" out the weaker embryos and hopefully giving us a better chance of success) so as long as our oocytes fertilize and everything goes right - we will be doing that on December 10.

So I have to fast for at least 8 hours prior to my retrieval as I am "put under" for the quick procedure (complete fast, no food, water, gum etc) - I actually prefer this - I was in a partial sedation for my first IVF and because I had so many oocytes - it took twice the time as normal - and so the meds wore off at about the 20/25 min mark and I could start to feel it, because I remember crying and my Dr. asking the anesthesiologist to give me more meds. So being completely asleep will prevent this!!!

Well tomorrow is a complete veg day, maybe sneak in a massage and relax, relax, relax, before our big day Wednesday!!!

We are very excited and can not wait to see what this journey brings us in the next week!!!

Fourth appointment, Day Seven of stims

Well we had another ultrasound today and all looks well!! Dr. G is very happy with the way things are progressing - we have many follicles anything from 7.8-14.3 mm - so we are slowly getting there!!

Next ultrasound is Saturday, and our tentative retrieval date is still Monday, December 03 - which is going to be here before we know it! It is very exciting!

We are lowering my medication tomorrow night just to ensure that we don't suffer from OHSS, we thought we would have lowered it tonight but my estridol rose to 772 and Dr. G thought it would be higher, so Dr. G wanted one more day at the higher dose, which is "A" ok with us.

DH asked Dr. G if everything is on track and he said he couldn't be happier - so that  is a good sign right?!

One thing that has my mind spinning now - is during my U/S today - Dr. G asked me if I ever considered being a egg donor (because I have sooo many follicles) wow something to think about - I mean with our first IVF attempt - we had 45 oocytes retrieved and I thought that was a lot and it was a "record" for my clinic at that time and from that we had 30 mature eggs - now if things went right and we had even 20 of those fertilize (oh if only) I would NEVER use them all - now I am wondering how many we will get here - Dr. G went on to tell me he has a patient who has no interest in having children but she does egg donation - and she is a regular at giving 85 oocytes!! yes you read that right 85 oocytes at a retrieval and NEVER suffers from OHSS - this boggles my mind - and obviously after hearing something like that it was a hot topic for my DH and I this afternoon.

I don't think that I would right away donate (and right away I mean this cycle), but obviously freeze any extras (here's to hoping) and then using them and maybe when we think we are done expanding our family then maybe at that point consider donation -but that is so, so far away - can't really make a decision at this point - but still 85 - WOW

Oh the hormones are definitely doing their thing - I can feel my tummy becoming tender I guess - that's the best way to describe it -
And I had a crying spell again - oh my poor DH - the tears just started flowing last night in the lounge of our hotel - no reason - we were just sitting there and the waterworks started - poor guy - damn hormones - but it only lasted a couple minutes and then they were over, he never knows what to do - and if he looks or tries to ask why - I just cry harder - but he did his job - he got me my tissue and that made it all better - oh the simple things to make it stop - lol - but it's all part of our journey and something I hope he has come to accept!!!!

Now we have a couple days to ourselves, we will golf tomorrow and maybe do a tour on Friday - maybe the lagoon boating tour - where you drive these mini boats yourself (I do not do well on boats, especially if we head into the ocean) so I hope I do ok - it's only two hours - so I am hoping I can last - I should do ok in the lagoon area since basically it's like a lake - and I can do lakes back home - but if we head into the ocean to snorkel - we may have a completely different experience - hoping the sun re-appears soon - these overcast days are not so much fun!!

I will probably post again on Saturday or Sunday after our next appointment - and hopefully soon sit down to give you all the down low on our "history"

Till next time!!

Thanks for reading :-)

Third Appointment

Well we had our first ultrasound yesterday and Dr. G is happy - we have lots of little follicles all ranging from 6.2-9.8mm in size - in Canada I needed my follicles to be 18-20mm in size I haven't asked what they need to be here but I am assuming it is the same. Because of my PCOS I have lots so he never gave me an "official" count but I am ok with that - its something I've come to accept with the PCOS. Our estridol levels rose to 347 from I believe they said 42 on Saturday another good sign, still on the same dosage - from the sounds of it Dr. G won't increase it - if anything we will decrease he really wants to prevent OHSS so that we can do a fresh embryo transfer, and that's what we want!

We are back at the clinic tomorrow for another ultrasound and I can definitely feel some "action" happening. It's almost like cramps but not really - hard to explain but that's the "jist" of it (I know that's not a real word!!!!)

Today is a veg day - no sunshine very overcast but super humid - we found a great massage place about a kilometer away from our hotel $30/hour and wow it was amazing we will DEFINITELY be paying them another visit or two while staying in the zone here.

Cheers to day 6 of stims! Keep growing little follicles!!!!!