Pre-Retrieval

Here we are, the night before the retrieval. A little nervous to say the least. I had my appointment this last Saturday to check the progress of the follicles. I also went in Monday and Tuesday morning for blood work and sonogram. The sonogram showed about 9 follicles on the right and a few on the left. This should give plenty of eggs to work with, hopefully! After the sonogram, I had a meeting with my IVF nurse informing me of my new "agenda" for the next few days of EVERYTHING I had to do and take, day by day.

 At 3 o'clock yesterday,  I had to take my last dose of meds. This meant I was still at school, so I had my school nurse give it to me. There was no way this girl was injecting herself with a needle! I also had to start a new medicine, but at least this one is oral meds. I have to take this one with food, otherwise I will get quite sick.  Last night at 11 I had to take the "trigger" shot, which is an HCG shot to mature the follicles and get them ready to release the eggs. Today I went in and got more blood work to check the HCG levels in my system. If they weren't high enough, I was going to have to stop at a pharmacy and give myself another injection. Thank goodness I didn't receive that phone call and my levels were good.

Tomorrow is one of the two most important days of this process. I will go in at 9 in the morning and check in, and my procedure will start around 10. Dr. Le said the actual procedure only takes about 20 minutes, although I have to be put under anesthesia so that should be fun :/

My mom and Brandon will both be there with me. They will also take a sample from Brandon so that after the egg retrieval they can put the egg and sperm together and they will hopefully fertilize. Otherwise they have to do that part manually, which cost another good amount. They will hold the embryos for 5 days and work their magic, then I will go back on Tuesday for the embryo transfer. Everything after that is up to my body. Lets just pray the embryo implants into my uterus next Tuesday and we will get good news in a couple weeks. I will try and update again on Friday, or possibly tomorrow after the procedure depending on how I am feeling. I don't really know what to expect, so don't count on it :) Thanks again for all the prayers, and keep them coming! Even though in the back of my mind I have a little fear of this not working, I have faith it will!

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.- John 14:27