Trigger Tonight!

Egg retrieval is a go for Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. sharp, which means tonight is my trigger shot at 8:00 p.m. sharp. Yay!!!

For those of you who don't know, the trigger shot is a shot of HCG, which mimics the LH in a woman's body. LH is the hormone that makes a woman's body ovulate, thus, the trigger shot is going to prepare the body for ovulation.

So, the trigger shot will complete the maturation of my eggs and, right before they ovulate on their own, Dr. Weckstein will go in and retrieve them, which is why the timing of the trigger shot and egg retrieval is so time sensitive. If a few extra hours pass, my body could start ovulating on its own and I'd lose all those good eggs. We obviously can't have that!

As for the results of today's sonogram (my very last one)!

(Drum roll please).

I have 32 follicles!!! I can't believe it! I am miserably bloated and reached a new point of discomfort, so I knew there was a lot going on this past day, but I didn't think that much!

I have 17 follicles on my right side (up 12 from yesterday!), with my largest measuring at 21mm.

I have 15 follicles on my left side (up 11 from yesterday), with my largest measuring at 19mm. I'm really happy to see my left ovary had a strong finish, almost catching up with my right. :)

In total, I have 8 mature follicles right now, with a handful of them almost mature. I was told those would definitely mature after the trigger shot.

Also, just because I will no longer be stimulating my ovaries with the injections, my follicles will still continue to grow, just not at such a rapid pace. My nurse described it as taking my foot off the gas pedal. I'm still moving forward, just not as fast. My body doesn't stop cold turkey and my follicles surely don't remain the same sizes until Friday. A lot of my follicles will reach maturity by Friday's egg retrieval.

I still have quite a few that are in the lower end (like 10mm) that likely won't reach maturity, but Dr. Weckstein will still retrieve them and try to get them to fertilize with Aaron's sperm. He won't let anything go to waste!

Generally, Dr. Weckstein likes to see at least 25% or more of the eggs reach maturity before committing to the egg retrieval. And, if you do the math, 8 is exactly 25% of 32. :)

So, you can imagine I've very excited for the egg retrieval! I'm excited to get these little guys out of me and into the lab where I pray some cell-growing, baby-making magic happens. :)

And, to top off the awesomeness of RSC, because we live pretty far away (1-1/2 hours, depending on traffic), they offered a courtesy stay at a nearby hotel for free, as a part of our IVF package. Because Aaron and I will have to be at the office by 7:00 in the morning to prep for the egg retrieval, they have booked us a stay at Hotel Sierra right down the street. All arrangements have been made, all we have to do is show up!

Photo courtesy of www.hotel-sierra.com.

The only downfall is I will be away from my Ella Bella for the night, and however pathetic it sounds, I will miss her so much, but I know she will be in good hands staying with my parents.