Triggered!

Today we took one more step towards our hope of becoming parents.  We triggered and are scheduled for egg retrieval surgery Thursday morning at 8:00am.  Yahooooo.

It's not without a little bit of drama though.  During the ultrasound, I had a 21mm, a 20mm, a 18.5 and a 18mm follie... and then a bunch of other ones that were growing but not quite 18mm yet.  My doctor's rule is they trigger when you have 4 follicles bigger than 18, so I qualified for my HcG shot today.  But then, he had to go and F with my mind and stand there and debate what to do with me.  He was going back and forth for at least 5 minutes which was excruciating for me.  Basically, he was debating whether to let the eggs grow for an extra day and let more of the small ones catch up, or go ahead and go with what we have now.  My estrogen levels had increased nicely from 660 to 2300.  The deciding factor was that my progesterone has started to increase.  It was 1.2 yesterday and apparently if it gets to 2.5 that "is a very bad thing."  I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the progesterone decreasing the quality of the eggs.  So with that, he said "let's do this." 

After I got dressed, I headed out and nurse Leslie mixed my trigger shot for me and put it in a baggie for me to take home.  Then she went through a 5 page packet of instructions for the next few days and all the different medications and injections I'll need to add now.  They sent me home with the trigger and I headed to work for the rest of the day. 

The trigger shot needs to be given exactly 35 hours before egg retrieval to allow enough time for the eggs to go through their final maturation process, but after 36 hours, you run the risk of ovulating on your own, which is the worst thing that could happen, as they would never be able to find the eggs once they are released from the follicles.  So, my trigger had to be given at 9:00pm tonight.  My hubby is queasy and unable to give me my shots that have to go in the butt, so I had to call on my mama. 

For some reason, I have a feeling she kinda enjoyed jabbing me with a needle.  She was proud of me that I didn't even flinch, but pretty irritated that I was going to take her picture.  She wants a disclaimer put in here that she had just gotten out of the pool and didn't do her hair or makeup.

So, there's no turning back now.  In less than 2 days we will know how many eggs we have and shortly thereafter will know how many fertilized.  And, in less than a week, I will have embryos inside of me trying to snuggle in, implant, and turn in to our baby.  Hold on tight!