Trigger Tonight!

At 10:30pm I'll have my last belly shot, and since they now use Prometrium rather than PIO shots (which I had with the other three transfers), it should be my last fertility shot of any kind.  There were definitely FAR fewer shots involved this time around. My E2 dropped by 600 over the past two days, but my biggest follicles were 18mm so it's definitely time to trigger. My E2 NEVER dropped before in any INJ or IVF cycle. The other 2 ivf cycles my E2 was right around 3,200 on this day. He measured over 20 follies, and they varied in size. We shall see how many eggs he retrieves on Wednesday. We're to report at 7:30am, and my retrieval has been scheduled for 8:30am. I can't eat or drink after midnight tomorrow night. It's always hard for me to skip breakfast, but I will certainly follow instructions. The nurse said they would plan on giving me anti-nausea meds prior to the procedure. Whew. Our neighbor is going to come over to our house at 6:45am, and she'll be taking them in her vehicle at 7:45am when she leaves to take her girls to school. Ian has been getting up at 7:30am lately, so I'm glad she'll be coming over so I don't have to wake him up at 6:30. I hope that he's cooperative with her in terms of eating and potty training, but it won't be the end of the world if he has an accident or two and if he only drinks rice drink while we're gone. I'm hoping we'll be home around noon. Please pray that the retrieval will go well and that God would guide those involved in the process of ICSI (attempting to fertilize the eggs). I'll be on pins and needles to get the report on Thursday as to how many embryos we have. We're really hoping to do a 5 day (blastocyst) transfer as the one 3 day (embryo) transfer we did was unsuccessful, but our two 5 day blastocyst transfers were both successful.

The embryologist saw me today, and she said she remembers as clear as it was yesterday when she froze our first blastocyst (Nadia). She said that usually they make the decision to freeze on day 5, but our one embryo wasn't quite up to the standard for freezing so she let it go one more day. She said she really wrestled with whether to freeze it since there was only one, but on the sixth day she decided the blastocyst was of the quality that it could be frozen. When she learned that I was pregnant, she knew she had made the right decision. She said she still thinks about that when she realizes a couple only has one embryo - one can be enough! There have been many changes in personnel over the past 7.5 years that we've gone to that clinic, but she's been one constant. I'm grateful to know she'll be the one working with our embryos starting on Wednesday. I will never cease to be amazed at the miracles which resulted in Nadia and Ian. Thank you, Lord! I'm praying for one more miracle, but maybe our family is already complete. We'll find that out in 2 weeks. That hit me when I had my blood drawn this morning. I thought to myself - the next time my blood is drawn it will be a pregnancy test. They make you have the blood test even if the hpts are negative. I'll either be on cloud nine or feel like crying when they do that blood draw if I know I'm not pregnant. My veins will be grateful to get the break from bloodwork (after Wednesday as I'll have an IV that day).

This morning Paul and I went to the eye doctor. We go every other year for an eye exam and to get new glasses or contact lenses. Nadia and I left the house at 9:15 so that we could make a quick stop at the library before my 10:00 appointment. Nadia picked out one book, and I checked out two books. I haven't checked out any books for more than 6 months, but I knew I'd have time to read on Wednesday morning. I checked out one novel (by Nicholas Sparks) and one non-fiction (Heaven is for Real). I had hoped to pick out some new eyeglasses, but it took 90 minutes from when I arrived until I checked-out to complete my eye exam. Paul and Ian arrived about 30 minutes after Nadia and I did. I had to leave at 11:30 to drive straight to the RE. Let me say it was very hard to drive with dilated eyes since they didn't give me any sunglasses to put over my glasses! Paul took the kids home when he was done. Nadia was there for over 2 hours. I had brought the Leapster2 that we gave her for Christmas. That helped although I think I'm going to have to buy another one as Ian also loves it. We haven't bought any software yet, but for now they're satisfied with the free game I downloaded. My left eye has gotten worse, but my right eye has stayed the same. I had planned to replace my glasses (which are at least 8 years old) because I still have plenty of disposable contacts on hand. She said that was fine because when I use both eyes together my vision is fine. Paul's vision has changed slightly. She tried to talk him into contact lenses (gas permeable or hybrid) because of his keracotonus. She said wearing them would delay his need for a cornea transplant. More than 10 years ago he was told the same thing, and he tried gas permeable contacts. He couldn't stand them. He saw an eye surgeon shortly after that, and that doctor said that his vision would be better with contacts than glasses, but that it wouldn't delay the deterioration of his corneas. After hearing this optomotrist's advice this morning, I contacted Paul's cousin's wife (who is an opthamologist). She reiterated what the eye surgeon he saw 10+ years ago said. So Paul will be sticking with glasses. We're hoping to pick out some glasses later this week. We might do it at the hospital on Wednesday.

I was at the RE for an hour. Appointments were conducted in a far more timely manner with Dr. A than they are with Dr. Z. Between the eye doctor and RE, I was gone for 4 1/2 hours straight. I was able to do a little reading at the second appointment thanks to our trip to the library. I took Ian to the bathroom at the eye doctor, but Paul didn't keep track of the time and Ian had an accident 2 hours later while Paul was feeding him lunch. Yesterday his underwear got damp one time, and Ian said "sorry" to me. He has never pooped in the potty (he's only had two poop accidents over the past six days because he poops in his crib right before he wakes up each morning). I'm still very proud of the progress he's made in that he's only wearing one diaper a day!