So Far, So Great!

I want to start this post with a note about the trigger shot.  I took it on Sunday night and the injection itself wasn't much worse than the routine ones.  However, the next morning there was a red mark about the size of a silver dollar around the injection site and my whole upper leg hurt so much!  I felt like I had been kicked by a mule!  The instructions said, "may cause redness and irritation around the injection site...."  You think?!?!  I was seriously limping around all day.  I was just really grateful I did the shot in my leg and not my stomach -- that pain would have been much worse to bear.

Monday morning I got the girls ready and headed to the airport to pick up Daddy (and Uncle Blaine who came with Daddy.) We collected them and headed to the mall for a bit.  Afterwards I realized that I was quickly running out of time to take the necessary pregnancy test in the timeframe I was instructed.  So we drove down the streets of Murray, Utah, searching for a grocery store or something.  And I tell you what, if I ever desire to open a grocery store, I will do it there!  Mile after mile we could find nothing!  Finally I saw a "Family Dollar" store and told my hubby to pull over.  I went in and searched a little, but couldn't find any pregnancy tests.  My plan was to grab one, sneak into the restroom and use it, then take the empty box up to the register to pay for it.  In desperation I finally asked an employee, and she told me that they keep them under the register and the check-out girl would be happy to get one for me.  So I had no choice but to ask the only check-out person for a pregnancy test.  And to make things even better, I had also noticed that you needed a key to unlock the restroom door.  So I had the pleasure of asking the girl for a pregnancy test, paying for it, then explaining to her that I had a real medical need to use the test right away and could she please open the restroom for me?  To her credit, she was very gracious about it, but for me that still was a very long two minutes in the bathroom waiting for the test results!  (It was positive, like it was supposed to be.)  We spent the rest of the evening as a family, going to dinner and watching a movie.  It was great to have Daddy with us.

Then this morning my hubby and I headed up to RCC for egg retrieval day!  It was actually very nice to have the whole drive alone just to talk.  Pretty soon after we got there they took my hubby back to The Room to collect his "deposit."  Then it was time for a consult with Dr. Heiner.  He basically just went over the things we already knew: that not every follicle will have an egg, that not every egg will be mature, etc., etc.,  Then he said that based on how things looked, we could expect to retrieve five or six eggs.  After the consult we were shown to a pre-op room where I changed into a hospital gown.  Then it was time for my procedure.  I was taken into the "procedure room" and covered with warm blankets.  I love that part!  There is something so relaxing about having a heavy, pre-heated blanket draped on you.  Then the anesthesiologist put a needle in my arm and I started feeling fuzzy all over.  The next thing I remember was my hubby saying something like, "Hello, Sleepyhead!" And then the best part of the day:  our nurse came in and told us that they retrieved (drumroll, please...) TEN EGGS!!!  Now we won't know until tomorrow how many were mature and how many fertilized properly (and I know not all them will), but still -- when we were hoping to start with six if we were lucky, ten seems just awesome! (And that is a new record for me as well.) Especially if you consider that up until my very last ultrasound, I only had nine total follicles showing.  So that means that even one of the smallest ones that popped up in the last couple of days had an egg.  So I am thinking that if my system was able to produce an egg from a little one, the chances of the medium-sized follicles producing a mature egg are that much greater. :)  Of course, I could be wrong and maybe only four were mature.  Who knows?  But I'll find out tomorrow!

As for the rest of today, yikes am I sore!  The pressure from all the follicles is gone because they drained them, but my ovaries are feeling very swollen and painful.  It is tolerable if I am sitting/lying down, but if I have to stand up it's like everything shifts and oh man! It is making me walk around doubled over like an old man. (If I must walk around.  I prefer to not move right now!) I am not trying to complain, merely documenting the truth for anyone who may read this and wants to know what this whole process is really like.  But this pain will go away (hopefully sooner than later!) and at least it comes with what feels like a great victory -- we got TEN EGGS! More hurdles to come, but we sailed over the first one and in spite of everything else, that feels great. :)