It's all happening

Firstly, thanks so everyone who wrote on my last post. Your support and encouragement is so appreciated. Also, to everyone who is cycling with me this month, all my fingers and toes are crossed for you and I am here to support you through it all.

So back to my post - Great news re: our 2nd ultrasound!

Our 6 follicles were all between 18 and 19mm yesterday and there was also 7th which was at 13mm!!! The nurses kept saying 'well done' and how well I am responding to the protocol and were giving us lots of encouragement which was lovely. B has really done an excellent job giving me all my meds in a calm and timely manner. My tummy looks like that of a voodoo doll from all the needle pricks, but it is healing quickly! To those of you who haven't started your injections yet, just letting you know that for me, they didn't really hurt at all. Only a small prick/pinch as the needle goes in and sometimes a bit of burning as the liquid goes in, but really not bad. B injected me and each time, I lay down, and looked up at the ceiling doing my yoga breathing, as I don't like to see the needle go in. I do the same when I have my blood taken.

While on the subject of the injections, we went to watch the cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sat night. We had to do our Gonal F injection at 9pm. We walked into the first aid room at the MCG, and B asked the officer "do you mind if we use one of the cubicles so that I can inject my wife please?". The look on their faces was priceless! Needless to say, they gave us our own cubicle with the curtain drawn and didn't ask any questions. 5 minutes later, we were back in our seats watching Shane Warne bowl a wicket! It was hysterical.


We are now ready for egg collection which is just such fantastic news. The little follies were very active over the weekend and grew about 4 - 5mm each. This would explain why I was so tired - I just wanted to sleep all the time. The nurses said it's because of the hormones and also how hard my body was working to increase their size.

B gave my my HCG trigger injection last night at 8pm (which will ensure the final maturation of the eggs during this 38 hour period).

For the surgery, I will need to fast from midnight tonight in preparation for the anaesthetic. The procedure is at 10am tomorrow morning. B will go in with me and will also give his sample at 10am. We have abstained since Sunday. I still can't believe it -It all feels so surreal.

We will find out how many eggs fertilized on Thursday. Please keep all your fingers and toes crossed for us :-)

I have taken tomorrow off work and will likely work from home on Thursday.

Our embryo transfer will then hopefully be on Monday 16 Jan.

I will also have an acupuncture session post my surgery tomorrow and again on Monday - both before and after the transfer.

Above all, we have to be realistic, as even if it all goes very well, the little emby might not stick, or it might miscarry before 12 weeks. But we think it is important to still be positive. The live birth rate with our clinic, for our age group, is 35%, and 45% of pregnancies make it to at least 6 weeks.

We are just being thankful at each stage, for every little thing that does go well. Counting our little miracles as they happen and trying to focus on one day at a time!