Monitoring #4

I had my 4th monitoring appointment, this morning (day 9 of stimming), at my RE’s downtown office. It went very well and I am feeling very optimistic following it!!! I still had 13 follicles over all and the breakdown was: 2 – 15.5, 1 – 15, 2 – 14.5, 1 – 14, 1 -13 and 6 under 10mm! From what I understand it is really good to have 7 within 2mm of each other and of those 7, 5 within 1mm (especially working with only one ovary that is functional)! In my previous two cycle my follicular measurements were more spread out and it is reassuring to me that a significant number of my follicles seem to be developing at relatively the same rate! I do think it has a lot to do with the protocol I am doing this time around, how closely our RE has been monitoring this cycle and the adjustments he has made a long the way. It appears that our RE was successful in slowing down this cycle by lowering my Follistim dosage on Friday, as in previous cycles at this point my largest follicles were a lot bigger. I forgot to ask about my endometrium lining measurement today, but I would guess it is still around 8 line. I did find out that my E2 (estrogen level) on Friday (day 7 of stimming) was 394. Our 1st IVF cycle is was 258 on day 6 of stimming. Though I I don’t know that I can really even compare this cycle to the other two anymore, as it is really taking on a life and a pattern of it’s own.

The u/s tech at the downtown office this moring was really nice and said she remembered meeting me before, we figured out that she did the u/s the day of my ET for our 1st IVF cycle. I don’t recall meeting the nurse who did my blood work and went over my numbers before, but she was also very friendly! She complimented me on my shoes (they were my red Mary Jane style “Keen” brand shoes) and kept going on and on about how cute the style was, how she loved the color and wanted to know if they were comfortable (which they are)! Too cute! Ultimately I gave her the website address, from where I ordered them, as it sounded like she might want to get a pair for herself! 😉

So the nurse, who liked my shoes, went over my plan going forward and said that unless I get a call this afternoon telling me differently, that I should keep the same doseage of my meds and report for my 9:00 a.m. monitoring appointment at the Orland Park office (tomorrow) Monday. She predicted, based on my follicles growing roughly 2mm per day, that since our RE likes to trigger when there are at least 3-4 at about 19mm, that I would probably be triggering on Tuesday evening, with a Thursday, August 2 ER and a Tuesday, August 7 ET! But we’ll see, I could also end up triggering tomorrow (Monday) evening, with my ER Wednesday and my ET the following Monday.

Anyway, I am really feeling good about this cycle, it seems that from a follicular development stand point, that this Antagonist protocol is/was right on! I am excited to see where things are at tomorrow morning at my point! I continue to feel tired and uncomfortable (crampy) with so many follicles growing, but I say, bring it on!!! 😉 Being a Sunday, it is nice that Bob is off work, as I can rest more, while he takes care of Sean. I will check in sometime tomorrow after my next monitoring appointment. Thank you, as always, for your support, thoughts and prayers!