Shot Free Day: Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Preface: The posts in this series were written in the past. I am posting them chronologically, but these events are not taking place right now, they already happened. The date in the title of each post is the date it was originally written.

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I don't have to go to the Dr's office today for blood work or an ultrasound. I also don't have any shots to do tonight. I must admit, it's kind of a weird feeling.

Last night, I did a final "push" (an exceptionally large dose of one of my meds) and took the "trigger shot". That is the shot that will cause my body to ovulate so that the Dr can capture my eggs.

The egg capture is scheduled for the morning. We check in at 6am. I am supposed to show up "all natural" with no make-up, deodorant or scented anything on. At 6:45, the surgery is scheduled to begin. It is expected to take 2 1/2 hours, during which time I will be under twilight sedation. They say I won't remember anything. There will be 6+ people in the operating room. Sadly, Tim won't be one of them.

Before we leave, he will be taught how to give me the next injectable mediation I'll be on. It will be a daily shot in the butt. I hear it makes your backside feel like a sock full of marbles. I'm really looking forward to that.

Before we leave, they will tell us how many eggs they were able to capture. It will be a day or 2 before we hear about egg quality or how many have accepted the sperm and begun to multiply.

I think that we will also know about transfer before we leave. Yesterday during my ultrasound there was a small amount of fluid in my endometrium. The trusty internet has this to say about it: "Fluid within the endometrial cavity before embryo transfer in IVF cycles is associated with failure of implantation. The etiology of endometrial fluid is surrounded in controversy but it is associated with hydrosalpinges, polycystic ovarian disease, and subclinical uterine infections. The current treatment consists of postponing embryo transfer. This of course has biological and psychological disadvantages; a decreased implantation rate from frozen embryo transfer, and frustration and disappointment for the couple. Removing the fluid with an embryo transfer catheter immediately before embryo transfer may be a successful method of treatment."

I was advised to take 800 units of Vitamin E to try to get rid of it. When the Dr. is doing the egg capture he will decide if my uterus is able to accept a (a what? baby? cell cluster? fetus? zygote? what??) 4 days later. If not, the embryos will be frozen to be used at a later date.

Tim's nothing but excited. I am also excited, but a little nervous since I've never had a surgery before. We are both anxious to have the pregnancy underway and are enjoying talking about how excited everyone will be.