Day 45

Yeehaa! Today was my first needle free day after 25 days of injections. 

Yesterday I got the call confirming my trigger injection and egg collection.

For the last last 10 days I have been been doing gonal f injections. This over stimulates my ovaries so my body produces lots of follicles and hopefully lots of eggs. At the same time, I have been taking an injection called lucrin which stops my body from releasing the eggs. The trigger injection (done at a precise time) releases the eggs so that they are ready for collection 36 hours later.

My trigger injection was last night at 11pm, meaning my egg collection procedure will be tomorrow at 11am.

Today I have been feeling tired and uncomfortable, much more so than I remember from the last 2 rounds. Hopefully this is a good sign that there are lots of eggs. But not to many. If I get 20 or more then it becomes a 'freeze all cycle'. With ivf treatment, there is a risk of OHSS - ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. While there is always a risk of developing it, if you get 20 or more eggs then the chance is higher and they will freeze your embryos to use at a later date to give your body a rest from all the drugs and stimulants. 

Tomorrow, I am hopeful we will get between 15 - 19 eggs. (Feeling optimistic!)

You may remember that at my first cycle, there was great difficulty getting the intravenous needle into vein. After 5 attempts, I ended up having a local. For the second round, they skipped the first part and just went straight to the local injection. With the first round I was pretty numb and didn't feel anything. (I think some of the drugs must have gone in with the intravenous needle) Second round was quite different - I felt the needle stab into every follicle.

So for tomorrow, we are going to try for the intravenous needle. For the last 3 days I have been drinking 3+ liters of water. I am hoping that if I am super hydrated then my veins will co-operate! We will see!

Today I arrived home to find a care package from my sock buddy. We were sock buddies for our second round and it has been so great to journey along side her with round 3. We are in this together and have been able to encourage each other along the way.

I wouldn't say I am looking forward to tomorrow - it's not the nicest procedure, but I am excited to find out how many eggs we retrieve. 

Another update will follow tomorrow after egg collection.

Much love,

Alana, Flex Thunderstache and Frankie